Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-08-29
The Vi91antes
Hung 10 Men
In TuO Weeks
THE VIGILANTES perfected their
organization in December, 1868,
= par RIG pfn11fc NN1Ib11f. L Snndnrc nnd

THE VIGILANTES perfected their
organization in December, 1868,
Paris Pfouts, Wilbur f.. Sanders and
James Williams planning a quick cam
palgn againt the road agents who had
terrOriled the mining camps of what
is now Montana for months. They
knew that Aleck Carter had been a
pal of Ives and Williams, and with a
party Of 20 men started out to get him.
On the way they met Erastus Yeager,
commonly called Red" who was not
suspected OF being a road agent. From
him they asked information regarding
the Whereabouts of Carter and received
a misleading answer. Yeager then cut
around the Vigilantes to warn his tel-
low criminals and for the time they
escaped. Williams learned of Yeager's
treachery and found that another man
named George Brown was also impli-
Gated.
Williams caught these two men and
questioned them separately. Their
stories did not agree and then they
were brought together and asked to
explain their discrepancies. They were
held prisoners while a message was sent
to Sanders and Pfouts al Virginia
City. The committee at Virginia City
approved the hanging of the two, and
Williams Immediately arranged for the
execution. Yeager confessed his guilt
and broke out in denunciation Of the
men who had led him to join the road
agents. Williams induced him to name
them, and the Vigilantes were startled
by the revelation. He declared that
Plummer, the sheriff, was the leader,
and other members were his deputies,
Buck Stinson, Ned Ray and Jack Gal
lagher.
The names of other members were
given and or this evidence the Vigi-
lantes proceeded to exterminate the
band. Brown and Yeager were hanged,
and the Vigilantes began a hurried
search to round up the road agents
whose names had been given by Yea
ger. Dutch John" Wagner tried to
leave the country but was arrested by
Neil HOWE, who, with the help of John
FeatherStOne, brought him back to Ban
mack for trial. John Lott, with a posse,
hurried from Virginia City to Ban
mack and captured Plummer, Ray and
Stinson. Plummer was making ready
to leave the country, but his arrange
ments were too late. The three men
had already been tried and convicted
and they were led quickly to a gallows
which Plummer had built to hang an
other man.
The Vigilantes then went to the cabin
of another road agent, "Greaser" Joe
Peganthia. He put up a fight and
killed one man. The attacking party
then battered down his cabin with a
small amor and pulled him out Of
the ruins. He was hanged and his
body, riddled with bullets, was thrown
into the flames of his burning cabin.
The Vigilante crowd then proceeded to
try Dutch John" Wagner. He had
confessed and given the names OF many
road agents. He was then condemned
and hanged. The remaining road
agents left Bannack and the V~igilantes
Gallagher and a band were threaten
ing to burn the camps. The Vigilantes
surrounded Virginia City and five
known bandits were captured. They
protested their innocence but were tied
to the rafter of a partly constructed
building. The five were "ClubfoOt'
George Lang, Jack Gallagher, Boone
Helm, Frank Parish and Hayes Lyon.
The boxes were pulled from beneath
their feet one by n
Thirteen road agents had been
hanged within two weeks ard the
others were trying desperately to
escape. Pfouts and Williams, with a
large posse, followed in hot pursuit.
1l Vic ol6AAOACt cACy AONAAA o1N'S
Marshland and hanged him. The same
fate met Bill Bunton at Deer Lodge.
At Hell Gate, they captured Cyrus
Skinner, Aleck Carter and Johnny
Cooper; at Baron O'Keefe's range they
found Bob Zachary. They were tried
in the Worden 81 Higgins store and
hanged to a cottonwood tree nearby.
Up the Bitter Root George Shears was
hanged and at Fort Owen Whisky"
Bill Graves met the same fate. There
remained only one name on the list
given by Yeager. Bill Hunter had
escaped from Virginia City and was re-
ported to be in hiding in the Gallatin
valley. A posse was sent to get him
and, on Feb. 2, he was hanged. No
other road agents were known to be in
the country, and the mining camps set
tied down to a period Of comparative
peace and safety.