History of Southern Montana - Chapters 9-16



CHAPTER IX.
JUDGE M. H. LOTT.

I had been mining in California Gulch, Colorado, and became acquainted 
with a physician who had lived with the Crow Indians. He gave me a 
description of the country, as to fur trading, etc., near Benton, 
Missoula, Ft. Owen and the Deer Lodge. Also told of the rich mines that 
had been discovered at Florence on the Salmon river. He proposecl to 
escort a company to that place. The mines were very poor where we were at 
work, so we decided to go to Washington in the spring. 

In May, 1862, I went to Denver and met some persons who were going to 
Florence as soon as a company could be formed sufficient for protection. 
Fourteen of us, including in that number one woman and a girl about ten 
years of age purchased a good outfit and started. Our wagon beds were made 
water-tight so they could be used to ferry over swollen streams. The first 
stream was the North Platte, very high and rapid. 

The ferry was owned by a Mr. Baker. I interviewed him in regard to his 
price for taking us over. He was very considerate (?). He only asked us 
$10 a wagon! I told him we were miners and had but little money, and that 
was more than we could afford to pay. We would build a raft and ferry 
ourselves over. We began to cut down trees, pretending to build a raft. He 
came to us and told us he was about out of provisions and if we would let 
him have some he would ferry us over, we to swim our stock, for $7.50 the 
whole outfit. 

About ten o'clock one morning we came across a mountaineer camped with his 
Indian family, who told us of a massacre of stock tenders and stage 
drivers, and the burning of stations and coaches, and killing of horses 
the day before. We told him our objective point was Florence and he seemed 
familiar with the country, saying it was wild and dangerous, and our 
company too small to travel with safety, but if we would wait for a few 
days he would act as our escort and protect us from the Indians. We had a 
consultatiou and concluded he wanted our protection more than we needed 
his, as squaw men were no pets of the Indians. We went on our way and 
reached Green River station about dark and found things as represented by 
the squaw man; dead men, station and coaches burned and dead horses. We 
camped, arranged our wagons for best protection if attacked. We did not 
build any fire. We did not dare bury the dead. 

None of us slept that night. No words can describe our feelings. In the 
morning we started on and passed other stations with scenes too horrible 
to describe. 

My recollection is we had three nights and two days of the suspense, and 
about nine o'clock in the morning of the third day we saw horses grazing 
on a bench in the distance and felt that our fate was sealed, as it must 
be Indians, waiting for us. No use in stopping. We must go on. We soon saw 
tents, which we supposed were teepees, but as we came nearer we saw they 
were in regular position and discovered men in uniform. On reaching camp 
we found they were soldiers from Salt Lake, who had arrived the night 
before. 

We had been under such a strain for so long that some of our company 
dropped to the ground and were asleep in an instant. I went to the 
commander and asked if he would let some of the soldiers look after our 
camp, to which he consented. We had to put some of our men to bed. All 
went to bed without eating. None of us awoke until four o'clock the next 
afternoon. This was near Ft. Bridger. From there we went to Salt Lake, 
where we supplied ourselves with provisions. 

We were advised to go via Ft. Lemhi and Missoula, as being the most direct 
route. No maps were known, so people had but a poor idea as to places or 
how to get to them. 

Arriving at Snake River we found a good many waiting for the putting 
across of a rope for a ferry by Meeks. Some had been there ten days, 
expecting to cross each day, believing that to be the nearest road to 
Florence. Some had gone down the river. Some by the old road to Deer Lodge 
and Missoula. 

We arrived in the forenoon, and saw them waste the whole day in trying to 
put the rope across. The Woods Brothers of our train thought they saw the 
mistake of the other fellow, and said they could put it over. I hunted up 
Meeks and told him that we had men that could do the,job. He replied that 
he had a man that could do it. We waited two days, when Meeks came to us 
and wanted to see the men of our party who could do the work. I told him I 
was the mouthpiece of the party, and whatever arrangements I made would be 
carried out; that if we undertook the job we must have complete control. 
He did not take kindly to that so tried again without success. He then 
came and wanted to know our terms. I introduced him to the Woods boys and 
he asked them their terms. They told him that whatever Lott said would be 
agreeable to them. So I told him all I would ask was that we were to be 
ferried over first. We were anxious to go because we were afraid all the 
good claims would be gone. Our first attempt put the rope across. The next 
day we were on our way to Lemhi, on a branch of the Salmon River, which 
was an abandoned settlement of the Mormons, they having been called in by 
Brigham Young. The fort was built of adobe and was about three hundred 
feet square, with walls eight or ten feet high. Inside were a number of 
houses and a rude grist mill on the outside. 

We found quite a quantity of wheat that had been buried in the ground. We 
found several people here who had passed us on the road from Snake River 
as they had horses and mules and we had only oxen. This place seemed to be 
the end of the wagon road and the only way to proceed was to pack over an 
Indian trail. Some turned back to Snake River and some started back to 
take the old road to Deer Lodge and Missoula. Some cut up new wagons to 
make pack saddles. 

We did not know what to do. We went down the Salmon River and up the north 
fork, getting some indication of quartz, and some small prospects. 

We got an idea that the east side of the mountains would be the best 
place, so six of us packed ourselves with grub, picks, pans and shovels, 
and walked up a very steep Indian trail and on to the eastern slope. About 
one mile from the main range we found a small stream, a tributary of the 
Big Hole river, with a few paying claims, about six feet to bed rock at 
discovery, and called it Pioneer, supposing it to be the first discovery 
of gold, in paying quantities, found in the country. 

Leaving one of our party to dig a train ditch the rest of us went to Lemhi 
for our wagons. From Lemhi there was a very large Indian trail crossing 
the main mountain range east to Horse Prairie. Knowing that the Indians 
took the lowest passes, I thought we had better follow their trail. The 
boys had an idea it would be too rough. I told them that "where there was 
a will there was a way," so we started. We put both hind wheels on one 
side of the wagon, and in that way kept from upsetting. At last we were on 
the Horse Prairie side. We passed within three miles of where the Jno. 
White party found the rich diggings on Grasshopper Creek, July 28th. 
Crossing over a low range from the Grasshopper to Big Hole, we found the 
remains of an old wagon, showing that we were not the first people to take 
wagons into that section. We reached our claims, as near as I can 
recollect, about noon, July 12, 1862. 

I brought a whip saw with me and that afternoon Mr. Dunkleburg and myself 
erected a sawmill and put a log on the carriage ready for work the next 
morning. Dave worked in the pit. By hard work and long hours we sawed 200 
feet per day. After we sawed what we needed we sold some for $80 per 
hundred feet, making $60 per day. 

On July 16th we were sluicing out gold. A Mr. Miller and family and Joseph 
Smith, who came from Colorado, with our party, went back from Fort Lemhi 
and over the old road to Deer Lodge and over the Mullan road to Missoula 
and settled there. Smith went up to the Bitter Root. Of the rest of our 
party, that mined in Pioneer Gulch, there were Charles and Hiram Wood, 
James McCabe, George McCormick, Fred Miller and Dave Dunkleberg. H. 
Conley, James Kennedy and myself were partners in discovery claim. When 
sluicing we took out from $25 to $75 per day. We had to strip the ground 
and could not sluice every day. We worked the claim out, taking out 
several hundred dollars. 

I remember an amusing incident. Mr. Farlin, and partners, Mormons, who 
came on with us from "Lemhi" were out of tobacco. When they got to taking 
out gold they were overheard making out a list of supplies. First was 
tobacco, and each atlernate item was tobacco, and the last item was "some 
more tobacco." 

Our sawmill was near the Indian trail. They used to stop and watch us. 
Some of them could speak a little English. One Indian said: "Indian heap 
big fool." 

The latter part of August a Bitter Root ranchman packed over some potatoes 
and sold to us for thirty cents per pound. He seemed to think we were the 
only miners in the country. 

That winter I spent in Bannack. I told Fairweather and Edgar what the 
doctor had told me of gold in the Stink Water, and that may have been the 
reason for going on to the Yellowstone and of. the discovery of Alder. 

Sam Harper and Judge Lott went to Utah for provisions and got back to 
Bannack day before Xmas, 1862. They had been advised that a train would 
leave on Sunday morning for Salt hake and that they could join by having 
two men to a team. The Judge said: "We got up before day; yoked our cattle 
and pulled for Bannack, which we made some time before the next morning, 
over 50 miles; a remarkable day's journey for an ox team. While passing 
through the Big Hole prairie we saw Indians signal fire or smoke, in 
various places, and hardly knew what to do. We continued on, however, and 
arrived within two miles of Bannack when, finding good feed we turned our 
oxen out, and having hidden our stuff in the brush started to go into 
Bannack. All at once we ran into o band of about a dozen Indians, who 
began to form a circle around us. They had their bows and arrows. I made a 
friendly talk and as they came near pushed them away asking them if they 
were Bannacks, or of what tribe. They at last allowed us to go." They had 
stolen 200 head of horses out at a corral and were anxious to get away 
with them or might have done Lott and his partner some harm. 

The Judge tells the following incident: 

In the spring of 1863 a young man had killed his partner, who was much 
older than he. The young fellow was tried for murder, and sentenced to 
death. Judge heard the young fellow crying and went down to comfort him. 
lie asked him what he could do. The young fellow answered that he was a 
Catholic, and needed a priest. The Judge didn't know of any one who filled 
that position and thinking any Irishman might do, went and got Jerry 
Sullivan, a jeweler. Jerry was a sympathetic fellow and he went to render 
what comfort he could to the poor fellow who was soon to meet his Maker. 
He said: "Young man, you have committed a most fearful crime. You killed 
your partner, an old man for whom all had respect. You have been tried by 
your peers and found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. Don't cry; be 
brave. Get down on your knees aud ask God to forgive your sins, and I'll 
be d--d if I don't believe the old fellow will do it.' 
After Lott's party left Pioneer they went to Bannack, where Judge got a 
claim on Jimmie's Bar, for which he paid $2,800, getting the money from 
the Woods Brothers, who were to go in part- nership with him. They took 
out over $13,000. 

The Judge tells that Walter W. Debacey and another party found a quartz 
claim on the north fork of Salmon; went to Oregon and sold it to a party 
for a good price "unsight and unseen." 

Judge left Bannack in July, 1863 with about $4,000. He had a splendid 
horse, the fastest in the country. He thought himself safe when he got 
near the spring in Spring Gulch, but the horse appeared uneasy; he turned 
his head and saw some men coming down a side gulch toward him as fast as 
their horses could come. The Judge did not wait for company, but putting 
spurs to his horse raced ahead of them to Rattlesnake ranch as he 
recognized Buck Stinson and Steve Marshland. 

In Bannack the first meeting for law ance order was held in January, 1863, 
so Judge says. A few had banded together for mutual protection. Hiram 
Conley, Lott's partner, had been elected captain. It seems that Asel 
Stanley's wife had a claim which had been jumped by some of the toughs. 
Stanley came to Conley for help, but he said they had not banded to make a 
general fight against bad citizens. 

The Lotts went to Nevada City, just below Virginia and started a store. At 
the time De Vault was killed by Geo. Ives, Old Man Burchy, Elk Morse, Wm. 
Clark and 25 of them left their store to arrest the persons that had done 
the deed. They did not know who it was when they started, but they brought 
back Ives and others. 

When the murderers were brought to Nevada, Judge Iott stopped the party as 
they were about to go on to Virginia. There was a dry goods box in front 
of the store. The Judge got upon this and addressed the crowd, which 
consisted of about 1,000 men, and told them that there must be some motive 
if they intended to take them to Virginia. He made a motion that the men 
be tried at Nevada. He told them they could use the room in back of their 
store for the jail. Motion was carried and the prisoners were put in there 
for safe keeping. Probably 100 men stood guard, Jim Williams as captain. 
It was in this room that John Lott wrote the oath when it was signed by 24 
men. (I think that there is some mistake as to the time in the judge's 
mind, as this oath is dated December 23rd, 1868, and Ives was hanged 
December 21st, so the men must have not signed the oath until about the 
time the Vigilance Committee was formed). John Lott was secretary and 
treasurer of that Committee. 

Judge Lott said that he never threatened Slade bodily harm. That Slade, 
when drunk, would ride into other places, and that generally all doors 
were closed whenever he came to town in that condition. 

A man came to Lott one day and told him that Slade was in town drunk, and 
that he had better close his store. The Judge said: "I am running this 
place and probably Slade will not come in." He even opened both doors but 
Slade was too wise to come. It is quite probable that Slade knew M. H. 
Lott, and knew that he would not stand any joking of the kind he liked to 
play. Slade had freighted for the Lotts and was well acquainted and had 
much respect for them, though they never carried guns. 

In March, 1864, Judge Lott, Meeks, and others took up two miles square at 
Twin Bridges, where Meeks built the first cabin. They believed they would 
always have all the range they would need. 

The Lott brothers built three bridges, one on the Big Hole, one on the 
Beaverhead, where the town of Twin Bridges is, and one at the Point of 
Rocks. 

They gave the land to the State for the Orphans' Home. 

The Judge is living and is well at the age of 87, this year of our Lord, 
1915. He has found that the range is eaten out and that all the land is 
taken. He is no longer "Monarch of all he surveys." 

Note: George Lovell says the word is De Vault not Tbalt as given by 
Dimsdale and Langford. 



CHAPTER X.
MINING LAWS.
 
At a miners' meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held on the 19th 
day of October A. D., 1862, for the purpose of forming and passing laws 
for the government of the District, the following laws and regulations 
were reported by the Committee, and adopted and ratified by the people. 

Claims. 

Sec. 1. Claims on Grasshopper Creek shall be fifty feet on the creek, and 
extending across the stream from base to base, of the mountains, including 
all old beds of the creek or stream. 
Sec. 2. Gulch claims shall be 100 feet in length, on the gulch, and 
extending on over one foot on each side. 
Sec. 3. Lode claims shall only be had on well defined Quartz Iodes, and 
shall be 100 feet on the lode, and 25 feet on each side, including all 
spurs and branches. 
Sec. 4. Each miner may hold, by pre-emption, one claim on the creek, one 
Gulch claim, one lode claim, and one patch or hill claim, and working one 
shall be considered as working all. 
Sec. 5. All claims shall be staked with the name of the owner with the 
length and breadth of the same, and the date of staking, and when in 
company with others, shall have also the names of the company with whom he 
is working. 
Sec. 6. Claims shall be worked or represented at least each five days, 
excluding Sunday, hut working claims held in company shall be considered 
as representing all claims of the individual members of the company, if 
property is staked and worked. 
Sec. 7. All claims shall be recorded by the individual holders of the 
same, with their own names, provided not heretofore re- corded by 
individual members, within the next six days, from and after the passage 
of this section, and all taken hereafter, within six days after staking, 
or shall be forfeited, and no claim shall be recorded or held by a company 
name. 
Sec. 8. When no claims exist on the Creek, any person or persons wishing 
to turn the stream, or flume it to work the bed of the same, may claim one 
hundred and fifty feet, each, of said unclaimed ground, and hold the same, 
provided work be commenced within ten days, from staking, and prosecuted 
faithfully to completion, but said work shall be continuous, but not one 
day in ten. 
See. 9. All persons residing and working their home, within the limits of 
this District, which shall extend from the line of the lower district, to 
the head of the Grasshopper Creek, and its branches, and three miles on 
each side of said creek, and be known as Bannack District, shall hold 
their claims without working the same, from the 15th day of November, 
next, to the first day of May, following, and all laws for forfeiting 
claims held as above shall be suspended for and during that time. 
Sec. 10. Purchased claims shall be held in the same way, as pre-emption 
claims, but no individual shall be allowed to bold more than one claim by 
purchase, besides his pre-emption, except in Lode Claims, and any person 
having heretofore purchased more than that number, shall be allowed ten 
days from this date to sell and dispose of the same. 
Sec. 11. Any person making a new discovery of diggings of any kind, or 
lode claims, shall be entitled to hold one extra claim, as a discovery 
claim, without working the same. 
Sec. 12. Building lots may be taken 50 feet in front, and 150 feet deep, 
and by recording the same, each individual may hold one lot and no more, 
as real estate, and may sell, trade or barter, the same, or build upon it 
at his option. 
Sec. 18. The fees of the recorder shall be fifty cents, for each pre-
emption recorded, and for all deeds, bills of sale, or mortgages recorded, 
one dollar for each one hundred words to be recorded, and no deed, bill of 
sale, or mortgage, shall be held good against third party, unless 
recorded. 
Sec. 14. Any person owning a dry claim, may pre-empt any unpre-empted 
ground on the creek, for a water claim, for the purpose of washing his 
dirt, whether by cradle or sluice, and may hold same as a water claim, by 
recording and improving the same, within the ordinary time for other 
claims. 
Sec. 15. When any person has gone for provisions, intending to return, two 
months from this date, shall be allowed to return, before forfeiture of 
their claims. 
Sec. 16. In all trials before the miners, which may be presided over by 
the President of the District, the losing party shall pay the President 
the sum of Five Dollars for his services. 
Sec. 17. The President may, at any time he may think proper, appoint a 
Sheriff to act in any case pending, or being commenced. 

At a meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held on the 26th day of 
April, 1863, passed the following Laws: 

Sec. 1. The President of the District shall have power to hold a trial, 
whenever it may be necessary to settle disputes, either about claims or 
any other disputed business matters, and may summon a jury to try such 
dispute. The decision of such jury to be final, and may appoint a Sheriff 
to carry out the decision of such trial, who shall have power to take any 
property to pay the judgment of the President. 
Sec. 2. Each miner shall have the right to hold one claim, and no more, on 
each Quartz Lode, and they shall be held for one year, as real estate, to 
give time for machinery to arrive here. 
Sec. 3. All trials shall be, as, near as possible, in accordance with the 
common law of the land. 

At a meeting of the miners of Bannack District, held May 23rd, 1863, the 
following Laws were reported by the Committee and adopted by the people. 

Art. 1. The officers of the District shall be President, Miners' Judge, 
Sheriff and Coroner.
Art. 2. It shall be the duty of the President to preside at all business 
meetings of the District, and to act as Judge, with power to call a jury, 
in cases regarding mining claims, the parties litigant mutually agreeing 
thereto. 
Art. 3. It shall be the duty of the Judge to preside over all trials of 
cases in the District, except in mining cases, where parties litigant 
agree to refer to the President, and when called upon, to issue such 
process to bring parties into Court, as is common and right in such cases, 
also to keep a docket and make an entry therein of all suits brought, with 
the judgment or verdict rendered, also to have a jury of not less than 
four nor more than eight impaneled, when requested so to do, by either 
plaintiff or defendant, and receive for his services the sum of $5.00 for 
presiding at each and every suit, together with 25 cents for all oaths 
administered, and the issuing of each and every writ in the case. 
Art. 4. It shall be the duty of the Sheriff to serve all writs and 
executions, and carry out the awards of the Court, and do all other acts 
appertaining to his office, and shall receive for his services, for 
attendance in Court, during trial, $2.50; serving warrants, $1.00; serving 
summons, 50 cents, and 25 cents each for summoning witness and jurors, and 
25 cents mileage. 
Art. 5. It shall be the duty of the Coroner, in all cases of violent or 
accidental death, to summon a jury of six persons over which he shall 
preside, in examining into the causes and circumstances attending the 
death of the person over whom the inquest is held, and when called on, the 
Sheriff shall act as the officer of the inquest to summon jurors, and 
witnesses, and shall receive for the service the usual fee -- while the 
coroner shall receive for his services on each and every inquest, the sum 
of $8.00. 
Art. 6. In each and every suit, witnesses shall receive Two Dollars, and 
jurors Three Dollars, except in cases where the trial shall last for more 
than one day, when additional fees will be allowed. 
Art. 7. In all criminal cases, the punishment to be inflicted shall 
explicitly set forth in writing the verdict of the jury. 
Art. 8. All civil suits shall be commenced by complaint set ting forth in 
plain, simple language, the cause of action and remedy sought. 
Art. 9. All attachments may issue when the complainant shall make oath 
before the Judge, that he has reasons to believe that the defendant 
intends to leave the district, or turn over his property with intent to 
defraud, and may be served on any property in defendant's hands, or to 
garnishee debts in hands of others, and shall hold good till five days 
after final judgment. 
Art. 10. In all suits and cases, not herein provided for, the Common Law 
shall be adopted. 

The idea of an eight hour law came to the people in Montana, early in its 
history. At a miner's meeting, White District, April 28th, 1864, "Non-
residents of District shall represent each and every claim, every seventh 
day -- said day's work shall be eight hours' labor." 



CHAPTER XI.
NOTES FROM OLD COURT RECORDS. 

Second, Judicial District, Beaverhead County, L. E. Williston, Judge; Wm. 
C. Goodrich, Sheriff; S. F. Dunlap, Clerk. 

Resident Attorneys practicing at Bannack: Phelps C. Mead, John M. 
Galloway, G. W. Stapleton, B. R. Peabody, admitted September term, 1867. 

First Grand Jury: N. E. Wood, B. S. Worth, Thomas Watson, Con Bray, S. W. 
Bachelder, A.,J. Nay, W. R. Witten, Herman Clark, H. F. Wood, John S. 
Milligan, J. A. Brown, E. W. Weston. 

Probably first Notary Public was W. C. Rheem, appointed by Gov. Edgerton, 
May 17th, 1864. 

The first man to declare his wish to besome a citizen of the U. S. was 
John Griffiths, a native of Wales, 1st of September, 1866. 

Even in the Courts, they were apt to use an old account book for keeping 
records, as an old account book of Leesburg, Idaho, was brought to 
Bannack, and used as an account book to be used later in which to record 
probate matters. This book shows that the price of sugar was 60c per 
pound. 

1 keg of nails, coin $35.00.
1 keg 10 gals. sherry, $100.00 greenbacks.
1 lb. of apples, 50 cents.
1 box sardines, $1.00. 

We also find that one of the first men to contest the election of another, 
was George Bachelder, against Thos. H. Gordon, for the office of Sheriff. 
Following are the returns: 

Election held September 2nd, 1867. 

                 For Bachelder    For Gordon 
In Bannack           205             170 
Horse Prairie         25              30 
Montana (Argenta )    29              27 
Beaverhead            19              27 
French Gulch          10              39 
Totals               288             293 


Whole matter hinged on French Gulch, which Bachelder held was not in 
Beaverhead County. Case dismissed 23rd of September, 1867. 

(Twine was scarce in those days, as I found these papers tied with a 
buckskin string.) 

Sue's Letter. 

In looking over Court proceedings of early days, we find the love letter 
of "Sue" to her lover, Wm. Farnsworth, who was killed at Horse Prairie in 
1877, just in front of John C. Brenner's house, then owned by Winters and 
Montague. Montague was killed the day before. The lady was a beautiful 
letter writer. Her impassioned appeal to her lover was in the following 
words: 

"Oh Will, my dearest one, how I long to see you this spring as never 
before. I am impatient for your dear comforting letters. I don't believe 
we made a mistake three years ago. (I did not, if you did), for every day 
I am more certain that I am yours and you are mine, for life, and it seems 
to me for eternity. There isn't ;, day or an hour but I find myself 
thinking of you. Every thought and every joy I want to share with you. I 
don't value luxuries as I used to, and think them indispensable to 
happiness. I think I could be so patient, and so saving, and think it the 
greatest pleasure in the world. If our wishes were all gratified, how soon 
ice would become used to it, and they would cease to be luxuries. Iucky 
for you I'm kept within bounds, lest I might set up my anthority to get 
out of that, or come unbidden to your humble home. 
"Don't get too mercenary for nay sake. What's good enough for you is good 
enough for me." 

What a trust she had in this man, and no doubt he was worthy of her love 
and affection. He could not take the treasure that was his for the asking. 
Think of the deep love of the woman who would willingly surrender a 
magnificent body and soul to his keeping, to make his life so much more 
worth living. He must struggle for gold till death robbed them each from 
the other, and left a pale woman to moan, and ask "Why?" 
I do not know where "Sue," is, but if she should read this, I hope that 
she will pardon the liberty I have taken in giving this little story to 
the public. 

God made woman for man's chief comfort, and for his good. She (God bless 
her), is willing to go with her lover, out into the by-ways, wherever his 
lot will take him, and help him in his struggles. When he gets an idea 
that he must have enough wealth to make each day a day of careless freedom 
from want and responsibility, he is simply wasting the days of most 
supreme happiness -- the days of youth -- for a foolish idea. 



CHAPTER XII.
INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF AUGUSTUS F. GRAETER. 

Mr. Graeter has resided longer in Beaverhead County than any other person. 

It is not easy to get a connected story from a person after he has become 
eighty years of age. In my note book, I find the following: Augustus 
Graeter told me a few things the morning of the 28th of May, 1914. "I 
remember seeing W. A. Clark, with a pack on his back, when he was starting 
for Horse Prairie. He had. on a soldier's overcoat and one tail of it had 
been burned off, by getting too near a camp fire." 

"When I got to Bannack I had just two $1.00 gold pieces, and it did not 
take long to spend them. Mail came in via Walla Walla, and cost $1.00 for 
a letter, and that is where my money went." 

Question: "How did. you get your money to start your first store?" 

"Well, I guess I must have made it in the mines, as the ground was mighty 
rich, and the bedrock not deep. We would pack the dirt down on our backs 
to the creek and wash it out. We did not take any dirt that we could not 
see gold in. At last we whip sawed some lumber, and made some sluice boxes 
which we put up in the creek, placed our dirt in them and stood in the 
creek and dipped up the water, and washed the stuff in that way." 

He laid the first foundation on the claim on which Denver was built. 

Quite a number of us were sitting in Paul's Furniture Store in Dillon one 
day, Robt. Wing, W. B. Carter, Mart Barrett and the writer, when Gus 
became reminiscent. "I remember," he said, "that two of us cut wood in 
Wisconsin one winter, and sold it for 37 1/2 cents per cord." 

Bob Wing said: "What did you eat?" "Oh, we never suffered for that matter; 
never did go hungry in my life," was the reply. "yes, I did get out of 
grub once. We went to Fort Lemhi, on our way to Florence, cached our stuff 
and intended to go to Bitter Root for the winter; got a Blackfoot guide, 
who took us through the Big Hole, and over into Deer Lodge Valley, on Warm 
Springs Creek, near enough to see the mound at the springs. He took us up 
the creek, into the timber, right in the wrong direction. I guess he knew 
the way, but was probably afraid of' the Flatheads. We turned about and 
went to Lemhi, but before we got there we were out of provisions and we 
were compelled to fill up on sarvice berries. We went south, bought some 
more grub, and did think of going to Fort Colville, in Washington. We 
started for that place, and one night we camped in a small grove up the 
Grasshopper, and when we woke up in the morning we found ourselves 
surrounded by Flathead Indians, who had stolen our horses, and had driven 
them over to the Butte, near Painter Creek. when they found out that we 
were white men, they said. 'Good morning,' and told us they thought we 
were Bannack Indians, or they would not have taken the horses. Some of the 
boys went with them to their camp and they gave us some nice meat. 

"Well, when we got to Birch Creek, some fellows came along and told us 
that gold had been found on Grasshopper. We went back, and I have been in 
Montana ever since. 

"Say, you talk about cutting hay with a scythe. The softest snap I ever 
had was cutting hay in Wisconsin, and selling it for roughness to the 
farmers who needed it for their stock. I do not remember how much we did 
get for it. I really do not believe that I have ever been any happier than 
the winter I cut wood in Wisconsin." 

Gus Graeter was always an industrious man, and did much toward the 
upbuilding of Southern Montana. He mined, built ditches, was a merchant, 
county officer, a successful stockman, built an electric lighting plant 
for Dillon, and is a banker -- always an early riser. He tells of being 
ten miles on his road to the timber, when the sun comes up. 

Chris Snyder says that when Gus was on the ranch, he would get up before 
daylight, go into the hen house and cuss the roosters because they did not 
crow early enough to wake the hired men. A Horse Prairie ranchman said: "I 
remember that a neighbor saw a fellow going along the road with his 
blankets on his back. On inquiry as to where he was going, he said: "To 
work for Gus Graeter." "H--l, throw your blankets away, or trade them for 
a lantern; they never sleep on that place." 

Mr. Graeter is now over 82 years of age, and busy. 



CHAPTER XIII.
W. B. CARTER STORY. 

We got to Bannack just about the time that the people were going, or when 
some had gone to Alder. We arrived in Alder, July 4th, 1863, and got a job 
working on night shift. I was broke. No, I had six large copper cents. I 
sold them to a jeweler for seventy-five cents each. (I presume that this 
was the first transaction in copper in Montana.) 

I worked there that season and then went to Salt Lake City, bought an ox 
outfit, loaded up with provisions, and brought them back to Virginia City, 
where I sold the outfit to a good advantage. In January a party of 25 men 
and one woman left Virginia for Salt Lake with a mule outfit. The train 
with our blankets in one of the wagons went on ahead of us. As soon as my 
partner and I got settled up we started for camp. One of us had a gun, the 
other a revolver, and we traveled about 150 feet apart so no one could 
surprise us. The next morning Club-Foot Mathews found his mules missing, 
but we pulled out and came to the place right where my ranch house now 
stands, about five miles north of Dillon, and camped for the night. 
Mathews found his mules and started to overtake us, when, just on the 
other side of the Point cf Rocks, he saw some fellows coming towards him 
on horse back. Not liking the looks of things he threw his gold sacks into 
the snow, marking the place well, then he pulled into the station, where 
he stayed all night, being afraid to go on. He hired a man to keep on the 
left side of the river and overtake us, and get one of us to send a team 
back and help him get his dust. The party he sent got to our camp about 
midnight. The next morning one of the boys went back to help him, while 
the balance moved to a place since owned by Jim Selway, where we waited 
until they could overtake us. 

Shortly after they had joined us, we saw three men coming to our camp on 
horseback. One of those men was Buck Stinson, and the other was Red -- or 
Ned Ray -- do not know for sure; the third man was one well-known to all 
of us (House), and only came to our camp, as Stinson a deputy of Plummer's 
did not care to come, as his mission was to arrest "Club-Foot" for debt. 
"Club-Foot" said that it was a just debt, and that he would like to get 
greenbacks enough from us to give to Buck, so he would know he was all 
right. We soon got the money and gave it to him. Alex Toponce wanted us to 
take Buck and hang him at once, but of course, we could not agree to that. 
"Club-Foot" started out with the two deputies, on foot, as he was afraid 
they might kill him and take his mule. They pulled off over the hill, 
toward Rattlesnake crossing, and only a short time after leaving us they 
saw the men coming from toward Virginia City. Stinson and his friend 
pulled out and left "Club-Foot" alone. He continued on into Bannack and 
found Buck, who turned the money over to him. He settled his accounts and 
overtook us down on the Snake River. Buck was hung on the 10th, just a few 
days after he was at our camp. 

We certainly had a fearful trip, and how we ever made it I do not know. 
When we got to, or near, the Robber's Roost, in the Port Neuf Canyon, we 
were compelled to leave our wagons on account of the deep snow. It was 
actually so deep that the mules could not find feed, and they had eaten 
all the top of the wagonbeds off .We had to go through the Malad Valley. 
The snow was so badly crusted the mules could not break a trail; it was up 
to the men. Alex Toponce and I, being the most able, took the lead, 
bracing one another. We did some mighty hard work. It was surely rough on 
those poor mules. They could only get what we could furnish them, and that 
was willows or any shrub that we could cut and take to them. We managed to 
save all of them. 

We were certainly up against it ourselves, for food. We had only put in a 
supply to last us, if we were fortunate in getting down in a reasonable 
time, but three days before we got to the settlement we were completely 
out of all except a little parched coffee, which we ate. 

When we got to Rear River the mules made a break for the willows, down a 
steep hill, and we could not stop them. My partner and myself made up our 
minds not to go down that steep hill, but would try and get to a 
settlement. I had been over the road two or three times that season when 
the snow was off, so we made a start. All the gulches were so full of snow 
that we could only pass them by going around. Near the banks of the river 
the snow was not deep, so we kept as near that as possible. At last I made 
up my mind to cross the river and strike out for a high mountain, the 
outlines of which were visible in the moonlight. we crossed the river, but 
actually did not knew where. As I was evading along, all at once I struck 
my shins against some hard substance. I got down, felt of the place, and 
found that some one had gone along there with a sled, when the snow was 
soft, and the track had frozen solid. We certainly felt much relieved I 
said: "We are all right now, and will make it." Sometime before morning we 
came to a cabin. I went up and knocked, and when the owner asked who was 
there, I, with my mouth close to the crack, replied that we were starving, 
and had traveled for two days without sitting down. He informed us he 
would soon dress, and he did, and let us in. 

In one corner was a curtained bed, which indicated the man was married. 
The curtains began to move, and we knew that the lady was getting up. In 
the meantime, the man had a fire going and we had dropped down completely 
exhausted. Say, I never ate such a good meal in my life! Potatoes! As 
large as your two fists. Fresh pork! And fine light biscuits! Nothing ever 
seen to equal them! We explained the condition of the party, and asked the 
man to take them some provisions. We had to sleep in an out-house (a corn 
crib), and when we awoke, about ten the next day, we asked the lady where 
the man was, and she told us that he had gone with relief for our party. I 
have gone through many things, but that winter trip was the most fearful 
of all. 

Mr. Carter is, at this writing, July, 1915, living in Dillon. He is one of 
the successful ranchers, and never goes hungry. Toponce had an experience 
in those early days, even worse than the one above, as he lost his 
complete outfit in trying to haul freight from Fort Union to Helena. 



CHAPTER XIV.
INCIDENTS IN THE LIFE OF JOHN F. BISHOP. 

Hugh O'Neil's train was at Ft. Bridger when John F. Bishop and John Swing 
overtook it. (Swing was drowned in 1864, in the Snake River. Reported to 
have had $4,000 gold and a large revolver on him, so he never came to the 
surface.) 

The train consisted of about 130 men, women and children. We arrived at 
Blackfoot, and found the stream too high to ford. We took a wagon cover, 
put it around a wagon box, and ferried our stuff across. When we got to 
the Snake we could ford, as it had not commenced to rise. Al. E. Graeter, 
John Cowan, one of the men to discover Last Chance, and Robert hereford 
were along. Hereford had been in Montana before, so he knew the trail. We 
crossed the Medicine Lodge Divide, and though it was April there was no 
snow. We arrived in Bannack, April 20th, 1863. 

Swing had 125 pairs of boots which he had bought in Denver and sold in 
Bannack for $13.00 per pair. Mr. Bishop mined some in Bannack, and later 
was in Beven's Gulch. He tells the following rather peculiar story of one 
of the first miners' trials in Beven's Gulch. It seems that a man had come 
from Oregon with a large band of horses, and he accused a young man that 
was with him, of having robbed him. The Sheriff was McCarty, for whom 
McCarty Mountain was named. In arresting the young man, he did not treat 
him too kindly. The young fellow was afraid of the justice that he might 
receive at Virginia, and hearing that a man named Dan Dixon was up the 
Gulch, he went up to see him and to get him to intercede for him. Bishop 
and Dixon had listened to the young man's story and came to the conclusion 
to go down to Bagdad, the town of the gulch, and see fair play. When they 
got down there, they found that quite a number of the miners were full, so 
they got on the jury. They listened to the testimony, and rendered a 
verdict, that the defendant should knock the stuffing out of the 
plaintiff, and that they, the jury, would stand by and see that no one 
interfered while the sentence was being carried out, which they proceeded 
to do. This happened some time in August, 1863. 

Mr. Bishop soon bought an outfit, and began to freight from Utah. He also 
went to Cow Island, on the Missouri, below Benton for a load. While he was 
loading at that place, the Indians came in considerable numbers, and were 
very insulting, but the whites were compelled to allow them to do as they 
pleased. It was on this trip that the following happened: 

A man and his wife had shipped a horse and buggy on the boat, and thought 
they would not experience much trouble from the Indians, between that 
point and Fort Benton. They started out gaily enough and were gone but a 
little awhile, when the boys saw something coming back as fast as 
possible, which, on inspection, proved to be our friend. He was shouting 
Indians! Indians! as loud as he could. The train immediately corralled, 
and waited for the attack. They waited for some time and one of the 
fellows said he would go and investigate. He ascended a hill on the road 
and found that there was a, prairie dog town, and that the little fellows, 
sitting on their mounds, looked in that peculiar atmosphere, almost as 
large as men on horses. It was the effect of a mirage. 

Later on, Mr. Bishop settled on the Beaverhead and began the raising of 
stock. He was probably the first Justice of the Peace in Beaverhead 
Valley, and helped throw the diamond hitch that bound more than one couple 
together for life. "Uncle John" has many a little story of the early days 
of Montana. I am indebted to him, as well as others, for the incidents 
recorded in this story. He is hale and hearty, at an advanced age, and 
bids fair to enjoy many more years in our Treasure State. 



CHAPTER XV.
JOHN C. INNES, AN 1862 MAN. 

I came to Bannack, September 8th, 1862, with Woodmansee Brothers' train -- 
ten teams. These were loaded smith flour, supplies, vegetables, etc. There 
were no houses in Bannack. Neil Howie was one of our party. We crossed at 
Meek's Ferry, on the Snake. 

I do not remember who it was that built the first cabin in Bannack, as 
none were built until it began to get cold. Then everyone commenced to 
build. It would certainly be hard to say who was the first. The man who 
panned out the first gold on White Bar, Charlie Reville (as near as I can 
spell it). He got one dollar, using the lid of a camp kettle for a gold 
pan. William Still was also of this party. His name was not Still, but 
only a nickname. 

We met Bill Hickman on the Snake River Valley, going back with horses, 
which he claimed to have recovered from some one who had stolen them. I 
was with Charlie Brown when he arrested Williams, the driver of the stage 
that was held up at Port Neuf, near Denver, 1865, late in the fall, 
November or December. 

The first lumber was cut in Lumber Gulch -- a gulch that comes into the 
Grasshopper, between Bannack and Marysville. This was cut by a man named 
Cris. I got my claim, on Jimmie's Bar -- Jim was named Griffeths, or Adobe 
Jim. He came to the country with Jim darby, Smith Ball and Billy Simpson. 
Phil, the Cannibal, he was General Harney's scout, was there also. He got 
his name, as he told me, in the following way: He killed a man in 
Philadelphia, and left for the west, where he became a squaw man. He and 
an Indian were sent to a post on the Yellowstone. They run out of 
provisions. Phil got to the fort, and made his report. After he was 
through, they asked him what had become of his companion. "Part of him is 
hanging on my saddle," he said. He had lived 11 days on rosebuds. Hc was 
killed by the fall of a cabin in Virginia City. He seemed a harmless old 
fellow and would never refuse a drink. 

At Green River, in August, 1862, a party of soldiers were crossing, 
swimming their horses behind the ferry boat. I recall that Jim Bridger 
came up to me, as tickled as a small boy, because his pony was making such 
nice progress in his attempts to swim over. Jim was a little dried up man. 

Plummer had no sister in Bannack. He may have been arrested at his sister-
in-law's. His wife was east when he was hung and never came back. 

I was the guard over John Wagner the time he was at Sayer's corral, as 
Howie had sent for me. I also took him to get his meals. 

In the middle of the night, two men came to the corral and wanted to come 
in, and I got up and let them in. They had come from Alder. They soon 
explained what they wanted. They took Howie, and went out and organized 
the Bannack Vigilantes. They left me in charge of John. I did not get to 
see John hung, as I was too busy at something else. 

When we were going west in 1861, at a post made at Rocky Point, Wyoming, 
we found a party of hostile Indians, at the station. The driver said that 
he had never seen any there before. The party was large enough to take us, 
had they wished. I had the only rifle in the crowd. There was some talk as 
to what we should do -- stay or get the mules and run. We had not been 
able to get the Indians to speak to us, so we concluded to go on; but some 
of the boys got out and walked on one side, as they did not wish to be 
caught in the coach. I got up with the driver, who said, "There is no use 
in trying to run, unless we are compelled to." Then I will hit this old 
mule with this buffalo robe, we will sure do something. We were not 
molested. When I came to Montana, I was told that I had saved the coach. 

In the summer of 1864, a party kept a ranch on Grasshopper. A French 
Canadian with a squaw. A white man, by the name of Roup, and a young 
cowboy, they made up their minds to go over to the Bitter Root, and steal 
horses. They accomplished the end, and were returning to the Grasshopper, 
and were back near the Point of Rocks, but up near the timber, when the 
Indians from Bitter Root came in pursuit. The horses were running as fast 
as possible. There was one Indian who was a splendid shot with bow and 
arrow. Roup had stayed behind to use his revolver on the Indians, when he 
was shot off his horse by an arrow. He crawled back into the timber. The 
Indians came to town, and reported what they had done, and a young man by 
the name of Richardson, and myself, went to find Roup. We found him as 
described, with the addition of a wound in the eye, which looked as though 
he had been shot with an arrow, and that it had been pulled out of the 
wound, also bringing the eye with it. Roup had been almost stripped -- had 
on a pair of pants with the pockets turned inside out. We reported that we 
had found him, and a couple of his friends went up and buried him where he 
fell. 

Johnnie Grant was probably the biggest stockman of Montana in those days. 
I remember that we depended on that bunch of cattle for our food supply, 
if need be. Granville Stuart kept a butcher shop in those early days in 
Bannack. 

Sanders' Quotation -- From King Lear. 

"Give us a King, let his name be Harry." The cause of that remark was as 
follows: When Plummer, Ray and Stinson were hanged, Ray made the most 
trouble, and Little Harry King was behind him with a gun. He poked Ray in 
the back, and said: "You know what is behind you, and if you don't go 
ahead, you'll get it." 

After the hanging of these men, they had a big public meeting and nearly 
all of the miners up and down the gulch joined. It was at the meeting that 
Sanders quoted the above. Harry King was a very active member of the 
Vigilantes. Mr. Innes joined them at this meeting, and was placed at the 
head of a company to try and round up some of the highwaymen. His command 
went to Horse Prairie, but did not succeed in grabbing anyone. 



CHAPTER XVI.
STORY OF JAMES KIRKPATRICK.
 
The winter of 1863-4 was a memorable one for the embryo State of Montana. 
The vanguard of would-be prospectors from Gold Creek, in what is since 
Deer Lodge County, pushing on to Grasshopper Valley, had found already 
established and swarming with pioneer mining life, the "City" of Bannack. 
All mining camps in those crude days were dubbed either "Gulches" or 
"Cities." (Bannock was the original spelling of the name after the tribe 
which at that time, hovered about, and, to avoid confusion, it was called 
"East Bannock," in contradiction from "West Bannock" in Idaho, since 
changed to Lewiston.) 

Bannack City, whose prolific placers had already begun to show signs of 
depletion, had still much of the alluring "dust" within its sands, still 
eagerly sought by rugged men in primitive ways. 

An army of gold seekers had surged past the town, over the mountains to 
the east, swarmed down the Beaverhead and up the Ruby River to Alder Gulch 
and Virginia City. Here met and merged another stream of humanity, from 
the overland route farther north. 

Bannack had been and was still rich -- Virginia was richer. Money was very 
plentiful, gold abundant, and some of the lucky miners were already 
departing for far away homes, with quantities of the precious "dust." 

The crack of the "Bull-whacker's" whip, almost hourly, heralded the 
arrival of incoming wagon trains of gold seekers, or the departure of 
freighters seeking supplies from Salt hake. Pack trains came from Oregon, 
steamers from the lower reaches of the Missouri, and the Mississippi; 
daily stages arrived with monthold mail from Omaha, and carried daily 
passengers between the two "cities." Their treasure boxes were seldom 
lacking or empty. The passengers were usually well supplied with "dust," 
much was being sent out of the country by wagon train, and "dust" was both 
a commodity and a currency. No condition could have been more favorable to 
lawlessness. The country knew no law except that of the Miners' meeting -- 
vague, unsatisfactory, fickle, suited only for transient purposes. 
Revolvers, in the hands of outlaws, fast gathering from other haunts, had 
to be reckoned with all too often. The bad element soon became organized, 
murder and robbery was frequent, no man's life or money was secure. 
Everyone felt that something must be done, that the conditions 
necessitated prompt and secret action. 

But how to begin? Who could be trusted? Brave, honest and noble men were 
plentiful, but few knew their neighbors. Almost everyone knew numbers of 
the roughs, but to speak of them aloud meant certain death, even a whisper 
within the walls of Bannack's huts might reach an outlaw's ear. 

The situation became daily more intense; shocking crimes hourly increased 
in frequency. Among the law abiding were men who knew no fear; cautious, 
discreet souls; men of iron will. 

A union league was silently, suddenly formed among the men of Grasshopper 
Creek, ostensibly sympathizers with the Union cause in our Civil War, then 
raging in the far-off"States." This suspicious circmstance at once 
attracted the attention of resident road agents, some of whom made haste 
to join the league. Something imminent seemed in the air, something was 
about to happen. Rumors, of vague origin, and no sponsors, circulated. To 
try to leave town, even by night, was unsafe, by day it usually meant 
robbery, perhaps murder. The robbers had become very :strong; word flew 
that Bannack was about to be sacked. Ned Ray, Buck Stinson and Henry 
Plummer were among the most prominent men on the Bannack single street. 
The former, tall, sandy, lean, with mustache and goatee, well groomed, 
buckskin dressed, soft felt hat; he might be taken for a freighter or a 
prospector on a rest, in town. 

I have learned that he did not ride the road, but was a spy and informer. 
I heard him remark one day, shortly before his death, as he sat at a card 
table in Percy and Hacker's saloon, with about $1,000 in $20.00 gold 
pieces, stacked before him, "I have today been around and paid all my 
debts, and have this much left." Little did I then suspect where he had 
obtained that coin. Gambling seemed his only occupation; he lived in a 
small cabin, with his "woman," just off the street under the low "bar" 
upon which Bannack was built. 

Buck Stinson was below medium height, well built, not bad looking, medium 
complexion, a gambler, and Plummer's lieutenant -- a sort of Deputy 
Sheriff. He was sometimes out on horseback, and on one occasion I saw him 
gallop demonstratively into town on a powerful horse with his roll of 
blankets flopping behind the saddle -- a usual thing at that time among 
horsemen -- and rein up at the express office to learn if the Virginia 
City stage had that day been robbed as usual. It had. I forget whether he 
had helped or not. The following day, sitting in Percy and Hacker's 
saloon, where, as a boy of sixteen, I spotted ten-pins for hire, I heard 
two shots in quick succession, outside on the sidewalk. Boy like, I ran 
out to see. Stinson's beautiful Mastiff dog, a favorite about the street, 
and a pet of his "wife," lay gasping in death. He had paid the penalty at 
the hands of a bad-tempered master for not coming back, at call, from 
following another man. Stinson put up his revolver, stepped inside, and 
sat dejectedly down. 

Not having seen all of this, I innocently asked. "Who shot Carlo?" A 
meaning look from Percy caused me to be silent. Directly Buck said, "If I 
ever get drunk again, I hope some son-of-a-gun will kill me." Thus will 
remorse sometimes reach the hardest heart. He had wantonly destroyed a 
faithful dog, and attracted to himself most undesirable attention. He 
also, with his "wife" occupied a small log hut, under the hill near Ned 
Ray's domicile, the same in which the "Greaser," Joe Pizanthia, was 
killed, shortly after the road agent trio had met their fate. 

Henry Plummer, genteel, self-possessed, and of medium height and 
complexion, was in and out of town, going sometimes to Virginia, and was 
often on the streets of Bannack; he was Sheriff, through peculiar 
circmstances, of both towns, elected ostensibly by popular vote at Miners' 
meetings. 

Out of the Union League, secretly, in some mysterious manner, evolved the 
Bannack branch of the Vigilance Committee. Most of these courageous men 
are long since dead, but their acts of summary justice, inspired by that 
necessity which knows no law, are upheld by all fair-minded men. 

Monday morning, January 11th, broke clear, bright and cold, on the little 
hamlet of Marysville, one mile down the creek from Bannack. The cold was 
intense. Not a breath stirred the crisp air. Before sunrise, word came to 
Marysville, and flew down the Grasshopper, for miles to all the miners, 
that the main trio of road agents had been hung on the previous night. 
Hundreds of determined looking men, heavily armed, thronged for hours, the 
one road to Bannack a living stream. It was an exciting sight. Dressed in 
my heaviest wraps and mitts, stopping in at several miners' cabins to 
warm, I ran all the way to town. The street was filled with armed men; all 
was orderly and quiet, many were drinking in the numerous saloons, that 
lined the only street. 

An air of satisfaction and relief prevailed. In the lower part of a two-
story log house, not yet completed, lay on the floor, frozen solid, the 
bodies of the three terrors of the town. Ride by side, with each a deep 
groove in the neck showing the marks of rope strand spirals; clad in their 
Sunday clothes, newly shaved, they laid, with the awful ropes lying near, 
a gruesome ending, to lives of crime. 

Suddenly the gang had learned that their days were numbered, that a 
Vigilance Committee was expected over the mountains, from Virginia, to 
hang them. Murderers were sent out along the road to way-lay the 
Committee, but they slipped into town at night, by an unfrequented road. 
Each robber had his horse saddled and equipped on Yankee Flat, just across 
the Creek ready for instant flight; none dared to start; each awaited the 
turn of events. The Virginia men joined those of Bannack; three squads 
went silently in the night to as many doors; three pairs of eyes looked 
down the double barrels of so many shotguns. Quickly three well dressed 
men dangled from a gallows in Hangman's Gulch, three hundred yards from 
Main Street, a gallows erected by Plummer for another murderer. 

Time and necessity precluded any elaborate preparations for the execution, 
and Ned Ray, being next one of the posts of the gallows, wound his legs 
about it, and thereby prolonged his misery. The other two passed away less 
painfully. During the trip to the gallows, a crowd gathered, but no 
attempt at rescue or interference developed. A brother of Plummer's wife, 
a highly respected young man, who clerked in the store of a Mr. Thompson, 
tried to intercede for his relative, but to no avail. He was told in no 
uncertain terms to return to town. 

Of those who took part in that gruesome drama, many were at that time well 
known about Bannack, respected and respectable business men. 

Also, some whose names appear in the works of Professor Dimsdale and N. P. 
Langford, are remembered by the writer, reputable citizens of the time and 
place. 

JAMES KIRKPATRICK.