Omaha daily bee., 1905-08-28

conspicuously IN front OF a ranch. The
cards measured exactly 7xs inches, and on
them, In very black ink. appeared the
numerals "a-5-17." The desperado who
found such a notice knew that it came
from the vigilautes. and he knew that IL
meant Pack up and leave within twenty
four hours or swing on the second night"
The vigilantes never bluned. When
| they posted a warning they were ready TO
! enforce Il. Perhaps a mistake was made
| once IN a long time, and in such case the
victim at once sought out Colonel Sanders
or X. Beldler, his right hand man, or some
other prominent vigilante. and laid the
case before him as man to man. II the
| plea seemed good the midnight tribunal
! reconsidered and sometimes reversed itself.
Sometimes Il reaffirmed the sentence by
second placard. and in such case there
was no appeal.
II the victim disregarded the card he
found himself on the second night in the
hands OF a crowd Of very earnest armed
men. A hanging always followed.
The Trial of sIOde.
When Senator Sanders was in Washing
| ton he told the story of the execution OF
the notorious Slade for treason against
the territory OF Montana"
I'VE had engineered forty OF fifty hang
ings," he said, when we became imbued
with the idea that a little more lawful
form OF government would be to the better
interests of Virginia City, so one evening
we gathered on the outskirts Of the town
In informal mass meeting and proceeded to
choose from among ourselves officers for
our local government our organization
was the simplest thing in the world We
would t1r n ~ unnr1bnre and
say: You are a pretty square sort OF a
fellow and we know you to be straight as
string; you shall be our Judge. And to
another: You are a heavily built chap,
| with plenty Of grit; you shall be marshall
was district attorney because 1 had a
| smatterlng OF law, and II was upon my
/ afidavits that all warrants were issued.
"It seems strange in these days to think
| OF constituting court in such an off-hand
| way without the slightest vestige Of federal
| authority, but we did It, and our court was
respected by all the citizens Of Virginia
| City-that Is, most of them. After a while,
| when they found that we were not hanging
| so frequently as before, the lawless ele-
ment grew bolder and more aggressive.
| The leader OF this tough part Of our
| population was slade. He had dozen
satellites. and 1t was favorite diversion
|
resort and then set II on Gre Soon after
our court was organized we found that
slade had burned a place, and we sent our
! marshal to arrest him and bring him to
| court. He came peaceably enough, and
the court fined him sos. He paid. and in a
/ few days was up again for the same Of
fense.
"The fine was doubled this time and he
paid again, but he did not seem to profit
by these lessons, for he was frequently be-
fore us, and each time his fine was doubled
until 1t reached the sum OF 500.
"On that occasion he told the Judge he
didn't have the amount with him, and said
he would bring It the next time he came
to town. Wei, he came to town several
times after that, but he did not offer to
| pay the $4O0, and soon he was in trouble
again for the same old ofrense.
A DIuR that Failed.
"Our marshal got him, and he came along
quietly and stood while the Judge directed
| the marshal to read the warrant AS the
marshal pulled out the document Slade,
quick FASH sprang at him. jerked IL
out of his hands and pointed a revolver
at the judges heart. 1t was all done in a
second.
| Now said he, I'm about tired of this
! business l am not going to be drained any
more and I'm not going to recognize your
authority; nor shall pay that 500 shall
hold you responsible for my personal
saftey, and II any of your committee at
tempts to touch me III blow your heart
out.
while he was speaking I turned quietly
and walked out. On the street the first
man met was a member of our vigilance
committee. explained the situation to him
II.
miles and tell the boys we needed them. He
rode of post haste, and | returned to the
court room. slade rode around town for
while and then returned there. He was
inclined to be very proud Of his defiance OF
the orders OF the court and was insulting
TO his honor The next minute the room
was full OF armed men and one Of then
was saying: We want you, Mr.. Slade.'
HE turned pale and weakened at once
crowd OF his captors surrounded him
and left him In their keeping and wen
home. hadn't been there FIVE minutes
when one of the boys came up and said:
Mr.. Sanders, the boys have about con
cluded that they don't want TO be bothered
with Mr.. slade any longer and as there Is n,
place to keep him safely they are going t.
hang him whether the court Wills II or not.
81 hurried to the court room and saw tn,
judge apd the marshal, ana several others
and wcIagreed that as Mr.. Slade was boun,
TO hang anyway. IT was better to have hin
executed by order OF the court and thu
preserve our hold on the community. So W
sentenced him to death for high treason
for melting others TO rebellion and 70
/, seeking to overthrow our form Of govern
ment
80 Mr. Slade was taken to a hill over
looking a gulch and moose from a gallow
> was slipped around his neck and n barre
. placed under him. Then the barrel wa
kicked away, and Mr. Slade was no more.