The Portland daily press., 1890-01-18
A SENATOR WITH A HISTORY.
How Montana was Reduced to Law
and Order.
Wholesale Execution by the Vigil
Iantes Of 1864.
OF Whom Col. Sanders Was Con-
. spicuous Leader.
New York SUM-


The Republicans of the Montana Legisla-
ture have unanimously, and on the first bal
lot, elected Col. Wilbur Fiske Sanders Of
Helena to represent the new State 10 the
United States Senate II Col Sanders gets
his seat he will be one of the most interest
ing figures in public life as Washington. He
can tell stories in the cloak room that will
make the hair of his colleagues stand per-
pendicular. He can draw upon his own
frontier experience for narratives that will
make the pulse Of the Hon. William Maxwell
Evarts beat quicker, and well nigh curdle
the blood in the veins Of the Hon. George
Frisbee Hoar.
The Western career of Col. Sanders covers
every successive phase Of the development
of a community now risen to Statehood. In
score Of years there has been crowded into
his life all that goes between the extremes
of civilization-centuries of evolution In
bodies polite Of slower growth than that
which inhabits the Rocky Mountain region
drained by the three forks of the Missouri.
Col. Sanders was born in Catiaraugus
county, in this State, fifty-six years ago. He
studied law in ohio, fought in the Union
army, and went West in 1868 to Monta-
ma, then part of Idaho He settled first at
Bannack City and undertook to practise bis
profession In mining camp thronged with
desperadoes from every part OF the world
and fearing no law except the swift code OF
Judge Lynch.
The scene of the campaign in which Col.
Sanders bore conspicuous part was In what
is now the southwestern corner Of Montana,
hundred miles or more south OF thees sit
Of the present cities Of Helena and Butte.
and northwest Of the Yellowstone Park.
among the mountains directly on the great
main divide. To understand the situation,
1t should be remembered that Montana wa
invaded and settled from the west side Of
the Rockies. The approach was from Cali
fornia and Oregon. OF from Salt Lake City
at the south. BaInack, on Grasshopper
Creek, was the first considerable mining
camp on the eastern slope of tine Rocky
Mountains, and it was only about a year old
when Col. Sanders arrived. The rich dis
coveries in this new gold country were the
signal for the stampede Of 1923, first to
Grasshopper Greek, then to the newer dig
gings at Virginia City and Nevada City close
BY, then down the Deer Lodge valley, and
gradually across to Last Chance Gulch,
where the town of Helena now stands
The centres Of turbulence and q popu-
latl0n were at Bannack City and Virginia
City, and no livelier settlements existed at
that time on the face Of the earth, Call
fornia gamblers and cutthroats, Mexican
desperadOes, deserters from both the North
ern and the Southern armies, tngitives from
the justice Of a dozen different countries.
DULLES and roughs graduated In the class OF
'49, prostitutes and thieves and murderers
picked by natural selection from the f0rlOrn
hope Of advancing civilization poured into
the new gold country along with the honest
miner and the peaceable Immigrant. There
was absolutely no government, 10 law, no
protection for life or property other than
that which the shotgun affords. The com
munity was d0ubly isolated from the East
by distance and by the tremendous fact OF
the civil war. The Pacific coast gave II its
worst. Champagne was Sl2 bottle in gold,
and, generally speaking, sheol was focused
on the region which Col. WILDER Fiske
Saunders chose as the field for his profes S.
ional labors. tr..r f..,
prosecutor Of George Ives, a renowned mem
Der Of Henry Plummer's gang OF road agents
and murderers. Ff als.Ira -4e
Planners band was the only well organ
lied power Of any sort In the Community; II
was organized for crime. 1t consisted Of two
dozen or more of the evilest scoundrels then
uDhung, with full quota OF spies, scouts,
decoys, and outside correspondents In every
| part Of the gold-pr0ducing region. IL had a
perfect. system OF communication between
| the various members Of the band, Of designa-
| ton Of suitable objects Of plumber, and OF
| rescue and support in case OF trouble. The
road agents wore moustaches and chin
whiskers, and they knotted their neckties In
peculiar way, In action, they covered their
faces with black silk handkerchiefs or bit
Of blanket. They had early intelligence OF
every shipment of treasure or freight cara
van out of the Territory, and they did not
disdain to waylay and rob the arriving emil
grant for the sake of the few dollars in his
pockets. They held up coaches and express
wagons In the approved fashion OF the iron
tier. too well known to require description.
On their individual account the mt mbers OF
Plummer's band staggered, bullied, robbed,
and murdered without check. They fired at
women to brighten them; butchered and
scalped inoffensive Indians In pure wanton-
ness; shot and killed men for vengeance, for
personal dislike, and sometimes merely "for
luck" Respectable citizens lived always in
terror. Everybody knew the authors. OF the
crimes that followed each other in daily sue,
eession, but nobody uttered his suspicious or
proclaimed his knowledge. To speak out
was to invite sudden death. There was no
law to appeal to. The only constituted au-
thority was so-called. Sheriff: Nothing
better illustrates the conditions of society at
that time and place than the circumstance
| that the Office of Sheriff, both at Bannack
| and at Virginia, was heidi by Henry Plum
mer himself, and that his deputies were
Buck Stnson, Ned Ray and Jack Gallagher
| three accomplished desperadoes selected on
| civil service reform principles from his own
| band of highwaymen.
The remarkable chief of this gang was a
| man Of willy address and mild, polite man
ners, who had emigrated to Bannack from
| California early in tine stampede. he had
| served as City Marshal Of q California town
| had received nomination for the Assembly
| had taken part in an attack on Wells 4
| Fargo's bullion express, and had murdered
| not less than three men in that state. Plum
| mer had reputation as lady-klller, ana by
| his own sex fe was respected as the quickest
| and surest revolver shot in the mountains
| 1t was said that he could draw his pistol and
empty its five chambers within three seconds
| making every bullet tell. He was ambidex
| trOus with the revolver. This cODsummatt
| villain maintained almost up TO the end oil
his career the semblance Of amicable reia
| tions with law and order, and 1t was one Of
| the polite conventions of life at Bannack Il
| consult him as Sheriff in cases OF violent
crime. He met on equal and friendly terms
during the day the men he had alread,
| marked as the victims OF that nights enter
| prise. When SAM T. Hauser, long aftervaTt
| President of the First National Bank o
Helena and Governor OF the Territory
started for the States with a train OF treasure
| Plummer pressed upon him woolen necl
comforter and urged him TO protect his throa
well from the chilly night air. Down tn
| road, Pummer's highwaymen were alread
| waiting for a man with wooden scarf
When J. NJ. Bozeman aud others started 10
Salt Lake City with about $4,000 In gold
| Plummer had already stationed Dutch job
| and Steve Marsland in ambush In Black Tai
Deer Canon. When divers Salt LAX
coach rolled into Bannack, having been he'll
up aud robbed on the road from Virgins
| CITY by George Ives, Bob Zachary, an
Whiskey Bill, It was Plummer himself VIII
frs. interviewed the passengers u ascertai
what clues there might be to identify tn
highwaymen. In hundred ways Plummer'
social and official relations enabled him bot
TO plan and to cloak the crimes his gang con
mitted.
Under Plummer's mastery leadershi
We're associated, besides the men alreao
mentioned, Erastus Yager, known as Red,
G. w. Brown, George Lane, or Club Foo
George" Frank Parish, Haze LYONS, Boon
Helm, Bill BuntoD, Cyrus skinner. BIZ Hun
ter, Aleck Carter, Joe Pizanthia, or Grease
| joe" and many other desperadoes who's
names are famous in the early annals
Montana. The gang had its headquarters q
Rattlesnake Ranch, and its wakiups an
| places of rendezvous everywhere. The reig
| of terror had reached the stage where /
mans life was safe for a single day. III Il
few months preceding the time of the fir
uprising against the power Of Henry PluI
mer not less than one hundred and tv
known murders had been charged to the a
count of this gang. The extent Of the list
undiscovered or improved crimes, of disa
pearances where the fate of the victim WI
never known and his corpse never foun
can only be matter Of conjecture.
The murder Of German named Nchol
Tbalt in the StinkiDgwater valley for q
sake OF the price of two mules which he hi
been sent to buy was the Immediate cause
the organization of the Montana Vigilantt
George Ives vas caught red-handed. I've