The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1912-05-02
WHEN BAD MEN RULED WEST.
Thrilling and Daring Deeds of Vigi-
lantes who Cleared up Outlaws.

There is this story about Joseph
A. Slade, a bad man of the early six
ties, in Virginia City, New, to whose
fame various authors have contrib
uted, including Mark Twain:
He and one Bob Scott, some
what noted man of the time, had be-
come interested in set-to at poker;
game followed game, and drink fol-
lowed drink. Both were exhilarated
by liquor; each raised the other till
SHADES money was exhausted. Slade
pointed at the piles of coin heaped
upon the table, exclaiming, Bob,
that money belongs to me-
cit does if the cards say So, said
Bob, not otherwise
"'Perhaps,' rejoined Slade, my
cards are not better than yours; but,
drawing his revolver and pointing it
at Scott, my hand is
"Scott glanced at him with amaze
ment, and for moment both parties
were silent. At length Slade reached
forward to pull down the pile of
double eagles and transfer them to
his pocket, when, quick as lightning,
Scott pushed aside the pistol with
one hand and dealt his antagonist
stunning blow between the eyes
with the other. Slade fell, and Scott
fell on top of him, and gave him "a
severe drubbing, only permitting
him to rise on his promising to be-
have himself. The game was re-
sumed and no reference made to the
fight, until Slade, thoroughly sober
ed, quietly remarked, We'll Bob, If
you'd pounded me about two minutes
longer, I'd have got sober sooner "
This story is told by Nathaniel
Pitt Langford in illustration OF
SHADES characteristic civility to the
man who once downed him so thor
oughly. He never seemed TO forget.
Mr.. Langford, going to the frontier
in June, 1852, with Captain James
l.. Fisk's Northern Overland Exped1-
ton, had personal experiences with
Slade and other outlaws of the times.
Henry Plummer, Charley Harper,
"Cherokee Bob" Boone Helm, Geo.
Ives, Dutch" John, David Opdyke
these and other men with ready
guns and contemptuous of laws have
their places in Mr.. Langford's pages.
And along with the tale of how out
lawry fourished for time is pub
lished the account of how finally the
Vigilantes, a self-constituted author
ity, ended the reign of terror. In no
other recent volumes has the large
caliber gun spoken so constantly and
to such deadly effect; in no other
current chronicle is the noosed rope
so eloquent.
Outlawry had gone far and muir
derously before the events took place
which led to the formation of the
first Vigilance committee.
"The packer of train belonging
to Neil McClinchey, a well-knoWn
mercantile operator of the upper CO.
lumbia, in October, 1852, when four
DAYS out from Florence, on his re-
turn to Walla Walla, was stopped by
masked party, of which Harper
was supposed to be the leader, and
for want of sufficient force robbed OF
fourteen pounds of gold. AS he gave
the treasure into the hands Of the
assailants the villain who took it
said in a consoling tone: That's
sensible. If every man was as rea-
sonable as you things would go along
smoother
Shortly after this robbery Jo-
sep and John Berry were returning
to the river with their train. They
had gone but 40 miles from Florence
when they were confronted by three
men in masks, who, with leveled pls-
tolls, commanded them to throw up
their hands Seeing that resistance
was useless, they obeyed and were
relieved of s1,100. The packers rec
ognized the voices of David Engllsh
and William Peoples, and the third
one was afterward ascertained to be
Nelson Scott. The victims returned
with all possible expedition to Lewis
ton, Idaho, where the report of their
loss excited the most intense indigna-
tion."
An organized pursuit of the rob-
bers began at once.
From the fact that they passed
south of Lewiston it was believed
that they had gone down the Colum-
bia. Distributing themselves among
the different roads and trails in that
direction, the pursuers made diligent
| search for them in every nook and
oAor1 fhon1