The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-08-20

had challenged death again and again
in support of what he believed to be
right, and all because he refused to
prosecute without proof.
A portion of the Vigilante group had
decided that a young pioneer, scarcely
out OF his teens, was an undesirable
citizen and should be dealt with.
Colonel Sanders demanded proof of the
truth of the charges. They were not
forthcoming. He thereupon announced
unequivocally that there would be no
the Vigilante prosecutor. The hot-heads
decided that in the matter of the
youth, the colonel was insubordinate;
that it was his duty to act and not to
question the action of the organization
as a whole but do what he was told
Sits in on Trial
Colonel Sanders learned of the pro-
posed trial. It was a cold night. He
borrowed a buffalo robe overcoat and
secreted himself in the hay loft of the
barn in which the assembly was to
be held. He was present but not par
ticipating."
Those who knew the dauntless spirit
of the old warrior have no difficulty
in believing that had a verdict been
returned against him he would have
undoubtedly appeared among his self
appointed judges with a determination
to compel them to back up the verdict,
man to man.
But no verdict was returned. AS a
matter of fact no trial was held. Com
mon sense dominated the meeting after
the usual amount of steam had been
blown off by those responsible for the
Of the Old Guard Vigilantes On hand
to check the attempt at a trial it is
barely possible that the reckless, dom
ineering element might have made the
name "Vigilante" anathema instead of
the honored n it is today in Alder
gulch.
Colonel Sanders died in 1905. During
his last days Cornelius Hedges, one
ucation and an old friend, called on
the colonel to cheer him up. He urged
him to view the situation hopefully.
The same old spirit that prompted the
colonel to attend the Vigilante meet
ing blazed up. Hedges" he said, II
understand my situation exactly. I am
nearly at the end. In a little while
they will put what is left of me in a
box and haul me down to the cemetery.
dirt on me-. But Hedges"-he lifted
himself on his elbow and his voice
rose-"Hedges, they may throw dirt
on me but no man ever made me eat
dirt"
The original Vigilante organization
had a brief though colorful career. It
came into existence after the execu-
ton of George Ives, Dec. %, 1868, and
disbanded after Montana territory was
formed and constitutional law estab-
lished. It came into existence to make
what is now Montana a safe place to
live in and it succeeded beyond the
members expectations. Having seen
ordered government established, they
were content to lay down their arms.
Pseudo Vigilantes
But the Vigilante spirit manifested
itself in other parts of the state, Cap
tain Sanders, his son, remembers. II
have seer my father walk the floor in
agony over the actions of some of these
pseudo Vigilantes," he said. HE be-
lieved in the Vigilante method only
order to be invoked. Even under the
wild conditions that prevailed in Mon
tana in 1863-64, he believed that no
man should be punished until he had
been tried and found guilty in proper
FORM"
The captain also recalls that Colonel
Sanders NICE spent a good portion of
an evening en d9{1. P9lotT " gr through ! Q the 1,e,: nov
which he felt was not justified by any
proof. II remember it because 1 ran
along with him." he said.
Another man whose sense of justice
wa outraged by pseudo igilantes-
who were regarded by many as nothing
more than blood-thirsty mobs, it is
asserted-was the Rev. w. l.. Shipper.
who shouldered his ak one evening,
went out and cut down the Vigilante
gallows, the hangman's tree of Helena.
He felt that it was a disgrace to the
community.