St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-17
The SCARLET SCARF.
Present Intended to Serve as Target for Mortal
Bulet--Ex-Gov. Hauser Was to Wear
1t and Be Killed.

HauSer with THIS token or esteem,
which was intended also to be the mark
by whicn lie was To be shot and killed,
Plummer suddenly left the place ON
pretense of going to examine new dis
covered silver lode in the vicinity, and
shortly afterward both Stins' n and Ray
were found TO have surreptiiously left
Bannack. On top of these discoveries,
Henry Tilden, who was member of
Judge Edgerton's household, came into
town with a report that he had
been "held up" q few miles away by
three men, one of whom he thought was
Plummer.
An attempt TO trace Plummer to the
alleged new silver discovery was made
by Col. w. +. Sanders, now senator from
Montana, but he could get no trace of
the sheriff, and this gave reason 10 donbt
that the reported discovery was any
thing more than an excuse to let Plum
mer get on the road to Salt Lake for his
nefarous purposes. Hauser and Lang
ford meanwhile had delayed their de-
parture beyond 5 O'Clock, having bar
gained with their teanlster to wait until
Z, when suddenly Piummer, evidently
puzzled by their failure to leave at 5,
rode back into Bannack. But he no
sooner heard of the departure of the
two men at the later hour than he left
in hot haste, clearly in pursuit of them.
Hauser and Langford LEFT Bannack
about O'Clock, having companion
named Whitehead, whom they knew to
be notorious gambler, and whom they
feared to be member OF the road
agents gang. Before leaving they
loaded their guns and pistols, Lang
ford charging each barrel of his shot
gun with twelve pistol balls and an
| extra charge of powder. In the wagon
| they kept their guns double charged
and full cooked, lying acroSSt their knees.
| They made the camp of the other team
sterS about IL O'Clock. 1t was clear.
| crisp, cold night. Their blankets,
! which had been sent forward by the
other transfers. were found to be ap-
| propriated by men who were asleep.
But Hauser managed to geta blanket,
! and took Whitehead under it, the latter
| being in delicate health, and Hauser
having in view the strategy of keeping
himself covered by one of the suspected
enemy. Langford could not sleep well
where he took up position alongside the
! wagon with Il buffalo robe, and about 3
O'clock in the morning became so chilled
| that he got up and began to walk back
and forth in the camp. Finally, unSat-
| iSfied with this exercise, he took up his
gun and went down to the bank of the
creek, about thirty or forty feet distant,
and began gathering dry willows to
make a fire. Before he was aware of it
| he had walked down the stream several
| hundred yards, and was recalled to that
! fact 10y hearing confused murmer of
voices. a first he thought the sounds
| came from the camp, but soon deter
mined to the contrary. and began max,
ing an investigation as to their source.
! EPa
The cold no longer had any effect on
him, his curiosity having aroused him.
| stirred the blood in his veins and caused
pushes he saw three footmen approach
ing the stream from the other side, and
on closer scrutiny discovered that theii
faces were covered by loosely flowing
| whiskerS. He had his gun ready fol
immediate action in case they attacked
him, when the swapping of twig at
tracted their attention. They looked
up. saw him, saw that he recognized
them, and Immediately turned about
and disappeared behind club of will
| lows. .f'3
! Under such circumstances, few men
| would have had the courage to pursue
any further investigations. Mr.. Lang
| ford was at first inclined to go back tC
/
| cluGed to see something more of these
providers. Passing along the stream
until he found shallow place, he
crossed over. The bank was about tive
feet high, crowned with willows. and,
as he reached 1t and began to look
through the cOpSe, he saw, within
fifty feet of him, in semi-circle
formed by the brush, four masked men.
One of them had been left to hold the
horses, while the other three, whose
approach had been stopped by Lang
ford, had started out to make obServa-
lions of the camp. The men were in
| Guided by mounting their horses and
riding off toward Bannack at rafting
pace.
In the later developments of the op-
erations of the road agents, which were
brought out by the vigilance committee,
1t was learned that these four men were
Plummer, Stinson, Ray, and a despera-
| do named Ives. Plummer's gift of a
| scarlet scarf to Hauser was to enable
| him to have good mark at which to
shoot in case of a scrimmage. But for
Langford'S taking up his lodging for the
night on the ground and the GOODNESS of
the weather, which aroused him, the
| entire party might have been lnaSsa-
CiOu DIS tHey Sltpt, lOr no guard naQ
been placed on the camp, and the men
were all tired out.
There is singular coincidence about
| this attempt of Plummer to get the best
! OF me-" said Gov. Hauser. "My birth
| day is Jan. TO- This affair occurred in
November, | think. At all events, by
Jan. 10, 1864, we had the evidence OF
Plummer and his gang down to fine
point, and the vigilants hung him OH
that day." CARSON LAKE.