The Hood River glacier. (Hood River, Or.) 1889-1933, 1912-03-28
VIGILANTE DAYS
OF EARLY OREGON
nY REy. c. ". kENNEnY

WuIhs uUt 70 the A-flis aul Law
is Of God. Human law is inspired Of
the Divine, ana meets his sanction.
Human law IS a necessity aud will be
until the King of Kings comes and
brings in the statutes Of heaven.
The first decade of Oregon history
was without law that is without stat
ute law. They were ahead Of territor.
ial government. Those missionaries
and settlers who gathered around them
needed no law bat the WORD of God.
They were law unto themselves.
Conscience and Gods common law
were sufficient. No crime intruded,
save in one instance where an adven-
turer from Boston endeavoted to intro
duce a stock of liquor A single mass
meeting of the settlers pronounced
against it and the intruder and his
cargo went on.
But the time came when organized
government was necessity, In lSil
Ewing Young died, leaving consider
able property. He had no heirs. The
church could not claim the estate for
he belonged to no church. In the
absence of will, what could be done?
A probate court had to be oganized.
Judge, councilmen, magistrate, etc,
were chosen. This provisional court
was the first organized west of the
Missouri river and lead finally to the
territorial organization (provisional) I'M
lS43.
say there seemed to be no end of
courts to try criminals during the first
decade for there was not a crime com
mitted in the American settlement that
has gone on record. But the discovery
of gold in California, and a little later
in Oregon. flooded the country with
outlaws. The saloon came. The gam
bier came. The highwayman came.
In places terror reigued and the law
less were in the rule. Law was de-
rided downtrodden defed. No sheriff
dared bring a criminal to justice with
out becoming a victim of the gang
Many of the outlaws who flooded the
mining camps of eastern Oregon made
highway robbery a profession and
boasted of it. | often asked some Of
these men of their former homes and
friends. Their answer generally was
IL have no friends. This is my
friend. putting their hand on their
revolvers belted to their waist. 'Ihis
friend has always been on hand when
| got into trouble. II will never be-
tray me-" Most of them made that
practical fact.
The notorious Hank Vaughan, raised
in The Dalles, stole some horses and
taking the band eastward toward the
mountains of Idaho, laid down one
night on the banks Of hurnt rNer TO
sleep. The sheriff and deputy Of Una
tlla pursued and erept upon him, but
in arousing him he shot and killed the
sheriff and wounded the deputy and
escaped. He always slept with his re-
volver in his hand.
SO terrible did these outlaws become
that vgilante courts became a neces-
sity and tile only remedy. This was
organized in the Boise basin in 1863
and aided much toward driving out the
desperadoes. Lynch Law" was ad-
ministered to several Of the worst of
them.
While returning from a trip to that
basin-to Bannock in 1863, we had
camped on the Boise river. About
sundown there rode down the road
much worn oat horse and rider. He
asked If he could get lunch with us.
saying he was in greSt haste to ride to
The Dalles where his wife lay sick.
After supper he Land down and we sup
posed be had gone to sleep for the
night, but on awakening next morning
we found that he had gone during the
night. Next day we travelled Is miles
to the Snake river and there learned
that he had crossed te river and gone
ON. The same day posse from
Pacerville, so miles away, came in
pursuit trying to oyertake the notori-
Gus McKnab. lie had that morning
gone to the cabin of a sleeping man
and putting his revolver to his head
awakened him and then put bullet
through his head When the pursuers
came TO the border of the state of
Oregon they dropped pursuit and re-
turned. THIS man was never arrested
for the crime While with US he
seemed an ideal gentleman; paid US
three times the value of the meal he
had eaten and seemed loaded with gold
dust
The outlaw. Romaine, lead the band
of four that murdered MacGruer near
Lewiston, 1861, while he was returning
from the Orofino mines They had
marked his going, had pursued and
waylaid him. These men escaped to
San Francisco. But they were tried,
condemned and banged according to
civil law. the first in that wild ter
ritory. They were the most terrible
for their kin. Just before swinging
off one of them said; Good bye.
boys. I'll meet you all in hell in Is
minutes.
In another mining town we held
mass meeting and issued an ultmatum
to the gamblers that if they were
found in that town after "a hours they
would meet the fate of many whom
they had victimized. All the next day
band of citizens patrolled the streets
with rifles and shot guns. When sun
set came not a gambler was left IN the
town.
These were the days of frontier ter
rors romances adventures. They
were formative days None but daunt-
less stalwart men could have moulded
out Of such times such a civilization as
ours. They we're Gods heroic pio-
neers.
But Few Apples are Left
At tie end Of last week, not count