The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-07-04

have been no repetitions of the events
of the past. The people breathe easier,
and the men who had entered in the
cities to prey on the inhabitants have
scattered to the winds and gore be-
yond this state
All Of the events of the past few days
recall the dramatic days of the vigil
antes OF olden times. Those days ex-
/ tended over several years. but they
had their beginning in Virginia City in
1852. There were more than so execu-
lions by order of the committee OF
/ safety. The same determined men were
here in 1883. and the executions in that
year numbered 16. The members of
! the famous band included many well
4 Known Montanans who are living now,
there having been in the committee a
gathering together of those who were
/ best fitted to survive the ordeal of life
I IN new country with all its reverseS.
The first vigilance committee, so his
tory hints, was organized in a Masonic
/ temple, but the details of that may
never be known.
The executions by order of the COM
mittee of safety began in January. 1864.
in the dead of winter. There had been
I so many robberies that it came to be a
matter OF serious doubt whether any OF
the men in the territory who were anx-
ious TO return home with their accumu-
/ lations would be able TO leave and
reach their homes in the east alive.
George Ives. one of the desperate
| deputies under Sheriff Plummer, was
| the first man 10 fall regularly under
| the ban of the vigilance committee.
/ Twenty-Five men started on the search.
They avoided ranches along the trav-
eled road, for the territory was honey
\ combed with allies of the gentlemanly
robbers, who were working under the
/ disguise and with the support of the
law After a long journey they came
4 n u Ncr
go with the party to Virginia City and
| there tried before a court of the people,
| with jury of "a. In half an hour the
jury came into court, saying that %
had agreed upon a verdict. The other
man, George Spivey, declined to make
! any recommendation one way or the
other. Ives friends begged for delay,
but none was granted. and the prepar-
i atoms for the execution, which had
been moved by Colonel Sanders and
carried by viva voce vote. began. An
unfinished building was chosen. A
/ stringer was placed across the stud
dings and dry goods box was the
platform on which the doomed man
stood. In IS minutes from the time the
jury returned the verdict Ives was
dead The executive officer was Rob-
! ert Hereford aid the first territorial
legislature granted him 5000 in recog-
milton of his services.
Then others were banished from the
territory under pain of death, and the
| vigilantes began a hunt for more of the
guilty ones. George W. Brown and
Erastus Yeager were next to fall. They
were hand in glove with the .'Plummer
gang. Dutch John was caught while
trying to leave the territory on a Dor
rOwed horse and hanged. Stephen
Marshland was captured on the Pig
Hole river and the detachment Of the
vigilante company attended to his exc
cution. proceeding afterward to join
the main body on Cottonwood creek
where the most important work of the
; campaign was brewing. That was the
capture of Henry Plummer himself and
Buck Stinson and Ned Ray. On the
way to the gallows Plummer confessed
and begged for his life, but the leader
of the party informed 2him that his
pleadings were useless. Stinson and
Ray died filling the air with curses.
Then Sheriff Plummer's turn was
! called.
Give man time to pray. won't
your" he said.
You can pray up there" answered
! a vigilante, whose brother had been a
victim of the Plummer gang, and
Plummer begged no more.
Give me as good drop as posi-
/ BILE" was all he asked, and he was ac-
commOdated. The following day
Greaser Joe was executed and three
I y
/ hanged five more. There were some eX-
ecutiOns through the spring, and the
committee continued to find work to
do until late in 1865; but with the or
ganization of the territory and better
protection through the regular chan
nels CT the law. the field of usefulness
became narrower, and there was almost
a complete cessation of the work for a
term Of wears.
The committee of Virginia City was
the principal one of those days. for
Virginia City was the principal city of
the state. But the, excitement spread
! TO other camps. some of the banished
highwaymen only going part way on
their journeys out of the state, and the
necessity OF branch organizations be-
came apparent. There was a commit
/ tee around Fort Benton. then the head
OF navigation on the Missouri. and the
headquarters for all who came to the
/ territory that way. Granville Stewart,
now United States minister to Uruguay
/ and Paraguay, was one CT the leading
! spirits of that organization. There
/ was another in the Three Forks coun-
[ try. There is said to have been a per-
! feet understanding between the divis-
| ions, and evidence was furnished and
/ interchanged, that was of much value.
] Detachments Of vigilantes scattered
over the Marais region. and brought in
for execution more than 20 men, some
of whom were driven out of the coun-
| tT--.
In cabinet in the rooms of the Mon
| tana Historical society is a bit of wood
that, if it could but speak. could tell
many stories of thrilling and gruesome
interest. 1t is all that remains of tine
historic ''hangmans tree that played
an important part in the early vigil
lante history of the state. From one
of its limbs swung at least Is murder
ers and road agents, who met death al
the hands of the committee organized
by the miners OF Last Chance guich.
The tree was located in Dry gulch,
within a quarter of a mile from where
tf1e state house of Montana stands to-
day. Tall and straight, it rose on
level bench in the gulch. On one side.
about 30 feet from the ground, extended
a huge limb. making a perfect gailOws
beam. When the peoples court of JUS
tice had passed the death sentence upon
a criminal, there was no delay in put
ting the sentence into execution. The
criminal was bound, loaded into wag-
on and driven under the limb of the
tree, q rope was passed over and ad-
justed, the executioner whipped up the
horses, and in a few minutes there was
no life in the form dangling from the
limb. The hangman's tree had borne
fruit again.
The first execution to take place in
Helena occurred June 9, 1865, just 30
years ago, being that John Keene, a
gambler. who killed Harry Slater. also
a gambler. J. X. Beidler. who probably
assisted at more executions in the early
days than any six men in the territory
was the executioner.