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 36
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 36
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 36
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 36
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 36
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Langford Peel.
disgrace to suffer an arrest by an officer of this character, and with Peel it was an every-day boast that he would die sooner than submit to any such authority.
On one occasion, while under the excitement of liquor, being threatened with arrest, he became uncommonly uproarious. A row was threatened, and Peel in a boisterous manner was repeating, with much expletive emphasis, "No man that ever packed a star in this city can arrest me."
Patrick Lannan, above referred to, had just been elected as policeman. He had never been connected with the roughs, and was highly re- spected as a peaceable, law-abiding citizen. On being informed that there was a man down the street stirring up an excitement, he rushed to the scene, and, elbowing his way through the crowd, confronted Peel. Like the hunter who mistook a grizzly for a milder type of the ursine genus, he felt that this was not the game he was after, but he had gone too far to recede. The arrest must be effected.
" No man." repeated Peel, with an oath, " that ever packed a star in this city can arrest me."
Perceiving Lannan standing near, he instantly added, -
" I'll take that back. You can arrest me, Pat,
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Langford Peel.
for you're no fighting man. You're a gentle- man," and suiting the action to the word, with a graceful bow, he surrendered his pistol to Lannan, and submitted quietly to be led away.
To the credit of the roughs of Nevada be it stated, that there were few highwayman, thieves, or robbers among them. Few, except those who were ready to decide their quarrels with the revol- ver, were killed. The villanous element had been sifted from their midst at the time of the hegira to the northern mines. Those who remained had no sympathy with it. It is not to be denied, however, that they were men of extraordinary nerve, and as a general thing so tenacious of life, that, often, the first to receive a mortal wound in a fight was successful in slaying his antagonist. Indeed, so frequently was this the case, that it operated as a restraint, oftentimes, to a projected combat. Peel belonged to the class who were held in fear by tamer spirits for their supposed hold upon life. The reader will pardon a digres- sion, for the better illustration it affords of this prevalent apprehension.
One of the most memorable fights in Nevada took place between Martin Barnhardt and Thomas Peasley. Peasley was a man of striking presence and fine ability. He had been sergeant-
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at-arms in the Nevada Assembly. In a quarrel with Barnhardt at Carson City, he had been wounded in the arm. Both Barnhardt and Peas- ley claimed to be " chief," - always a sufficient cause of quarrel between men of their stamp. Meeting Peasley one day after the fight, Barn- hardt tauntingly asked him if he was as good a man then as he was at Carson.
" This," replied Peasley, "is neither the time nor place to test that question."
Soon afterwards, while Peasley was seated in the office of the Ormsby House in Carson, en- gaged in conversation with some friends, Barn- hardt entered, and approaching him asked, -
" Are you heeled ?"
"For Heaven's sake," rejoined Peasley, "are you always spoiling for a fight ?"
" Yes," cried Barnhardt, and without further notice fired his revolver. The ball passed through Peasley's heart. Seeing that he had inflicted a fatal wound, Barnhardt fled to the washroom, closing the windowed door after him. Peasley rose and staggered to the door. Thrust- ing his pistol through the sash, he fired and killed Barnhardt instantly. Falling back in the arms of his friends, they laid him upon a billiard table.
285
Langford Peel.
" Is Barnhardt dead ?" he whispered, as life was ebbing.
" He is," was the ready answer given by half a dozen sorrowing friends.
"'Tis well. Pull my boots off, and send for my brother Andy," and with the words on his lips he expired.
Peasley was supposed to be the original of Mark Twain's " Buck Fanshaw." He was a man of the highest degree of honor, and, if his talents had been properly directed, would have distinguished himself.
I resume the history of Peel, at the point of his departure from Nevada. He left in 1867, in company with one John Bull as a partner. They quarrelled by the way and dissolved partnership, but on arriving at Salt Lake, became reconciled, and started for Helena, Montana, where Bull ar- rived some weeks in advance. When Peel arrived, Bull had gone to examine the mines at Indian Creek. Returning soon after, his account was so favorable, that Peel concluded to go there at once. He came back in a week thoroughly disgusted, and very angry at Bull, whom he accused of mis- representation and falsehood. Bull explained, and they parted seeming friends, but Peel's anger was not appeased. Meeting Bull some days after,
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he renewed the quarrel at Hurley and Chase's saloon. Oaths and epithets were freely ex- changed, and Peel seized, and was in the act of drawing, his pistol.
"I am not heeled," said Bull, on discovering his design.
" Go, then, and heel yourself," said Peel, slap- ping him in the face.
Bull started, saying as he went, -
" Peel, I'll come back, sure."
" When you come," replied Peel, " come fight- ing."
Bull went out and armed himself. While re- turning, he met William Knowlden, to whom he related the circumstances of the quarrel, and told him what disposition to make of his effects in case he was killed. Passing on, he met Peel coming out of the saloon, and fired three shots before Peel could draw his revolver. Each shot took effect, one in the neck, one in the face, and a third in the left breast. Peel fell and died without uttering a word. It as the general opinion that he was treated unfairly. Bull was indicted, tried, and his conviction failed by dis- agreement of the jury, which stood nine for ac- quittal, and three for a verdict of guilty. He left the country soon after.
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Langford Peel.
On a plain slab in the graveyard at Helena is the following inscription : -
SACRED TO TIIE MEMORY OF LANGFORD PEEL. BORN IN LIVERPOOL. DIED JULY 23, 1867,
AGED 36 YEARS.
IN LIFE, BELOVED BY HIS FRIENDS, AND RESPECTED BY HIS ENEMIES.
VENGEANCE IS MINE, SAITH THE LORD. I KNOW THAT MY REDEEMER LIVETII. ERECTED BY A FRIEND.
I was curious to learn what suggested the last two scriptural quotations, and found that the friend had the idea that, as Peel did not have fair play, the Lord would avenge his death in some signal manner. The other sentence was thought to properly express the idea that the man was living who would redeem Peel's name from what- ever obloquy might attach to it, because of his having " died with his boots on." Could there be a more strange interpretation of the scriptures ?
288
Joseph A. Slade
.
CHAPTER XIX.
JOSEPH A. SLADE.
OVERLAND STAGE ROUTE - DESPERATE EMPLOYES - JULES RENI - JULES SHOOTS SLADE -- SLADE RE- SOLVES TO KILL JULES -CARRIES IIIS RESOLVE INTO EFFECT - COMES TO VIRGINIA CITY - QUARREL WITH THE WRITER - ENCOUNTER WITH BOB SCOTT - LAWLESSNESS IN VIRGINIA CITY -THREATENS THE LIFE OF JUDGE DAVIS - VIGILANTES ASSEMBLE - - ARREST OF SLADE - HIS EXECUTION.
GOOD men who were intimate with Joseph A. Slade before he went to Montana gave him credit for possessing many excellent qualities. He is first heard of outside of his native village of Carlisle, in the State of Illinois, as a volunteer in the war with Mexico, in a company com- manded by Captain Killman. This officer, no less distinguished for success in reconnoitre, strategy, and surprise, than service on the field of battle, selected from his regiment for this danger- ous enterprise, twelve men of unquestioned daring and energy. Slade was among the number. A comrade of his during this period bears testi-
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mony to his efficiency, which he said always won the approbation of his commander. How or where his life was passed after the close of the war, and until he was intrusted with the care of one of the divisions of the Great Overland Stage route in 1859, I have no knowledge. This position was full of varied responsibility. His capabilities were equal to it. No more exalted tribute can be paid to his character than to say that he organized, managed, and controlled for several years, acceptably to the public, to the com- pany, and to the employes of the company, the great central division of the overland stage route, through six hundred miles of territory destitute of inhabitants and law, exposed for the entire distance to hostile Indians, and overrun with a wild, reckless class of freebooters, who maintained their infamous assumptions with the pistol and bowie knife. No man without a peculiar fitness for such a position could have done this.
Stealing the horses of the stage company was a common crime. The loss of the property was small in comparison with the expense and embar- rassment of delaying the coach, and breaking up the regularity of the trips. If Slade caused some of the rascals engaged in this busi- ness to be hanged, it was in strict conformity to
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the public sentiment, which in all new countries regards horse-stealing as a capital offence. Nothing but fear could restrain their passion for this guilty pursuit. Certain it is, that Slade's name soon became a terror to all evil-doers along the road. Depredations of all kinds were less frequent, and whenever one of any magnitude was committed, Slade's men were early on the track of the perpetrators, and seldom failed to capture and punish them.
The power he exercised as a division agent was despotic. It was necessary for the service in which he was employed that it should be so. Doubtless, he caused the death of many bad men, but he has often been heard to say, that he never killed but one himself. It was a common thing with him, if a man refused to obey him, to force obedience with a drawn pistol. How else could he do it, in a country where there was no law ?
In the purchases which he made of the ranche- men he sometimes detected their dishonest tricks, and generally punished them on the spot. On one occasion, while bargaining for a stack of hay, he discovered that it was filled with bushes. He told the rancheman that he intended to confine him to the stack with chains, and burn him, and commenced making preparations, seemingly for
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Joseph A. Slade.
that purpose. The man begged for his life, and, with much apparent reluctance, Slade finally told him if he would leave the country and never return to it he would give him his life. Glad of the compromise the fellow departed the next morning. This was all that Slade desired.
Stories like these grate harshly upon the ears of people who have always lived in civilized com- munities. Without considering the influences by which he is surrounded, this class pronounce such a man a ruffian. An author who writes of him finds it no task to blacken his memory, by telling half the truth. People who have once heard of him are prepared to believe any report which con- nects his name with crime. Wrong as this is on general principles, it has been especially severe in the case of Slade. Misrepresentation and abuse have given to him the proportions, passions, and actions of a demon. His name has become a synonym for all that is infamous and cruel in human character. And yet not one of all the great number of men he controlled, or of those associated with him as employes of the overland stage company, men personally cognizant of his career, believe that he committed a single act not justified by the circumstances provoking it.
He could not be true to his employers and
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Joseph A. Slade.
escape censure, any more than he could have dis- charged the duties expected of him without fre- quent and dangerous collision with the rough elements of the society in which he moved. That he lived through it all was a miracle. A man of weaker resolution, and less fertility of re- source, would have been killed before the close of his first year's service. Equally strange is it, that one whose daily business required a continual exercise of power in so many and varied forms, at one moment among his own employes, at the next among the half-civilized borderers by whom he was surrounded, and perhaps at the same time sending out men in pursuit of horse thieves, should have escaped with so few desperate and bloody encounters.
The uniform testimony of those who knew him is, that he was rigidly honest and faithful. He exacted these qualities from those in his employ. Among gentlemen he was a gentleman always. He had no bad habits. Men who were brought in daily contact with him, during his period of service, say that they never saw him affected by liquor. He was generous, warmly attached to his friends, and happy in his family. He was of a lively, cheerful temperament, full of anecdote and wit, a pleasant companion, whose personal
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magnetism attached his friends to him with hooks of steel.
Many jarring and discordant incidents dis- figured this flattering foreground in Slade's border life, but there was only one which gave it a sanguine hue. That in all its parts, and from the very first, has been so tortured and perverted in the telling, that persons perfectly familiar with all its details do not hesitate to pronounce every published version a falsehood. I have the narrative from truthful men, personally familiar with all the facts.
Among the ranchemen with whom Slade early commenced to deal was one Jules Reni, a Cana- dian Frenchman. He was a representative man of his class, and that class embraced nearly all the people scattered along the road. They re- garded him as their leader and adviser, and he was proud of the position. He espoused their quarrels with outsiders, and reconciled all differ- ences occurring among themselves. In this way, he exercised the power of a chief over the class, and maintained a rustic dignity, which com- manded respect within the sphere of its influence. Jules and Slade had frequent collisions, which generally originated in some real or supposed en- croachment by the latter upon the dignity or
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importance of the former. They always arose from trivial causes, and were forgotten by Slade as soon as over; but Jules treasured them up until the account against his rival became too heavy to be borne. A serious quarrel, in which threats were exchanged, was the consequence. If Slade had treasured up any vicious memory of this difficulty, no evidence of it was apparent when he afterwards met Jules. They accosted each other with usual courtesy, and soon fell into a friendly conversation, in which others standing by participated. Both were seated at the time on the fence fronting the station. At length Jules left and entered his house, and a moment afterwards Slade followed. Slade was unarmed. He had gone but a few rods, when one of the men he had just left, in a tone of alarm, cried to him, -
" Look out, Slade, Jules is going to shoot you !"
As Slade turned to obey the summons, he re- ceived the bullet from Jules's revolver. Five shots from the pistol were fired in instant succes- sion, and then Jules, who was standing in the door of his cabin, took a shot-gun which was within reach, and emptied its contents into the body of Slade, who was facing him when he fell. Slade was carried into the station, and placed in
295
Joseph A. Slade.
a bunk, with bullets and buek-shot to the number of thirteen lodged in his person. No one who witnessed the attack supposed he could survive an hour. Jules was so well satisfied that he was slain, that in a short time afterwards he said to some person near, in the hearing of Slade, " When he is dead, you can put him in one of these dry- goods boxes, and bury him."
Slade rose in his bunk, and glaring out upon Jules, who was standing in front of the station, exclaimed with an oath, " I shall live long enough to wear one of your ears on my watch-guard. You needn't trouble yourself about my burial."
In the midst of the excitement occasioned by the shooting, the overland coach arrived, bringing the superintendent of the road. Finding Slade writhing in mortal agony, he, on hearing the nature of the assault, caused Jules to be arrested, and improvised a scaffold for his immediate execu- tion. Three times was Jules drawn up by willing hands and strangled until he was black in the face. On letting him down the last time, the superintendent, upon his promise to leave the country, ordered his release. He left imme- diately.
Slade lingered for several weeks at the station, and finally went to St. Louis for treatment. As
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Joseph A. Slade.
soon as he was sufficiently recovered, he returned to his division, with eight remaining bullets in his body. The only sentiment of all, except the personal friends of Jules, was, that this attack upon Slade, as brutal as it was unprovoked, should be avenged. Slade must improve the first opportunity to kill Jules. This was deemed right and just. In no other way could he, in the parlance of the country, get even with him. Slade determined to kill Jules upon sight, but not to go out of his way to meet him. Indeed, he sent him word to that effect, and warned him against a return to his division.
Jules, in the mean time, had been buying and selling cattle in some parts of Colorado. Soon after Slade's return to his division, Jules followed, for the ostensible purpose of getting some cattle that he owned, which were running at large ; but his real object, as he everywhere boasted on his journey, was to kill Slade. This threat was cir- culated far and wide through the country, coupled with the announcement that Jules was on his return to the division to carry it into speedy exe- cution. He exhibited a pistol of a peculiar pat- tern, as the instrument designed for Slade's destruc- tion.
Slade first heard of Jules's approach and
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threat at Pacific Springs, the west end of his division, just as he was about leaving to return to Julesburg. At every station on that long route of six hundred miles, he was warned by different persons of the bloody purpose which Jules was returning to accomplish. Knowing the desperate character of the man with whom he had to deal, and that the threats he had made were serious, Slade resolved to counsel with the officers in com- mand at Fort Laramie, and follow their advice. On his arrival at that post he laid the subject before them. They were perfectly familiar with former difficulties between Slade and Jules, and the treacherous attack of the latter upon the for- mer. They advised him to secure the person of Jules, and kill him. Unless he did so, the chances were he would be killed himself; and in any event, there could be no peace on his division while Jules lived, as he was evidently determined to shoot him on sight. Slade had been informed that Jules had passed the preceding night at Bordeaux's ranche, a stage station about twelve miles distant from the fort, and had repeated his threats, exhibited his pistol, and declared his in- tention of lying in wait at some point on the road until Slade should appear.
When Slade was told of this, he hesitated no
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Joseph A. Slade.
longer to follow the advice he had received. Four men were sent on horseback in advance of him to capture Jules and disarm him. Soon after they left, Slade, in company with a friend, followed in the coach. Jules had left Bordeaux's before his arrival, but the story of the threats he had uttered there, were confirmed by Bordeaux, who, when the coach departed, took a seat in it, carrying with him a small armory of guns and pistols. It was apparent that the old man, whose interest was with the winner in the fight, which- ever he might be, was prepared to embrace his cause, in case of after disturbance.
As the coach approached the next station, at Chansau's ranche, with Slade as the driver, two of the four men sent to secure Jules were seen rid- ing towards it at a spanking pace. Slade and his friends at once concluded that they had failed in their designs, but the shouts of the men who swung their hats as they passed the coach re-assured them, and Slade drove rapidly up in front of the station. Jumping from the box, he walked hurriedly to the door. There were several persons standing near, all, as was customary, armed with pistol and knife. Slade drew the pistol from the belt of one standing in the door- way, and glancing hastily to see that it was
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Joseph A. Slade.
loaded, said, -" I want this." He then came out, and at a rapid stride went to the corral in rear of the station where Jules was a prisoner. As soon as he came in sight of him, he fired his pis- tol, intending to hit him between the eyes, but he had aimed too low, and the ball struck him in the mouth, and glanced off without causing material injury. Jules fell upon his back, and simulated the mortal agony so well, that for a few moments the people supposed the wound was fatal. Slade discovered the deception at a glance.
" I have not hurt you," said he, " and no de- ception is necessary. I have determined to kill you, but having failed in this shot, I will now, if you wish it, give you time to make your will."
Jules replied that he should like to do so ; and a gentleman who was awaiting the departure of the coach, volunteered to draw it up for him. The inconvenience of walking back and forth from the corral to the station, through the single entrance in front of the latter, made this a pro- tracted service. The will was finally completed and read to Jules. He expressed himself satisfied with it, and the drawer of it went to the station to get a pen and ink, with which he could sign it. When he returned a moment afterwards,
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Jules was dead. Slade had shot him in the head during that temporary absence.
Slade went to Fort Laramie and surrendered himself a prisoner to the officer in command. Military authority was the only law of the coun- try, and though this action of Slade may have a farcical appearance when taken in consideration with the circumstances preceding it, yet it was all that he could do to signify his desire for an investigation. The officers of the fort, familiar with all the facts, discharged him, with their unanimous approval of the course he had pursued. The French friends of Jules never harmed him. The whole subject was carefully investigated by the stage company, which, as the best evidence it could give of approval, continued Slade in its employ.
This is the history of the quarrel between Slade and Jules Reni, as I have received it from a gentleman familiar with all its phases from its commencement to its close. The ag- gravated form in which the narrative has been laid before the public, charging Slade with hav- ing tied his victim to a tree, and firing at him at different times during the day, taunting him meantime, and subjecting him to a great variety of torture, before killing him, is false in every
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particular. Jules was not only the first, but the most constant aggressor. In a community favored with laws and an organized police, Slade would not have been justified in the course he pursued, yet, under our most favored institutions, more flagrant cases than this daily escape convic- tion. In the situation he accepted, an active busi- ness man, intrusted with duties which required constant exposure of his person both night and day, what else could he do, to save his own life, than kill the person who threatened and sought an opportunity to take it? Law would not pro- tect him. The promise which Jules had made with the halter about his neck, to leave the coun- try, did not prevent his return to avenge himself upon Slade. It was impossible to avoid a colli- sion with him ; and to kill him under such cir- cumstances, was as clear an act of self-defence, as if, in a civilized community, he had been slain by his adversary with his pistol at his heart.
Slade's career, relieved from the infamy of this transaction, presents no feature for severe public condemnation, until several years after its occur- rence. He retained his position as division agent, discharging his duties acceptably, and was, in fact, regarded by the company as their most efficient man. When the route was changed from Lara-
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mie to the Cherokee Trail, he removed his head- quarters to a beautiful nook in the Black Hills, which he named Virginia Dale, after his wife, whom he loved fondly.
His position as division agent often involved him unavoidably in difficulty with ranchemen and saloon-keepers. At one time, after the violation of a second request to sell no liquor to his em- ployes, Slade riddled a wayside saloon, and poured the liquor into the street. On another occasion, seemingly without provocation, he and his men took possession of the sutler's quarters at Fort Hal- leck, and so conducted as to excite the animosity of the officers of the garrison, who determined to punish him for the outrage. Following him in the coach to Denver, they arrested and would not release him, until the company assured then he should leave the division.
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