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 31
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 31
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 31
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 31
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 31
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The morning succeeding the execution, the Committee met to devise further measures for the arrest of the criminals still at large. None of the reputed members of Plummer's band were then in Bannack. There was, however, a Mexican known by the name of Jo Pizanthia, living in a little cabin built against the side of one of the hills overlooking the town. Being the only
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Mexican in the place, he went by the designation of "The Greaser." He brought with him to the Territory the reputation of a desperado, robber, and murderer. With a view of investigating his career in the Territory, the Committee ordered his immediate arrest, and sent a party to the cabin to effect it. The little building was closed, and there was nothing in the appearance of the newly fallen snow to indicate that it had been occupied
since the previous day. George Copley and Smith Ball, two esteemed citizens, led the public force, and, advancing in front of it to the door of the cabin, called upon the Mexican by name to come forth. No answer being made, they concluded, against the advice of their comrades, to enter the cabin. Cautiously lifting the latch, the two men stepped over the threshold, each receiving, as he did so, the fire of the desperate inmate. Copley was shot in the breast, and Ball in the hip. Both staggered out, exclaiming in the same breath, " I'm shot." Two of the com- pany supported Copley to the hotel, but the poor fellow died of the wound in a few moments. Ball recovered sufficiently to remain upon the ground.
When it was known that Copley was killed, the exasperation of the party at the dastardly deed
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knew no bounds. They instantly decided to inflict summary vengeance upon the murderer. Protected by the logs of the cabin, of which the door was the only entrance, the crowd appreciated the Mexican's facilities for making an obstinate and bloody defence. How to secure him without injury to themselves, called for the exercise of strategy rather than courage. Fortunately, a dis- mounted mountain howitzer which had been left by a wagon train lay near by ; and bringing this to a point within a few rods of the side of the cabin, they placed it upon a box, and loaded it with shell. At the first discharge, the fuse being uncut, the missile tore through the logs without explosion. The second was equally unsuccessful, on account of the shortness of range. Aim was now directed at the chimney, upon the supposi- tion that the man might have sought refuge with- in it, and a solid shot sent through it - the men meantime firing into the hole made by the shell in the side of the cabin. No shot was fired in return.
A storming party was now formed, the men of Nevada being the first to join it. Half a dozen in number, the men moved steadily onward under cover of neighboring cabins, until they reached the space between them and the beleaguered cita-
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del. Rushing impetuously across, they stood in front of the entrance, the door having fallen inwards from the fusillade. Looking cautiously into the cabin, they discovered the boots of the Mexican, protruding beneath the door, which had fallen upon him. Lifting the door, they dragged him forth. He was badly injured, but, on the moment of his appearance, Smith Ball emptied his revolver into his body. A clothes-line near was taken down, and fastened round his neck, and an ambitious citizen climbed a pole, and, while those below held up the body of the expiring Mexican, he fastened the rope to the top of the pole. Into the body thus suspended, the crowd discharged more than a hundred shots, - satiating their thirst for revenge upon a ghastly corpse.
While this scene was progressing, several other persons were engaged in tearing down the cabin. Throwing it into a pile, it was set on fire, and, when fairly in a blaze, the riddled body of Pizan- thia was taken down, and placed upon the pyre. Its destruction by the devouring element was complete; not a vestige of the poor wretch re- mained ; though the next morning a number of notorious women were early at the spot, engaged in panning out the ashes of the ill-fated desperado, in search of gold.
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This entire transaction was an act of popular vengeance. The people were infuriated at the murder of Copley, who, besides being one of their best citizens, was a general favorite. There seemed to be no occasion or excuse for it, as the Vigilantes contemplated nothing more by the arrest of Pizanthia, than an examination of his territorial record. With the crimes he had committed before he came to the Territory, they had nothing to do ; and if he had been guilty of none after he came there, the heaviest possible punishment they would have inflicted was banishment. He brought his fate upon himself. It was a brief interlude in Vigilante history, the terrible features of which, though they may be deemed without apology or excuse, need not seek for multiplied precedents outside of the most enlightened nations or most refined societies in all Christen- dom.
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Execution of Dutch John.
CHAPTER XII.
EXECUTION OF DUTCH JOHN.
DUTCH JOHN was still a prisoner in charge of Fetherstun, in the gloomy cabin on Yankee Flat, a euphonious title given to a little suburb of a dozen cabins of the town of Bannack. He had behaved with great propriety, and by his amiability of de- portment won the sympathy and respect of his captors. The revelations which he made in his confession, implicating others, made him fearful of his former companions in crime, who, he knew, would kill him on the first opportunity. One night during his imprisonment both he and Fetherstun were alarmed by the sound of approaching foot- steps and suppressed voices in earnest conversation. Fetherstun prepared his arms for a defence. Cast- ing a glance at his prisoner, what was his aston- ishment to see him standing near the door, with a loaded double-barrelled gun, awaiting the approach of the outsiders.
" That's right, John," said Fetherstun approv- ingly ; " fire upon them if they come. Don't spare a man,"
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John smiled and nodded, levelling the muzzle of the gun towards the sound, but the ruffians heard the click of the locks, and departed. John could have shot his keeper and escaped, but he feared the vengeance of his comrades more than the stern justice of the Vigilantes.
The fate of this desperado was yet undecided by the Committee. He was not without strong hope of escape, and his good conduct was doubt- less attributable to the belief that both Howie and Fetherstun would interpose to save him. The even- ing of the day after the death of Pizanthia, the Committee met. The case of Dutch John came up for discussion. If it had been consistent with the laws prescribed for the government of the Com- mittee, John would have been banished ; but his guilty, blood-stained record demanded that he should die. He had been a murderer and high- wayman for years, and the vote for his immediate execution was unanimous. The decision was re- duced to writing, and a member of the Committee deputed to read it to the prisoner, and inform him that he would be executed in one hour. The wretched man was overcome. He rose from his blankets, and paced several times excitedly across the floor. Like Plummer, he then resorted to supplication.
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" Do with me as you please. Disable me in any way, cut off my hands and feet, but let me live. You can certainly destroy my power for harm without taking my life."
" Your request cannot be complied with," said the messenger. " You must prepare to die."
" So be it, then," he replied, and immediately all signs of weakness disappeared. "I wish," he continued, "to write to my mother. Is there a German here who can write my native language ?"
Such a person was sent for. Under John's dictation, he wrote a letter to his mother. It was read to him, and he was so dissatisfied with it that he removed the rags from his frozen hands and fingers, and wrote himself.
He told his mother that he had been condemned to death, and would be executed in a few minutes. In explanation of his offence, he wrote that while coming from the Pacific side, to deal in horses, he had fallen into the company of bad men. They had beguiled him into the adoption of a career of infamy. He was to die for aiding in the robbery of a wagon, while engaged in which he had been wounded, and his companion was slain. His sen- tence, though severe, he acknowledged to be just.
Handing the letter to the Vigilantes, he quietly replaced the bandages upon his unhealed fingers.
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His manner, though grave and solemn, was com- posed and dignified. Something in his conduct showed that he truly loved his mother. Much sympathy for him was evinced in the manner and attention of those who conducted him to the place of execution, in an unfinished building at no great distance from his place of confinement. The first objects which met his gaze, as he stood beneath the fatal beam, were the bodies of Plummer and Stinson, the one laid out upon the floor for burial, the other upon a work-bench. He gazed upon their ghastly features unshrinkingly, and in clear tones asked leave to pray, which was readily granted. Kneeling down, amid the profound silence of a crowd of spectators, his lips moved rapidly, and his face wore a pleading expression, but his utterance was inaudible. Rising to his feet, while seemingly still engaged in prayer, he cast an expressive glance at the audience, and then surveyed the provisions made for his execution. A rope with the fatal noose dangled from the cross-beam, and beneath it stood a barrel, around which was a cord, whose ends, stretching across the floor, left no doubt as to the office it was ex- temporized to perform.
" How long," he inquired, " will it take me to die ? I have never seen a man hanged."
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Execution of Dutch John.
" It will be very short, John, - very short. You will not suffer much pain," was the reply of a Vigilante.
The poor wretch mounted the barrel, and stood perfectly unmoved while the rope was adjusted to his neck. The men laid hold of the rope which encircled the barrel. Everything being prepared, at the words, " All ready," the barrel was jerked from beneath him, and the stalwart form of the robber, after several powerful strug- gles, hung calm and still. Dutch John had fol- lowed his leader to the other shore.
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Virginia City Executions.
CHAPTER XIII.
VIRGINIA CITY EXECUTIONS.
VIRGINIA CITY SURROUNDED BY VIGILANTES FROM ALL PARTS OF THE GULCH -FRANK PARISH, BOONE HELM, "CLUBFOOT GEORGE," JACK GALLAGHER, AND HAYES LYONS ARRESTED, TRIED, AND EXECUTED - BILL HUN- TER ESCAPES THROUGH THE LINE OF GUARDS.
WHILE the events I have just recorded were in progress at Bannack, the Vigilantes of Virginia City were not inactive. Alder Gulch had been the stronghold of the roughs ever since its discovery. Nearly all their predatory expeditions had been fitted out there. Being much the largest, richest, and most populous mining camp in the Territory, the opportunities it afforded for robbery were more frequent and promising, and less liable to discovery, than either Bannack or Deer Lodge. It was also filled with saloons, hurdy-gurdies, bagnios, and gambling-rooms, all of which were necessities in the lives of these free rangers of the mountains. At the time of which I write there was a population of at least twelve thousand,
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scattered through the various settlements from Junction to Summit, a distance of twelve miles. It was essentially a cosmopolitan community, - American in preponderance, but liberally sprinkled with people from all the nations of Europe. Some were going, and others coming, every day. Gold dust was abundant, and freedom from social and moral restraint characterized all classes, to an extent bordering upon criminal license.
The Vigilantes, more than ever, after it was decided to execute Plummer, comprehended the necessity for prompt and vigorous measures, as that event of itself would be the signal for all the guilty followers of that chief to fly the Territory. Accordingly, having ascertained that six of the robber band were still remaining in Virginia City, the Executive Committee decided upon effectual means for their immediate arrest. On the thir- teenth day of January, three days after Plummer was executed, an order was quietly made for the Vigilantes to assemble at night in sufficient force to surround the city. Not a man was to be per- mitted to leave the city after the line of guards was established. Bill Hunter, one of the six marked for capture, suspecting the plot, effected his escape by crawling beyond the pickets in a drain ditch. The city was encircled, after night-
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fall, by more than five hundred armed men, so quietly that none within, except the Vigilantes, knew of it until the next morning. All that long winter night, while that cordon of iron men was quietly stretching along the heights overlooking the city, the Executive Committee sat in council, deliberating upon the evidences of guilt against the men enmeshed in their toils.
At the same time another small band was as- sembled around a faro table in the chamber of a gambling-saloon. Jack Gallagher suddenly broke the silence of the game with the remark, -
" While we are here betting, those Vigilantes are passing sentence of death upon us."
Wonderful prescience ! he little knew or realized the truth which this observation had for him and his comrades in iniquity.
Morning broke, cold and cloudy, discovering to the eyes of the citizens the pickets of the Vigi- lantes. The city was like an intrenched camp. Hundreds of men, with guns at the shoulder, were marching through the snow on all the surround- ing hillsides, with military regularity and precision. The preparation could not have been more perfect if made to oppose an invading army. There was no misunderstanding this array. People talked with bated breath to each other of the certain
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doom which awaited the villains who had so long preyed upon their substance, and spread terror through the country.
Messengers were sent to the different towns in the gulch to summon the Vigilantes to appear forthwith, and take part in the trial of the ruf- fians. At the same time parties were detailed to arrest and bring the criminals before the Com- mittee. Boone Helm, Jack Gallagher, Frank Parish, Hayes Lyons, George Lane, and Bill Hunter were known to be in the city at the time the picket guard was stationed. Of these, Hunter had escaped. The Vigilantes from Nevada, Junction, Summit, Pine Grove, and Highland marched into town in detachments, and formed in a body on Main Street. The town was full of people.
Frank Parish, the first prisoner brought in, was quietly arrested in a store. He exhibited little fear. Taking an executive officer aside, -
" What," he inquired, " am I arrested for ? "
" For being a road-agent, thief, and an accessory to numerous robberies and murders on the high- way."
"I am innocent of all, -as innocent as you are."
When, however, he was put upon his examina-
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tion before the Committee, and facts were brought home to him, he receded from his position of in- nocence, and confessed to more and greater offences than were charged against him.
" I was," said he, " one of the party that robbed the coach between Virginia City and Bannack."
This confession took the Committee by surprise. He then admitted that he had been guilty of horse- stealing for the robbers, and had butchered stolen cattle to supply them with food. He was fully cognizant of all their criminal enterprises, and shared with them as a member of the band. Upon this confession he was condemned to suffer death. He gave directions concerning his clothing and the settlement of his debts. His case being dis- posed of, he was committed to the custody of a strong guard.
George Lane (Clubfoot George), who has fig- ured conspicuously in this history, was next intro- duced into the presence of the Committee. He was arrested without trouble, at Dance and Stuart's store. Perfectly calm and collected, he inquired, - " Why am I arrested ?"
On receiving the same answer that had been given to Parish, he replied, -
" If you hang me, you will hang an innocent man." "
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Virginia City Executions.
"We have positive proof of your guilt," was the response of the examining officer. "There is no possibility of a mistake."
" What will you do with me?"
" Your sentence is death," was the answer.
His eyes dropped, and his countenance wore an expression of deep contrition. For some mo- ments he covered his face with his hands, seem- ingly overcome by the dreadful announcement. At length, dropping his hands, and looking into the face of the officer, he inquired, --
" Can I have a minister, to pray for and talk with me ?"
" One shall be immediately sent for."
And when the clergyman appeared, Lane, in care of the guard, spent his remaining hours of life in attending to the affairs of his soul.
While his examination was progressing. parties came in with Boone Helm and Jack Gallagher. The former had been arrested by strategy, while standing in front of the Virginia Hotel. With an armed man on either side, and one behind with a pistol presented to his head, this veteran scoundrel, bloodier far than any of his com- rades, was marched into the presence of his judges.
" Ah !" he exclaimed, " if I'd only had a show,
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if I'd known what you were after, you would have had a gay old time in taking me."
His right hand was wounded, and supported by a sling. With much apparent serenity, he sat down on a bench, and looked defiantly into the faces of the members of the Committee.
" What do you want of me here?" he inquired, affecting entire ignorance of the cause of his arrest.
" We have proof that you belong to Plum- mer's band of robbers, that you have been guilty of highway robbery and murder, and wish to hear what you have to say to these charges."
" I am as innocent," replied the miscreant, in a deliberate tone, "as the babe unborn. I never killed any one, nor robbed or defrauded any man. I am willing to swear it on the Bible."
Less for any more important purpose than that of testing the utter depravity of the wretch, the interrogator handed him a Bible. With the utmost solemnity of manner and expression, he repeated the denial, invoking the most terrible penalties upon his soul, in attestation of its truthfulness, and kissed the volume impressively at its close.
The Committee regarded this sacrilegious act of
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the crime-hardened reprobate with mingled feel- ings of horror and disgust.
" This denial," said the president, " can avail you nothing. Your life for many years has been a continuous career of crime. It is necessary that you should die. You had better improve the little time left you in preparation."
Helm looked hopelessly around, but saw no glance of sympathy in the stern features of his judges. Beckoning to a person standing near, he whispered, -
"Can I see you alone for a few minutes ?"
The man, supposing that he was desirous of obtaining spiritual counsel, replied, -
" I will send for a clergyman."
" No," was the instant rejoinder. "I want no clergyman. You'll do as well."
Stepping into the inner room, Helm closed the door, and, turning to the man, in an anxious tone put the question, -
" Is there no way of getting out of this scrape ?"
"None. No power here is available to save you. You must die."
" Well, then," said he, " I'll admit to you that I did kill a man by the name of Shoot, in Mis- souri. When I left there I went to California, and killed another chap there. I was confined
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in jail in Oregon, and dug my way out with tools given me by my squaw."
"Now," said his confessor, "having told me thus much, will you not give me what information you can concerning the band to which you belong, their names, crimes, and purposes ? "
" Ask Jack Gallagher. He knows more than I do."
Gallagher, who had been brought into an ad- joining apartment, separated from the one in which this conversation occurred by a thin board partition, on hearing this reference to himself, poured forth a torrent of profane abuse upon the head of his guilty confederate.
" It is just such cowardly rascals and traitors as you," said he, " that have brought us into this difficulty. You ought to die for your treachery."
"I have dared death in all its forms," said Helm, " and I do not fear to die. Give me some whiskey."
The guilty wretch, having been consigned to the custody of keepers, steeped what little sensibility he possessed in whiskey, and passed the time until the execution in ribald jesting and profanity.
Jack Gallagher bounded into the committee- room, swearing and laughing, as if the whole affair was intended as a good joke.
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Virginia City Executions.
" What," said he, with an oath and epithet appended to every word, " is it all about? This is a pretty break, isn't it ?"
On being informed of the charges against him, and the sentence of the Committee, he dropped into a seat and began to cry. In a few moments he jumped up, and with much expletive emphasis demanded the names of the persons who had in- formed against him.
" It was 'Red,' who was hanged a few weeks ago on the Stinking-water."
Gallagher cursed the dead ruffian for a traitor, liar, and coward, in the same breath.
" My God !" said he, "must I die in this way ?" He was taken out of the committee-room while uttering the most terrible oaths and blas- phemies.
Hayes Lyons, the only remaining ruffian, had not yet been arrested. The party detailed for that object, while searching for him at the Arbor Restaurant, had found and captured Gallagher, on learning which the Gallagher pursuers imme- diately took up the hunt for Lyons. Foiled at several points, they accidentally learned that he had crossed the crags overhanging the gulch, and, after wandering in a circuit of several miles through the mountains, had come back to a miner's cabin
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but half a mile distant from his point of departure. Proceeding with all possible speed to the cabin, the leader threw open the door, and, bringing his pistol to a deadly aim, exclaimed, -
" Throw up your hands."
Lyons, who was in the act of raising a piece of a griddle-cake to his mouth, dropped the fork in- stantly, and obeyed the order.
"Come out here, and surrender at once," was the next command.
He was in his shirt-sleeves, and, as he stepped out of the door into the biting atmosphere, he asked in an undertone, -
" Will some one get my coat ?"
A member of the party brought it to him, and assisted him in putting it on. He trembled so much with fear that it was with difficulty he could get his arms into the sleeves. While the party were searching him to ascertain if he was armed, he said, -
" You disturbed me in the first meal I have sat down to with any appetite in six weeks."
" Finish your dinner," said the leader. "We will wait for you."
"Thank you ; you are very kind, but I can eat no more. What do you intend doing with me ? Will I be hung ?"
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Virginia City Executions.
" We are not here to promise you anything. You had better prepare for the worst."
" My friends advised me to leave two or three days ago."
" You would probably have done well had you follo ed their advice. Why didn't you go ?"
" Because I had done nothing wrong, and did not wish to leave."
It is probable that but for the blandishments of a fascinating mistress, the memory of Dillingham's murder would have dictated to this ruffian an earlier and more successful effort at escape.
" Have you heard of the execution of Plummer, Stinson, and Ray ?" asked the leader.
" Yes ; but I don't believe the report is true."
" You may bet your sweet life on 't."
" Did they make any resistance ? "
" No; they had no opportunity."
Arriving at the committee-room, the prisoner was immediately confronted with the officers.
" We have condemned you to death for the murder of Dillingham, and being associated in membership with Plummer's band of road agents. Have you anything to say in extenuation ?"
" That I am not guilty. I have committed no crimes, and formed no associations, that call for such severity. I am as innocent as you are."
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And yet, but a short time before, the wretched man had confessed to a leader of one of the police committees in presence of several witnesses, that he was the murderer of Dillingham. His compli- city with Plummer's band was known to all.
Scarcely was Lyons's examination concluded, when word was brought to the Committee that two suspicious persons, who had gone hurriedly to Highland district, three miles above Virginia City, the evening before, were concealed in one of the unoccupied cabins there. An officer with fifteen men was sent to arrest them. They were disarmed, and brought before the Committee, but, no evi- dence appearing against them, they were dis- charged.
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