Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1929-03-28

- Cosmopolitan tne-
alter, an lmatu
to the toughs brought on a tense sit
uatiOn with blOOdShed inevitable as
the ruffian element stood their ground
until the accidental shooting of their
ringleader, John Chinnick, caused
them to lose heart and to give up the
game.
With the advent of the railroad in
1881, Miles City as well as other towns
along its route were speedily infested
with a new species of bad men" Of a
different type from the old gambler,
faro wheel operator and tWo-gun men
who were tolerated because they had
always been part and parcel Of the
scene. The new order of undesirable
citizens consisted OF thugs and ruffians
from the city streets; touts, thieves and
raScalS.
William Rigney was one of these
drifting bad men who had come with
the railroad. He had been in Billings
earlier in the year and had been bat
tered up in a fiStic battle of his own
provoking with John Ryan, a variety
house proprietor. At Miles City he
was employed as a bartender at the
saloon in the Cosmopolitan theater,
owned by John Chinnick, n of the
founders OF the city, who had thrown
his lot in with the new order of toughs.
Rigney, with a companion, in a
drunken condition early on Saturday
morning, July IS, forced their way in
to the home of Mr.. Campbell while the
family was at breakfast. Ordered to
leave, they became abusive, using foul
language and improper remarks be-
fore the daughters of the house.
Charles Brown, a neighbor, hearing the
disturbance, ran across with a club in
his hand. Rigney still refusing to 60,
Brown knocked him senSeleSS with
some well-directed blows while his
comrade beat a hasty retreat. Rigney
was carried to the Jail where a physi-
clan attended him.
News of the affair soon spread ovev
the city and the action of the ruffians
caused great indignation. The town
toughs had been growing more and
more bold and the invasion of a pri-
vate home and the insulting of the
women in it was the last straw. Chiv-
airy toward respectable women was a
part of the code of even the bad men
of the old west and Rigney was to pay
dearly for It's violation.
That night a posse of masked men
came to the Jail, overpowered the jailer
and took Rigney out to a railroad tres
tie about a half mile from the town
az OAAG 4 OWANA AtAfNA NAOocAAA6s Aa CRAOS
of his pleas for his life with offers to
leave the town, Rigney was hung. The
railroad ties across the trestle fOrmed
the scaffold.
The same morning that Rigney was
hung, the residents Of Miles City who
were not out as ~vigilantes, aWOke to
find a disastrous fire raging in the bus
mess section of town. The fire started
in the same Cosmopolitan theater with
which Rigney and Chinnick were con-
nected and it spread rapidly to adjOin-
to be of i%ncendiary origin and the idea
was advanced that some of the toughs
had set 1t afire as a repriSal for the
hanging of Rigney. The theater and
saloon were at the east end of a series
of about a half dozen frame buildings
ending with a brick building of the
First National bank.
There was a series of explosions in
the early part of the fire which hast
ened the spreading Of the flames and
frightened the volunteer firemen, who
had been making futile efforts to halt
the flames, into withdrawing to a safer
distance. With renewed fury, the fire
swept west, enveloping the BuziSki's
general store, a two story building oc-
cupied by Savage's drug store and a
jewelry store. There were also three
small buildings occupied by a lunch
counter, a tobacco store and the Side
Board saloon, and a pine-log structure
occupied by Flick's gambling hall,
which burned with great heat.
In the burning of the theater, a
troupe of performers lost their ward
robes, according to a contemporary ac-
count. The loss by the fire was es-
timated at 500, 600, of which about
half was covered by insurance. This
was the third time, according to the
same account, that attempts to burn
the theatre had been made.
During the course of the fire there
was danger Of it spreading to stores
and even residences nearby as the hot
emberS were thrown into the air and
the citizens were kept busy protecting
these places from fire. Fortunately,
the brick wall of the bank proved eff
fective in stopping the flames from
spreading farther in the block. A wind
storm came up toward evening, re-
newing the danger from flying brands
and many owners sat up all night to
guard their places from destruction,
using hose and water lines to keep the
roofs wet.
During the night, a public safety
committee comprising the leading Cit
liens, started to carry out q decision
that had been made a few hours be-
fore, to order the toughs out of town.
The committee took over the delicate
task of waiting on those against whom
the sentence Of exile had been pro-
nounced, giving them only a few hours
to get out of town. Chinnick was one
of those thus honored. During the
night the old vigilante sign 3-7-77 was
written in chalk on the doors of var
ious places that harbored disreputable
characters.
But the town ruffians were not to
be SO easily cowed and made it plain
that any effort to carry out the ulti-
matum would be met with prompt re-
taliation. On Monday morning, a no
tice was found posted or the door of
Charles Brown, who had knocked Rig
ney down in the ARRAY at the Camp
bell door. Naming the leaders of the
safety committee, 1t read "Bullard,
Burleigh, Ringer. Dear, Van Gasken
and others-m urderers-you are
marked" The notice In red ink bore
the date 7-22-82. Early the next eve
mini another sign was found which