FOKEST * AND STREAM. 1 



191 



gttriaCityof to-day; but Us history is full of exciting in- 

 terest. 



All the information the world had of this region until 186$ 

 was that derived from the Story of the explorations of Lewis 

 and Clarke, who passed along the Jefferson in 1805. Trappers 

 and hunters in the employ of the fur companies were its only 

 visitors. But in 186§ prospectors from California entered the 

 I the Territory, and finding gold on Grasshopper Creek, 

 one of the western sources of the Jefferson, established a mining 

 camp which they called Batmack, after the Indians in that 

 vicinity, and went to work. There is now a town of consider- 

 able importance and good promise there, and the mines are 

 still productive. But some of the men were restless, and a 

 party under the lead of James Stewart started on a still longer 

 trip, pushing clear over into ihe Grow country on the Yellow, 

 stone, where the Indians "traded " with them until nearly all 

 their property was gone, and then came very uear " purchas- 

 ing " their scalps. 



Controlled by fear of the Crows, defeated in their designs, 

 and robbed of their horses and provisions, the party started 

 back, little thinking that their calamities were blessings in 

 disguise, and every step of their slow retreat was one pace 

 nearer Fortuna's golden boon. They chose a more southern 

 route than they had followed on the advance, the Indians fol- 

 owing them out of the Crow country,and on May 27, crossed 

 the divide between Virginia City and the Madison, halting to 

 eat their dinner at the head of the gulch, which was filled 

 with a dense growth of underbrush, and was named Alder 

 Gulch forthwith. After lunch one of the men, William Fair- 

 weather, walked over to the side hill to watch the horses, 

 and there found the rim-rock stauding above the gravel. He 

 began to dig with his belt-knife, and soon saw upon its point a 

 flake of gold. Then he dug deeper, filled his pan, washed it 

 out under the eager eyes of his brother Argonauts, and found 

 $1.75 in golden grains ! It was the reward of five hundred 

 miles of patient prospecting. What had seemed a disastrous 

 failure became a glorious victory, aud the fortunate explorers 

 slept that night surrounded by beaches of gravel loaded with 

 the precious mineral. They staked their claims, and named 

 the district Pairweather, in houor of the man who first pan- 

 ned gold in Alder Gulch, whence forty millions of dollars have 

 since, been coined. The news reached Bannack, fifty miles 

 distant, and a stampede began. Everybody who could get 

 away came, seizing a horse, a few blankets and little provision; 

 while many a man too poor for that tramped over the moun- 

 tains afoot. It was a race all the way, and when the main 

 body would stop for the night, a few men would steal away 

 and travel into the new El Dorado before morning in order to 

 be ahead in selecting a claim. Thus it happened that before 

 the first two weeks of this June, of 18G3 were gone, the boulders 

 of the new gulch were ringing to the blows of three hundred 

 picks, and the pretty rivulet was feeding half as many rockers. 

 But the news traveled further — and, in truth, fared worse— 

 than Grasshopper Creek. Emigrants to Oregon turned aside 

 through the Deer Lodge Valley ; a party came up the river 

 from Minnesota, another great com pany known as the " Fisk 

 Outfit" marched across from the east under government escort; 

 and many drove in from Utah and California. All roads led 

 to Alder Gulch. A town was built just off the bar, a long, 

 straggling street of log huts, aud the hillsides were dotted with 

 cabins and dug-outs. It was called Verona, after Jeff. Davis' 

 wife ; and after the miners, poured in traders, whiskey-sellers, 

 desperadoes, gamblers, theives and prostitutes, and the crowd 

 doubled and multiplied itself until ten thousand persons eddied 

 about the places in a feverish haste for wealth. No one had 

 time to huild houses then. Those who had covered wagons to 

 live in were aristocratic. The majority were content with 

 wickjups of alder boughs or caves»in the hillside. They were 

 thoughtless of comfort, of health, of the future. Here was 

 gold? Gold in the mud that clogged their boots, Gold in the 

 dust that blew into their eyes, Gold beneath every pebble that 

 glinted under the summer sun. For seventeen miles the bed 

 of the river concealed a broad, gray streak under a blanket of 

 boulders and soil, and a thousand claims were taken up. The 

 weather during the first two years was favorable to the busy 

 gold-diggers, and there were slight interruptions to this realiza- 

 tion of a miner's dream. The shovel and pick were an Alla- 

 din's lamp and ring that called boundless wealth from the 

 vaults of Alder Guleh. " Verona" was soon changed to Vir- 

 ginia City,butno post-office was established until late in 1864, 

 the mail being brought up from Corinne previous to that by 

 the Express company— Wells-Fargo, of course— each letter or 

 newspaper costing about one dollar. There were at that time 

 stage-lines to Salt Lake and Bannack, and wagon roads were 

 gradually becoming worn between Virginia City and the out- 

 lying mining camps that explorers were incessantly forming. 



"With the starting of the coaches, and the passage of trea- 

 sure out in the pockets of passengers, began the reign of terror 

 which for months made Montana a scene of outlawry, and 

 resulted in the administration of the Vigilantes. The 

 country was filled with desperadoes from California and 

 outlaws from the East who reveled in murder and rapine. 

 Crime was rampant ; iniquity organized; no man's life was 

 safe for a moment. Men were shot not aloue for money, nor 

 in the heat of quarrels ; not alone in a spirit of revenge which 

 followed and assassiuated them in secret ; but in broad day- 

 light and surrounded by their friends— shot by men who did 

 not even know their names — " Just for luck," the ruffians 

 uSed to say. It was a common occurrence For a desperado to 

 enter a dance hall with a whoop and a yell, and "turn loose" 

 into the crowd just to see them scatter, or to shoot at the 

 DQ#Qil lamps in the chandeliers till all the lights were out. 



One morning a slight argument gs to the merits of the meal 

 arose between two men at breakfast, and was settled by one 

 shooting the other across the table. A young stranger had 

 just entered, and started to run back when the revolver came 

 down to a rest, with the stern command, "Sit down and eat 

 your breakfast, you , or I'll kill you, too. The boy's ap- 

 petite was not good, but he obeyed. A guardian was one day 

 correcting his boy for some mischievous pranks, when an un- 

 known mau stepped up, and remarking, "I don't like this," 

 presented a derringer. The boy escaped further punishment. 

 Two men would conceive a dislike to one another, and one 

 would send word that he would kilt the other on sight. Such 

 a compact existed between Ives and Carrhart in '04. Carr- 

 hart, pistol in hand, passing Ives' cabin, one day, saw the 

 owner standing in front of it with his back turned. Waiting 

 until his antagonist wheeled, the men caught sight of one 

 auolher simultaneously, and both let drive at the same instant, 

 one missing tire and the other his opponent by an inch ! Carr- 

 hart's second shot flashed right in Ives' face, and just missed 

 again, while Ives' shot struck the ground. Then, both men 

 jumped into cabins, and fired at each other across the street 

 until Ives' revolver was empty, and Carrhart had one ball 

 left. As Ives walked off to make his escape, Carrhart shot 

 him in the hack, the ball passing through and knocking up 

 the dust ahead of him. The man was not at all dead, and 

 cursiug Carrhart for a coward, ran to get another revolver, 

 but his enemy escaped. Then they made up their quarrels, 

 and lived on a ranch together all winter. 



Two or three unprovoked murders and the massacre of a 

 band of friendly Indians, merely for the fun of seeing them 

 jump and run, caused an attempt at arrest and trial of some 

 of the ruffians, but the whole thing was a miserable farce, and 

 encouraged rather than checked crime. The leader of law- 

 lessness at this time was Henry Plummer, a man of pleasing 

 address and gentlemanly manners, making friends wherever 

 he went. It was only when under the influence of liquor or 

 anger that his demoniac passions appeared, and he became 

 the terror of the neighborhood. Beginning his career as a 

 citizen of Nevada, California, and becoming the sheriff there, 

 his first murder was of a German named Vedder, whose wife 

 Plummer had seduced. Hearing Vedder's footsteps approach- 

 ing the house on one occcasion, he ordered him to leave, 

 which Vedder naturally declined to do under the circum- 

 stances—and died right there. For this Plummer was sent to 

 the penitentiary for ten years, but was soon pardoned out. Then 

 he went back to Nevada, aud the next we hear of him was 

 on the occasion of his beating a man on the head with his 

 pistol, in a house of ill-fame, so that the mau died soon after. 

 No arrest being made for this, Plummer went over to Washoe 

 and joined a band of highway robbers, who in the West are 

 always called road agents. Attempting to rob a bullion ex- 

 press, his gun was at fault, and the driver lashed his horses 

 into a speed that carried him out of reach before he 

 could shoot again. For this he w T as tried, aad escaped on 

 technical grounds. Beturning to Nevada City, he very soon 

 got into another brothel quarrel, and shot a man dead, for 

 which he was locked up, but walked out with a revolver iu 

 each hand, supplied to him through bribery. Next he help- 

 ed a murderer to break jail, and, stealing horses, the two 

 fled to Oregon, where they killed the owner of a dancing 

 saloon, and then "went upon the road," for the purpose of 

 baffling pursuit, sending word to the California- newspapers 

 that they had been hanged at Walla Walla. His comrade, se- 

 ducing a man's wife in one of the Tillages of Oregon, met 

 death at the hands of the husband ; while Plummer started 

 for the Missouri, intending to go to the States. On his way 

 the news of the fabulous riches of Montana reached him,, and 

 joining the ferocious set of villains that followed the crowd 

 thither, Plummer diverged to Bannack, killing a man at Oro- 

 fino ou the -way. A former partner of Plummer's was Jack 

 Cleveland, but the men had quarreled about a young woman, 

 and were only waiting an excuse to fight. One day Cleveland 

 entered a saloon where Plummer was, aud got into a dispute 

 with a stranger. Plummer instantly took sides against his for- 

 mer partner, and settled the debate by shooting him several 

 times. Most of the persons in the room discovered that Ihey 

 had errands outside, but a man who was being shaved sat 

 quietly, aud the barber never ceased. One can get used to 

 almost anything. Cleveland was not quite dead, but no one 

 dared go near him, except a powerful miner named Hank 

 Crawford, who comforted his dying moments. Coming out he 

 met PJutumer, and the two men looking at one another knew 

 that a deadly enmity existed from that moment. At the mock 

 trial of Plummer, where he was honorably acquitted, ou ac- 

 count of Cleveland's threats, Crawford was sheriff. This in- 

 creased Plummer's hatred, and it was only a short time until 

 a shooting affray occurred, wherein Plummer's right arm was 

 disabled, and his marvelous skill and quickness with the re- 

 volver ruined. However, he learned to shoot very well with 

 his left hand. 



Plummer was Sheriff of Bannack, and afterward of Vir- 

 ginia City, securing his election by a very potent method of 

 "bull-dozing," aud using his official character as a cloak for 

 his misdeeds. He gathered about him a choice company of 

 miscreants, aud Ihey made a business of stopping and robbing 

 the stages, shooting the Occupants if they offered the least re- 

 sistance or were likely to prove troublesome after ward. 

 Their arms were a double-barreled shot-gun, loaded with 

 buck-shot, and two revolvers, and their method was to .sur- 

 prise the stage in some canyon, order every passenger to hold 

 up his hands by a formula garnished with oaths, and then one 

 of the robbers would search the pockets and disarm the vie* 



thus, while the rest held loaded pistols at their heads. 

 Finally Ihey begau to murder miners in their cabins, shoot 

 them on their claims, stab them in the dark, for the. chance 

 money that might be in their pockets. No one was safe 

 for an instant. It was not known who was in league with 

 the road agents and who was innocent. A word of threat 

 against them, or a movement toward investigation, only in- 

 vited assassination. Law was null, justice was powerless. 

 The revolverwas the arbiter of all disputes. Something must 

 be done. 



That which aroused the community to this necessity at last 

 was a rapid series of circumstances, beginning with a cold- 

 blooded murder near Virginia City by George Ives, a miner, 

 who had not al ways been a criminal, but had lately devoted 

 his whole strength to robbery and shooting. As soon as Ives' 

 hiding-place was known, a party of men surrounded it in the 

 gray dawn of the morning, and at the muzzle of the rifle took 

 Ives from the rest and carried him to town. He was tried 

 before a jury, defended by lawyers, hung in the moonlight 

 from the end of a pole. 



The turbulence and illy-restrained resistance of the mob at 

 this execution, and some terrible outrages, involving the mas- 

 sacre of whole companies of men, roused honest citizens to 

 form themselves into a secret society for punishment. The 

 idea was not an original one. Similar organizations for the 

 preservation of law and order, whose tribunals were presided 

 over by Judge Lynch, had purged California of lawlessness, 

 and from them the Committee of Safety in Virginia City bor- 

 rowed the name " Vigilantes." 



The Vigilantes were made up of all classes of citizens- 

 merchants, miners and professional men. Everybody who 

 possessed any activity or had suffered any grievance were 

 counted among these rctributors. They had signs— a code of 

 telegraphic signals— passwords and vouchers as to each other's 

 faithfulness. The whole order-loving community recognized 

 the necessity of their terrible vengeance, and supported them 

 in sympathy if not in deed. In general the members of the 

 committee were not known, and details, chosen by the gen- 

 eral body, were assigned to the making of certain arrests and 

 conducting the inevitable execution in as quiet and disguised 

 a manner as possible. The effort usually was to hang their 

 captive before he suspected that he was a prisoner, allowing 

 no time for any plan of rescue or escape to mature. If their 

 justice had the terror and swift surprise of a lightning-stroke 

 their work was guided by fair judgment and restraint on the 

 whole ; and when one thinks how many lives were at their 

 mercy, and richly deserving their punishment, and considers 

 how few comparatively were sacrificed, he will believe that 

 more moderation than could be expected characterized their 

 proceedings. 



When the hand of the Vigilantes began to be felt in Vir- 

 ginia City, the desperadoes were alarmed. Here was a de- 

 termined check to their lawlessness, against which their fury 

 was wasted. They fled, and news came of the plague of 

 their presence in other camps. The Vigilantes were not thus 

 to be foiled, and "scouts" of determined men started in all 

 directions after the miscreants. An armed police patrolled 

 the territoiy, and no mining camp or isolated ranch or moun- 

 tain cabin was obscure enough to hide these wolves of society. 

 They suspected every man to be a Vigilanter, were always 

 prepared, aud often were shot dead at last in defending them- 

 selves. But, if possible, the pursuers captured and hung 

 them— hung them from limbs of tree?, all teizing the rope tr> 

 gether and running the condemned men twice thur height off 

 the ground ; standing them on barrels and kicking the ban-els 

 out from under them the instant the noose was adjusted- 

 balancing a plank over a stone and playing a short game of 

 see-saw, with a road agent for counter-poise ; suspending 

 them four and five at a time from the ratters of new cabins 

 the gateposts of corrals and the wheels of huge freight 

 wagons; standing them on the tail-board of a wagon and 

 driving out from under ; seating them behind a Vigilanter on 

 horseback and putting spurs to the pony, who sprang away 

 with but one rider; holding them high in their arms and 

 letting them drop as far as the hemp would allow. Such 

 were some of the methods of hanging, but the same irrevoca- 

 ble fate resulted from all. 



Sometimes the ruffians would tremble, and plead and 

 threaten in crazed and incoherent despair ; prayer and menace 

 alike unheeded by their stem captors. But ordinarily they 

 died as they had lived, reckless of present or future, and pro- 

 faning every ssnliment which men dtein worthy of re- 

 spect. " Launch your — — ■ old boat ; it's only a mud-scow 

 anyway," ordered one as he stood on the shore of eter- 

 nity. "Gentlemen, I'm green at this business, never hav- 

 ing been hung before. Snail I jump off or slide off?" Beiuf 

 told to jump he leaped into the air, as one steps from his car- 

 riage after a morning ride. 



The road agents rarely buried their murdered victims- the 

 Vigilantes usually left the malefactors hanging where they put 

 them, allowing friends to bury them where they pleased 

 Usually quiet and seriousness attended all executions. Spec- 

 tators were always many, and sympathizers not a few ; but a 

 guard of Vigilautes stood about the gallows with cocked re- 

 volvers, and a movement iu the crowd meant instant death, 

 Once an outsider pressed against oneof the guard, at the same 

 time putting his hand in the bosom of his shirt. " Takeaway 

 your hand, please," remarked the Vigilanter,*pleasantly, •' I 

 want to shoot just through that middle button. - ' The hand 

 oame down, and the man kept his distance very carefidlv. 



On one occasion, however, the hangmen were enraged be- 

 yond control. They went to the cabin of a Mexican named 



