Daily inter mountain. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1881-1901, 1899-01-05
A Vigilance Committee Hanged
Him in Alaska.
AN EXCELLENT BLACKSMITH
But a Tough Man OtherWise--A Career
That Bristled With Unenvi-
able Experiences.

Jack Jolly is dead, and If the reports con-
corning the manner in which his death
came about are true, he passed to the I'M
known via that route which holds out
greater inducements to men wearing boots
than to any other class. In other words,
Mr.. Jolly died with his boots on at the
end of a rope-he was hanged by a vigil
lance committee in Alaska for alleged con-
duct unbecoming a gentleman and scholar.
Concerning the event, a telegram from
Vancouver British Columbia, says:
Vancouver, B. c., Jan. 5.-The steamer
Rosalie has arrived from the north with
100 passengers, all from DAWSON. The party
made the trip in II days. The steamer had
$50,0O in gold dust on board. The passen-
gers bring news of a sensational lynching
which took place at Eagle City, Alaska, on
December II. Jack jolly, a s~aloonkeeper
and gambler, had collected a gang of
toughs around him and was terrorizing the
mining camps. He was waited on by a
vigilance committee of IL determined men
and ordered to leave the town. He refused,
and the next day the v%igilantes hanged
him to a limb of a tree. The toughs and
gamblers who had made his place their
headquarters Immediately left the town.
On the day the steamer left Dawson, Myrtle
Brocee, a variety actress, committed sui
eide by shooting herself in the head. She
was a native Of Lindsay, Canada.
jolly spent many years of his life in
Butte, and was probably as we'll known as
any man during his time. BY occupation
he was a blacksmith. In the early sos he
opened a shop here and carried on a sue
cessful business until a notion to jump
INTO politics secured a half Nelson hitch on
him. His appointment as city marshal fol-
lowed. He served one term and made a
, bid for a second, but was defeated. During
his political career he formed a matrimo-
| NAL alliance with Mollie Dimurska, pro-
prietress Of a house within the prescribed
district, but it was not lasting. At the end
of the first year he was ready to go into
the hands of a receiver, while his wife held
a casket of diamonds of the high pressure
pattern. Finally she, too, run up against
| a streak of bad luck and the sheriff acted
as auctioneer at the disposal of her prop
erty. Shortly jolly and the wo-
man left Butte, but whether they went
away together is not known. He turned up
on the coast q few months later, and dur
ing the Coxey army excitement acted as a
deputy United States marshal long enough
to get shot. He recovered from the effects
of the wound and came back to Butte, ar
irving In the summer OF 1879. At that time
open gambling was prohibited by law, but
a number of places were being run on the
alleged quiet. One of them was located in
a room over the old Mint saloon, on Main
street, and was under the general super
! vision of William w. Byther, a native Of
Maine, who was as square q man in his
business as ever opened a jackpot or shut
fled a card. About 9 o'clock in the even
ing of August 8, jolly entered the place and
after an attempt to get up a fight with sew
eral persons, Byther included, by insulting
them, he whipped out a knife and stabbed
Byther several time. The wound was so
serious that it weakened Byther and he
contracted typhoid fever. While delirious
he Jumped through the window of his room,
on tho third floor of the D'Acheul block,
and broke his left arm. A few days later
he died. After the stabbing jolly escaped,
but was captured in the eastern part of
the city on the following day and consigned
to quarters in the county jail. Three
months from that time found him in the
penitentiary to which institution he had
been sentenced for three years for his
crime. His sentence expired about Is
months ago, and although he returned to
Butte afterwards 1t was only for a short
stay. At that time the klondike excite
ment was running wide open anJ jolly
Joined in the mad rush for Dawson City.
The balance is related in the dispatch.