The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1923-03-23
EARLY DAY COURTS AND JUDGES; FIRST GREAT
TRIAL WAS THAT OF GEORGE IVES, ROAD AGENT

Here is q rare historical narra-
tive, the story of the first great
trial I'm Montana, that of George
Ives, master highwayman, by the
pen of famous MOntanan, the late
Judge William Y. Pemberton, who
served the miners court as clerk,
and afterwards became chief JUS
dce of the state. 1t gives some
thing of the personnel of the Off
GERS of that famous court, and mar
= rates the fact that PIummer's men,
enraged at the execution of Ives,
and the part Colonel Wilbur F.
Sanders, the prosecutor of the
court, had taken in it, and of their
attempt to assassinate him, a cir
cumstance not generally known.
Judge Pemberton pays great trib-
ute to the courage and ability of
<. Sanders, then in his early twen-
ties, in connection with the prose-
cution of Iyes
The late lamented and greatly low
ed DR.. w. l.. Steele was the first
miners judge in Alder Gulch. 1t was
before his court that Hayes Lyon and
Buck Stinson were tried and convict
ed of killing Dillingham; and sem
.tenced to be hung. They appealed to
the miners in mass meeting and the
sentences were reversed. They es-
capped, only to be afterwards caught
and hung by the Vigilance commit
tee.
The first great murder trial in the
territory was the George Ives trial.
And truly it was a great trial. Don
l.. Byam was the judge; the main
street of the town of Nevada, in
Alder Gulch, was the court room;
George Ives was the noted defendant
Colonel w. F. Sanders and Major
Charles S. Baggs prosecuted in be-
half of the people. Alex Davis, J. M.
Thurman and H. P. A. Smith defend
ed. The charge was murder The
jury consisted of twenty-four sturdy
miners; the trial was public.
Ives was not tried by the vigilance
committee as many enormously sup
pose. He was tried and executed be-
fore the organization of the vigilance
committee. w. H. Patten and my
self were selected to write down the I,
testimony of the witnesses. The |
judge sat in a wagon. The jury sat |
lin a half circle around a big log fire
for it was cold. 1t was about the |
goth of December, 1868. The pris-
oner, Mr.. Patten and myself, were
within the half circle. Hundreds of |
determined men stood around the
court and the jury during the entire
trial, which lasted two or three days.
Was Epoch-Making Trial
u / said 1t was great trial. 1t was; |
bit was a grand court There were
|no paraphernalia or insignia of office I
ito impress and awe the beholder
there. But surrounded by the snow
covered mountains, sitting in that
open street in mid-winter, no court
|ever had more vital questions put to
It than the one presided over by that
grand old bearded man, Don l..
'Byam. Crime was rampant. Rob-
berry and murder had become COM
mon crimes committed by men whose
Huty it was to protect the lives and
property Of the people. A great crisis
bad arisen in the history of the pion- ;
fers struggling for life and fortune
n their new home. The lawless cut {
hroats had rendered the issue as to ]
|Fhether the people should live and ;
bnjoy the fruits of their discovery {
tnd labor. Here in this great trial [
before this grand court, the people
bad accepted the issue thus rendered. {
1t was royal battle. The result {
Vas by no means certain. 1t was a !
ebatable question whether the law i
|ess or law-abiding were in the as
tendency. This was to be determined t
"a this trial. Both elements were in /
'orce; both determined; both armed e
But as the battle waged the friends
Il law and order gathered strength
| nd completed to some extent the or t
ianization of their forces. You could t
|bok into the eyes and faces of the c
onest people as they stood guard S
Round that court and jury, sitting c
| ut in the street under the cold blue e
eavens and real the thoughts that S
flled their souls. You could dis a
|bver their determination to see JUS v
Ice done, though the heavens should il