The Madisonian. (Virginia City, Mont.) 1873-1915, 1896-03-21

only relating what happened. The
next morning he refused to leave, and
to administer the penalty, the man
selected to give the lashes was armed
with a black snake, but the friends of
the defendant. whose sympathies we're
confederate. were also beginning to
gather, and trouble began 10 threaten.
Words and blows were exchanged, and
we saw that no time was to be lost, and
what ever wa done must be done quick
ly. So while we kept back the crowd
word was given to the nan with the
black-snake to proceed. He Immediate
~ started for the defendant, who be-
ing fOotloose struck over the hills on
the run, the black-snake cracked at his
heels at every jump. | think | am safe
in saying that he didn't get any of the
lashes but the Punishment was success
fully accomplished.
The justice melted out at the miners
meeting was perhaps crude, but it was
speedy and cheap. They had no use
for attorneys and paid no witness fees.
| remember on one occasion in a miners
meeting at Summit a miners grievence
was being Investigated, when the man,
who had been the aggressOr in the af-
fair, suddenly leveled his revolver on
the witness testifying and said, "Speak
another word, and you'll be a dead
man" There was a simultaneous
movement among the miners, and the
man suddenly found himself under
cover of every revolver in the company.
He cowed down and the witness pro-
ceeded. But the miners would not let
it go at that They sentenced him to
Punishment. and though he owned a
very rich claim, he was compelled to
abandon it and leave the gulch.
When George Ives was ARA gned at
Nevada City by the vigilantes for be-
ing a road agent, with several thousand
other miners | attended the trial. On
arriving at the scene | met j. w. Gran
mis- who was solicitous about the out
come of the trial. He told me that the
road agents had employed five attOr-
neys, while the people had only one to
represent them. | asked Grannis to
point him out to me. He pointed out a
tall young man, with clothes somewhat
thread bare. His appearance was not
as fine as those OF the attorneys on the
other side. one of whom, kitchie. was
the best dressed man in the territory.
well don't think much of our at
tQrney," [ saia to Grannis. He said he
didn't know anything about him, only
that he had volunteered to serve the
people, and that they had nothing to
pay him.
AS the case proceeded, however. the
defendants five attorneys could make
nothing out of the young prosecutor,
but on the contrary he outwitted them
at every turn. Tie crowd listening to
the trial soon became aware that they
were no match for him, and that he
was better than the whole outfit. |
saw that | had not dom Mr.. sanders
Justice, SO l went owe to Grannis and
took back my sighting remark about
him. The outcome of that trial and
the subsequent career of the young
prosecutor is too familiar to the people
of Montana for repetition.
During the trial, the friends of the
road agent gathered in a crowd by
themselves. to plan vengeance. | over
one OF them, "a leading gambler, make
a significant threat against Sanders,
and saying with much profanity. 1--WE
will fix him." I reported the threat to
Grannis, and Sanders was warned OF
danger. We planned to escort him
back to Virginia City, expecting he
would be waylaid on the road. But
when we came to look for him we
couldn't find him. He got back to Vir-
ginia. but how has always been q mys-
terry to me that Mr.. Sanders himself
J might be able to explain.