seaman cemae
TO
* mn o tow &
The Meade Hotel and Skinner Saloon were once thriving businesses on Main Street in Bannack, Montana.
in 1832, he migrated to the Golden State as a young
man, not to seek gold, but to acquire farmland. In that
turbulent environment he was not long in getting into
trouble. While farming in Yuba County, he was
accused of theft, brought to trial, and sentenced to
three years at state prison. Though following his death
a rumor sprang up that Cyrus had ridden with the
notorious Rattlesnake Dick in California, the specific
wording of his grand larceny conviction in Yuba
County suggests something less flamboyant. A more
realistic guess would be the commonly reported crime
of stealing a wagon and team of horses for use on his
farm. ;
Cyrus’s occupation in California may not have been
as exciting as formerly believed, but his entrance
records to San Quentin disclose he had made an effort
to enliven a rather nondescript physical appearance
by the addition of several tattoos. He was 5’ 9” tall
with a fair complexion, dark hair, and hazel eyes, but
he wore on his right arm a blue-ink woman, and on his
left awoman with child. The back of his left hand was
similarly adorned with an ornate anchor and ring
ensemble. Presumably while he toiled in the rock
quarry on Marin Island with sleeves rolled above the
elbow, his fellow inmates were properly impressed with
the artwork on Cyrus’s arms. In future years it would
make a similar impression on customers leaning on his
bar.
At the time of Cyrus’s commitment to San Quen-
May 1987
tin, it was leased to a private individual and conditions
were deplorable. Prisoners were not issued uniforms
but wore the same clothing as on admittance, no mat-
ter how tattered. Inmates were daily sent out as con-
tract laborers, many barefoot and others with gunny
sacks wound on their feet. The cells, intended to house
four men but crowded to twice their capacity, were
filthy and vermin-ridden, and blankets were a scarce
commodity. The two daily meals frequently consisted
of scanty helpings of bread and stale codfish, prepared
in such unsanitary conditions that mass food poison-
ing broke out.
Naturally, under such conditions, escape attempts
were common. By way of discouragement, a notice was
posted inside each heavy, plate-iron door, warning that
punishment for even an attempted escape was dou-
bling of the original sentence. It went without saying
that a visit would also be scheduled to the whipping
room opposite the sparsely populated sick ward. In ad-
dition to those deterrents, security in the facility was
tight. A journalist visiting the prison in 1855 wrote,
‘‘No one can believe it possible to break from the
building itself.’’ The flaw, however, was the difficulty
of maintaining security during work details, and many
prisoners, including Cyrus, took advantage of that
weakness. ;
After his first successful escape, Cyrus found work
as a laborer, using the alias Cyrus Peters. He was soon
recaptured and returned to San Quentin to take his
21
vail
wi
EM igh
einai
The magnificent hardwood bar can still be seen in the interior of the Skinner saloon in Bannack, Montana.
punishment. Over the next few years, he followed the
same pattern: escape, assumption of an alias (either
Peters or Williamson), eventual recapture, and return
to San Quentin. But after the fifth escape, which oc-
curred May 11, 1860, Cyrus broke the mold by heading
for the relative safety of the lawless territories. In
1861, he followed the gold rush to what is now north-
ern Idaho, and at Florence, on a mountain top near
the Salmon River Canyon, set up the first of his
saloons. With thousands flocking to each new El
Dorado, keeping bar in the gold camps was a most
lucrative occupation.
When word reached Florence of the fabulous dig-
gings on Grasshopper Creek, Cyrus caught the fever,
packing his bags and entering the stream of gold-
seekers flowing over the mountain. He had now
established a new pattern—migrating to the site of
each new gold strike and opening a business. By the
first winter after the discovery at Bannack, he was pro-
viding hopeful miners with one of their basic needs.
His saloon on Yankee F lat was later relocated to the
opposite side of the creek, where it still stands today
in the ghost town of Bannack, silent testimony that
Cyrus had his priorities in proper order: some of his
ample profits were put into the beautification of the
premises. The box-like structure was masked by the
22
addition of a false front, tastefully designed in a pat-
tern of delicate carvings and unadorned columns. To
better adapt the Greek Revival architectural style to
the frontier environment, Cyrus tacked a huge set of
elk antlers over the entrance.
PAINS WERE also taken with the saloon’s interior
decoration. A magnificent, hardwood bar stretched
almost the entire length of the hall, and elegant,
fringed curtains hung at the many-paned windows on
each side of the front doors. Those attentions to
niceties paid off in business, but a second factor con-
tributed to the popularity of the saloon. Cyrus, a genial
host and not particularly choosy about his customers, .
warmly accepted a clientele which left something to
be desired as far as social graces. The Elkhorn soon
earned a reputation as the liveliest—and roughest—
saloon in town. Behind its gracefully carved double
doors, altercations were not unusual, especially dur-
ing the idle weeks of the first winter, when cabin fever
ran rampant. Cyrus, hardened by surviving his
sporadic incarcerations at San Quentin, could easily
hold his own with even the rowdiest of his crowds, but
in most cases he preferred using tact rather than
brawn. His general practice was to make peace all
around by setting up drinks on the house.
True West
oes
Though he became skillful at patching up quarrels
- between men engaged in heavy drinking, there was no
way to prevent their eruption. One such squabble
developed when Buck Stinson, who kept a barber chair
in the front corner of the saloon, reprimanded a man
for speaking too crossly to a boy. For days after, Buck
and the crochety man toted guns and bowies, swear-
ing to blow the other away on sight. Finally, Henry
Plummer was able to persuade Buck to apologize to
his sworn enemy, who readily accepted.
All the disputes at the Elkhorn did not end so
favorably. The best example of a minor disagreement
which blossomed into a full-blown shootout was the
Sapp and Banfield incident, in which a disputed poker
hand resulted in the deaths of two men and a shepherd
dog who frequented the saloon for warmth and good
company. The following day Cyrus negotiated a recon-
ciliation of the survivors by cooling hot tempers with
free drinks.
THOUGH THE two casualties of the Banfield-Sapp
quarrel ended up on Boot Hill, the majoritv of Ban-
nack residents made it through the long winter of
1862-63. In the welcome spring, all busied themselves
in the search for rich mining claims. Cyrus was lucky
enough to buy into aclaim only four miles out of Ban-
nack; it turned out to be one of the heaviest producers
in the area. After visiting the mine, a Sacramento news
correspondent described it as ‘‘one of the richest in
Idaho Territory.”’ According to the article he dis-
patched home, the four laborers working the mine had
washed out $1,850 one Saturday afternoon, and
owners had refused an offer of $25,000 for half the
claim.
That same spring, in addition to his good luck at the
mines—or, realistically speaking, because of it—Cyrus
met and fell in love with Nellie, reputedly the prettiest
girl in town. His generosity, jovial disposition, and
muscular physique won her away from numerous
suitors, but Cyrus possessed another admirable trait
which no doubt impressed Nellie: he held women in
high esteem. On the single occasion when he had
severely offended a lady, he immediately set things.
right.
The humiliating experience occurred following a
series of conflicts between whites and Bannock In-
dians: the kidnapping of a white child, several horse
thefts, and the massacre of a party of men who rode
after the stolen horses. Cyrus, persuaded action should
be taken to prevent further trouble, called a meeting
at his saloon to develop a plan of strategy. Though the
majority gathered in the hall were in favor, at least
during planning stages, of a retaliatory attack on the
Indians, the elected leaders became too drunk to carry
out the project and it was abandoned.
A few nights later, with hostility for the unpunished
Indians still festering in the back of his mind, Cyrus
fired a pistol shot over the heads of a party camped
near the saloon. But the party turned out not to be
Bannocks as he thought, but a group of new arrivals
May 1987 ,
living out of wagon beds. The shot passed so near one
of those standing around the bonfire that the man’s
ear stung for days after. When the man with the
smarting ear informed Cyrus his shot had come close
to “winging” Mrs. Biddle, who was expecting a child
soon and nearly fainted with fright, Cyrus was pain-
fully ashamed. He insisted he would not. harm a
woman for the world and quickly attempted to make
up for his carelessness by offering her husband a drink.
The husband accepted on grounds he was afraid of °
angering Cyrus if he refused. .
Quite possibly Cyrus’s ‘“‘chere amie,”’ as the locals
referred to her, was the legendary beauty, Nellie Paget,
who had come West with her sister and brother-in-law _
in the spring of 1863, taking work as a dance partner
in a Bannack hurdy-gurdy house. Nellie Paget’s true
name was Helen Patterson, and she was from a small
town in Illinois. Though she had promised to return
Bannack’s Hangman’s Gulch was the location of the hang-
ing of Sheriff Henry Plummer by a vigilante mob.
©:
a meeting place for road agents.
and marry her girlhood sweetheart, Howard Humph-
rey, at Bannack she soon forgot him. Her rare beauty
and graceful dancing form quickly caught the fancy
of the single males, who so the legend goes, were
driven nearly wild by a distracted air and faraway look
in her eyes, which made her seem remote and
mysterious.
Though there is no proof that Cyrus's Nellie and
Nellie Paget are one and the same person, several
arguments can be made for the case. In its heyday as
a roaring mining camp, Bannack had few female
residents, and even fewer who were single. Accounts
left of the early days mention only one single woman
named Nellie, Cyrus’s friend, not bothering to give her
last name, as though she were well known in the camp.
It is not likely that a more respectable woman would
have teamed up with Cyrus, and had there been
another dance hall girl named Nellie, Helen Patterson
probably would not have assumed the same name.
Even more convincing, the legend of Nellie Paget,
though not mentioning specific persons, states she had
friends among those hanged as road agents.
With the discovery of gold in Alder Gulch, about
eventy-five miles east of Bannack, many residents
moved on to better diggings. Cyrus, willing to go
wherever gold dust would be flowing freely, set up a
saloon at Virginia City. Like his Bannack saloon, the
24
te Daly’s station for the Virginia City stage was nicknamed Robber’s
ost because, like Cyrus Skinner’s saloons, it was suspected of being
Bannack’s Graveyard Hill was the final
resting place of Nellie Paget. In the
new establishment provided sleeping bunks for those
who had no permanent housing, and Bill Page began
sleeping there.
Soon after, Cyrus opened a third saloon in the area,
at Hell Gate, ninety miles northwest of Deer Lodge.
He made the third location his place of residence, tak-
ing Nellie along with him and providing her with a
cabin. Their future looked bright. With drinks at
seventy-five cents each and a bottle of champagne at
twelve dollars, the saloons were bound to prosper for
as long as mining continued. Looking back at what he
had accomplished in the thirty-one years of his life,
Cyrus must have felt considerable pride. He was a poor
boy who had come West looking for cheap farmland,
only to get into serious trouble with the law, but he
had overcome all obstacles, fighting his way to the top
as a wealthy mine owner and main street merchant.
His string of successes in’the sixties may have dulled
the nagging anxiety that one day authorities from
California would show up at the saloon and whisk him
off to San Quentin to serve his long sentence ac-
cumulated there in the fifties.
With the formation of the Montana vigilance
organization, all that might have been for Cyrus and
Nellie was dashed into the realm of never-to-be. The
vigilantes included Cyrus in their roundup because one
of their first victims, a bartender named Red Yeager,
True West
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE POPULAR TRIBUNALS OF IDAHO.
Quel pouvoir inconnu gouverne les humains;
Que de faibles ressorts sont dillustres destins!
Voltaire.
; LittLe ceremony attended the conviction and execu-
tion of horse-thieves in Idaho. To sit upon a stolen
horse was dangerous at one time, as the position ap-
peared to be evidence sufficient to warrant the owner
in firing upon the person occupying it. Two horses
were stolen from one Henderson, living at Boisé, in
November 1863. Starting in pursuit, Henderson over-
took the horses at Camas Prairie, each having on its
back a rider. As soon as he came within range Hen-
derson raised his rifle and fired, when one of the men
dropped dead. The next shot brought down the other
wounded. After all, retributive justice finds nothing
so speedy as a leaden bullet. Leaving the two men
lying where they fell, Henderson took the horses and
returned to Boisé, giving information of what he had
done at French Rancho, whose people immediate]
proceeded in quest of the bodies, though they did not
find them until after dark. The thief killed was
Hitchcock, alias Johnson; the wounded man was Mike
Welch, who after disclaiming any knowledge that the
horse had been stolen, died. Henderson’s conduct,
even if such arbitrary measures were necessary, was
that of a desperado.
Probably the most: notorious affair in the criminal
annals of Idaho was the murder of one Lloyd Ma-
-gruder of Lewiston, Idaho, and the capture, trial, and
( 654)
Le petteemrpememmnemnets 5
a i en wei
RETIRE Tras sos :
ope ee
i
|
THE MAGRUDER CASE. 655
execution of the assassins. It was one of the few cases
-in which the people rallied to the support of the law,
bolstering the fledgling by thei presence and in-
timidating it into the performance of its duty; so that
after all it was an arrest and execution by the people,
but done under covert of the law. Left to officers
of the law, there would have been no arrest; left to
the court alone, there would have been no conyic-
tion. The people of Idaho in this case seemed de-
termined that the law, if possible, should fulfil its
functions, and in so doing are entitled to praise. They
were but just now under law; and like the boy with a
wooden donkey harnessed to his wagon, he could pull
the load much better alone, only he was bound the
donkey should go. Unfortunately such patience and
magnanimity is ordinarily too much for weak human-
ity. The law was inadequate for the purpose, and the
people soon found that theirs was the short and quick
way.
In this instance the law did well; it did its best.
The inchoate condition of territorial affairs and the
absence of judicial implements rendered court trials,
to say the least, but little better than play at law;
and to make matters still more embarrassing, this was
the first court trial of any kind, civil or criminal, which
had been held in the territory of Idaho. The gov-
ernor in November 1863 had divided the territory
into judicial districts, and had assigned judges to each.
On the 4th of December the legislature had convened,
and had prescribed by law territorial districts, reas-
signing judges thereto. A special term of court was
ordered held at Lewiston the first Monday in January
1864. Yet the trial of Magruder’s murderers was a
model piece of court proceeding, and for the causes
aforesaid.
The statement of the case is’as follows: Lloyd
Magruder was a popular trader and packer living at
Lewiston, Idaho, but doing business also in Mon-
tana. Jn August 1863 Magruder despatched a large
a |
THE WORKS
OF
HUBERT HOWE BANCROFT. |
VOLUME XXXVI.
POPULAR TRIBUNALS.
Vouk
| SAN FRANCISCO:
THE HISTORY COMPANY, PUBLISHERS.
18387.
“198T ‘ty youeH *ouepl *uo4sTMaT pesuey *ANTVWOU PUE ZUSMOT ‘CUVHOH
658 THE POPULAR TRIBUNALS OF IDAHO.
All went well until the cighth day from Bannock
City, at which time a point was reached in the Bitter
Root Mountains one hundred and ninety miles from
any settlement, being west of the divide and between
the Clearwater and Bitter Root Rivers. It was here
Doe Howard proposed to make his stand and execute,
his bloody purpose. The two months’ counterfeit of
honesty to these men was becoming irksome; phan-
tasms of throat-cuttings and ckull-erushings had
jayed with the imagination these many days, until
the diabolic deeds themselves had become familar,
had been acted over and over many times, so that
when the real acting of them came there was a cool-
ness and precision about all they did, an audacity in
the scope of their project, a fearlessness of conse-
quence, a hellish abandon, an absence of race sym-
pathy and humane feeling, unsurpassed in the annals
of crime. —
It was bright starlight overhead, though round the
o
blazing camp fire the mght was thick with dark de-
sion; Wwhite-sheeted was the ground with snow, but_
black enough the hearts that harbored this so foul
treachery. LEarth and sky sparkled in their purity;
stygian stench came mingled with fair words from -
human breasts in which burned infernal fires. The
custom was for two to be on guard during the night.
The guard was relieved at twelve o'clock. It is Now
ten, the hour appointed for the slaughter. Two tents
are pitched, and not far distant blazes the camp fire.
Just over the hill the mules are browsing. In one
tent sleep the two Missourians; in the other, Phillips,
with Romain as a bedfcllow, Allen a little apart, and
Page, who petrified with fear lies buried in his blank-
ets, for he is informed of that which is at hand, though
by reason of his sunken soul he is excused from active
participation in it. Magruder and Lowry are on
guard. Howard lies hidden in the bushes near the
animals. As if returning from the stock, Lowry ap-
proaches Magruder, who is seated by the camp fire,
3
Be
4
&
Me
:
&
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5 «nap anatinnetee
MURDER MOST FOUL. 659
and informs him that the animals are restless, and
suggests that a brush fence be thrown across the trail
to prevent their wandering. Magruder rises, takes up
his gun, from which the caps have been removed, and
starts off with Lowry, who carrics only an axe.
When near where Howard is, Lowry stops and begins
to cut brush for the fence. Magruder stoops to gather
the brush, when Lowry raises the axe over him and
bringing it down buries it in his brain. JHoward
sy a out, having also an axe in his hand, and gives
Tagruder’s head two or three additional blows.
Howard and Lowry then proceed to the tent of the
two Missourians, and each with his axe slays one.
Taking then thew guns, they enter the other tent,
which is the sional for Romain to strike. The ery of
Phillips, as Romain’s axe cleaves his skull, rouses
Allen, who is immediately shot by Howard, and this
most belluine of butcheries is finished.
The next thing to be done was to cover all traces of
their foul murder, that it might not be too quickly
discovered, that the country might not be aroused
before they should have time to escape it. For that
this blood should ery to heaven to be avenged, they
did not dream of aught else; but let now the rocks
and mountains fall on the gory evidence of their
guilt until they should make good their flight. As it
was, even the snow and starlight were painful to them;
for all nature, grown satanic, seemed now to laugh and
dance as in derision.
Wrapping the bodies of the murdered men, some
in blankets and some in tents, the murderers carried
them to the top of the ridge and rolled them over a
precipice; when, returning to camp, they built fires
over all the blood-bespotted ground, one out where
Magruder was struck, and others over the tent floors,
but like the blood of murdered Abel, the damning
ao ~ ‘2
evidence would not hush. Though they made great
fires which should consume all material things con-
.cted with that night’s into
nected with that night’s work and threw into them
656 THE POPULAR TRIBUNALS OF IDAHO.
pack- train with merchandise from Lewiston, Idaho, to
Virginia City, Montana. Taking a short cut across
the mountains, he selected a favorable spot 1 in the new
mines, pitched his tent, and on the arrival of lus train
opened his stock. By the Ist of October fourteen
thousand dollars in gold-dust had taken the place in
his affections of the goods and some portion of his
pack-mules, and flushed with suecess the packer was
now ready to return to Lewiston.
Meanwhile it appears that a gang of scoundrels had
determined his destruction. Cyrus Skinner prompted
the deed, and when, at first, fear was expressed for
their own safety, Skinner reassured them by saying
“Dead men tell no tales.” He himself did not ac-
company the expedition. Chief among the villains
was David Howard, familiarly called Doe Howard,
an intelligent and educated man, brave beyond ques-
tion, and “skilled in the practice of his profession. In
all afiairs of the highway he was looked up to by his
comrades as their leader. Christopher Lowry stood
next in evil eminence, being as ready, as he expressed
it, to kill a man as to kill a calf. Then there were
James P. Romain, an apt scholar of Chris Lowry;
William Page, timid but useful, as bold and con-
scicnceless a crew as ever cut throat or dashed out
brains for money.
It was arranged that they should gain Magruder’s
confidence while in Virginia and assist him, anc under
some pretext, after he should have turned his goods
into gold-dust, return with him, and as opportunity
offered kill and rob him.
Doe Howard planned the campaign, and, as the
sequel shows, carried it to completion with consum-
mate nerve and ability. Some of the men Magruder
had met casually at Lewiston and The Dalles, but
as none of them as yet were notorious for their
crimes he knew nothing bad of them. It was the
special business of How ard and his party to make
themselves agreeable to Magruder, and they so far
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THE DEPARTURE. 657
succeeded that he took them all into his service while
in Virginia. This was a great suecess for the vil-
lains. The packer had fined of temporary assistance
in the disposal of his stock, and Howard and his eom-
rades became the most afinbie and efficient of ser-
vants. The chief and his licutenant acted as clerks in
the store, and very careful were they that none of the
dust Ware ded in that capacity should stick to their
fingers. Was it not all their own? Page looked
after the stock, and Romain acted as cook.. Thus
the days went by; in duc time the business was
finished and the packer ready to return. It hap-
pened that four fends of Maeruder, Charles Allen,
William Phillips, from near Marysv ille >, and Horace
and Robert Chaliners, tw -o Missourians, brothers, were
about starting for ca iston, and it was arranged that
they should travel in company. Doe Howard and his
comrades pretended concern in finding their read
tion gone. They did not fancy w orking j in the mines
they said; pros spects for honorable employment were
not very TF attering, and they would by no means en-
tertain any other; they believed they ‘could do better
at their old stamping-sround, The Dalles.
Whereupon the artless packer said to them, “Join
us; you shall be welcome; your journcy shall cost you
nothing: you shall each have a fat mule to ride, and
your poorer one can be turned out along with the
stock; your presence will be additional protection.”
Mephis sto} pheles himself could not have plotted and
perior Siok better than Doe Howard. With villainous
gratitude the ecutthroats accepte od the packer’s prof-
fered kindness. All being in readiness the party
set out from Virginia City in high spirits the 3d
of October. Besides the fourteen thousand dollars
in gold-dust, the proceeds of his stock and part of
his pack- Feala Magruder had remaining twenty-six
mules, which with six mules and eloht horses belong-
ing to Allen and other members of the party, made
fort ty antinals.
Pop, Tris.,; Vou. 1. . 49
Lowsee Y—
ae Ka MAIN 2
STRANGE STORIES, AMAZING FACTS
OF AMERICAS PAST
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Evidenced by the grave marker in the cemetery at
Florence, Idaho, cabin fever during the bitterly cold winter
of 1862 frequently erupted in gunfights.
he criticized certain saloons as being ‘“‘bad.’’ Cyrus’
establishments fell into this latter category. They were
considered to be places where roughs could gather and
plot crimes, and the Vigilante Executive Committee,
of which Wilbur Sanders was a member, ordered an
armed party to ride to Hell Gate.
The party found Cyrus standing in the doorway of
his saloon, looking out, and surrounded him, ordering
him to throw up his hands. Nellie, trying to make light
of the situation, sarcastically inquired if they had
learned their jargon from the folks who held up the
Bannack stage. The armed men, however, were in no
mood for joking and marched Cyrus, along with Alex
Carter, to the general store to stand trial. While pro-
ceedings were in progress, Nellie appeared at the door,
begging to be allowed to speak for her lover, but she
was not permitted to testify. An escort forcibly
returned her to the cabin, attempting to distract her
from Cyrus’ predicament by. commenting that a
wounded man she was tending inside seemed to be suf-
fering badly. Nellie answered bitterly, “By -
there are two outside suffering a sight worse.”
Alex Carter took his approaching death lightly, com-
menting, ‘Tight papers, ain’t it, boys?’’ and then re-
questing a smoke. Cyrus held his life in higher regard.
He insisted he did not belong to any gang, he had not
planned any robberies, and he wanted to live. His ac-
cusers did not see matters his way and voted to hang
him. Though it was after midnight, the two condemned
men were walked toward the corral. Cyrus, accepting
his death sentence but preferring to die from gunshots
rather than the hard jolt at the end of a rope, broke
free from the armed men, running and shouting back
to them, ‘‘Shoot! Shoot!”’
They had no intentions of letting him off so easily
and‘tackled him in the snow, continuing the death
26
’
march to the corral gate, where they had propped two
poles, tied ropes to the extended ends, and placed
wooden boxes under each dangling noose. As he was
ordered to step onto the boxes, Cyrus again tried to
break and run, but was roughly overpowered. Within
a circle of burning torches, his executioners draped a
handkerchief over his face, slipped on the noose and
cinched it tight at the throat. Then they instructed him
to jump. He hit the end of the short rope with the
words “I am innocent” on his lips. His dream had come
to its end, and Nellie was suddenly left without the
man of her life.
If Cyrus Skinner’s lover was in fact Nellie Paget, she:
could have returned to her former job as a dancing
partner after his death. Nellie Paget died only three
months after Cyrus, shot by a jealous admirer when
she turned her attentions to the man she was dancing
with. The shot struck her in the heart, and she fell dead
to the dance hall floor. Some fifty years later, her
~ sweetheart from Illinois traveled to Bannack, hiring
a car in Butte and picking up a guide at Deer Lodge.
The guide led the aged Howard Humphrey to the
cemetery, pointing out a weathered wooden marker,
carved, ‘‘Nellie Paget, Age 22, Shot April 22, 1864.”
The stories of Nellie Paget, dancing girl laid to rest
amidst the scraggly sagebrush of Bannack’s
graveyard hill, and Cyrus Skinner, saloon keeper
dumped in an unmarked grave after being hanged by
vigilantes, reflect the violence commonly resorted to
in the gold camps, even by those who claimed to sup-
port law and order. As in the cases of Cyrus and Nellie,
that violence cut short the same dream that had in-
spired other settlers to make the long, difficult trip to
the frontier—the dream of a new and better life in the
West.
SOURCES
In addition to contemporary newspaper accounts
and documents, the following sources were used in the
prepartion of this article. :
Cushman, Dan. Montana: The Gold Frontier. Great
Falls: Stay Away, Joe Publishers, 1973.
Dimsdale, Thomas J. Vigilantes of Montana. Norman:
University of Oklahoma Press, 1953.
Langford, Nathan P. Vigilante Days and Ways.
y Boston: Cupples, 1890. ;
Sanders, Wilbur F. ‘‘Early History of Montana.”’ In
Governor’s Wife on the Mining Frontier, James L.
Thane, Jr., ed. Salt Lake City: University of Utah
Library Press, 1976.
Wilkins, James H. ‘“‘The Evolution of a State Prison.”’
San Francisco Bulletin, 1 and 6 July 1918.
Amt
True West
LAWS AND OUTLAWS
A Bandit Who Was Sheriff They strung him up on his own gallows
Henry Plummer was a handsome young easterner
called the Innocents (their password was “I am
with a glib tongue and an affable manner. Soon
after arriving in the booming California gold-rush
town of Nevada City in 1852, he won the job of
town marshal. He also won the love of a woman
whose husband he proceeded to murder, and he
was sentenced to 10 years in jail.
Later pardoned, he moved on to rowdy Lewis-
ton in Idaho's gold-mining territory, where he orga-
nized a gang devoted to murdering and robbing
successful miners. When one of his henchmen was
strung up, Plummer left town.
Arriving in Bannack, Montana, he killed the
one man in town who knew of his past. Not only
was Plummer acquitted of this crime, but the locals
took to him and elected him sheriff. By day, he
tended to his business as the chief law enforcer
in the gold-rich region; by night, he and his band
robbed and killed the unwary. Misleadingly
innocent”), they worked a stretch of road between
Bannack and Virginia City.
But a member of Plummer'’s gang killed one
man too many, and an outraged mob arrested him
and hanged him on the main street. The vigilante
action inspired other groups; two more of Plum-
mer’s pals were caught and strung up, and one
of them, in the shadow of the scaffold, spilled the
beans about the double-dealing sheriff. To his
surprise and horror, Plummer found that his own
neck was in danger of being stretched.
With evidence mounting, angry citizens nabbed
ak sala RLELI Ai taal tbedhi lanl Wh adsl dicr west
Plummer and two of his accomplices. And as arctic “=e:
winds whistled through town on a fierce winter day
in 1864, the three men were hanged, their bodies
left to swing from a gallows that, in an ironic
twist of fate, had been erected by none other
than Sheriff Henry Plummer.
A Nightmare Comes True Murder and the chase to nab the killers
“Murder is becoming a mere pas-
time in Idaho Territory,” an 1870's
- editorial proclaimed. It was hardly
news, however, for a murder had
taken place in 1863 that was noted
both for its gruesomeness and for
the sensational way in which the
killers were discovered.
The victim was Lloyd Magruder,
who had set out from Lewiston to
sell supplies to miners some 90
‘Miles away. His good pal Hill
Beachy feared for his safety; in a
nightmare he saw Magruder be-
ing hacked to death with an ax.
Just after his friend departed,
Beachy noticed three strangers
leaving town. They overtook the
tradesman, struck up a friend-
ship, and accompanied him to
Virginia City, where he sold his
goods profitably. The return trip
proved Beachy’s premonition:
Magruder's skull was smashed
with an ax, and his body, along
pale
sae tl LIN
’ heard the news of Magruder's bru-
| t= aa
A100 GUILE sh. 530"
with those of other members of
his party, was dumped off a cliff.
When the gang returned alone,
Beachy, remembering his dream,
became suspicious. And when he
1 tal death, he went after the killers.
He was indefatigable. He followed
them by coach, on horseback,
and by boat to Portland, Oregon;
and then, after a 700-mile cross-
country trek, he tracked them Ax
down in San‘Francisco. The kill- 2a
ers were returned to face the
hangman’s noose in Lewiston.
Hill Beachy (far left), whosé ES
painstaking detective WOrr #4
brought the killers of his 3%
good friend Lloyd
When they were e- -%
bh turned to Lewiston, 2%
; | Idaho, they were held
\=F—2 under guard at the %
"588 hotel until their trial.
J a re. 4 3
Ms iat th baba OS Mice Dvn ila Cad ia nliheadabinienj oa
£0 let a cat run loose in Sterling, Colo., without a
'0 give your sweetheart in Idaho a box of candy
0 sing the song “It Ain't Goin’ to Rain No Mo'" in
'0 wear cowboy boots in Blyth, Calif, unless you
Justice, Texas Style
Law and order come to the Lone Star State
In a frontier land where disputes were often settled with guns,
and where judges and lawyers were generally looked upon with
deep suspicion, few lawmen were as colorful or distinguished as
Robert “Three-Legged Willie” Williamson. Polished and well educated,
as befitted a young man descended from a long line of respected
Georgia lawyers, he could have remained in that genteel Southern
society. Instead, he chose the rough-and-tumble world of Texas,
where he settled in 1827 at the age of 23.
As an early circuit judge, he had the tough task of bringing the
law to a territory that preferred more direct methods. But Three-
Legged Willie could be as direct as the rudest frontiersman in his
own way, which was usually spiced with humor. A contemporary
writer remembered him as “one of the leading spirits . . . equally
at home conducting a revival meeting or a minstrel show. In the
latter performances his wooden leg played an important part, said
member being utilized to beat time to his singing.”
The story told of his first Texas court session is typical of the
man who, with a velvet-gloved iron fist, helped to bring law and
order to the Lone Star State. When he arrived to set up court in the
town of Shelbyville, Williamson had to use a general store as his
courtroom and a dry goods box as his bench. A local resident
greeted the judge by throwing a bowie knife down on the box and
shouting: “This, sir, is the law of Shelby County.” Three-Legged
Willie promptly pulled out his pistol, placed it next to the knife, and
declared, “This is the constitution which overrides all law!”
Williamson had a serious side as well. As a leader of the war
party and the first major in the Texas Rangers, he battled relentlessly
for independence from Mexico, and is still honored as a hero of
the Texas Republic. (So fervent was his fight that he actually named
One of his sons Annexus.) One Texan said that he “did more
than any one man to nerve our people to strike for liberty.”
After independence was won in 1836, Three-Legged Willie was
elected by the first Texas Congress as a district judge. Unlike many
frontier jurists, who arbitrarily dealt out cruelty, he brought people
around with his courage, quick wit, and knowledge of the law.
Judge Robert Williamson was
nicknamed Three-Legged Willie
because he walked on a peg leg
attached to his right knee. His own
withered limb, probably the result
of a teenage bout with infantile
paralysis, was bent behind him.
It’s a Crime... *
£0 go to church in Georgia without a loaded rifle.
{0 enter Urbana, Ill, if you are a monster,
to divorce your wife in Tennessee without giving
her 10 pounds of dried beans, 5 pounds of dried
apples, a side of meat, and enough yam to knit
- her own stockings for a year.
to kiss in Riverside, Calif, without wiping your lips
~ with carbolized rose water, :
to eat a snake on Sunday anywhere in Kansas.
'0 carry bees in your hat in Lawrence, Kans.
taillight.
Weighing less than 50 pounds.
Oneida, Tex. And: Whenever two trains meet at a crossing in )
Texas, both of them must come to a full stop; then
Own two cows. neither one may proceed until the other has gone.
e
All are—or were once —real laws.
background is mine-scarred Bannack peak, the quartz
mill, and Grasshopper Creek.
supposedly revealed the startling fact that the
criminal element had united into a sophisticated
organization, complete with an elaborate spy network
for gathering intelligence. Red Yeager listed himself
and twenty-seven others, including Cyrus Skinner, as
members of the outlaw band, allegedly directed by
Sheriff Plummer. In return for this information, Red
Yeager asked for a suspended sentence, but his request
was not granted. Vigilantes hanged him on the limb
of a cottonwood tree and went in pursuit of others on
his list.
WHETHER RED YEAGER actually confessed to
the existence of a road agent gang is debatable. We
have only the word of his executioners, and in eight
similar instances the vigilantes’ reports of their vic-
tims’ confessions have proven unreliable. The cases in
point are the reported confessions of five men hanged
jointly at Virginia City and three at Bannack. Two in-
dividuals recruited as guards at these executions
wrote, one in his diary and the other in a news article,
that, contrary to the vigilante report, all eight men in-
sisted they were innocent to the end.
A second reason for doubting that Red Yeager made
such a confession is in the nature of the crimes
themselves. Though described in detail as justification
for the vigilantes’ actions, the two stage holdups and
May 1987
nine robberies committed during Sheriff Plummer’s.
administration were small-time operations with little
or no advance planning and no connection to each
other. As author Dan Cushman has pointed out, there
are no signs of any organization of the road agents;
the crimes appear to have occurred spontaneously,
often after a traveler set himself up by carelessly
flashing a heavy poke in sight of unscrupulous
onlookers. :
Though no evidence existed of a robber gang or of
Cyrus’s involvement in any of the individual robberies,
what the vigilantes actually held against the saloon
keeper was a belief that he was a man of ‘bad
character.’’ As phrased by Thomas Dimsdale in
Vigilantes of Montana, his book in defense of the
vigilance movement, ‘‘the poisonous liquors,”’ sold in
the saloons were responsible for driving “‘excitable
men to madness and to the commission of homicide
on the slightest provocation.’’ Dimsdale, a pious Chris-
tian schoolteacher, goes on to say that the universal
story of criminals who died on the scaffold was one
of ‘‘habitual Sabbath breaking.” It was true Cyrus not
only broke the Sabbath himself, he also encouraged
others to do so by keeping his saloons open. In fact
Sunday was the busiest day of the week.
Though Wilbur Sanders, prosecutor for the
vigilantes, was more tolerant than Dimsdale, admit-
ting the saloons served a useful social function in the
gold camps, even for Sons of Temperance like himself,
At Virginia City eleven days before hanging Skinner,
vigilantes executed ‘Clubfoot George” Lane and four
others.
eli SANA Na 1 Pal
The pack train wound through
sagebrush flats to where the
Bitterroots rose steep and for-
bidding, like brooding sentinels.
There was only one way through
these mountains: the rough and
precipitous Lolo Trail, which had
been carved out a century before
by Indians. The going was pain-
fully slow. Mules balked, strayed
into the timber, and sometimes,
in the steeper spots, slid off the
trail. Magruder had his hands
full. So when a group of eight
riders overtook him several days
‘later, he was ready to be helped.
Most were men he had known
casually in Lewiston. By luck
they, too, were bound for Ban-
nack and, yes, they would be glad
to give him a hand in return for
their daily keep. Magruder found
them “jolly good fellows,’” and
from then on the trip went
smoothly. Among them was a
man named Chris Lowry.
Coming to the mining camp of
Bannack, along with his newly
acquired companions, Lloyd was
dismayed to find the place almost
deserted. A new bonanza had
been struck at Alder Gulch, some
75 miles eastward, and fortune
hunters had pulled up stakes and
followed the beckoning star.
Virginia City was the new town
’ their efforts had spawned. So the
pack train, with its willing escort,
continued on. Arriving, Lloyd
found a population of some 6.000
‘souls eager to sample his busi-
ness. The town was a bechive of
action and pulsing growth. When
he set up his stand, he could
dispose of his wares almost as
. fast as he could put them on the
counter. With one hand he served
his customers; with the other he
, stuffed gold dust into money bags
filled to the brim. In that heady
milieu of gold fever, miners were
in no mood to haggle. All of which
his companions of the trail ob-
served with keen interest.
Four of these left to go pros-
pecting on their own. The other
four — Lowry, James Romaine,
David Howard, and Bill Page —
hung around town, helping
Magruder any way they could and
-bunking with him in the building
he had acquired for. living quar-
ters and a place of business. At
the end of six weeks, he had sold
out his stock and was ready to
head back home. Tucked away
was a wealth of gold dust
amounting to over $30,000.
Flush with profit and happy
30
over the outcoine of his venture,
he packed his belongings, closed
shop, and rounded up his mules
for the return journey. The gold
dust had been changed to cash
and locked in a saddlebag. This
time, he would have all the help
needed; his four companions
volunteered to go with him (for
wages of $200 each) while five
other men. who were also head-
ing west and who craved com-
pany along the rugged trail, threw
in their lot. All were ina rollicking
mood as the party wound its way
through Alder Gulch to Bannack,
where they paused briefly. Then,
coming onto the Lolo Trail, they
began the steep climb. In the haze
of autumn, the peaks stood out in
solemn grandeur.
Back in Lewiston, -word had.
reached Hill Beachey of his
friend's safe arrival and glowing
‘success in Virginia City. It was
welcome news. Surely Lloyd
would not remain there overly
long; he would be anxious to get
home with all the gold he was
taking in. Besides, winter came
early in the mountains, and snow
might block the Lolo Trail.
Beachey looked forward to seeing
his friend and hearing all he
would have to tell. Weeks passed
as Hill watched for the returning
train of mules. But each day
brought nothing. Now he remem-
bered that dream and slowly his
anxiousness mounted. Then, ina
dark and stormy night in late
October, it came to a head.
That night a tall, muffled figure
appeared at the front desk of the
Luna House, The man, his face
steadfastly concealed, asked the
clerk for four stagecoach tickets
to Walla Walla. He paid for them
with three twenty-dollar gold
coins, and from. a corner of the
lobby Beachey watched with sud-
den suspicion. The man’s furtive
manner and eagerness to leave
were too plainly evident.
On impulse Beachey sought
out a friend, a man named Berry,
and the two of them placed them-
selves at the station to await the
incoming stagecoach. When it
stopped to take on passengers,
Beachey picked up a lantern and,
waiting until all were inside,’
opened the door. His excuse was
that he had to examine tickets. In
the light of the lantern he spotted
four new passengers whom he
recognized as old acquaintances.
These were Lowry — his face now |
uncovered — Howard, Romaine,
'
and Page. The four of them, he
remembered, had ridden out of ..°)
Lewiston a couple of months
before, saying they were bound
for Oregon. Two held bulging
saddlebags in their laps. Now
Beachey had seen enough. At that ~ Be
point, however, the question was,
what to do next? 2
Whatever his suspicions — dire
as they were — he had no solid
facts. But Beachey was a man of
conviction, and he would followit =>’
through. On the surface there
were no grounds for holding |;
these four men. But intuition, ~~
reinforced by his dream, com-* =:
pelled him to look further. If the —
worst had happened, if these men .
had actually murdered his friend, :
they must have ridden back to
Lewiston. Granted this, their»
horses, or mules, should not be
hard to find. Hill began paying -
calls on neighboring ranchers. It _
turned out that one of thesehada
string of seven mules which, he: >”
stated, had been left with him by ©
a group of strangers who said:
they would reclaim them later.”
But the brand three of them bore |
added another thread to the web -
of suspicion. The brand was |”
Magruder's.
On top of that, one of the pack :
saddles that was left with the
-mules was identified by an Indian
boy. who had been one of
Magruder's hostlers, as belong.)
ing to his former boss, The real
clincher, though, came next day
when a pack outfit from Virginia |
City pulled into Lewiston. Asked
about Magruder, all these men
knew was that he had left the
_ mines some days before they did. | ~
No, they had seen no sign of him | ©
the
elorig the trail. Beachey had all.
acts he needed. Then and |
there he vowed he would hunt the | ©.
scoundrels down if it took all «=
winter. That dream was no,
fiction.
He paid a visit to the local ‘*
justice of the peace. “Judge,” he *—
said, “I want an appointment as © -
deputy sheriff and a warrant for © *_
the arrest of four of the meanest ~~ F
varmints in these mountains.”
The judge looked at him closely,
The man before him was a figure
of importance in the community.
Beachey related his evidence
(except for the dream) and got
what he wanted. The Governor of ~~"
Idaho Territory, William Wallace,
resided in Lewiston, the capital. It *-~
was a convenient circumstance. ’*
Beachey visited him next and had *
my ee
Pa = oe
>. sacine. sts nes tianin states Ae tae
2
it ye ©
“"MeID0g jROU0ISIHYy OYRP} es
.
— 4 PETES IAT
+ SE ERT EEE ee eel pe tee
Luna House
dedication. One close friend of his was Lloyd
Magruder, a Lewiston merchant who dealt in -
supplies for the gold-mining camps springing up on.
‘all sides and eastward into Montana. These camps
depended on his pack-train service to keep them
going.
Magruder, Beachey, and their wives made a
cheery little group. Hill was a blue-eyed, thickset
man of about 50, friendly but taciturn, while Lloyd,
about the same age, is described as a “genial, whole-
souled Hercules.” Officers at Fort Lapwai, about 20
miles north, often held military balls at the Luna
House, at which functions the two couples were
conspicuously present. Other times, they dined or
played cards together and made the most of each
other's company in the lonely town.
One day in August, Magruder set his mind ona
particular ambitious venture. Across the Bitterroot
Mountains, the Bannack mines (in what would
soon become part of Montana) were humming with
feverish activity. Gold was cropping up ina welter of
lodes, attracting swarms of hungry miners, That
brought a mounting need for supplies of all kinds:
food, hardware, clothing, and not least of all, liquor.
Magruder threw together a sizeable pack train and
made ready for some windfall profits. It was the
night before his start that his friend had a fateful
dream.
In it, Lloyd was murdered with an axe, somewhere
in the mountains, by a local idler and haunter of
Lewiston’s saloons, named Chris Lowry. Next
morning, Hill mentioned it to his wife who begged
TN
\
him to tell it to Magruder. But he refused. After all, it
was only a dream, and why put a crimp on his
friend's enthusiasm the seein: of his big adven-
ture? Most likely he would only augh anyway.
Yet Beachey was uneasy. He wasn't used to such
dreams, and his friend would be crossing moun-
tains. Looking over his gun rack, he selected a shiny
new rifle, his best. An hour later, Magruder stopped
at the hotel to say goodbye. He was grinning broadly.
The pack mules stood picking at tufts of grass.
“Wish me luck, pardner,” he said, holding out a
muscular hand.
busting my saddle bags.”
Hill reached for the rifle. “Here, take this,” he said.
“You might want to shoot some squirrels. Keep it till’
you get back, but don't lose it.”
Lloyd eyed the shiny weapon. “Gee, that’s right
decent of you, Hill. | ain't worried about squirrels, .
and Indians don’t bother us anymore. But sure, I'm |
proud to have the loan of the gun.’
Hill watched as his friend mounted and, whis-,
tling, tugged the halter rope on the lead mule.
Overhead the sun was bright in a sky of flawless
blue. It was the kind of day to preclude any thought
of tragedy.
Oddly, Magruder seems to have neglected taking
along a helper. The pack train consisted of some 60
mules, and the distance to the Bannack mines was
250 miles. To care for that sizeable herd of animals,
the unsaddling at night and resaddling next day,
would be a formidable task for one man. Undoubt- -.
edly this played a part in what took place later.
“AYO! JROUO}SIH OYeP|
“I'm coming back with gold dust:
29.3
HOWARD, BOWERY AND ROMAINE, hanged Lewiston, Idaho, March lh, 186).
Cyrus and Nellie
and the Vigilantes ©
Tree west
By R.E. MATHER
Photos Courtesy of F.E. Boswell
way (152
Py
flim ER
That. same spring, in addition to his good luck at the
mines—or, realistically speaking, because of it—Cyrus met. |
and fell in love with Nellie, reputedly the prettiest girl in
town. His generosity, jovial disposition, and muscular
physique won her away from numerous suitors.
hen Montana vigilantes went on their
\ / \ / historic hanging spree in January 1864, one
of their most colorful victims was a jovial
saloon keeper named Cyrus Skinner. He was hanged
at the village of Hell Gate, near the present-day
Missoula, two weeks after the execution of Bannack’s
'. Sheriff Henry Plummer and deputies.
Though vigilantes claimed Skinner belonged to a
road agent gang directed by Sheriff Plummer, the only
specific crime charged to Cyrus was planning the rob-
bery of the Lloyd Magruder party. Magruder, a
wealthy merchant from Lewiston, had taken a pack
train of merchandise across the mountains to sell in
the booming gold town of Virginia City. On the return
trip, Magruder was brutally murdered, his assailants
making off with his bounteous profits. Up until the
moment of his death, however, Cyrus Skinner denied
any connection with that sordid crime.
The issue of Cyrus’s involvement in the Magruder
atrocity can be settled by referring to records of the
trial being held in Lewiston at the very time the
vigilantes were rounding up suspects on the other side
of the mountains. During the Magruder trial, the name
of the saloon keeper did indeed come up. Witness Bill
Page, present on the ill-fated trip, testified that before
setting out with Magruder, he lived in Virginia City,
sleeping in a bunk at a saloon owned by Cyrus Skin-
ner. Other than this single reference, Cyrus's name
does not appear in trial testimony. Witness Page goes
20
on to say that after they were on the trail, certain
members of the party stated a desire to rob Magruder.
Doc Howard, who clerked at Magruder’s Virginia City
store and also slept there, informed Bill Page that his
boss had “‘a great deal of money, ” which he and his
two friends ‘‘meant to have.”
A few days after that revelation, the three Eisele
bashed in Magruder’s skull with an axe and also killed
his four companions, dumping all five bodies over a
cliff into the snowdrifts below. Taking Page along and
promising him a cut of the loot, they fled to San Fran-
cisco, where Howard deposited the gold dust at the
mint. Before the dust could be coined, authorities ar-
rested the four men and returned them to Lewiston
to stand trial. An accomplice, Bill Page was given his
freedom in exchange for his testimony, while the three
men who actually had participated in the murders—
Howard, Lowry, and Romaine—were hanged. Shortly
before their death, Lowry and Romaine confirmed the
truth of Page’s trial testimony. Apparently Doc
Howard was responsible for both plotting and direct-
ing the Magruder crime, and Cyrus Skinner was, as
he vainly attempted to convince the vigilantes, inno-
cent of any involvement.
Though there was no specific crime to pin on Cyrus
in Montana, unknown to the Vigilantes, he had ac-
quired an unusual criminal record elsewhere. Like
many who joined the rush to the goldfields in the ter-
ritories, Cyrus was an ‘“‘Old Californian.” Born in Ohio
True West
Jf
-
BRSESPasapepecss x
no trouble procuring a writ of
extradition on the governors of
Washington, Oregon, and Cal-
ifornia.
Five days had passed since the
appearance of the suspects in
Lewiston. Bidding his wife to
expect him when she saw him, he
hitched a team to one of his light
coaches and set out after his
quarry. For aid and support he
took along Tom Pike, one of his
employees. The fugitives had a
sizeable head start and by now
must have reached Walla Walla.
Hill pressed his horses hard.
From then on, the chase had all
the melodrama of an old-time
“Perils of Pauline” movie. At Walla
Walla, where he changed horses
at one of his own stations, he
learned that the wanted men had
left for Dalles, Oregon, four days
before, with the apparent inten-
tion of going by steamship to San
Francisco. Doggedly, the pursu-
ers galloped on until they were
halted by the flooding Columbia
River. No boatman there would
attempt the perilous run through
rapids to Umatilla in Oregon. At
last one daredevil was persuaded
to try it (for a handsome fee) and:
despite the dire predictions of
onlookers, managed to take his
two passengers all the way.
The chase continued, by wag-
on, again by boat, and even on
foot. Two days later, the pair
arrived in Dalles. on the Pacific
coast. There they found that the
fugitives had taken a steamer for
Portland, where they would have
to change for San Francisco, only
two days before. Apparently they
had wasted time in gambling
halls and also done some talking.
So now their lead had been cut in
half. Beachey and Pike, however,
lost no time in hopping the next
boat to Portland. The pursuit was
getting hot.
Arriving {n Portland, they were
dismayed to find that no boat
would leave for San Francisco for
another ten days. After their good
luck so far, this seemed like
checkmate. But Hill Beachey was
far from giving up. Leaving Pike
to explore the coast south, just in.
case the men had holed up some-
where, he set out on a frantic |
_ journey to Yreka, California, the
nearest telegraph station. There
he wired the chief of police in San
Francisco, giving all the particu-
lars and asking for an arrest. One
day later camea reply stating that
the four men had been appre-
AND
WALLA WALLA |:
LEWISTON _
STAGE LINE!
Carrying U. S. Mails and Wells,
rgo & Co.’s Express,
Advertisement
Beachey's
stagecoach’
line. ps
THROUGH:ONEDAY!)
Leaves WALLA WALLA aad LEWISTON every ether day. comnccting with stages te
WALLULA, BOISE AND FLORENGR. |
AND EXPRESSES TO
ORO FINO AND ELK CITY,
PAESEBGERS Leaving LEWISTON in the Berniag reach the Steamers af WALLULA the SANE BAY.
Passengers’Fare, $15.00.
eS
SF-TWENTY-FIVE poends of BAGGAGE allowed cach posscager. EXTRA bagzage,
ce freight, 1% ceute por pound.
» Dewteten, at
» Walle Wala, at . °
SLPTE MBER Sd. 1964.
| TAGE OFFICES :
KOHLAUFF & GUICHARD.
HILI. BEACHY's.
Aja!90g |eOWO\SIH oyep}
PIE APRS
hended and were being held. It
was the best news yet. :
At this point, Bill Page broke
down and confessed. He had been
forced into the plot.-he swore,
under threat of death. The crime
he described, in which he said he
had no part, was even more
shocking and brutal than what
Beachey had dreamed. Several
nights after leaving Virginia City,
Magruder and his supposedly
genial friends, along with the five
travellers who had joined them,
were camped on a windswept
height near Lolo Pass. Waiting
his chance, Chris Lowry, axe in
hand, caught Magruder alone as
he bent over the campfire. With
one stroke Lowry split his skull.
Then Howard, upon Lowry's
whistled signal, despatched three
of the five others with another
axe while they lay in ‘their
blankets. The last two were shot
by Romaine as they jumped to
their feet. The trio went'on to —
shoot all the mules except those
they needed. Whereupon every
object — dead mules, saddles, and
dead men — was shoved off a
steep cliff. During all the killing,
Page insisted, he had lain trem-
bling in his blankets. Next morn-
ing they continued on to Lewis-
ton with the $30,000. A snow-
storm arose to blanket any telltale:
evidence.
aa
)
After some weeks of legal
maneuvering (the Governor of *—
California was slow to honor the
extradition writ), the prisoners
were returned to Lewiston. Most
people wanted them lynched, but
Beachey held out for a fair trial. |
All but Page were convicted. and,
in March 1864, hanged; justice |
was summary in those times. The
sentence was carried out undera
new law which, by accident or
. design, was passed only one day
before. Until then, Idaho Territory
had no penal code.
As a final note, the legislature -
awarded Beachey the sum’ of
$6,244 for his efforts and expense
in bringing the accused to trial.
Previously, more than half the .
loot had been recovered and
awarded to Magruder’s family.
William Beachey (Hill was a ~
nickname) lived ten years longer ~
and was admired, trusted, and:
respected on all sides. But what of /;
WD)
that prophetic dream? It was <
uncanny, to say the least, and a.”
dream that was translated into ~
decisive action. It’s unlikely he
ever had another one like it.RW
3)
eee es is ss dn ARGS. on enti nt iD Oat Bb os
~~ DAMA \T t e ear
HO' TARD, LO TERY and ROMA INE, hange d
Marck hy 186);
4iQas a
by Samuel Stanley —
We don’t know how scientists feel about those folks who believe in
dreams coming true; all we know is that Hill Beachey’s story sure.
may sounds good to us._-
‘
“AYBIDOG JEOUVOISIH OYEP}
: is 9 a he
hs Rg, ORR EL oy gt ace Hi Beachey. ss neg oa
: I; Hill Beachey were alive today, he would be called In the frontier town of Lewiston, Beachey was a
a ‘psychic.’ Once, he dreamed his friend Lloyd citizen ofacknowledged standing. As the operator of :
Magruder had been murdered, and days later the a stagecoach line and the owner of the town's
j dream came true. Back in 1863, particularly inthe leading hotel, the Luna House, he commanded :
| wilds of Idaho, people took such oddities with a respect. The coach line extended through Idaho to
shrug. For Beachey, though, it was a call to action. | Walla Walla on the Columbia River, linking settle-
aj > That dream started him on a pursuit that brought ments throughout that vast area of the untamed
the killer to justice. West. Above all, he was loyal friend and a man of
28
PMS a oe M2
- rh A rT fA + % Q
REAL WEST MAGAZINE, April, 1981
660 THE POPUL. AR TRIBUNALS OF IDAHO.
the camp equipaee, pack-saddles, bridles, ropes, cook-
ing utensils, and provisions; ae though they atter-
ward picked from the ashes the piece s of iron which
would not burn, and putting them into guony bags
earried them down the Inil and hid them behind a log,
throwing the supert fluous guns into the bushes; and
though tl vey likewise w aalne their bloody hands, and
buried their bloody axes, and burnt their bloody
clothes, and seattered the ashes, so that in the morn-
ing scarcely a vestige of the camp remained; ane
though they even threw off their boots aud made
moceasin tracks all round the place and on the Bes
thus attempting to lay their accursed deed at the
door of that spape-s ooat of border ruffianism, the much
maligned sav: et the all-seeing heavens would
not cease to cry it ‘aloud, nor the impregnated air to
whisper it wherever winds blew.
Driving the animals some distance from the trail,
across a stream and upon a small prairie, they shot
all but eight mules and one horse. Then taking the
gold-dust which they had sa from the pockets of
the murdered men, and w hich, as is usual in such
cases, Was not as much as they had expected to find,
they coda on to Lewiston. Entering the town “heat:
nine o clock on the niga of the 19th of October, they
put up at the Hotel de France. Four ane they
had dropped on the way; the remainder of the aui-
nals, accoutred as they were with saddles, blankets,
cooking utensils, and guns, they left with a friend, is
be ealled for. Page then proceeded to the stage office
at the Luna House and engaged seats for four pas-
sengers to Walla W alla, registering the names as
Smith, Brown, Perkins, aid Clark.
As might have been expected, these foolish pro-
ceedings on the part of the * rebbe 1s did not pass un-
noticed at Lewiston. P age had been recognized on a
watchman while disposing of the animals; “and at th
stage office next morning the four men answ ering to
the four commonplace names were closely regarded
ERE Ne
HILL BEACHY PURSUES. 663
by Hill Beachy, the stage agent, and others. After
they had suited the stage- driver noticed that they
earried considerable eold- dust. Continuing their jour-
ney to San De auieieco. wherever they stopped they
asstuned new names, aud frequently deposited their
gold with the hotel clerk for safe-keeping during the
night. Arrived at San Francisco, Page sand Lowry
took lodgings in a private house, EES S Howard and
Romain went to the Lick ane: The gold-dust
they deposited at the mint for coinage. e
Meanwhile the people of Lewiston wonder where
Magruder is, and why he does not make his appear-
anee. From the Beaver Head country men arrive
saying that the packer’s party had left two days be-
fore them and should now be there. The stage- driver
returning reports certain peculiarities of the four pas-
sengers. Closely following the surmises hence ar-
riving come tidings of the “dead bodies of Allen and
Phi lips, known to have been of the Magruder party,
and the air round Lewiston becomes thick with sus-
picion.
Taking the affair from this point, what follows
forcibly Ghistrates the difference between the ability
aud energy of court officials and the average man of
business in ferreting crimin os and bringins them to
punishment. Every thought and action “of the one is
hampered by form, while the other is free to employ
his wits and to tow them. A most diabolical murder
has been committed; the bodies of slain citizens are
lying in the mountains while their butchers are riot-
ing upon the proceeds of their crime in the city. And
there law would leave the matter py a to avenge;
but so will not Hill Beachy. ‘True, interest and
friendship unite to spur the stage adeuk There is
a large amount of money involved: reports of such
wholesale slaughter along the main line of travel in
Idaho circulated about the world can but be dam-
aging to his business, by deterring mniigration;
M agruder i is a man of family, a personal friend of
662 THE POPULAR TRIBUNALS OF IDAHO.
~
Beachy. But if our system of public service and
our court enginery were what they should be, were
what those who live by them affect to believe them,
surely there should be some means of manufacturing
enthusiam in the breast of a public officer.
Going round where the animals were stabled, Hill
Beachy recognizes the horse and one of the mules as the
property of Magruder; likewise a saddle and canteen, |
the former with blood upon it, he knows to have been
Magruder’s. Further investigation fixed the identity
of the four passengers. The stage agent new remem-
bers their presence and departure eastward about the
time Magruder went away. As if by inspiration the
whole plot flashes upon him. Magruder is murdered
for his money, and the four men are the murderers.
With scarcely a moment’s hesitation the stage agent
determines to follow the assassins and bring them to
justice. Without difficulty he tracks them to San
Francisco and secures their arrest.
Says Page in his confession: ‘ Lowry stopped with
me at this private house on Dupont street; we were
arrested by Captain Lees of the police at this house;
the other two were at the Lick House. When we
were first arrested we were put into a private room
and guarded closely. Howard was acquainted with
the captain of police; there was an arrangement to
get out a writ of habeas corpus; the captain was to
have all but one thousand dollars; after this we were
all put together so we could tell one tale.” The at-
tempt to release the prisoners unde >a writ of habeas
corpus failing after several hearings before the court,
the four men were delivered to the stage agent, who
had been sworn in as deputy-sheriff, and with the as-
sistance of two men who had accompanied him from
Tdaho the prisoners were brought back to Lewiston,
where they arrived on the 8th of December, stopping
at the Luna House.
In other times, before and since, these men would
have been scized and hanged by the people before
eo
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TRIAL AND EXECUTION. 663
ever they had reached Lewiston. Within the year
the Lewiston Vigilance Committee had executed
three men for a tithe of the present villainy. On this
occasion, as if by common consent, it was resolved to
let the law do the work. They had a new governor,
a new judge, and bright unused court machinery;
of all which they were very proud. They were tired of
stringing and strangling, and were only too glad that
their great and good uncle at Washington had sent
them these thief-traps and rogue-exterminators, and
now they were curious to sce them in operation.
Hence it was when the four prisoners entered town
there was no violent demonstration, and they were
allowed to remain in the stage agent’s hands, as a
deputy-officer of the law, during trial.
Previous to the trial Page made a full confession,
which rendered the work of the court easy, and for
which he was excused from being hanged. It is another
of the oddities of law that the punishment of one
of the vilest villains of the gang is initigated as a re-
ward for yet more dastardly meanness, enticed thereto
by the law in the hope of saving himself at the ex-
pense of his comrades. Tried and condemned, though
denying the truth of Page's statement, Howard,
Lowry, and Romain were executed at Lewiston the
4th of March 1864. Page was shot by a low charac-
ter at Lewiston the 25th of December 1866 and in-
stantly killed.
When in May 1864 the Idaho Vigilance Committee
suspended active operations they summed up the work
accomplished, and found the result to be twenty-seven
thieves and murderers hanged and a gang of desper-
adoes broken up during the year previous. These
had murdered more than a hundred men, besides com-
mitting numerous minor robberies.
The Committee at this time did not disorganize
nor even disband; they merely rested for a time.
But this rest was of short duration. Crime, intimi-
ee ee
ver eee
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