The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-06-11
son to ruu iton "a comrade. then Tl tcil
sou. no WAS l'iIiiULUau

Z soon hc aware uf the names OF his muir
dcrer~ SO 10 was resolved as % penalty
Tor BLOWN 0n the gang. as Ives cN
pressed It,. 90 murder Dillingham; instead
From that hour poor Dillingham; fate
was sealed %
For days the false deputies watched
their opportunity. and 40 last il came. lr
"a brush-wickiug far up the mountain side
DR. steel an imurOmptu judgo-rough
manly and bearded like a pard-was hold
ing court. He was trying "a case, the sub
ject matter being dispute between two
miners as to the rights of a "bar claim. '
Dillingham; was leaning against a tree, an
interested spectator when three of the
road agent deputies came up. They called
| TO him, and the unsuspectug deputy fol
| lowed his falsc-hearted comrades viii
lingly. StinsOn was in front, Lyons be-
hind and Ives on one side. In another
moment he was 10 be in eternity. Sud
denly the three men halted; so did their
| victim. Stinson sprang upon him, and a
revolver pressed close TO his heart sent
the lead through with scarcely a sound.
X. Beidler ferreted out this crime and
| brought the villains to trial Ives and
Lyons swore TO an alibi and Forbes testi-
fed to the same, but an honest miners
| jury would have none of it, and so they
| sentenced the trio to be hanged. The
time Of execution was settled for o'clock
! the same afternoon.
Now comes X Beidler's more promi-
| nent part in the tragedy. He, as official
| territorial representative, was appointed
TO carry the sentence into effect Select
! ing a good cOmrade, the scaffolds were
| erected and the graves were dug The
| hour of execution arrived. 1t was a
| bright evening of the Indian summer type
and the entire population of the gulch as
| sembled on a sloping hill side to witness
| the first hanging in Montana. Round
| about tall peaks lowered into the
| the sky, casting for miles their
| lengthening shadows as the de
! clining sun slowly travelled behind
| them TO his home in the west Far up in
the air could be seen forests of fir tama-
rack, pine and cedar, climbing 10000 feet
| toward heaven, until the perpetual snow
! line barred the farther progress of vege-
| tatiOn, Here all growth ceases, but the
| snowwhite caps rising out Of the warm
girdle of green quietly looked down upon
! the scene in the valley below where hui
manity was thirsting for humanity's
| blood.
THE RESCUE.
In the gulch all was hustle, roar and
confusion The repulsive scaffold had
been completed and close by were the
| empty graves awaiting tenants The con-
demned were marched to the gallows in
single file under "A strong guard. The
crowd followed hooting and yelling
among whom were a goodly number who
were either downright members of the
gang to which the prisoners belonged, or
else were in sympathy with them
Plummer was there, also Ned Ray, Al
Moore, Babe Skinner, Charley Reaves
and many others, all of whom were after
ward hanged by X. Beidler's vigilance
committee. These hustled through the
crowd stirring up feeling and exciting
sympathy in every possible way for the
benefit of the condemned.
II is sad TO relate that three women
We're present, the only females in Virginia
City, and they begged hard for mercy to
the doomed men. The rough, honest
frOntiersmen, unused to feminine tears
and feminine wailings, went around with
hands in their pockets, wagging their
heads dolefully and full-cOcked to go with
the crowd If some one would only start
the ball rolling They meant we'll but it
was an awful mistake, 1t was the first
hanging in Montana, and nearly every
body felt more or less timid about the
matter, Jack Gallagher, one of the arch
ones, saw the opportunity and grasped it
instantly.
Jumping on barrel, he shouted that he
had something to read. 1t was a farewell
letter from young Lyons prepared by an
eXper0 filled with tender, loving mes
sages to his mother and sister far away
in the states The effect upon the audi
ence of rugged men was electrical. Much
the same effect was produced as that of
Mark AntOny's GRAFTON over the dead body
OF Caesar. Richardson, a pal of the
others, and withal popular fellow in
that frontier community, took advantage
of the turn in the popular tide and made
bold proposition that the verdict should
be set aside Another confederate yelled :
"All in favor of discharging the prisoners
move down the hill.n With rush nearly
all that vast multitude poured down the
hillside, leaving a mere handful Of de-
ternined, resOlute men on the upper
slope. A wild yell broke forth that was
echoed and re-echOed back from the sur
rounding mountains in 100 reverberations,
and the next instant a score of willing
hands had SCI the prisoners free. X Beid-
Ter was one of the firm ones, and from
that day virtually became a spotted man.
A PANDEMoNIUM.
That night Virginia City was turned
into veritable pandemonium. The rob
! Der band and their friends kept up a wild
revelry throughout the long terrible
night. Placards We're stuck up here and
there bearing the words Graves to let ~
The three empty holes near the gallows
were illuminated by fires, and the three
men who were to have swung into eternity
on the spot stood there on the gallows
platform in the weird, fantastic light, en-
pertaining their friends with rum and
whisky galore.
On the other side of the town the
| funeral of poor Dillingham; was going on
| while the wretches who killed him were
celebrating his murder with pandemonium
| fury. All day long Dillingham's body
! had been lying stark and stiff on billiard
| table in saloon with no one in the wild
! frontier city to do him the last rites OF
| burial. At last, about the twilight hour
a few friends gathered at the spot, among
whom was X. Beidler, and, placing the
remains on a pine board, moved through
! the streets toward another new made
| grave. On all sides were reeling, drunken
men, and the funeral procession wa.
greeted at every crossing with boisterous
revelry. He was laid away after a
fashion, and poor Dillingham's career wa.
| ended.
! The day had its lessons, however. anC
it was not long before the good fruit be
gan to bud and ripen. Vigilance commit
tees were organized, and in very shor
time lawful citizens, in an unlawful man
ner began to track and hunt down Off
GERS of the law who We're supposed to b,
keepers of order and right TO X. Beid
Ter was intrusted the leadership in thes,
dangerous enterprises. Plummer, Ives
4 Stins0n Ray and others were spotted
tracked. captured and hanged leade
I ON 4 arIn all