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 6
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 6
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 6
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 6
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 6
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46
There were several smaller stations nearer to Walla Walla and Lewiston, which were only occupied as occasion might require. A close communication was established between these localities, by which the operations of each were speedily known to all. Plummer, meantime, while secretly directing the affairs of the " she- bangs " and issuing orders continually to the men, contrived to ward off suspicion from him- self, and preserve the appearance of a harmless and inoffensive citizen of Lewiston. His notori- ety as a gambler was shared by so many better men, and by a great majority of the miners themselves, that it really protected him in his
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character as a robber. While, therefore, he was prying into the financial condition of those with whom his profession brought him in daily contact in town, he was at the same time informing his confederates at the shebangs of every departure which boded success to their enterprise.
Such of the population as were not, to a greater or less degree, involved in the gambling operations of the community, although perfectly cognizant of the designs of the robbers, were too insignificant in numbers to offer any active oppo- sition. Being without organization, they hardly knew each other. Such was the state of feeling that, if a gambler or rough desired to possess any of the articles on sale by merchants or gro- eers, he entered a store, selected for himself the best the assortment afforded, and took it away with a request that it should be charged, or stated that some day when he was in luck he would pay for it. Rather than risk an affray, the dealer submitted to the imposition. Pay- ment was generally made, the gamblers entertain- ing, among themselves, a standard of honor in such matters which it was considered disgraceful to violate.
The two roads upon which the shebangs were located were the only thoroughfares in the coun-
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Society in Lewiston.
try, and not a day passed that they were not traversed by people in going to and returning from the interior mining camps, and in coming into and departing from the country. The num- ber of robberies and murders committed by the banditti will never be known. Mysterious dis- appearances soon became of almost weekly occur- rence. The danger which every man incurred of being robbed or killed was demonstrated by numerous escapes made by horsemen who had been assaulted and fired upon, and escaped by the fleetness of their horses. It was fully under- stood that whoever passed over either of these roads would have to run the gauntlet in the neighborhood of the shebangs, and people gen- erally went prepared. Crime was fearfully on the increase all through the secluded districts which separated the river from the distant min- ing camps. The country itself, about equally made up of mountains, foot-hills, cañons, dense pine forests, lava beds, and deep river-channels, was as favorable for the commission of crime as for the concealment of its perpetrators.
The two shebangs swarmed with ruffians. On one occasion a party of half-a-dozen, while riding in the vicinity of Craig's Mountain, were stopped by a volley from the shebang, which, being
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harmless, was returned. A number of well- mounted robbers started in pursuit. The party escaped by hard spurring, one of the number, to lighten his burden, throwing several large bags of gold dust into the grass. They were after- wards recovered. A butcher by the name of Harkness, of Oro Fino, was also assaulted, and fired upon, who owed his deliverance to the fleet- ness of his horse. Owners of pack trains never attempted to pass without force sufficient to intimidate the robbers.
The other shebang was used as a receptacle for stolen horses. It was under the superinten- dence of a noted horse-thief by the name of Turner, who had been a partner in the business with Bill Bunton. Any member of the band, whose claim to recognition was founded upon success in any thieving or bloody enterprise, could leave his jaded steed here in exchange for a fresh one. A single incident will illustrate the manner in which many of the horses were oh- tained. A gentleman riding a beautiful young mare, on his way from Oregon to Oro Fino, while she was drinking from the stream near by, was suddenly confronted by a man, who claimed her as his property. Several persons were wit- nesses to the meeting. Drawing a bill of sale of
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Society in Lewiston.
the mare from his pocket, which he had obtained five hundred miles away, he dismounted, and was about to prove his ownership, when the ruffian jumped into the saddle, and, seizing the bridle, rode rapidly away. The wayfarer called upon the by-standers to assist in the recapture of the animal, instead of which they knocked him down, stripped him of everything in his pockets, and told him to leave. He entered Lewiston utterly destitute.
No occupation in the northern mines tested the courage and honesty of men more severely than that of Express riders. Their duties, in riding from camp to camp frequently for hundreds of miles, where there was not a dwelling, carrying large amounts of treasure, made them objects of frequent attack. Tried men were selected for this business - men as well known for personal bravery as for their adroitness in the use of weapons in personal encounter. The notoriety of this class was sufficient as a general thing to pro- tect them from attack, unless it could be made under every possible advantage. It is a remark- able fact, and speaks as little in favor of the courage of the desperadoes, as in praise of the daring nobility of these early Express riders, that few of the latter were interrupted in the
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discharge of their dangerous duties. They were ever upon the alert. It was the work of an in- stant only, when attacked, for them to draw and discharge their revolvers, with deadly effect, and follow up the smallest advantage with the no less fatal bowie-knife. One man has been known in an encounter of this kind to kill four assail- ants and escape unharmed.
Tracy & Co., of Lewiston, had a pony express route from that town to Salmon river, a distance of seventy-five miles. Their messenger, whom we only know by the name of Mose, was a man of great intrepidity, and perfectly familiar with all the risks of his business. In single encounter he was understood to be more than a match for any man in the mountains. Some time in the early fall of 1862 a plan was laid by Plummer and his associates to capture Mose. The place selected for the purpose was the trail crossing of White Bird creek, at a distance of sixty miles from Lewiston and eighteen from Salmon river. At this point the creek runs between very abrupt banks densely covered with cotton-woods, render- ing both descent and ascent tedious and difficult. The robbers, in anticipation of the arrival of Mose, as usual on a keen lope, after darkness had set in had felled a tree across the trail at a suffi-
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Society in Lewiston.
cient height to admit the passage of the horse, and at the same time strike the rider in the chest, and throw him suddenly from the saddle. They then intended to kill him and rob his cantinas, which it was supposed would contain several thousand dollars in gold dust. At Chapman's ranche, near the crossing, Mose was told that several suspicious characters had been prowling in the neighborhood during the afternoon, and with that keen sense which had been educated to scent danger from afar, he at once comprehended the whole plot. Carefully descending the bank, he discovered the snare, and turning to the left avoided it, hurried through the creek, and ascend- ing the opposite bank cast a look of derision back upon the foiled highwaymen. This fearless messenger continued in service long after this event, but his future trips were made under the escort of well-armed assistants.
Winters are nowhere more dreary than among the miners. Frost and snow bring their labors to an end. and for three or four months they either remain in their camps in a state of listless inac- tivity, or seek for occupation and enjoyment in the excesses of the nearest populous settlement. Hundreds of them actually squander during the season of winter all that they have obtained by
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Society in Lewiston.
the most severe toil during the rest of the year. With the terrible example constantly before him, he must be a man of resolute will who can long refrain from embracing vice in all its forms.
Gambling becomes a favorite occupation, and whiskey a common beverage. The society of abandoned women lures him on, until every moral, social, and virtuous resolution is broken down, and the experience of a few months of such a life wholly unfits him for a return to his earlier pursuits. This is the experience of nine- tenths of the young men who seek for fortune among the gold mines. Most of this class who had been occupied in placer digging during the summer and fall, at the first approach of cold for- sook their mines, and crowded into Lewiston to spend the winter, bringing with them the hard earnings of their toil. Following in their wake came the professional gamblers and sports, and, mingling with the common mass, were the wretches who had reached the lowest depths of human depravity. A letter from one of the early settlers of Lewiston, written at the time. says : - "Late in 1862 a large number congregated here to pass the winter. About seventy-five per cent. of these were cut-throats, robbers, gamblers, and escaped convicts. Honest men were in a fearful
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Society in Lewiston.
minority, and dared not lisp of the arrest and punishment of criminals ; the villains had their own way in everything."
I record the following as an incident which will better illustrate the condition of society than anything I can write. A gambler named Kirby borrowed of another a revolver. Secretly with- drawing the charges from it, an hour later he returned it, and requested the owner to lend him a few ounees of gold dust, which was declined. Knowing that he had the money, Kirby, enraged at the refusal, put the muzzle of a loaded revolver to his temple and blew out his brains. No arrest was attempted. The cold-blooded, mid-day mur- derer walked the streets of the town during the entire winter, mingled in the sports, and escaped unwhipped of justice. Three years afterward he was arrested in Oregon, and turned over to the Idaho authorities, upon the requisition of Gover- nor Lyon, but no witnesses appearing against him he was suffered to go at large.
In a state of society where the majority of the people depend upon vicions pursuits for a liveli- hood, want and destitution are the natural ele- ments. Increase of crime in all its forms follows. All through the winter of 1861-2, and until returns began to come in from the mines
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Society in Lewiston.
the following spring, Lewiston was daily and nightly a theatre where the entire calendar of crime was exhibited in epitome. Murders were frequent ; robberies and thefts constant; gamb- ling, debauchery, drunkenness, and all their attendant evils, openly flaunted in the face of day in defiance of law. Money and food were so scarce that robbery with the sporting commu- nity became an actual necessity. How to protect themselves against it sorely taxed the wit and tried the courage of the unfortunate property holders. Canvas walls offered slight resistance to determined thieves, and life was not protected by them from murderous bullets. An exemplifi- cation is furnished in the following incident : -
A German named Hiltebrant kept a saloon in a large canvas building in the centre of the town. It was the principal rendezvous for the Germans, and a popular retail establishment. Hiltebrant was known to possess a considerable amount of coin and gold dust, which the roughs resolved to appropriate. The barriers in the way involved only the possible murder of the owner and two friends who occupied a large bed in the front of the saloon. Between twelve and one o'clock in one of the coldest nights of the first week of January, the door was suddenly broken from its
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hinges, and a volley of balls fired in the direc- tion of the bed. Hiltebrant was instantly killed. His two companions, after returning the fire of the raffians, seized the treasure and escaped. On. of the villains was wounded in the finger. When the firing ceased, the robbers coolly entered the building, lighted a candle, and pro- ceeded to search for the money. Finding none they departed, uttering curses upon their ill-fort- une, not, however, until several citizens appeared upon the scene, and witnessed the enormity of their crime. The murderers passed fearlessly and unconcernedly through the crowd, no effort being made to arrest them, lest a rescue might be attempted, which would prove fatal to all con- cerned, and possibly result in the burning of the town. The next day, however, a meeting of the citizens was held, for the avowed purpose of punishing the murderers, and devising measures to arrest the further progress of crime.
This was the first effort at self-protection made by the people. The moment was a trying one. All knew that the roughs were in the majority, and none were bold enough to recom- mend open resistance to their encroachments, for fear of consequences. Henry Plummer took an active part in the proceedings, depicting with
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Society in Lewiston.
fervid eloquence " the horrors of anarchy " and solemnly warning the people to "take no steps that might bring disgrace and obloquy upon their rising young city." Known as a gambler only, and suspected by few of any darker associations, his winning manner had the effect to squelch in its inception the initiatory movement, which at no distant period was to burst forth and whelm him with hundreds of his bloody associates in its avenging vortex.
The brother of the murdered Hiltebrant was in business at this time at the Oro Fino mines. Hearing of the murder, he openly avowed the intention of going immediately to Lewiston to bring the authors to justice. The banditti sent him a message that he would not live to get there, which had the effect to daunt him from his purpose, and the assassins, for the time, escaped punishment.
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Northern Mines.
CHAPTER VI.
NORTHERN MINES.
PROSPECTING FOR GOLD - PICTURE OF A VETERAN PROSPECTOR - PATRICK FORD - DESIGN OF ROUGHS TO KILL HIM - HE OUTWITS THEM - ROBBERS LEAVE LEWISTON FOR ORO FINO - ROBBERIES BY THE WAY - ENTRANCE INTO ORO FINO - ASSAULT ON FORD'S SALOON - FIGHT - RIDGELY WOUNDED - FORD KILLED.
PROSPECTING (as it is called) for gold placers and quartz veins has grown into a profession. No man can engage in it successfully unless he understands it. There are certain indications in the face of the country, the character of the rocks, the presentation of the strata, the form of the gulch, the gravel in streams or on the bars, the cement formation below it, or the shape of the mountains, which are known only to experi- enced prospectors, that determine generally the presence of the precious metals. Guided by these unmistakable signs, the veteran gold searcher is sustained in his solitary explorations
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Northern Mines.
by the consciousness of possessing knowledge which must sooner or later lead to success. Im- pressed with the idea that as many rich gulches and productive veins have been found, so others remain to be discovered, -and that as those already developed have made their owners rich, so some fortunate discovery may do the same for him, he mounts his pony, and with pick, shovel, and pan, a magnifying glass, a few pounds of bacon, flour and coffee, his trusty rifle and revol- ver at hand, and his roll of blankets and not unfrequently a quart flask of whiskey, he plunges into the unexplored recesses of the mountains, and for weeks and months is lost to all the world of humanity beside himself. Alone, but encouraged by that hope which outlives every disappointment, he wanders hundreds of miles into the unvisited wilderness, the hero of countless adventures and the explorer of the world's great solitudes.
Men of this class are numerous in all gold- mining regions. Their very occupation makes them maniacs. They lose all relish for society. and think of nothing but the success they are one day to meet with in the pursuit of gold. Frequent as their discoveries often are, and prom- ising as many of them proved to be, the one they are in search of lies still further onward. Aban-
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Northern Mines.
doning to those who follow them discoveries which would assure them all the wealth they need, they lead on and on into the mountain labyrinth, pioneering the path of empire, to die at last alone, unfriended and destitute, beyond its utmost boundaries. It is to such men that we owe the discovery of all the gold regions which have contributed to our wealth since the days of Marshall.
Gold had been discovered west of the moun- tains in several portions of Washington Terri- tory previous to this time. As early as the year 1852 H. M. Chase found it on a creek which flowed into the Grand Ronde river. He exhib- ited it at Portland, and such was the excitement it occasioned that several parties of discovery were organized, and plunged into the mountain recesses of that portion of Washington which afterwards became Idaho. Among others was one Pierce, who became infatuated with the idea that the river sands of this unexplored region were filled with diamonds. He searched for them very thoroughly, but the traditions of the time fail to inform me that he found anything more valuable than gold. An unimportant camp of the early miners, which received his name, has served to transmit his memory and mania to the
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present period. These early explorations, lead- ing deeper and deeper into the mountain wilder- ness, finally resulted in the discovery of the Florence and Oro Fino mines.
Thousands of people, lured by their discov- eries, had nearly worked out the placers of Oro Fino during the summer of 1861. The Pacific world, alive to the importance of a region which promised such great additions to its wealth, kept up a stream of emigration to the placers, which exhausted all the sources of supply more rapidly than they could be filled. The world was there in miniature. Meantime the indomitable pro- spector kept in the van. Crossing the Salmon River range, he soon unveiled the riches of those placers which afterwards became known as Florence and Elk City. They were immediately occupied by thousands, and other thousands of the far East, thrilled with the story of their rich- ness, were on their way to the new El Dorado. An hegira similar to that of 1849 again took place across the plains. Lewiston was no longer the base of operations. Among the earliest of those to abandon it for a point more favorable to the prosecution of their enterprise, were the banditti which had so long held its inhabitants in fear. Supplied with horses from the shebang
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on the Walla Walla road, they departed from Lewiston in small parties, intending to recom- mence operations at a place afterwards to be selected, in the mountains of the interior.
The daring, adventurous, and courageous ele- ments of character are necessarily developed and brought into frequent action in a mining coun- try ; and whenever these are found in combi- nation with high moral principle, they are held in continual fear by men of criminal life. One bold, honest man will demoralize the guilty designs of a host of rascals. Nothing was so much dreaded by Plummer's murderous gang as the possible organization of a Vigilance Com- mittee ; and any man who favored it was marked for early destruction. Such a man was Patrick Ford, the keeper of a saloon in Lewiston. Ford was an active man in his own business, - eager in the pursuit of gain, but entirely upright in his dealings, and the open and avowed enemy of the roughs. He, more than any other mem- ber of the community, had urged the people of Lewiston to unite for their protection, and hang every suspected individual in the place; and he taunted them with cowardice when they dis- banded without punishing the known murderers of Hiltebrant. As fearless as he was uncompro-
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Northern Mines.
mising, he denounced the ruffians in person, and warned them that a time would come ere long when they would meet, at the hands of an out- raged people, their deserts. He did not conceal from them his intention of following in the track of the prosperous miner, lead where it might, - which purpose they resolved to prevent. His death they regarded as necessary to their future prosperity. Having ascertained that he intended to leave Lewiston with a half-dozen dancing girls for the saloon he had established at Oro Fino, they laid a plan to insult him and involve him in a quarrel on his arrival at their shebang, and kill him. Ford was admonished of the design, which he foiled by avoiding the shebang. Being as- sured of his safe passage to Oro Fino, the rob- bers, led by Plummer, Ridgely, and Reeves, mounted their horses and started for the interior. Of the particular events of the early part of the trip, farther than that it was marked by the frequent robbery of travellers, I am unable to speak. When within seven or eight miles of Oro Fino, the robbers observed two Frenchmen. some distance apart, approaching them on foot. The one in advance was ordered to stop and throw up his hands, as in that position he was powerless and could not offer any resistance.
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Northern Mines.
After a careful search of his person they found nothing of value, and bade him move on as rapidly as possible, telling him that it was "a rough country to be in without money " and that he " had better get out of it as soon as possible." With the other, whom they subjected to a like process, they were more fortunate, and, despite his solemn denial, found in his pocket a purse containing a thousand dollars in dust, which they appropriated, dismissing him with the remark that if he " had done the square thing and not lied they would have given him enough to take him to the Columbia, - but as it was, he might be thankful to get off with a whole carcass." Some idea may be formed of the daring and recklessness of this robbery when it is understood to have occurred at midday, near a town contain- ing a population of several thousands, and on a thoroughfare thronged with travellers.
Uttering a shout of exultation, the robbers dashed into the town of Oro Fino with the impet- uosity of a cavalry charge. Reining up in front of Ford's saloon, which they entered, they called loudly upon the bar-keeper for liquor. Ford was absent. When they had drunk, they com- menced demolishing the contents of the saloon. Decanters, tumblers, chairs, and tables were
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Northern Mines.
broken and scattered over the apartment. One of their number, more fiendish than the others, seized a lap-dog from one of the females and cut off his tail. At this juncture Ford himself came upon the scene. Boldly confronting the rioters, pistol in hand, he ordered them instantly to leave his premises. He charged them with the rob- bery of the Frenchmen, and denounced them as thieves, robbers, and murderers. They saw and feared his determination, and obeyed his com- mands with alacrity. He followed them into the street, and threatened them with punishment if they remained in town. They were about to act upon this hint, when Ford, fully armed, came to them a second time, and demanded the cause of their delay. He was answered with a bullet, inflicting a dangerous wound. The fire was returned, and the fight became general, - three against one. The robbers were protected by their horses, while their antagonist was openly exposed to their fire. Ford emptied the charges from one six-shooter, made five shots with the other, and was in the act of aiming for the last, when he fell dead, riddled with the balls of his adver- saries. Ridgely was shot through the leg twice, and Plummer's horse disabled.
Such was the melancholy fate of Patrick Ford,
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- a man long to be remembered as the friend of law and order, - the first, indeed, in the north- ern mines who dared to urge the extermination of the robbers, as the only remedy for their depredations. Ie literally sealed his principles with his life's blood.
Ridgely's wounds disabled him for service. He was taken by his companions to a ranche near the town, and as well cared for as circum- stances would admit. Leaving him there, the other members of the band, fearful of the friends of Ford, seldom ventured beyond the limits of their camp.
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Charley Harper.
CHAPTER VII.
CHARLEY HARPER.
CHARLEY HARPER ASSUMES TO BE "CHIEF " - CHEROKEE BOB - THEATRE IN THE MINES - DEPUTY SHERIFF PORTER'S ASSAULT UPON THE SOLDIERS AS- SISTED BY CHEROKEE BOB- TWO SOLDIERS KILLED, OTHERS WOUNDED - SOLDIERS MARCH INTO TOWN IN PURSUIT OF CHEROKEE BOB - HE ESCAPES BY STEAL- ING A HORSE AND FLEEING IN THE NIGHT TO LEWIS- TON - RIDGELY SHOOTS GILCHRIST AND ESCAPES TO OREGON.
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