The Writings of Carol A. Buchanan

I have my doubts that this lovely old bar was originally in Cy Skinner's saloon in 1863, because it looks too well preserved, and Skinner's patrons were bound to have left a few gouges and bullet holes in it. However, it's there now, and it's easy to imagine the easy-living criminals who hung out at Skinner's might have drunk there. The Bar in Skinner's Saloon

Skinner, you might recall, shot and killed "Old Snag," a respected elder of the Bannock tribe, as he stood talking to his neice. The neice was the wife of Robert Dempsey, who owned a stage stop and ranch at Ram's Horn (Ramshorn) Creek. The Vigilantes, and Mr. Dempsey's descendants maintain that he knew nothing of the desperadoes' activities.

However, I think Robert Dempsey was much too smart not to know, and given his friendship and business connections with James and Granville Stuart, the whispers of knowledge found their way to the Vigilantes. James was reportedly a Vigilante.

We may never know for sure, because the Vigilantes protected Mr. Dempsey and his family. They never talked.

At any rate, several people saw the murder, and the Vigilantes hanged him for it at Hell Gate (Missoula) in January 1864.

God's Thunderbolt: The Vigilantes of Montana

Gold Under Ice