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 39
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 39
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 39
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 39
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 39
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At its session of 1864-5, the Legislature of Idaho set off and provided for the organization of Ada county, appointing the election of officers in March, 1865. The " Opdyke gang " was a strong power in the Democratic party. At its request Opdyke was nominated for sheriff, and by a
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David Opdyke.
party vote largely in the ascendant, elected by a small majority. Soon after his election, under a pretence of official duty, he avowed the inten- tion of breaking up a Vigilante organization of about thirty persons, which had been formed in the Payette river settlement, thirty miles from Boise City, for the purpose of freeing their neigh- borhood from two or three horse thieves and manufacturers of spurious gold dust. The Vigi- lantes were a great terror to the roughs, and in- terfered with all their unlawful and bloody plans for money-making. In pursuance of this design, Opdyke and his coadjutors had in some mysteri- ous manner obtained the names of all the Vigi- lantes, and procured a warrant for their arrest. The proceedings, to all outward seeming, were to be conducted in legal form ; but in making the arrest, Opdyke and his posse proposed to shoot the leaders of the Vigilantes, and screen them- selves under the plea that they had resisted. It was arranged that fifteen or twenty of the " Op- dyke gang " would leave Boise City, armed with double-barrelled shot-guns and revolvers, and unite at Horse-shoe Bend road with as many more from the country, similarly equipped. They would then proceed with their warrant to the settlement, and, by stealing a march upon the citizens, easily effect their diabolical purpose.
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David Opdyke.
Intelligence of their plan came to the ears of the citizens of Boise City. They secretly de- spatched a messenger to the Payette Vigilantes with the information. The thirty members of that order armed and assembled at once in self- protection. Opdyke, at the head of fifteen of the worst men in the Territory, whom he had sum- moned as a posse comitatus, left Boise City at four o'clock P.M. to make the arrest. The party from the country failed to connect with him, and his marched down alone. The Vigilantes, numbering two to one of his band, met him. They were quite as determined as their oppo- nents. Surprised at the preparation they had made to resist him, Opdyke held a parley, and was obliged to comply with all the terms prescribed by the Vigilantes. These were, that they would march to Boise City and answer the warrant, but they would not allow Opdyke to disarm them or " get the drop " on them. By the aid of counsel, the complaint against them was dismissed, and they were discharged, thus bringing to a humili- ating conclusion a deep-laid conspiracy against the lives of some of the best citizens of the Territory. Nearly all the Vigilantes had been partisans of Op- dyke, and of course, after this manifestation of his hostility, were very bitter in their opposition to him.
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David Opdyke.
Soon after this the county commissioners ordered the district attorney, A. G. Cook, to institute criminal proceedings against Opdyke for per- mitting a criminal to escape, and also for em- bezzlement, they having discovered that he was a defaulter to the county in the sum of eleven hundred dollars. Cook, however, resigned his office. A. Hurd, who was appointed to succeed him, prepared indictments which were sustained by the grand jury on both charges. Opdyke paid the amount for which he was a defaulter, and re- signed his office, and the prosecutions were with- drawn. He, however, swore that he would be bitterly revenged upon the grand jury, which, being composed chiefly of men of his political faith, ought, he said, to have saved him, right or wrong, out of party consideration. The grand jury held a meeting, and sent to him to ascertain his intentions. He was glad to escape further molestation by disclaiming all hostile designs against them.
Early in March, 1865, the citizens of Southern Idaho fitted out an expedition against the maraud- ing bands of Indians which, for some months previous, had been engaged in predatory warfare in that part of the Territory. Opdyke, as leader, with thirty of his gang, volunteered. Money,
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David Opdyke.
provisions; horses, and other equipments were fur- nished by the people. A man by the name of Joseph Aden was employed to pack the stores, for which purpose eleven ponies were provided and placed in his charge, with the understanding that he should receive them in part payment for his services. In pursuance of that agreement, he immediately branded and ranched them.
Among the volunteers was a young man of nineteen, by the name of Reuben Raymond. He had performed faithful service in the Union army, and was just discharged at Fort Boise. He was quite a favorite with the people, and, though necessarily intimate at this time with the " Opdyke gang," was perfectly honest and trustworthy. The expedition ran its course, and, like all expeditions of the kind, was barren of any marked results. Opdyke cached a large portion of the stores on Snake river for the future use of his road agent band ; and the roughs, all the more daring and impudent for the confidence the people had re- posed in them, became a greater burden to the community than ever.
Aden turned his ponies out on the commons on the south side of Boise river, claimed as a ranche by Opdyke and one Drake, -the latter assuming to exercise a sort of constructive owner-
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ship to the land. Designing to swindle Aden out of his property in the ponies, Opdyke told Drake not to surrender them to Aden except on his written order. Aden employed attorneys and got possession of the ponies. Opdyke caused his arrest for stealing ; and Aden, leading his ponies, which he hitched in front of the justice's office, appeared for trial. He was discharged, and the crowd dispersed ; but Opdyke's attorney remained, and persuaded the magistrate to issue an order for the surrender of the ponies to his client. Opdyke and his friends took them away, and they were never seen in Boise City after- wards.
Aden commenced a suit against Cline, the jus- tice, for damages, and recovered a judgment of eight hundred dollars, which Cline was obliged to pay. Cline resigned his office. At Aden's ex- amination, Reuben Raymond had sworn to the identity of the ponies, which was disputed by nearly all the roughs in the expedition, and it was almost solely on his testimony, that Aden was discharged. The " Opdyke gang" were very angry with him; and on the morning of April 3, 1865, a few days after the examination, while Raymond was employed in a stall in Opdyke's stable, John C. Clark, a noted rough, stepped
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David Opdyke.
before the stall with his revolver in his hand, and commenced cursing Raymond. Opdyke and sev- eral of his associates, together with a number of good citizens, were standing near. Clark finally threatened to shoot Raymond.
"I am entirely unarmed," said Raymond, at the same time pulling open his shirt bosom, " but if you wish to shoot me down like a dog, there is nothing to hinder you. Give me a chance, and I will fight you in any way you choose, though I have nothing against you."
Clark covered Raymond for a moment or more, with his pistol, and then with an opprobrious epithet, said, " I will shoot you, anyway," and, taking deliberate aim, fired, and killed Raymond on the spot. This murder produced the wildest excitement, and Clark, who had been immediately arrested, was taken out of the guard-house the second night afterwards, and hanged upon an im- promptu gibbet between the town and the garri- son. Threats of vengeance were publicly pro- claimed by the " Opdyke gang ; " Opdyke himself improving the occasion to tell several of the grand jury men, who had found the indictment already mentioned against him, that they would not live to walk the streets of Boise City many days more. It was also reported that the roughs
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David Opdyke.
intended to burn the city, and not leave a house standing.
The citizens, fully aroused to the dangers of the crisis, organized a night patrol. Every in- habitant of the city was armed, and all co-operated for the purpose of clearing the country of every suspected person in it. While plans were matur- ing for this purpose, the roughs became uneasy, and one after another began to disappear until but few remained. Opdyke took the alarm for his own safety, and on the 12th of April, accom- panied by John Dixon, a notorious confederate in crime, departed by the Rocky Bar road, and brought up at a cabin thirty miles distant. A party of Vigilantes followed in close pursuit. They captured him during the night, and con- ducting him ten miles farther on the road to Syrup creek, hanged him under a shed be- tween two vacant cabins, on the following morning. His companion Dixon, who was caught on the march, was hanged at the same time.
When this intelligence became known in Boise City, every suspicious character disappeared, and the vilest gang of ruffians in Idaho was effectually broken up. Opdyke had many friends, and was naturally a man of genial qualities, but he had become corrupted by the evil associations con- tracted in Idaho Territory.
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David Opdyke.
It was believed by many, at the time of Op- dyke's execution, that he was hanged for his money by some of the employes of the Overland Stage Company. This, however, was a mistake in his case. The Vigilantes of Boise City had determined upon his death before he left the city, a measure they deemed necessary to rid the country of his associates, and establish peace in the community.
It was true, however, that some of the Over- land Stage Company's employes were justly sus- pected of robbery and murder. On one occasion, two miners from Boise City, returning to the States, indiscreetly exhibited a large quantity of gold dust at Gibson's Ferry on Snake river, which exciting the curiosity of some of the observers, they were arrested on a pretence of having spuri- ous gold dust, and hanged by some half dozen of the stage company's employes. Their bodies were burned, but no account was ever given of the gold dust. No one was deceived as to the char- acter of this act. It was the cold-blooded heart- less murder, for their money, of two honest miners who were returning to their homes with their hard-earned savings. This was the popular judg- ment.
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San Andreas in 1849.
CHAPTER XXIII.
SAN ANDREAS IN 1849.
SAN ANDREAS - THE MEXICANS - DISAPPEARANCE OF CAPTAIN BEN OSBORNE - THE FONDA - MEXICAN PROSPECTING PARTY - PURSUIT - THE MEXICAN CAMP SURROUNDED - EXAMINATIONS - THE CUBAN - A PATHETIC APPEAL -SUCCESSFUL RUSE - CON- FESSION - RETURN TO SAN ANDREAS - THIE FONDA DESERTED - DISCOVERY OF THE BODY OF CAPTAIN OSBORNE - ESCAPE OF HIS MURDERERS.
"WE took no great amount of stock in the Mexicans in 1849, I can assure you," said Judge T-, as he seated himself to comply with my request to tell me a story of early days in the California gold placers. " They were a thieving, cunning, bloodthirsty set of gamblers and cut- throats. An honest man was an exception among them. And they did not like us. We had just whipped them, taken California from them, found it full of gold, and were filling it up with an en- terprising, intelligent population. We suffered immensely from their depredations. Every good
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San Andreas in 1849.
piece of horse-flesh we brought into the country was sooner or later stolen by them, and seldom, if ever, restored to us. They would rifle our flumes, and had a knack of appropriating our property which seemed to elude all our means of detection. Occasionally, some of our companions would dis- appear very suddenly. We knew that they had been secretly stabbed or shot by some of these ' Greasers,' but it was the merest chance that ever led to any discovery. Of course, whenever our suspicions lighted upon one of them, it generally went hard with him. He was fortunate to escape with his life, to say nothing of the marks which sundry whippings, and chokings, and croppings had indelibly inflicted upon his carcass. As I look back to those days now, I think we some- times made mistakes ; but then, the aggravation was very great, and if both sides could be summed up I don't think that it would be much more than an even thing between us. There was no law but such as we made. Every man carried his life in his hand, and I believe that we did, all things considered, the best that could be done.
" The Mexicans excelled us in mining. They had learned the signs before they came here. We had them all to learn. They were making new and valuable discoveries daily ; if we made any it
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San Andreas in 1849.
was by accident. They would start out under cover of the night, and the next morning, perhaps, be in possession of an inexhaustible placer. We would sometimes try the same game, and be most provokingly humbugged. This was so often the case that we gradually lost all faith in our gold- seeking sagacity. But we had come to California to find it, and were determined not to be thwarted, so we watched and followed the Mexicans. They were very close, and we had to resort to a great many devices to keep ourselves informed of their movements.
" San Andreas was originally a Mexican camp. It sprung up like a mushroom, in a single night. There were thousands of Mexicans and Americans in it in less than two weeks after its discovery. I was with a company at work upon a gulch near there, but it did not pan out to suit us. We were waiting, Micawber-like, for something to turn up. It was early in the winter of 1851-2. One of our men came into the camp late in the afternoon with the information that a party of Mexicans were to leave San Andreas at a late hour that night, to go to a new placer which had just been discovered, and reported to be very rich. Now was our time. If we could follow them without being discovered, we could secure claims for our-
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San Andreas in IS49.
selves. We had been told that David Latimer, better known as ' Dad,' was going with the Mexi- cans, and would furnish them with some horses and provisions.
" After a brief consultation, it was agreed that nine of us should go to San Andreas after dark, and station ourselves without the town, on differ- ent sides of it, to watch the departure of the Mex- icans, and those of us who happened to be on the side where they left should follow them quietly to their place of destination. It was quite dark when we separated, Captain Jim Box, John Harris, and Charley Bray to go to the north side of the town ; Captain Gilson and myself to the south side ; Ned Morgan and Herbert Ide to the east side; and Frank Forest and Joe Abbott to the west side. The hours of watching were very long. The night stole on into the ' wee sma' hours,' and we begun to think we had been hoaxed. Some of our num- ber were only restrained from returning to camp by the consideration that they might thus lose a better opportunity to win their stake than would ever again offer. Just as Box and his companions were on the point of giving up, at two o'clock past in the morning, along came the Mexicans near where they were seated. There were twenty- five or thirty of them. They moved along as
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San Andreas in 1849.
noiselessly as possible, with Box and his friends as noiselessly in pursuit. After they had travelled in this manner some three or four miles, the Mex- icans became hilarious, and indulged in loud con- versation, shouting, and singing. It was star- light, and our friends were careful to keep far enough in the rear to avoid observation. Sud- denly they heard voices behind them, announcing the rapid approach of another party. With all convenient speed they concealed themselves by the side of the road until it passed. Two of the Mexicans, while passing the spot where Box was hidden, were overheard by him to hold the follow- ing conversation in Spanish : -
"' If they discover us, we must kill the first man that comes into camp.'
""' Yes,' replied the other, 'but they can kill too.'
""' I know, but we have commenced the game already.'
"' What do you mean ?'
""' We've put one of the cursed Gringos * out of the way.'
"' What Gringo ?'
""' I don't know more than that he was a cap- tain at the battle of Monterey.'
* Americans.
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San Andreas in 1849.
"' What have you done with him ?'
"' He lies buried in a tent in San Andreas.'
"' Do you hear that, boys ?' whispered Box to his companions, -' they've been killing one of our men.'
" Ben Osborne, a favorite of all our boys, had been missing for several months. He had been a soldier in the Mexican war, was a great braggart, a free drinker, and remarkably fond of women. He had a habit of fighting his battles over when in his cups, and nothing afforded him more pleasure at such times than to relate within hear- ing of the Mexicans his feats of valor at Monte- rey. The dark scowls and sinister glances with which they would listen to him, afforded him great delight. He had a way of illustrating his prowess by gesticulations and grimaces that were particularly offensive to them. His friends used to warn him of the consequences of his ill-timed mirth, but Ben would laugh at their fears, and improve the next opportunity that offered for re- peating it. He had done it on so many occasions that, among the Mexicans, he was known and designated only as the 'Captain in the battle of Monterey.'
" There was in San Andreas a fonda or restau- rant kept by a Chilano man and woman. They
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San Andreas in 1849.
prepared a dish composed of red pepper and beef, called chili concarney, of which Ben was very fond. The sparkling black eyes and beautiful form of the hostess had for him a peculiar fascination. He used to spend many of his evenings at this fonda, flirting with its mistress, playing monte, drinking, and feasting upon chili concarney. He went there one evening early in December, 1850, and was never afterwards seen alive. It was known that he had upon his person three hundred dollars or more in gold dust. Diligent search was made for him by his friends, who suspected he had been roughly dealt with, but he could not be found. Their conjectures concerning him were unsupported by proof, and poor Ben was nearly forgotten when the conversation was over- heard, disclosing the fact that he had been mur- dered.
" Our boys forgot their desire to find a gold placer in the paramount wish which instantly pos- sessed them to discover the murderers of their old comrade. They made careful observation of the outfit belonging to the two Mexicans whose con- versation had revealed the crime. One of them led a pack-horse which they recognized as Dad Latimer's ; the other, a black donkey. Just before daylight, the Mexicans halted in the neighborhood
-
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San Andreas in 1849.
of Mckinney's Humbug, near the source of Mur- ray's creek. Our boys fell back a mile or more, and hid themselves. After breakfast, Charley Bray returned to our camp with a note from Box to Talifero, informing him of the discovery they had made. Talifero and three or four others spread the intelligence through all the neighbor- ing placers on Calaveras river, and raised a company of forty or more volunteers to go and see Box. These men, all well armed, met at Henry Shroebel's store in San Andreas, at ten o'clock at night. After consultation as to the course proper to be pursued in the investigation they were to make, they left at half-past eleven, under the guidance of Charley Bray, for Box's camp, and arrived there early the next morning. Among the number whom I well remember, were Knapp, Broughton, Talifero, Captain Gilson, John Morrison, Ned Morgan, Herbert Ide, and Joe Abbott.
" It was arranged that Talifero, Box, and Har- ris should visit the Mexican camp, and the re- mainder of the company await from a hill overlooking it, the firing of a gun as a signal to join them. Five or six Mexicans were engaged in cooking and preparing breakfast, and the others were just emerging from their blankets,
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San Andreas in 1849
when our three boys made their appearance. They soon recognized several as old acquaint- ances, to whose inquiries as to their business, they replied that they were prospecting. There were seemingly two parties of Mexicans, camped about two hundred yards apart. After a careful scrutiny of the men, Box came upon one whom he thought he could identify as the chief speaker in the midnight conversation. He stepped aside, and under the pretence of killing a bird for breakfast, fired his gun. A moment afterwards, thirty-eight armed men were seen rapidly descend- ing a steep declivity into the camp. An expres- sion of mingled surprise and fear sat on every Mexican face, upturned to witness the approach of the little company, as it defiled around and enclosed the camp with a regular picket-guard.
"' It is my duty,' said Talifero, addressing the astonished groups, 'to inform you that you are all under arrest. A great crime has been com- mitted. We are in pursuit of the perpetrators of it, and have satisfactory reasons for believing they are in this camp.
" For a moment the silence succeeding this charge was deathlike. The men exchanged ter- rified glances, and seemed to know not how to reply. At length one after another began to pro-
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San Andreas in IS49.
test his innocence, and as, next to murder, horse- stealing was in those days deemed the greatest of crimes, and was the one for which the Mexicans were especially noted, they severally declared their innocence of it, and claimed to be hard-working, honest miners. These proceedings at the first camp were suddenly arrested by a loud halloo from John Harris, who, while they were in prog- ress, had visited the other party, and found Dad Latimer's horse and the black donkey. Satisfied that they had arrested the wrong party, our boys apologized, and immediately withdrew to the other camp, where the scene which had just transpired was acted over again.
" Talifero now undeceived them as to the na- ture of the crime. 'We have no charge against you of horse-stealing,' said he, 'but one of our comrades has been murdered, and either his mur- derers, or persons who know them, are in this company, and we are determined to find them and bring them to justice.' The prisoners, nine in number, were then disarmed, formed in a line, with their hands bound behind them, and under the close escort of our boys, marched off in the direc- tion from which they came the day before. The other party of Mexicans offered their assistance, which was declined. Our object being to find
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San Andreas in 1849.
both the murderers and the remains of our com- rade, we had to resort to the following expedient. Arriving at the junction of three small streams in the mountains, which were separated by low, hilly ranges, we improvised a tribunal, before which the prisoners were placed in line and ad- dressed in Spanish by Captain Gilson.
"' You are,' said he, ' very near the end of your earthly career. We have positive evidence that some of your number either killed Ben Osborne, or know who did it. He was our friend, and greatly beloved by us. One of the men now be- fore me was overheard, at midnight, while you were on your way here, to relate to another the circumstances of his murder. He said that it took place at a restaurant in San Andreas. With the certain proof that the knowledge of our friend's murder is in your keeping, we have determined to put you all to death, with this single exception, - the man who will tell us how, when, where, and by whom he was killed, and where his remains can be found, shall escape. To this we pledge our honor.'
"Some four or five of our boys, at the com- mencement of these proceedings, went over the hill which separated the creek on which we were from the one next to it, to prepare a scaffold.
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San Andreas in 1849.
Every movement was made with a view of impress- ing the prisoners with the seriousness of our in- tentions. When Gilson concluded his address, an intelligent-looking young man, apparently not more than twenty-four, was asked what he had to say in reply to the charge. His form quivered with emotion, and large tears fell from his eyes, as he gave utterance to the following remarks : -
"' Gentlemen, I am a Cuban. I was born in Havana, where my parents still reside. From the moment that I heard of the discovery of gold in California, I determined to come here in pursuit of fortune. My parents and friends opposed my wishes. They warned me of the dangers I should incur, and, among others, mentioned the very one which, it seems, is now to cost me my life. It was after long and ceaseless persuasion that I obtained their consent to come here, and it was finally given with the greatest reluctance, and accompanied by the most gloomy forebodings. When I bade my mother farewell, she hung upon my neck, protest- ing that if I went she would never see me more. Alas ! her predictions are likely to prove too true.
"' And yet, gentlemen, upon my honor and con- science, I know nothing of this crime. It is only ten days since I came to San Andreas. Previous to that, I was a clerk for several months in Mr.
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