The Vigilantes of Montana, part 4

Forming the Vigilantes (1863)

Prior to this trial, people had been too frightened to report their suspicions or their narrow escapes on the road. Most people were new to the region and knew very few other people, if any.

But during the Ives trial, people took courage from the witnesses — the saloon keeper, Frank, and Hilderman. They began to whisper to each other and to the prosecutors, Wilbur F. Sanders and Samuel S. Bagg.

They also talked to the sheriffs of the Nevada Mining District, and the Junction Mining District, who cooperated in the trial.

As people found their courage and compared notes, they realized that far more was going on than just a robbery here and there, or a murder now and then. There seemed to be a system in the way the stage coaches or freighters or travelers were attacked when they carried gold.

To investigate and deal with the criminals, men formed themselves into two separate Vigilance Committees, one in Nevada City and one in Virginia City (in the Fairweather Mining District). The sheriffs of Junction and Nevada joined the Vigilantes, but the sheriff of Virginia City was Henry Plummer.

(Next: Henry Plummer)

 

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