Sheriff Henry Plummer

Henry Plummer was a featured historic figure on Travel Channel's Ghost Adventures, Discovery Channel's Expedition Unknown & Gold Rush: Dave Turnin's Lost Mine.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Plummer

Henry Plummer (1832–1864) was a prospector, lawman, and outlaw in the American West in the 1850s and 1860s, who was known to have killed several men, some in what was considered self-defense. He was elected sheriff of Bannack, Montana from 1863 to 1864, during which period he was accused of being the leader of a "road agent" gang of outlaws known as the "Innocents," which preyed on shipments from Virginia City to other areas. In response some leaders in Virginia City formed the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch and began to take action against Plummer's gang, gaining confessions from a couple of men they arrested in early January 1864. On January 10, 1864, Plummer and two associates were arrested in Bannack by a company of the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch and summarily hanged. He was hanged without a trial, evidence, or even a reasonable theory. One resident even noted, "...not one body can be found." Yet, the Vigilante Committee claimed Henry Plummer and his gang killed over 100 people. He was hanged by the neck, being pulled up rather than given the drop. He was strangled slowly to death. Ironically, the leader of the Vigilante Committee took control of many of the committees' victim's properties and holdings, including Henry Plummer's gold claim outside of Bannack. He was pulled out of bed while suffering from TB. He was hanged without due process. Plummer and the Vigilantes often argued over the tactics of the committee. They hanged at least 138 people in Bannack without trial, including a 17-year-old boy who stated Plummer was innocent after the committee had already hanged him. The Vigilante Committee always executed their victims late at night so the townspeople were never there to witness it and the only witnesses were committee members. They totally controlled the narrative. The accused never were given the opportunity to state their case, mount a defense, or plead guilty or not guilty. Plummer was a Northern Democrat (anti-slavery) and the Vigilante Committee leader was a Southern Democrat (pro-slavery).

The only trial Henry Plummer got was a posthumous trial held in 1993 which led to a mistrial. If that same trial had been held in 1864, Plummer would have walked out a free man. The jury was split 6-6.

Early years

He was born William Henry Handy Plummer in 1832 in Addison, Maine, the last of six children in a family whose ancestors had first settled in Maine in 1634, when it was still a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony. He changed the spelling of his surname after moving West. His father died while Henry was in his teens.

In 1852, at age 19, Plummer headed west to the gold fields of California. His mining venture went well: within two years he owned a mine, a ranch, and a bakery in Nevada City. In 1856, he was elected sheriff and city manager. Supporters suggested that he should run for state representative as a Democrat. However, the party was divided, and without its full support, he lost.

Becoming an outlaw

On September 26, 1857, Plummer shot and killed John Vedder. As city marshal of Nevada City, California, Plummer had been providing protection for Lucy Vedder, John's wife, who was seeking to escape from her abusive husband. Plummer claimed he was acting in self-defense in the incident, but was convicted of second-degree murder. He won an appeal for a retrial and was convicted again and sentenced to ten years in San Quentin. But in August 1859, supporters of his wrote to the governor seeking a pardon based on his alleged good character and civic performance. The governor granted the pardon due to Plummer's good prison record, his attempts to convince a corrupt warden to improve conditions, and his work assisting the prison doctor.

In 1861, Plummer returned to being a policeman after his pardon. Plummer carried out an arrest of John Fergason, who had escaped from San Quentin. Fergason changed his name to Jack Cleveland when he got out of prison.

Life of a criminal

Plummer headed to Washington Territory where gold had been discovered. There he became involved in a dispute that ended in a gunfight won by Plummer. He decided to leave the West and return to Maine.

On the way back east, waiting for a steamboat to reach Fort Benton, Montana on the Missouri River, Plummer was approached by James Vail. He was recruiting volunteers to help protect his family from Indian attacks at the mission station he was attempting to found in Sun River, Montana. No passage home being available, Plummer accepted, along with Jack Cleveland, a horse dealer who had known Plummer in California. While at the mission, both Plummer and Cleveland fell in love with Vail's attractive sister-in-law, Electa Bryan; Plummer asked her to marry him and she agreed. As gold had recently been discovered in nearby Bannack, Montana, Plummer decided to go there to try to earn enough money to support them both. Cleveland followed him.

In January 1863, Cleveland, nursing his anger at Plummer for arresting him in California for escape and his jealousy over Electa Bryan, forced Plummer into a fight and was killed. The altercation took place in a crowded saloon, and observers agreed that Plummer had killed his foe in self-defense. Cleveland was suspected of killing a man and stealing his gold the week before. Plummer, himself, caught Cleveland trying to steal Plummer's gold, but Cleveland was unaware Plummer only left out gold dust. He had buried gold in his dirt-floor shack and poured water on the floor to hide the signs of soft dirt. Many miners and prospectors had been bullied by Cleveland and/or had gold stolen from them.

Plummer was viewed very favorably by most town residents and, in May, he was elected sheriff of Bannack.

The Plummer gang

Between October and December 1863, the rate of robberies and murders in and around Alder Gulch increased significantly, and the citizens of Virginia City grew increasingly suspicious of Sheriff Henry Plummer and his associates.

Notable criminal acts by alleged members of the Plummer gang included:

• On October 13, 1863, Lloyd Magruder was killed by road agent Chris Lowrie. Magruder was an Idaho merchant leaving Virginia City with $12,000 in gold dust from goods he had sold there. Several of the men he hired to accompany him back to Lewiston, Idaho were criminals. Four other men in his party were also murdered in camp—Charlie Allen, Robert Chalmers, Horace Chalmers, and William Phillips—by Lowrie, Doc Howard, Jem Romaine, and William Page.
• On October 26, 1863, the Peabody and Caldwell's stage was robbed between the Rattlesnake Ranch and Bannack by two road agents believed to be Frank Parish and George Ives. Bill Bunton, the owner of the Rattlesnake Ranch who joined the stage at the ranch, was also complicit in the robbery. The road agents netted $2,800 in gold from the passengers and threatened them all with death if they talked about the robbery.
• On November 13, 1863, a teenage Henry Tilden was hired by Wilbur Sanders and Sidney Edgerton to locate and corral some horses owned by the two men. Near Horse Prairie, Tilden was confronted by three armed road agents. He was carrying very little money and was allowed to depart unmolested, but was warned that if he talked about whom he'd seen, he would be killed. He told Hattie Sanders, Wilbur's wife, and Sidney Edgerton that he had recognized one of the road agents as Sheriff Henry Plummer. Although Tilden's account was dismissed because of general respect for Plummer, suspicion in the region increased that Plummer was the leader of a gang of road agents.
• On November 22, 1863, the A.J. Oliver stage was robbed on its way from Virginia City to Bannack by road agents George Ives, "Whiskey Bill" Graves, and Bob Zachary. The robbery netted less than $1,000 in gold and treasury notes. One of the victims, Leroy Southmayd, reported the robbery and identified the road agents to Bannack sheriff Henry Plummer. Members of Plummer's gang confronted Southmayd on his return trip to Virginia City, but Southmayd was cunning enough to avoid injury or death.
• In November 1863, Conrad Kohrs traveled to Bannack from Deer Lodge, Montana with $5,000 in gold dust to buy cattle. After talking with Sheriff Plummer in Bannack, Kohrs worried about the risk of robbery on his return to Deer Lodge. While his group was camped overnight, his associates found road agents George Ives and "Dutch John" Wagner surveying the camp, and armed with shotguns. A day or two later, Kohrs was riding on horseback to Deer Lodge when Ives and Wagner gave chase. As Kohrs's horse proved the faster, Kohrs evaded confrontation and reached the safety of Deer Lodge.
• In early December 1863, a three-wagon freight outfit organized by Milton S. Moody was going from Virginia City to Salt Lake City. Among the seven passengers was John Bozeman. It was carrying $80,000 in gold dust and $1,500 in treasury notes. While the outfit was camped on Blacktail Deer Creek, road agents "Dutch John" Wagner and Steve Marshland entered the camp, armed and ready to rob the pack train. Members of the camp had armed themselves well, and Wagner and Marshland were able to escape by claiming they were just looking for lost horses. Two days later, Wagner and Marshland were both wounded in an unsuccessful attempt to rob the train as it crossed the Continental Divide at Rock Creek.
• On December 8, 1863, Anton Holter, who was taking oxen to sell in Virginia City, survived an attempted robbery and murder. When road agents George Ives and Aleck Carter, whom Holter recognized, discovered Holter was not carrying any significant wealth, they tried to shoot him. He avoided being shot and escaped into the brush.

At the time Bannack and Virginia City, Montana were part of a remote region of the Idaho Territory; there was no formal law enforcement or justice system for the area. Some residents suspected that Plummer's road agent gang was responsible for numerous robberies, attempted robberies, murders, and attempted murders in and around Alder Gulch in October–December 1863.

From December 19 to 21, 1863, a public trial was held in Virginia City by a miners' court for George Ives, the suspected murderer of Nicholas Tiebolt, a young Dutch immigrant. Hundreds of miners from around the area attended the three-day outdoor trial. George Ives was prosecuted by Wilbur F. Sanders, convicted, and hanged on December 21, 1863.

On December 23, 1863, two days after the Ives trial, leading citizens of Virginia City and Bannack formed the Vigilance Committee of Alder Gulch in Virginia City. They included five Virginia City residents, led by Wilbur F. Sanders, and including Major Alvin W. Brockie, John Nye, Captain Nick D. Wall, and Paris Pfouts. Between January 4 and February 3, 1864, the vigilantes arrested and summarily executed at least 20 alleged members of Plummer's gang.

Shortly after its formation, the Vigilance Committee dispatched a posse of men to search for Aleck Carter, "Whiskey Bill" Graves, and Bill Bunton, known associates of George Ives. The posse was led by vigilante Captain James Williams, the man who had investigated the Nicolas Tiebolt murder. Near the Rattlesnake Ranch on the Ruby River, the posse located "Erastus Red" Yeager and George Brown, both suspected road agents. While traveling under guard back to Virginia City, Yeager made a complete confession, naming the majority of the road agents in Plummer's gang, and Henry Plummer. The posse found Yeager and Brown to be guilty and hanged them from a cottonwood tree on Lorrain's Ranch on the Ruby River.

On January 6, 1864, vigilante Captain Nick Wall and Ben Peabody captured "Dutch John" Wagner, a road agent wounded in the Moody robbery, on the Salt Lake City trail. The vigilantes transported Wagner to Bannack, where he was hanged on January 11, 1864. By this time, Yeager's confession had mobilized vigilantes against Plummer and his key associates, deputies Buck Stinson and Ned Ray. Plummer, Stinson, and Ray were arrested on the morning of January 10, 1864, and summarily hanged.

The two youngest members of the gang were said to be spared. One was sent back to Bannack to tell the rest to get out of the area, and the other was sent ahead to Lewiston, Idaho to warn gang members to leave that town. (Lewiston was the connection from the Territory to the world, as it had river steamboats that traveled to the coast at Astoria, Oregon via the Snake and Columbia rivers.) Plummer was known to have traveled to Lewiston during the time when he was an elected official in Bannack. The hotel registry records with his signature during this period have been preserved. The large-scale robberies of gold shipments by gangs ended with Plummer's and the alleged gang members' deaths. Gang member Clubfoot George was hanged at about the same time as Plummer.

In popular culture

• Ernest Haycox's 1942 historical novel Alder Gulch depicts Plummer as handsome and well-spoken, but a cold and calculating murderer and thief without conscience. He portrays the vigilantes as justified but equally remorseless, as they conducted their lynching executions by slow strangulation hangings.
• John Dehner played Plummer in an episode of the 1950s western television series, Stories of the Century, starring and narrated by Jim Davis.
• In "Two for the Gallows" (April 11, 1961) of NBC's Laramie series, the character Slim Sherman (John Smith) is hired under false pretenses to take "Professor Landfield", played by Donald Woods, into the Badlands to seek gold. Landfield is purportedly Morgan Bennett, a member of the former Plummer gang who has escaped from prison. Slim has no idea that Lanfield is seeking the loot that his gang had hidden. Jess Harper (Robert Fuller), Pete Dixon (Warren Oates), and Pete's younger brother, soon come to Slim's aid. The title of this episode is based on the two Dixon brothers likely to be headed for the hangman because of their activities.
• Scottish folk act The David Latto Band, wrote "Plummer's Song" about Henry Plummer, released on their 2012 eponymous debut album. The song was written from the viewpoint of a Bannack resident with doubts as to Plummer's guilt for his alleged crimes.

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10952198

Henry Plummer – Sheriff Meets a Noose

One of the most colorful characters of the Wild West, Henry Plummer, allegedly played both sides of the law during his short twenty-seven years. Though for more than a century he was thought to have been guilty of numerous crimes and rightly hanged in Bannack, Montana, today’s historians question whether or not he was truly guilty of the crimes he was accused of.

Born in Addison, Maine in 1832, to William Jeremiah and Elizabeth (Handy) Plummer, he was the youngest of seven children. His father, older brother, and brother-in-law were all sea captains and Henry was expected to follow in their footsteps. However, the young man was slight of build and consumptive, making the rigors of the sea trade too much for him to handle.

When Henry was a teenager, his father died and the family began to struggle financially. Just two years after the California Gold Rush began; Henry promised his widowed mother that he could help the family by making his fortune in the West.

In April 1852, nineteen-year-old Henry sailed from New York on a mail ship to Aspinwall, Panama, traveled by mule train to Panama City, then boarded another ship for the rest of his journey to California. Twenty-four days after his departure, he arrived in San Francisco. Gaining a job at a bakery, Plummer soon earned enough money to move on to the mining camps of Nevada County, about 150 miles north of San Francisco.

About a year after his arrival in California, documents show that he owned a ranch and a mine outside Nevada City, California. Some twelve months later, he traded some of his mining shares for the Empire Bakery in Nevada City. By 1856, the local residents, so impressed by the young man, persuaded him to run for sheriff. At the age of 24, he became marshal of the third largest settlement in California.

The young marshal was well-liked by the Nevada City citizens and respected for his promptness and boldness in handling his duties. He easily won the re-election in 1857.

But, shortly after the election, he killed his first man. At the time, Henry was said to be having an affair with the wife of a miner by the name of John Vedder and when he was confronted by the angry husband, the two competed in a duel, for which, Henry obviously won.

Plummer was arrested and tried in a sensational, emotionally-charged case that went twice to the California Supreme Court before he was finally convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to ten years in California’s infamous San Quentin Prison. He began to serve his sentence on February 22, 1859, and local residents quickly petitioned the Governor for a pardon, claiming that Henry had acted in self-defense.

Among his comrades behind bars was Cyrus Skinner, serving time for grand larceny, who would later be connected with Plummer again. Plummer served time only until August 16, 1859, when he was released due to his tuberculosis and pressure on the Governor by the petition.

After his release, Henry returned to Nevada City, to the bakery, and became an avid customer of the many brothels of the settlement.

Before long, he was penniless and soon joined a group of bandits intent on robbing area stagecoaches. In one such incident, the stage driver got away with his passengers and cargo, but Plummer was arrested. Standing trial for the attempted robbery, the former sheriff caught a reprieve when he was acquitted due to lack of evidence.

But trouble had begun to follow Plummer around and soon he was caught up in a brawl over a “painted lady” with a man by the name of William Riley. When Henry shot the man on October 27, 1861, he was once again arrested. This time he escaped prison by bribing a jailer before he could be tried and fled for Oregon.

Along the way, he met another bandit by the name of Jim Mayfield, who had allegedly killed the sheriff of a neighboring town.

Both were obviously wanted men, and the ex-sheriff sent word to California newspapers that both he and Mayfield had been hanged in Washington. It had the desired effect, curtailing the need for the desperadoes to constantly look over their shoulders for the pursuing posse.

In January 1862, Plummer landed in Lewiston, Idaho with a woman companion and registered at the Luna House. Working in a casino, he soon ran into his old cellmate, Cyrus Skinner, and other individuals destined for the gallows in Montana, such as Club Foot George Lane and Bill Bunton.

Forming a gang, the like-minded men began to rob the local families of the area mining camps and especially targeted the gold shipments traveling the roads from the mines. Somewhere along the line, Plummer abandoned his mistress, a woman with three children who had to resort to prostitution to feed herself and her family, and finally died an alcoholic, in one of the seedier brothels in town.

Plummer began to roam the area between Elk City, Florence, and Lewiston. In Orofino, Idaho, he killed a saloon keeper by the name of Patrick Ford. When the saloonkeeper kicked Plummer and some of his friends out of the saloon, Ford then followed them to the stable where he fired upon them. Plummer returned fire and killed Ford. When some of Ford’s friends began to form a lynch mob, Plummer hightailed it out of there and headed east to Montana.

By September 1862, Plummer was beginning to feel the effects of his tuberculosis and wanted to return home. Heading from Idaho across the Bitterroot Mountains, he traveled to Fort Benton with the intention of going back east. Unfortunately, the upper Missouri River at Fort Benton was frozen and closed to Riverboat traffic. Planning to hold over for the winter, Henry went to work as a ranch hand at the Sun River Farm, a government ranch and Indian Agency, in October.

Plummer soon became enamored with Indian Agent James Vail’s beautiful sister-in-law, Electa Bryan. Henry and Electa spent about two months together and were quickly engaged to be married.

A former cohort of Plummer’s by the name of Jack Cleveland was also vying for Electa’s attention, which incensed Henry. Nevertheless, both men headed to Bannack, Montana, the most recent site of gold rush fever, in January 1863.

Hastily built to accommodate the many miners flooding to the area, Bannack was called home to all manner of transient men including Civil War deserters from both sides, river pirates, professional gamblers, outlaws and villains. Lawlessness ran rampant as holdups occurred daily, and killings were just as frequent.

Henry soon rounded up another gang, calling themselves the Innocents, and began to relieve the gold-laden travelers from the Montana camps of their valuables. The Innocents grew quickly and became so large that secret handshakes and code words were instituted so one “Innocent” could recognize another.

One night while Henry was drinking in Bannack’s Goodrich Saloon, Jack Cleveland, his old nemesis, began to taunt him by making numerous references to Plummer’s outlaw activities. When Henry warned him to stop, Cleveland continued to spout his accusations and Plummer fired a warning shot. Cleveland then pulled his own six-gun, but Henry was faster and soon Cleveland lay on the floor, mortally wounded.

Not yet dead, Cleveland was taken to the home of a butcher named Hank Crawford, two doors down from the saloon. Crawford heard Cleveland’s last words as he continued to extol the tale of Plummer’s deceit and corruption. Three hours later, Cleveland was dead and Plummer was arrested. However, Plummer received yet another reprieve when he was acquitted based on witness testimony that Cleveland had threatened him.

By late spring 1863, there were more than 10,000 men hunting for gold along Grasshopper Creek and the lawlessness in Bannack had reached epidemic proportions. The frightened citizens of the settlement decided that the outlaws had to be stopped and advertised for a sheriff. Two men, vowing to corral the outlaws, stepped up to the plate — Plummer and a butcher named Hank Crawford.

Plummer lost the election to the popular butcher, an event that fired his reckless temper and he went after the new sheriff with a shotgun. However, a friend warned Crawford, who shot Plummer in his right arm, temporarily ruining his gunfighting abilities. Undaunted, Plummer immediately began to practice shooting with his left hand until his accuracy was just as deadly. When Hank Crawford caught wind of this, he turned in his badge and left Bannack, never to return.

In the new election for sheriff, Plummer became the leading lawman on May 24, 1863. Plummer was quick to appoint two of his henchmen, Buck Stinson and Ned Ray, as deputies. Unknown to the people of Bannack, Plummer’s group of Innocents had now reached over 100. Having the opposite desired effect for the citizens of Bannack, crime in the town increased dramatically after Plummer was elected. In the next few months, more than 100 citizens were murdered.

On June 20, 1863, Henry and Electa were married and soon settled into their log home in Bannack. However, Electa did not stay long. Less than three months later, she left for her parent’s home in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. She would never see Henry again.

The Innocents stepped up their efforts at robbing the gold-laden travelers from the Montana camps and helped the Sheriff to punish the “villains” of the community on a gallows that Plummer had erected. However, the few that were hanged on it by Plummer and his men were not members of the Innocents. The Innocents were well organized and said to have killed anyone that might be a witness to their crimes, most of which were easily covered up. Blatant killings went unpunished. Local residents who suspected anything feared for their lives and kept their mouths closed. The ambitious sheriff soon extended his operations to Virginia City when he was appointed Deputy U.S. Marshal for the region of Idaho Territory east of the mountains in August of 1863.

By December 1863, the citizens of Bannack and Virginia City had had enough. Men from Bannack, Virginia City and nearby Nevada City met secretly and organized the Montana Vigilantes. Masked men began to visit suspected outlaws in the middle of the night issuing warnings and tacking up posters featuring a skull-and-crossbones or the “mystic” numbers “3-7-77.” While the meaning of these numbers remains elusive, the Montana State Highway patrolmen wear the emblem “3-7-77” on their shoulder patches today. Interesting.

The vigilantes dispensed rough justice by hanging about twenty-four men. When one such man, by the name of Erastus “Red” Yager, who was about to be hanged, pointed a finger at Henry Plummer as the leader of the gang, all hell broke loose.

The residents were divided on whether or not Henry was part of the murderous gang. But one night after heavy drinking in a local saloon, the vigilantes decided that Henry was guilty and tracked him down. On January 10, 1864, fifty to seventy-five men gathered up Plummer and his two main deputies, Buck Stinson and Ned Ray. The three were marched to those very same gallows that Plummer, himself, had built. Ned Ray was the first hanged, followed by Buck Stinson–both men spewing epithets every step of the way. According to one legend, Plummer promised to tell the vigilantes where $100,000 of gold was buried, if they would let him live. However, the vigilantes ignored this as they gradually hoisted him up by the neck.

After the execution, armed guards stood by the gallows for about an hour. The three bodies were left hanging until the next morning. Plummer’s was the only body placed in a wooden coffin and none were buried in the cemetery, but instead, all three were buried in shallow graves in Hangman’s Gulch about a hundred yards up from the gallows.

The vigilantes went on to hang the rest of the Road Agents that they could locate, in such locations as Hellgate (Missoula), Cottonwood (Deer Lodge), Fort Owen and Virginia City.

Vulnerable to vandalism, legend has it that the grave was broken into on two occasions. The first time, allegedly by the local doctor, who out of curiosity, severed the right arm from the body to search for the bullet that had hit Plummer when he went after Hank Crawford. Reportedly, the doctor found the bullet “worn smooth and polished by the bones turning upon it.” The second time it was broken into, it was reportedly by two men around the turn of the century who, after spending several hours in a local bar, decided to dig up the grave. To prove they had done it, they severed the head and carried it back to the Bank Exchange Saloon, where it remained on the back bar for several years, until the building burned, along with all its contents. Yet, another legend states that the skull found its way into the hands of an unnamed doctor who sent the specimen back east to a scientific institution to try to figure out why Plummer was so evil.

Electa learned of her husband’s death in a letter and she always maintained that he was innocent. In fact, in the past several decades many historians, researchers, and authors have also questioned whether the tale of Henry Plummer was rightfully told.

Many believe that the whole thing is all a fraud, a story fabricated to cover up the real lawlessness in the Montana Territory – the vigilantes themselves. Many of the early stories, on which the outlaw tale is based, were written by the editor of the Virginia City Newspaper, who was a member of the vigilantes, himself.

Further testimony to support the theory is that the robberies did not cease after the twenty-one men were hanged in January and February of 1864. In fact, after the “Plummer Gang” hangings, the stage robberies showed more evidence of organized criminal activity, more robbers involved in the holdups, and more intelligence passed to the actual robbers.

Bannack Barn & Wagon Barn and wagon found in the ghost town of Bannack. Photo by Kathy Weiser-Alexander,

Having taken control, the vigilantes were ruthless. On one such occasion, in attempting to get the names of the road agents, they looped a noose around the neck of a suspect named “Long John” Franck and repeatedly hoisted him until the poor man gasped out the answers the vigilantes wanted to hear. They did the same to Erastus “Red” Yager who pointed the finger at Henry Plummer as the gang’s leader.

Further, the vigilantes brooked no criticism of their methods. When a preacher’s son named Bill Hunter expressed his outrage by shouting on a mining camp street that pro-vigilantes were “stranglers,” his frozen corpse was found three weeks later dangling from the limb of a cottonwood tree.

There is really little evidence connecting Plummer with any crime committed in the Bannack area, other than the “confession” of a criminal attempting to save his own life. Plummer’s activities as an outlaw band leader in Lewiston have also been disputed; when evidence was found that he was actually living in California at the time.

Three years after Plummer was killed, the vigilantes virtually ruled the mining districts. Finally, leading citizens of Montana including Territorial Governor Thomas Meagher began to speak out against the ruthless group.

In March 1867, the miners issued their own warning that if the vigilantes hanged any more people, the “law-abiding citizens” would retaliate “five for one.” Though a few more lynchings occurred, it was clear that the era of the vigilantes was past.

As to what happened to Electa — she ultimately moved to Vermillion, South Dakota, where she married James Maxwell, a widower with two daughters. Electa and James had two sons of their own, Vernon and Clarence. Electa lived until May 5, 1912, and was buried at Wakonda, South Dakota.

The historical town of Bannack, Montana was placed under the protection of Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife, and Parks in 1954 and is now called the Bannack State Park.

© Kathy Weiser/Legends of America, updated February 2020.

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Plummer

Henry Plummer (1832 – 1864) served as sheriff of what became Bannack, Montana, from May 24, 1863 until January 10, 1864, when he was hanged without legal system trial by the controversial Montana Vigilantes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montana_Vigilantes

Some believe him to have been the head of the Innocents gang that was responsible for nearly a hundred deaths; he was hanged along with twenty-three others for their presumed crimes. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Innocents_(gang)

[Notes of historical clarification: the original Idaho Territory, declared July 4, 1863 at Lewiston, Idaho included all of what is now Montana. The Montana territory was created in 1865. Thus at the time of his death, Plummer was sheriff in Bannock, Idaho Territory. By a 2:1 decision of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court, Boise became the capital in 1866.]

Life

In case of his life, general agreement is only about its early years. There is also general agreement that he was handsome, well spoken and intelligent, but some see these attributes as a veneer, hiding a dishonest, cruel, crafty, violent nature. Others see him as a victim of jealous, malicious gossip—character assassination for personal and political gain.

Early years

He was born William Henry Handy Plumer, the last of six children in Addison, Maine, to a family that had settled in Maine in 1764, when it was still a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony (he changed the spelling of his surname after moving West). His father died while Henry was in his teens. In 1852, age 19, he headed west to the gold fields of California. His mining venture went well: within two years he owned a mine, a ranch and a bakery in Nevada City. In 1856, he was elected sheriff and city manager and it was proposed that he should run for state representative as a Democrat. However, the party was divided, and without its full support, he lost.

Becoming an outlaw

On September 26, 1857, Plummer shot and killed John Vedder; he had been having an affair with Vedder's wife. In the resulting trial, Plummer was sentenced to ten years in San Quentin. However, in August, 1859, his many supporters wrote to the governor to seeking a pardon based on his good character and civic performance; the governor subsequently granted the pardon, but it was based on his health—Plummer was suffering from tuberculosis. Then, in 1861, Plummer tried to carry out a citizen's arrest of William Riley, who had escaped from San Quentin; in the attempt, Riley was killed. Plummer turned himself in to the police, who accepted that the killing was justified, but, fearing that his prison record would prevent a fair trial, recommended that he leave the state.

Life of a criminal

Plummer headed to Washington Territory where gold had been discovered. However, he once again became involved in a dispute that ended in a gunfight won by Plummer. This event left him feeling that his only recourse was to return to Maine. While his skill with guns was keeping him alive in the violent towns of the gold rush, it was also making it hard for him to accomplish anything.

Half way home, waiting for a steamer to reach Fort Benton on the Missouri River, Plummer was approached by James Vail who was seeking volunteers to help protect his family from anticipated Indian attacks at the mission station he was attempting to found in Sun River, Montana. No passage home being available, Plummer accepted, along with Jack Cleveland, a horse dealer who had known Plummer in California. While at the mission, both Plummer and Cleveland fell in love with Vail's attractive sister-in-law, Electa Bryan; Plummer asked her to marry him, and she agreed. As gold had recently been discovered in nearby Bannack, Montana, Plummer decided to go there to try to earn enough money to support them both. Cleveland followed him.

Death

In January 1863, Cleveland, nursing his jealousy, forced Plummer into a fight and was killed. Fortunately for Plummer, this happened in a crowded saloon, and there was no doubt that it was self-defense. In fact, Plummer was viewed very favorably by most town residents and, in May, he was elected sheriff of Bannack. However, the following winter the stage was robbed twice, an attempt was made to rob a freight caravan, and a man was murdered. In late December, while Plummer was out of town providing an escort to a gold shipment, a group of men calling themselves the Vigilance Committee formed in nearby Virginia City to take matters into their own hands. Over the next month, 24 men were hanged, including, on January 10, 1864, Henry Plummer. The last man hanged by the vigilantes may have done nothing more than express an opinion that several of those hanged previously had been innocent.

The Montana Vigilantes became an admired group in Montana history. Beginning in the late 20th century, that view has been widely challenged. Books have appeared depicting Plummer as an innocent victim. In recent years, many historical researchers have come to question the "traditional" histories relating to Henry Plummer, some of which might have been written by Freemasons. Some of the researchers think that the Masons played a critical role in the hanging of Henry Plummer and his gang. However, this is speculative, as Plummer left Bannock as part of a group and without notice. The vigilantes had to have (1) been organized and ready when Plummer left and gotten ahead of them, (2) been in sufficiently large numbers to have stopped Plummer and his associates, (3) possibly held a "trial," though it might have been a kangaroo court, (4) carried out the hangings, (5) returned to town without creating suspicion, and (6) kept the secrets of the actions and details. The one group that most stands out as meeting all six of the above criteria in organization, secrecy and status as upstanding citizens was the Freemasons; hence the speculation of their involvement.

Historical fiction writers, too, have examined the issue. The most recent is the historical novel by James Gaitis, entitled "A Stout Cord and a Good Drop" (Globe Pequot Press 2006). In contrast, Frederick Allen, in his highly praised 2004 book, "A Decent, Orderly Lynching: The Montana Vigilantes," goes somewhat against this trend. He believes there is considerable evidence of Plummer's guilt, and he suggests the early phase of the lynchings was a widely supported response to a real breakdown of law and order, and a fairly measured response for its time. (This was the era of the Civil War and vigorous campaigns against Indians.) Allen does believe, however, that the movement later degenerated into a campaign of terror that still haunts the state. If so, that would be a strong argumentation against the Masons.

For what it may be worth, in May 1993 a posthumous trial on Plummer resulted in a mistrial because of a split verdict.

Since this trial, more evidence has come to light to prove Henry Plummer's possible innocence. He was dying of TB when he was hanged without the drop, therefore he might have died slowly and in agony. [Note: if the noose is placed to the side, the neck breaks and death is quick. If a noose is placed behind the head, the result is strangulation. There is no known record of how Plummer and his accomplices were hanged.] He simply decided that vigilantism was wrong and presumed some of the executed might have been innocent. This brought the ire of the ringleader of the vigilance committee.

The most common account is that the two youngest members of the gang were spared. One was sent back to Bannock to tell the rest to get out of the area and the other was sent ahead to Lewiston to do the same with the others of the gang there. [Lewiston was the territorial connection to the world, as it had river steamers that transited to the coast at Astoria, Oregon]. Plummer was known to have traveled to Lewiston during the time when he was an elected official in Bannock. The hotel registry records with his signature during the period still exist. Plus, whether the historical revisionists like it or not, the large gang robberies of gold shipments ended with Plummer's and the alleged gang members' deaths. One gang member who was hanged at about the same time with Plummer was Clubfoot George.

Additional reading

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Plummer#Additional_reading

The Corrupt Sheriff in the Wild West | Henry Plummer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMpzqf1cZNI&ab_channel=KSPSPublicTV