USA > Idaho > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 52
USA > Montana > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 52
USA > Washington > History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana : 1845-1889 > Part 52
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
shooting of J. R. Seeley, an inoffensive and respect- able resident of Idaho City, at a public ball, by John Holbrook; and the equally unprovoked shooting of John Coray by Fitz-Gibbons. Holbrook was ar- rested, and on the impanelling of the first grand jury in the county was charged with murder in the first degree, but on trial the jury failed to agree, and it was found impossible in his case, as in that of all the others, to convict him of murder in the first degree.25
Coray was arrested and confined in the county prison, while elaborate funeral ceremonies reminded the community hourly of its bereavement. Murmurs of mob violence gathered strength, which prompted the stationing in the jail-yard by the authorities of a large posse armed to protect the prisoner. On return- ing from the burial of Coray about 100 men halted on the brow of the hill above the jail and prepared to make a descent. Judge Parks, who was present, in- duced them to desist. Nevertheless, Fitz-Gibbons was not convicted of murder in the first degree when his trial came.
The election of October, by putting A. O. Bowen,26 a tool of bad characters, in the office of sheriff, in place of Sumner Pinkhamn, a good and brave man, did not mend matters. In December Ada county was set off front Boisé by the legislature, with Boisé City as the county seat, D. C. Updyke, a rogue, being chosen sheriff. Thus the Boisé basin was at the mercy of desperadoes in office and out of it. About this time, flour and bread becoming scarce, the idlers and des- peradoes attempted to help themselves, and a riot ensucd. This was followed by the destruction of Idaho City by fire.
In July 1865 the crisis came in Boisé county, when Ferdinand J. Patterson, a gambler and disreputable
25 The attorney of Boise district stated, in 1865, that about 60 deaths by vielence had occurred in the county since its organizatien, without one con- viction for murder. Boisé City Statesman, Sept. 3, 1863.
26 'A vascillating wretch,' Butler calls him. Life and Times, MS., 5.
459
MURDER OF PINKHAM.
person,27 shot and killed Pinkham, the murder being well-known to be a political one. The affair happened at the warm springs, near Idaho City, on the 23d of July. Patterson coming suddenly upon his victim with a threatening expression, Pinkham attempted to draw, when he was instantly despatched. Patter- son was arrested as he was escaping, and examined before Milton Kelly of the 3d judicial district, who had him committed for murder; but his case being presented to the grand jury, the indictment was ignored by four of the jurors, eleven being for indict- ment. A preliminary examination before Chief Jus- tice McBride, successor of Edgerton and Silas Woodson, resulted in his commitment to await the action of the next grand jury.
Previous to the killing of Pinkham, who was re- garded as the leader of the loyal element of Boisé society, no vigilance committee had existence within the precincts of the mining district proper, but the action of the grand jury in ignoring this crime, and threats made by desperate characters to burn the town a second time, brought about an organization. A meeting was called by C. S. Kingley, methodist preacher, and the business men of the city were invited to participate, an organization being formed similar to that of the Payette committee of safety, Orlando Rob- bins28 being sent toconfer with McConnell, the president of that organization, and to solicit his aid. The meet- ings were held in one of the underground warehouses of which I have spoken, where, between rows of boxes and barrels, their anxious faces dimly revealed by flickering lanterns, half a hundred earnest men re-
27 Staples of Portland was killed by Patterson, who was acquitted when it was shown that there was a quarrel. Patterson was educated in Texas, where his father was a man of good social position. He came to Cal. in 1850, and fell into evil ways, but not for some years did he engage in those street fights which gave him the reputation of being a dangerous character. He was shot in 1856 at Yreka, was again wounded at Sailor Diggings, Or., in 1859, and engaged in several other shooting affairs before killing Staples at Portland in 1861. According to McConnell, he scalped his mistress, unintentionally however, while threatening to cut off her hair for some offence. He had been but a short time in Boise when he killed Pinkham.
28 Robbins was in 1878 U. S. marshal of the 3d district.
460
POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
solved to adopt measures for the better protection of life and property. The hanging of Patterson was de- termined upon, but the purpose of the committee be- coming publicly known, the sheriff, James T. Crutcher, rallied the rough element, and to avoid a general con- flict, the case was allowed to go to trial. Patterson was acquitted, and realizing that his life was in peril among the friends of Pinkham in Idaho, he lost no time in leaving the country. But the avenger was upon his track, and he was shot down at Walla Walla, in the spring of 1866, by order of the committee.29 Patterson was followed to the grave by a large con- course of persons of his class, of whom there were many in Walla Walla at that time.3 His death seemed to serve as a warning, and there was a per- ceptible lessening of the crime of murder in the Boisé basin thereafter.
But the struggle with desperadoes was not ended, when Idaho City and vicinity experienced some relief. All along the stage route from Boisé City to Salt Lake robberies were frequent and murders not rare. As in other places, resort was had to committees of safety. In April 1866 John C. Clark, a gambler, shot and killed Reuben Raymond in a quarrel over some accounts. He was placed in the guard-house at Fort Boisé, but was taken out in the night by vigilants and hanged.31 A few days afterward David Č. Up-
29 See Popular Tribunals, passim, this series. Patterson was killed by Thomas Donovan, who was a night-watchman in a hotel at Walla Walla. McConnell says about the ease: 'Arrangements were made to have him killed in Walla Walla. He was killed in a cowardly, cold-blooded way, as he had killed Pinkbam. The man who killed him was afraid of him, he having threatened the man's life.' Idaho Inferno, MS., 71. Donovan was tried, the jury disagreeing, 7 being for acquittal. He was rearrested in S. F., brought back to Walla Walla, and finally released.
30 McConnell states in his Inferno that he left Idabo in the autumn of 1866, because there was 'a hand lurking in every haunt to deprive him of life,' for the part he had taken in endeavoring to suppress outlawry. Idaho Inferno, MS., 88-9.
si Sce Dalles Mountaincer, Apr. 4, 1865. On one of the posts of the gal- lows was pinned this notice: 'Justice has now commenced her righteous work. This suffering community, which has already lain too long under the ban of ruffianism, shall now be renovated of its thieves and assassins. . . This fatal example has no terror for the innocent, but let the guilty beware and not delay too long, and take warning.' Boise City Statesman, April 10, 1866.
461
HANGING OF UPDYKE AND DIXON.
dyke, ex-sheriff of Ada county, and Jacob Dixon, formerly of Shasta county, California, were hanged on a tree on the road to South Boisé. Updyke had re- signed his office of sheriff on being detected in trading in county warrants and failing to pay over to the county the tax money collected. A grand jury was called, which preferred two indictments, and some papers issued preparatory to his impeachment, when suddenly a nolle prosequi was entered, and the whole matter dismissed. Such was the power of his friends who had elected him. The attention of an organiza- tion of vigilants extending from Boisé to Salt Lake City, of men in the service of the stage company," was called to the movements of Updyke, who was finally proved to belong to a band of highwaymen guilty of various crimes, among which were some ag- gravated cases of stage-robbery, one within six miles of Boisé City and another in Port Neuf Cañon, near Fort Hall,33 in the first of which a passenger was wounded, and in the second the driver killed. For these and other crimes Updyke was hanged with one of his accomplices,34 the others escaping through the courtesy of the law. The act which led to the ex- sheriff's taking-off was the malicious burning of a quantity of hay belonging to the stage company. The perpetrators were traced to their rendezvous and captured, when Updyke made a general confession, which revealed the names of the gang that for two
32 'Ben Holladay,' says McConnell, 'was a splendid organizer. He had a lot of men around bim who were, as we term them, thoroughbreds. Every one was a fighting man.' Idaho Inferno, MS., 55.
33 The governor of Idaho issued a requisition for three suspicious characters detained by the governor of B. C., viz., George Smith, Lawrence Dulligan alias Brocky Jack, and one Murphy. They were taken. but owing to a delay about the papers were released, and escaped in a boat. The Idaho officers who were in pursuit chartered a schooner, which they armed with 2 swivel-guns, traced them to and captured thein at Orcas Island in the Fuca Sea, where was a large amount of property concealed, with boats in which the robbers inade their plundering expeditions.
"On the body of Updyke was fastened a card reading: 'David Updyke, the aider of murderers and horse-thieves.' On Dixon's body was this: 'Jake Dixon, counterfeiter, horse-thief, and road-agent generally. A dupe and tool of Dave Updykc.' Both cards were signed XXX. Boise City Statesman, April 17, 180G; Owyhee Avalanche, April 21, 18G6.
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
years had infested the road. This, with the ex- termination of Patterson, cleansed somewhat public morals. Whether or not the same end could have been attained in any other way under the peculiar con- dition of the territory, overrun with the concrete ruf- fianism which for fifteen years had been gathering on the Pacific coast, to which protection was extended by a political party, will never be known. It has been estimated that in Idaho, and in Montana which was even more tormented,35 no less than 200 outlaws were executed by committees between 1861 and 1866. Such a carnival of sin and violence could never be repeated.
Had crime been confined to professional criminals, vigilance committees might have crushed it. But such were the temptations to dishonesty, that few of those who had the handling of public money came out of office with clean hands. The first United States marshal, D. S. Payne, was removed for corruption in office. Alfred Slocum, treasurer of Boisé county, was ar- rested in November 1865 for defalcation in the amount of $13,000. Charles D. Vajen, treasurer of Boisé
35 The vigilance committee in Montana-then eastern Idaho-in 1863-4 hanged many. The desperadoes had become so bold that if a man ventured alone any distance from his house he was attacked, robbed, and often mur- dered. Charles Allen was set upon 200 yards from his own door, robbed of a little money, and beaten about the head with a revolver until he was thought to be dead, though he recovered. After many such outrages the work of retri- bution began. In Dec. and Jan. 1863-4 the vigilants of Virginia City hanged 21 professional rogues. Their organization numbered 1,000, with detectives in every mining camp, and they acted with the utmost secrecy and celerity, swooping down upon a brace or a double brace of the men they had marked at the most unexpected times and places. In 15 minutes they hanged them up and went their way. Walla Walla Statesman, April 15, 1864; Boise News, April 23, 1864. On the other hand, the sheriff of Virginia City, Henry Plummer, was himself the leader of a band of outlaws scarcely less well organized, and was able for some time to thwart the ends of justice. But he did not long escape. He was hanged early in 1864 at Bannack, being one of the 21. On his person were found the names of 85 of his clan, with records of their proceedings. When he was taken he wept and begged for mercy. Salt Lake Vidette, Feb. 5, 1864. Boone IIclm, long a terror on the Pacific coast, was hanged at the same time, 'hilarously hurrahing for Jeff Davis.' Helm had a fearful reputation. IIc attempted, in 1858, to make the trip from The Dalles to Salt Lake with several others, all of whom perished, Helm being suspected of murdering them. as they had considerable money, and he was dis- tinctly accused of living on their flesh, and of boasting of it. He killed ser- eral men in the mines. Portland Oregonian, Jan. 23, 1863. Of this class of men, a correspondent of the Rocky Mountain News of May 1864 says the vigilants had hanged 27 before the middle of March.
463
OFFICIAL DEFALCATIONS.
county in 1863-4, was found to have been a defaulter to the amount of between $6,000 and $7,000. It was notorious that many officers failed to render any ac- count of their trusts in Idaho for the first few years, during the reign of mining excitements and mob law, and it was little that the territorial judges could do to bring about a better condition of society, juries, grand and petit, being tampered with, and witnesses as well. The chief justice, McBride, maintained a character for integrity and industry during the three years of his judgeship; but it is still a conspicuous fact in the history of the territory that, notwithstand- ing the great number of capital crimes committed in the first two years after the organization of the terri- tory, the murderers of Magruder were the only ones hanged by the legally constituted authorities, and that robbery in office as well as highway robbery found its defenders in society.
Governor Lyon left affairs in the hands of the sec- retary, C. De Witt Smith, a native of New York, a young man of promise, educated for the bar, and for some time employed in one of the departments at Washington, but who could not withstand the temp- tations with which he found himself surrounded in Idaho. His honor was tainted with suspicion of peculation, and he died from the effects of dissipation, at Rocky Bar, on the 19th of August, 1865, six months after his arrival.36
The territory was thus left without either governor or secretary. Horace C. Gilson of Ohio, who had been serving as acting secretary under Smith, was commis- sioned secretary in September, and became acting governor. In the following summer he too becanie a defaulter in the sum of $30,000, and absconded to China; and Governor Lyon made such unwise use of the public funds as to amount in effect to robbing the territory.37
36 Portland Oregonian, Aug. 25, 1865; Boisé Statesman, Aug. 27, 1865; Idaho World, Aug. 26, 1865.
37 Sac. Union, April 4, 1867; Idaho Scraps, 194.
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
Thus while the county officers sequestered the county funds, the territorial officers either stole or squandered the money appropriated by congress. One of the channels through which the public funds were embezzled was the territorial prison. An act of the legislature of 1864-5 made the territorial treasurer ex-officio prison commissioner, with a gen- eral supervision of the territorial prisoners, the county jails of Nez Perce and Boisé being designated as ter- ritorial prisons, and their respective sheriffs keepers. The next legislature made the Boisé county jail alone the territorial prison. Thirty per cent of the whole revenue of the territory was set apart for the ex- penses of this prison, besides which it had at the end of two years brought the territory $22,000 in debt.38
The first legislative assembly left the capital at Lewiston as appointed by the governor; but the legis- lature of 1864 passed an act removing it to Boisé City, and appointing Caleb Lyon, C. B. Waite, and J. M. Cannady commissioners to receive a deed of a plat of ground in that town, known on the map as Capitol Square, and the secretary was authorized to draw upon the territorial treasury for the money to pay the expense of removing the archives and other property of the territory, the law to take effect after the 24th of December, 1864. Such was the reluc- tance of the people of Lewiston to having the capital removed, that the majority of the county commission- ers refused to acknowledge the legality of the pro- ceedings of the assembly, on the ground that the members had never taken the oath required, but had met at a time not authorized by the law, with other quibbles. Meetings were held, and the execution of the act removing the capital was enjoined, bringing the case into the courts.32 Associate Justice A. C. Smith decided in favor of the Lewiston party, against
38 Idaho Laws, 1864-5; message of Governor Ballard, in Idaho Scraps, 208. 39 Idaho Laws, 1864, 427; Walla Walla Statesman, Dec. 30, 1864; Portland Oregonian, Jan. 12, 1865; Richardson's Missis., 500; Bristol's Idaho, MS., 3; Boisé Statesman, March 25 and May 20, 1865.
465
CAPITAL AND NEW COUNTIES.
the law-and-order party; though if the truth were told, neither cared much for order or law, but only to carry out their schemes of ambition or theft. Governor Lyon had escaped all responsibility by leaving the territory, and the new secretary sided with the legislature and Boisé party.
There seemed to be no way out of the controversy except to appeal to the supreme court, which the law said should be held "at the capital" in August of each year. But the judges did not hold a court in either of the two places claiming to be the capital, and for ten months there was anarchy. Secretary Smith died in the midst of the quarrel, and for a while there was neither capital nor governor, nor even sec- retary, as I have said. Finally United States Mar- shal Alvord received orders from Washington to take the archives and convey them to Boisé City, the capital of Idaho. The men of Lewiston dared not resist the authority of the general government, and the change was effected in the latter part of Oc- tober.
The county of Ada was created out of the south- western part of Boisé county, at the legislative session of 1864, with the county seat at Boisé City. Lahtoh county was created out of the territory lying north of the Clearwater and west of Shoshone county, with the county seat at Cœur d'Alene. The remainder of the narrow strip of territory reaching up to British Columbia was organized into the county of Kootenai, with the county seat at Sinnaacquateen.40
The legislature of 1864 does not seem to have made any requests of congress,41 nor was there anything
" The county boundaries of Idaho gave much trouble on account of the mountainous nature of the territory, and the lines of most of them were several times altered. Five new ones were organized after 1865: Lemhi in 1869, with the county seat at Salmon City; Cassia in 1879, county seat at Albion; Washington in 1879; Custer in 1881; and Bear Lake in Jan. 1875, with Paris for the county seat.
41 The following were members of the council of 1864: J. Miller and E. Smith, Boisé county; E. B. Waterbury, Nez Perce; S. Capps, Shoshone; S. S. Fenn, Idaho; S. B. Dilly, Alturas; J. Cummins, Owyhee, presulent. Mem- bers of the house: H. C. Riggs, W. H. Parkinson, J. B. Pierce, and J. McIn- HIST. WASH. 30
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POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
more remarkable in its legislation than the number of bills passed granting charters showing the improve- ments in roads, ferries, and bridges. The legislature of 1865-6 42 passed a large number of memorials ask- ing for appropriations for public buildings, and other matters, and for some changes in the organic act, so that the territorial auditor, treasurer, and superin- tendent of public instruction might be elected by the people, besides praying that the probate courts might have jurisdiction in all civil cases where the sum in dispute did not exceed $1,000, and also that the jus- tice's courts might receive authority from the legisla- ture to settle cases where no more than $250 was involved.
The act passed by the first legislature providing for the increased compensation of the officers of the ter- ritory was amended so as to exclude the governor from the benefit of the act, and to increase the bene- fits accruing to the attachés of the legislature.
Late in the autumn of 1865 Lyon43 returned to tosh, Boisé county; E. C. Latta and Alexander Blakcly, Idaho; George Zeigle and T. M. Recd, Nez Perce; E. C. Sterling and Solomon Hasbrouck, Owyhee; W. A. Goulder, Shoshone; W. H. Howard, Alturas and Oneida. Blakely, speaker.
42 Members of the council of 1865-6 were S. P. Scaniker, H. C. Street, A. E. Callaway, and George Ainslie of Boisé county; H. C. Riggs of Ada; S. S. Fenn of Idaho; E. Bohannon of Owyhee; and S. B. Dilly of Alturas and Oncida. Bohannan, president. Members of the house: H. Allen, F. Campbell, M. G. Looney, I. L. Tincr, J. Carr, J. B. Pierce, C. D. Sayrs, of Boise county; J. D. Agnew, M. Smythe, M. R. Jenkins, of Ada; E. T. Beatty, B. Crosson, of Alturas; J. W. Carter, D. P. Barnes, E. J. Worley, of Owyhee; Alex. Blakely, J. A. Ripson, of Idaho. Blakely speaker. Idaho Jour. Coun- cil, 1863-6, 4-9; Idaho Jour. House, 1865-6, 4-5.
43 Butler says of him: 'He was a conceited, peculiar man, and made many enemies, and misappropriated much public funds.' Life and Times, MS., 8. Lyon accepted his reappointment in the hope of gain. While in New York, pending his confirmation, he was approached by one Davis, who had in his possession a number of small stones which he declared to be Idaho diamonds, found in Owyhce county. One of them sold for $1,000, and others for less. The secret was to be kept until they met in Idaho, but Lyon arriv- ing first, and after waiting for some time, having become convinecd that Davis was drowned on the Brother Jonathan, went to Owyhee and imparted his secret to D. H. Fogus, to whom he presented one of his diamonds, receiv- ing in return a silver bar worth $500. One evening the governor and the miner stole away over the hills toward the diamond-fields, as described by Davis, under cover of night, to make a prospect. But the sharp eyes of other miners detected the movement, and they were followed by a small army of treasure-seekers who aided in the search. 'The result,' says Maize, 'of two days' hunting was several barrels full of bright quartz and shiny pebbles.
467
GOVERNORS.
Idaho, having been reappointed governor, and inter- ested himself in creating a diamond insanity which ruined many a better man, while he lent his signature to any and every bill of the most disloyal and vulgar- minded legislature that ever disgraced the legislative office, except the one that followed it, the single act which he dared not sign being one to nullify the test oath. His appointments were equally without re- gard to the welfare of society and the territory; and after six months of such an administration, he 'once more abandoned his post, suddenly and finally. The territorial secretary, Gilson, was succeeded by Lyon's private secretary, S. R. Howlett, who filled the ex- ecutive office until June 1866, when David W. Ballard of Yamhill county, Oregon, was appointed, and arrived in the territory to inaugurate a different condition of gubernatorial affairs, Howlett being appointed to fill the secretary's office.
The organic law gave members of the legislature four dollars per diem, and four dollars for every twenty miles of travel to reach the capital. The territorial law gave legislators six dollars per diem additional, which sum of ten dollars a day was not too great dur- ing the first year or two of territorial existence, when the necessaries of life cost high. But this was now uncalled for. The same act which raised the per diem of the legislators doubled the salary of the governor, making it $5,000 per annum, and also doubled that of the secretary, making it $3,000, while the pay of clerks and other officers was proportionately increased, the whole territorial tax to support this extra pay amounting to $16,000 yearly. The legislature of 1865 had passed an act abolishing the extra pay of the gov- ernor and secretary, but retaining, and even increasing,
Lyon was greatly disappointed, and showed us the specimens, which I saw, and on one of which the carbon was not completely crystallized.' Early Events, MS., 9. Maize says that he has found stones described in mineralogical works as allied to the diamond, a number of times, along the beach line of the ancient sea which once filled the Snake River basin. A newspaper cor- respondent calls Lyon 'a revolving light on the coast of scampdom.' Idaho Scraps, 194.
468
POLITICAL AFFAIRS.
their own or that of their clerks. Becoming ashamed of this arbitrary exercise of power, they restored it a few days afterward by another act.
Ballard, learning that the present legislature was about to deprive him of his extra pay, and that of the secretary, sent in a special message, very artfully worded, approving of the measure, and suggesting that the territory might be saved the whole of the $16,000, and congress relied upon to furnish the funds necessary to support the federal branch of the government, as in other territories. Upon this provo- cation there began and continued throughout the ses- sion a series of insults to the executive, requiring extraordinary nerve to meet with self-possession.44
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