The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-05-02

upon the revenge in store for their
captors after their friends had ef-
fected their rescue"
Taken to Walla Walla and then,
by judges order, to Florence, the
prisoners presently found themselves
in the hands of a popular committee.
AS night fell they were in a strongly
guarded building on the Clearwater.
THE next morning at an early
hour the people gathered around the
prison. The guards were gone and
the door ajar. Unable to restrain
their curiosity and fearful that the
robbers had been rescued, they push
ed the door wide open. There, hang
ing by the neck, stark and cold, they
beheld the bodies of the three despe-
radoes. Justice had been anticipat-
ed, and the first Vigilance Commit
tee of the northern mines had COM
menced it's work. No one knew or
cared who had done it, but all felt
that it was right, and the community
breathed freer than at any former
period of it's history.
Intelligence of the execution,
with the usual exaggeration, spread
far and wide through the mining
camps. 1t was received with approx
al by the sober citizens, but filled the
robber horde with CONSERVATION.
Charley Harper, while on the way
from Florence to Lewiston to gather
full particulars, met mountaineer.
Stranger he inquired, what's
the news?'
"'I 'spose you've heard about the
hanging of them fellers?'
"'Heard some. What's the par
ticulars?'
"'Well, Bill Peoples, Dave English
and Nels Scott have gone in. They
strung 'em up like dried salmon
Happy Harry got out of the way in
time; but if they get Club-Foot
George his life won't be worth a
cent. They're after a lot more OF
them up in Florence
"'Do you know who they are at
ter?' asked Harper.
eyes. Charley Harper's the big
chef they're achin' for the most, but
the story now is that he's already
hanged. A feller went into town day
before yesterday and said he saw him
strung up out here on Camas prairie
Did you hear anything of it back On
the road?
Wise to the import of the moment
Harper fed the immediate scene
But he did not change his manner OF
life, and his time of reckoning was
to come. Such, however, was the be-
ginning of the end for the outlaws
and gun men. A year or so later
when the Vigilantes were strong
well organized and we'll advanced in
their cleansing work-Henry Plum
mer and other trouble makers duly
hanged-there was an impressive
scene at Virginia City. 1t had been
determined to round up finally all
known members of the robber bano
that had followed Plummer.
"On the 18th Of January, three
days after Plummer was executed, an
order was quietly made for the Vigl'
lantes to assemble at night in sufici'
ent force to surround the city. MOI
a man was to be permitted to leave
the city after the line of guards wa;
established. Bill Hunter, one of the
six marked for capture, suspecting
the plot, effected his escape by crawl
ing beyond the pickets in drain
ditch. The city was encircled after
nightfall by more than 500 armed
men, so quietly that none within, ex
| C0pC CuS PlSllduISS, huCW IL uhIAA 1AiS
next morning.
"All that long winter night, while
that Gordon of iron men was quietly
stretching along the heights over
looking the city, the executive com
mittee sat in council, deliberatins
upon the evidence of guilt against
the men enmeshed in their tolls. Al
the same time another small banc
was assembled around faro table
in the chamber of a gambling saloon
Jack Gallagher suddenly broke the
silence of the game with the remark:
While we are here betting those
Vigilantes are passing sentence Of
death upon us
wonderful prescience! He little
know or realized the truth which
this observation had for him and his
comrades in iniquity.
Morning broke, cold and cloudy
discovering to the eyes of the clti
zens the pickets of the Vigilantes
Tho oitv WAS like an entrencheC