USA > Idaho > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 27
USA > Montana > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 27
USA > Oregon > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 27
USA > Washington > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 27
USA > Wyoming > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 27
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bridge; and those who are for letting them go, to the left side."
So thoroughly convinced were the men, of the guilt and complicity of the prisoners with the road-agent gang, that every man passed immedi- ately to the right.
The culprits started immediately, under the escort of seven men and a leader, in the direction of Virginia City. Two hours afterwards they arrived at Lorrain's ranche, where they were joined at sundown by the other members of the company, who, after a brief consultation, rode on to Virginia City. After they had gone, the leader lay down in his blanket on the parlor floor, to snatch a few hours of repose. Precisely at ten o'clock, he was awakened by a slight shake, and the words, -
"The hour has arrived. We mean business, and are waiting for you."
He arose and went to the bar-room, where Brown and "Red" lay in the corner asleep. " Red " was the first to awaken. Rising to his feet, he addressed the leader in a sad and despond- ing tone, -
" You have treated me like a gentleman," said he. "I know that my time has come. I am going to be hanged."
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Result of Ives's Execution.
" That's pretty rough, 'Red,'" interjected the leader.
" Yes. It's pretty rough, but I merited it years ago. What I want to say is, that I know all about this gang. There are men in it who de- serve death more than I do; but I should die happy, if I could see them hanged, or know it would be done. I don't say this to get off. I don't want to get off."
"It will be better for you, 'Red,'" said the Vigilantes, " at this time to give us all the infor- mation in your possession, if only for the sake of your kind. Times have been very hard. Men have been shot down in broad daylight, not alone for money, or even hatred, but for mere luck and sport, and this must have a stop put to it."
"I agree to it all," replied " Red." " No poor country was ever cursed with a more bloodthirsty or meaner pack of villains than this, - and I know them all."
On being urged by the leader to furnish their names, which he said should be taken down, " Red " told him that, -
Henry Plummer was chief of the band; Bill Bunton, stool pigeon and second in command ; George Brown, secretary ; Sam Bunton, roadster ; Cyrus Skinner, fence, spy, and roadster ; George
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Result of Ives's Execution.
Shears, horse thief, and roadster ; Frank Parish, horse thief and roadster; Hayes Lyons, telegraph man and roadster ; Bill Hunter, telegraph man and roadster ; Ned Ray, council-room keeper at Ban- nack City; George Ives, Stephen Marshland, Dutch John (Wagner), Alex Carter, Whiskey Bill (Graves), Johnny Cooper, Buck Stinson, Mexican Frank, Bob Zachary, Boone Helm, Clubfoot George (Lane), Billy Terwiliger, Gad Moore, were roadsters.
These men were bound by an oath to be true to each other, and were required to perform such ser- vices as came within the defined meaning of their separate positions in the band. The penalty of disobedience was death. If any of them, under any circumstances, divulged any of the secrets or guilty purposes of the band, he was to be followed and shot down at sight. The same doom was prescribed for any outsiders who attempted an exposure of their criminal designs, or arrested any of them for the commission of crime. Their great object was declared to be plunder, in all cases without taking life if possible; but if mur- der was necessary, it was to be committed. Their pass-word was "Innocent." Their neckties were fastened with a sailor's knot, and they wore mus- taches and chin whiskers. He was himself a member of the band, but not a murderer.
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Result of Ives's Execution.
Among other disclosures, " Red " attributed his hapless condition to Bill Hunter, at whose instiga- tion, years before, he had entered upon a career of infamy. He hoped the committee would not spare him. He gave the particulars of the rob- beries of the coaches, and the names of all engaged in them, and in the commission of many other crimes.
After listening to this frightful narrative, and making such memoranda as they might need for future operations, the little party of Vigilantes carefully reconsidered the vote they had taken, and decided that the two culprits should be exe- cuted immediately. In the course of the narra- tive, " Red " had fully implicated Brown. In the Indian campaign in Minnesota in 1862, Brown was a scout for Gen. William R. Marshall, who regarded him as not a notoriously bad man, but as one who had little moral principle or force of character, and who was easily influenced by his associates.
Less than a quarter of a mile distant, in rear of Lorrain's, on a beautiful curve of the Pas- sam-a-ri, stood several majestic cottonwoods, by far the finest trees in all that region. Two, which stood side by side, were selected as the scaffolds. It was a dim starlit night, and a lantern
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was necessary to complete the preparations for the execution. The cold blast from the immediate mountains howled fearfully as the little procession tramped through the snow, with their prisoners in charge, to the fatal spot. The night was not darker than the gloom which had settled upon the minds and hearts of these condemned wretches. " Red," however, was perfectly collected. Not a sigh escaped him,'nor a tear dimmed his eyes. Brown was all excitement. He begged piteously for mercy, and prayed for his Indian wife and family. They were in Minnesota. "Red," more affected by the terror and moans of his comrade than his own hapless condition, said to him in a sad but firm tone, -
" Brown, if you had thought of this three years ago, you would not be here now, or give these boys this trouble."
A few branches were clipped from a lower limb of each of the trees, and the ropes suspended. Two stools brought from the ranche, by being placed one upon the other, served the purpose of a drop. A Vigilante, while adjusting the noose to the neck of Brown, stumbled, and both he and Brown fell together into the snow. Recovering himself, he said, by way of apology, -
" We must do better than that, Brown."
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It was a chance remark, proceeding from a motive which it failed to express ; better inter- preted by those who heard it, than I fear it will be by my readers.
When all was ready, Brown, with the petition upon his lips, "God Almighty save my soul," was launched from the platform, and died without a struggle.
" Red " witnessed the scene unmoved. When his turn came, and he stood upon the frail trestle, he looked calmly around upon his executioners.
" I knew," said he, " that I should be followed and hanged, when I met the party in Deer Lodge valley ; but I wish you would chain me, and not hang me until after I have seen those punished who are guiltier than I."
Just before he fell, he shook hands with all, and then turning to the Vigilante who had escorted him to Lorrain's, he said, -
" Let me beg of you to follow and punish the rest of this infernal gang."
" ' Red,' " replied the man, " we will do it, if there's any such thing in the book."
" Good-by, boys," said "Red," "you're on a good undertaking. God bless you."
The stools fell, and the body of the intrepid freebooter swung lifeless in the midnight blast.
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Lloyd Magruder.
CHAPTER VII.
LLOYD MAGRUDER.
HILL BEACHY'S DREAM - LLOYD MAGRUDER'S TRIP FROM LEWISTON TO BANNACK - FOLLOWED BY HOW- ARD, ROMAINE, LOWRY, PAGE, AND ZACHARY - COM- PLETES HIS SALES AT VIRGINIA CITY, AND SETS OUT ON HIS RETURN - HOWARD, LOWRY, ROMAINE. AND PAGE EMPLOYED AS ASSISTANTS ON THE ROUTE -THE BROTHERS CHALMERS, CHARLES ALLEN, AND EDWARD PHILLIPS, ACCOMPANY THEM - MURDER OF MA- GRUDER, THE CHALMERS BROTHERS, PHILLIPS, AND ALLEN - SUBSEQUENT PLUNDER OF THE TRAIN - CRUEL SLAUGHTER OF THE HERD - ROBBERS FOILED IN ATTEMPTING TO CROSS THE COLUMBIA RIVER - THEY ARRIVE AT LEWISTON - RECOGNIZED BY BEACHY - LEAVE LEWISTON.
" IN the name of all that is wonderful, Hill, what has kept you up till this late hour ?" was the eager inquiry of Mrs. Maggie Beachy of her husband, when that gentleman entered his house at two o'clock in the morning.
" Well, Maggie," replied her husband, "you remember my dream about Lloyd Magruder ? I
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fear it has all come true. Indeed, I am perfectly certain poor Lloyd has been murdered."
" Nonsense, Hill," rejoined the wife. "Will you never have done with your unfounded suspi- cions ? You will make yourself the laughing- stock of the whole country, and bring all the roughs in it about your ears, if you don't cease talking about Magruder."
"I can't help it, wife," persisted Beachy. " Those three rascals, Doc. Howard, Chris Lowry, and Jim Romaine, with another hangdog-looking fellow, came into town to-night in disguise, and, under assumed names, took passage in the coach to Walla Walla. They followed Magruder to the Bannack mines, and have doubtless killed him while on his way home. Their cantinas are filled with his gold dust."
" How improbable, Hill," said Mrs. Beachy, smiling. " Why, only yesterday Lloyd's wife re- ceived a letter from him, saying that he would not start for twelve days, and that he would have a strong company with him."
" Well, well, Maggie, let's drop the subject. Time will tell whether my suspicions are correct."
Let us inquire into the cause of Hill Beachy's terrible suspicion.
Three months before this conversation occurred,
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Lloyd Magruder.
Lloyd Magruder, a wealthy merchant of Elk City, loaded a pack train with merchandise, and made the long and dangerous journey of five hundred miles, by an Indian trail over the mountains to the Bannack mines in that part of Idaho afterwards embraced in the boundaries of Montana. The night preceding his departure, Hill Beachy, the landlord of the Luna House in Lewiston, a warm personal friend of Magruder, dreamed that he saw Chris Lowry dash Magruder's brains out with an axe. He related the dream to his wife the next morning, and expressed great fears for the safety of his friend. She was desirous of telling Magruder ; but as his investment was large, and he was ready to start upon his journey, Beachy thought it would only introduce a disturbing ele- ment into the enterprise, without effecting its abandonment, and expose him to the laughter and sneers of the public. But he did not con- ceal the anxiety which the dream had occasioned in his own mind, and was greatly relieved when news came, six weeks afterwards, of the safe ar- rival of Magruder at Bannack.
On the morning of the day after Magruder left Lewiston, Howard, Lowry, and Romaine, in company with Bob Zachary and three other roughs, departed with the avowed intention of
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going to Oregon. As soon, however, as they had proceeded a sufficient distance in that direction to escape observation, they turned towards Bannack, and after a few days' journey were joined by William Page, an old mountain teamster. The party followed on in the track of Magruder's train, which they overtook when within three days' journey of Bannack, and accompanied it to its place of destination.
Magruder was disappointed, on his arrival at Bannack, to learn that the camp had been de- serted by most of the miners, who had gone to the extensive placer mines in Alder gulch at Vir- ginia City, seventy-five miles distant, where the writer was then residing. Three days afterwards, however, he was well satisfied, on his arrival there, to find an active mining camp of six thousand inhabitants, all eager to purchase his wares as rapidly as they could be displayed. Howard, Lowry, Romaine, and Page found comfortable quarters in the building occupied by Magruder, and were provided by him with employment dur- ing his six weeks' stay in Virginia City. No one, except himself, knew better than they the amount of his accumulations. His confidence in them was unbounded. On his offer to pay them two hundred dollars each, they had agreed to accom-
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pany him as assistants and guards on his return to Lewiston. The negotiations with Magruder for their employment were conducted by Howard, who was a physician of marked ability, and whose pleasing address was well calculated to allay all suspicion concerning their real motives in joining the party. Howard, Lowry, and Romaine, while at Lewiston, were classed among the vilest roughs of the town. The former two were understood to be escaped convicts from the California peni- tentiary. They had been concerned in numerous robberies, and were suspected of connection with Plummer's infamous gang. Magruder, whose residence was at Elk City, was entirely unac- quainted with their history, and, from the simu- lated fidelity of their conduct while in his employ, had no reason to suspect them of criminal designs. He was very fortunate in the disposition of his merchandise, realizing therefor twenty-four thou- sand dollars in gold dust, and a drove of seventy fine mules.
A few days before his departure from Virginia City, Charley Allen, a successful miner, and two young men, brothers, by the name of Horace and Robert Chalmers, who had just arrived in the mountains from Boonville, Missouri, and William Phillips, an old pioneer in the country, arranged
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to unite their trains with his, and all make the trip together as one company. Romaine tried to dissuade Phillips from going with the others, but gave no reason for what seemed to the latter a strange request.
It was a bright October morning when the train left Virginia City, and moved slowly down Alder creek, into the picturesque valley of the Pas-sam- a-ri. The sun shone; the mountain atmosphere was crisp and exhilarating. The long plain stretching away to the base of the Ruby range, reflected upon its mirror-like surface that magni- ficent group of pine-covered mountains, along whose sides glinted in the sunbeams the bewitch- ing hues that give them their name. Towering on the right, rose the twin pinnacles of Ramshorn and Mill Creek ; and, afar in the distance, painted upon the horizon, was the superb outline of the main range of the old Rockies, and Table Moun- tain lifting its glittering plateau of snow far above the surrounding peaks. Filled with the inspiration naturally enkindled by these majestic views, the men, with all the animation and aban- don of uncaged schoolboys, shouted and sung as they galloped along and hurried the train across the widespread valley. Into the hills, over the mountains, across the streams, through the cañons
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they scampered, entering Bannack the third day, just as the sun was setting.
Business detained them at Bannack the three following days. With the design of misleading the villains at Lewiston who might be on the watch for his return, Magruder sent by a company which left the morning after his arrival, a letter to his wife, telling her of his success, and that he would leave for home with a train strongly guarded, in twelve days. While he was thus planning the way for a safe return, Howard was equally busy in maturing a scheme to rob him on the route. This infernal project, the fruit of long contemplation, he now for the first time unfolded to Lowry and Romaine, who gave it their eager compliance. Meeting with Bob Zachary, he confided it to him; but, on learning that it could not be effected without the possible murder of Magruder, and the four persons accompanying him, Zachary, villain as he was, declined all parti- cipation in it. It was understood by the three, that on the eighth day of the journey, when the train would make camp in the Bitter Root moun- tains, at a distance of one hundred miles or more from any white settlers, they would carry their diabolical design into execution. Howard de- clared that it could not be done without killing
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the five owners of the trains. Page was to be kept in ignorance of the plot until the eve of its performance.
Animated with the hope of an early re-union with his family, Magruder, with his companions, left Bannack one bright autumnal morning, and dashed with his train into the manifold intricacies of the mountain labyrinth. The burden of care with which one is oppressed, while travelling through an uninhabited region, exposed continu- ally to the attacks of Indians and robbers, is always relieved by a sort of wild exhilaration inseparable from the shifting of scenery, and the varied occupations and incidents of the journey. And when day after day passes, without any change in the same monotonous round of employ- ment, men sometimes desire the variety of a brush with the Indians, or a deer chase, or an antelope hunt, to ward off their mental depression. But save an occasional foray upon a herd of antelopes, the train moved safely onward, without impedi- ment. The three ruffians were particularly atten- tive to the duties required of them, winning golden opinions from those they intended to destroy.
On the evening of the sixth day, the train descended into the valley of the Bitter Root. The lofty range of mountains which now forms
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the boundary between Montana and Idaho stretched along the horizon displaying alternate reaches illumined by the departing rays of the sun, and darkened by the shadows of overhang- ing clouds.
"In three days more," said Magruder, " we shall descend the range into Idaho, and all danger will be over."
Near the close of the second day thereafter, as the mules were slowly creeping up the trail, when near the summit, Howard rode alongside of Page, and in a tone of fearful earnestness said to him, -
" Page, when we go into camp, to-night, drive the mules half a mile away, and remain with them till supper time. We are going to kill Magruder and his four friends. You can help dispose of the bodies when the work is done, and share in the plunder. As you value your own life, you will not breathe a word of this to any one."
Had a thunderbolt fallen at the feet of Page, he could not have been more terrified. Reckless as his life had been, no stain of blood was on his soul. Gladly would he have warned Magruder, but the fearful threat of Howard was in his way. Besides, as Howard had grown into great favor, he felt that he would not be believed. He
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decided the conflict with conscience, by resolving to follow the directions of the conspirators.
The spot was not unfamiliar. It had been often occupied for camping purposes, and was specially favored with water and pasturage. It was also sheltered by the impenetrable foliage of
a clump of dwarf pines and redwoods. Five minutes' clamber of the vertebrated peak which rose abruptly above the camp-fire, would enable one to survey for many miles the vast volcanic region of mountains, hills, and cañons over which the trail of the traveller, like a dusky thread, stretched on towards Lewiston.
The train drew up on the camping ground a little before dark. The sky was overcast with snow clouds, and the wind blew chill and bleak. Every sign indicated the approach of one of those fearful snowstorms common at all seasons in these high latitudes. All the men except Page, who was with the herd, were gathered around the camp-fire, awaiting supper. As Page, staggering under the burden of his guilty secret, came to the camp in answer to a call to supper, Howard met him, and in an ominous whisper, warned him to retire as soon as his meal was finished, and not to be seen about the camp until he was wanted.
Magruder and Lowry were assigned to stand
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guard and watch the herd until ten o'clock, - the hour agreed upon for the commission of the crime. Page had built a fire for their accommodation. As they rose to leave the camp, Lowry, picking up an axe, remarked, -
" We shall probably need some wood, and I'll take the axe along."
Their departure was regarded as a signal for all to retire. Page had spread his blankets and lain down some time before, " not," as he after- wards said, " to sleep, but to await the course of events." Allen crept in by his side. The Chalmers brothers had made their bed twenty yards distant from the camp-fire ; and Romaine, armed to perform the part assigned to him, stretched himself beside Phillips, his unsuspecting victim. Howard, the arch and bloody instigator of the brutal tragedy, demon-like, roamed at large, ready for any service, when the hour came, necessary to finish the deed.
The evening wore on. The sleep of toil- worn men comes when it is sought ; and soon the only wakeful eyes in the camp were those of the watchers at the herd, Howard, Romaine, and the wretched Page.
The friendly conversation between Magruder and Lowry, as they sat side by side at the fire,
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was not interrupted, until the former looked at his watch.
"It is nearly ten," said he, filling his meer- schaum, while unconsciously announcing the hour of his doom.
" I will put some wood on the fire," said Lowry, picking up the axe, and rising.
Magruder bent forward towards the fire to light his meerschaum, when the axe wielded by Lowry descended with a fearful crash into his brain. Howard, who had been concealed near, sprung forward, and snatching the axe from Lowry, who seemed for the moment paralyzed at the deed he had committed, struck several addi- . tional blows upon the already lifeless body of the unfortunate man. The villains then hurried to the spot where the Chalmers brothers were lying, and while they were despatching them with the axe, Romaine plunged a bowie knife into the abdomen of Phillips, exclaiming at the moment, with an oath, -
" You old fool, I have to kill you. I told you at Virginia City not to come."
Allen, wakened by the death groan of young Chalmers, had risen to a sitting posture, and was rubbing his eyes, when Howard stole behind him, and blew out his brains, by a simultaneous dis-
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charge of buck-shot from both barrels of his gun into the back part of his head.
The work of assassination was complete. The murderers, unharmed, were in possession of the gold which had caused the dreadful deed.
Page, who had not left his bed, was now sum- moned by Howard to assist in the concealment of the bodies. Knowing that his life would pay the forfeit of disobedience, he hurried to the camp- fire, where Lowry greeted him with the soul-sick- ening words, -
" It's a grand success, Bill. We never made a false stroke."
A heavy snowstorm now set in. The assassins occupied the remainder of the night in destroying and removing the evidences of their guilt. The bodies of their victims were wrapped in blankets, conveyed to the summit of an adjacent ridge, and cast over a precipice into a cañon eight hundred feet deep, where it was supposed they would be speedily devoured by wolves. The camp equi- page, saddles, straps, blankets, guns, pistols, every- thing not retained for immediate convenience, were burned, and all the iron scraps carefully collected, put into a sack, and cast over the preci- pice. All the while these guilty deeds were in progress, the storm was increasing. When the
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morning dawned, not a vestige of the ghastly tragedy was visible. The camp was carpeted to the depth of two feet with snow, and the tempest still raged. The murderers congratulated each other upon their success. No remorseful sensa- tions disturbed their relish for a hearty breakfast. No contrite emotions affected the greedy delight with which each miscreant received his share of the blood-bought treasure. No dread lest the eye of the All-seeing, who alone had witnessed their dark and damning atrocity, should betray them, mingled with the promises they made to themselves of pleasures and pursuits that this ill- gotten gain would buy in the world where they were going. One solitary fear haunted them, - that concerning their escape from the country.
When this all-absorbing subject was mentioned, they saw and felt the necessity of avoiding Lew- iston ; their presence there would excite suspicion. Howard advised that they should go to a ford of the Clearwater, fifty miles above Lewiston, and cross over and make a hurried journey to Puget Sound. There they could take passage on a steamer to San Francisco or to British Colum- bia, as after events might dictate. This counsel was adopted. Mounting their horses, they made a last scrutinizing survey of the scene of their
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hellish tragedy, now covered with snow, and plunged down the western slope of the mountains, amid the rocks and canons of Northern Idaho. The expression of Howard, as he reined his horse away from the bloody theatre, may be received as an indication of the sentiments by which all were animated.
"No one," said he, " will ever discover from anything here the performance in which we have been engaged. If we are only true to each other, boys, all is safe."
The animals, with the exception of one horse and seven mules, were abandoned, but, accustomed to follow the tinkle of the bell still suspended to the neck of the horse, the herd soon appeared straggling along the trail behind the company. The heartless wretches, thinking to frighten the animals away, at first shot them one by one as they came within rifle distance. Finding that the others continued to follow, they finally drove the · entire herd, seventy or more in number, into a cañon near the trail, and mercilessly slaughtered all the animals composing it.
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