Invariably museum volunteers would tell us whether or not there had ever been a hanging in town. The walking tour of Red Lodge points out that “black-edged invitations” were issued for the town’s only hanging which took place at the old jail long ago replaced by the municipal swimming pool. The Galatin County Museum preserves the gallows used for Bozeman’s only hanging. We went to the museum and stood at the edge of the hanging platform looking down into the abyss below—a weird feeling.
Those stories pale in comparison to the celebrated works of the Virginia City Vigilantes who sentenced 23 drunks, rowdies and other bad guys to be hanged. The first two who were lynched met their end in January 4, 1864 when a double execution was imposed by Vigilantes in Nevada City, one of the mining towns that sprung up along Alder Gulch. Six days later, the Vigilantes moved up the gulch to Virginia City where they arrested 5 men suspected of being road agents. A short trial was held in the street on the corner of Wallace and Van Buren and all five were found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. The condemned were marched into a partially finished log store and hanged from an exposed roof beam. The bodies were then laid out on the sidewalk in front of the building.
The 5 convicted road agents were buried by friends in Boot Hill Cemetery overlooking historic Virginia City—3 of the original grave markers are in the Virginia City Museum . The other two markers were lost to history because souvenir seekers stole them. The Historical Society has replaced the five original grave markers. A photo of the marker for Clubfoot George Lane, the first to be hanged that day, is shown above.
We visited Boot Hill and can report that the replica grave markers are standing and all seems right with the world at the cemetery. It was ironic, however, to see a colorful bouquet of red, white and yellow plastic flowers adorning each of the markers. We also visited the museum to look at the original markers, shown below. The mummified remains of the deformed foot of Clubfoot George is also on display— presumably to keep it safe from grave robbers.
The log store where this lynching took place was completed and became first a drug store, then a post office and now is a museum where a model of the lynching is on display (see photo at head of blog). These lynchings by the vigilantes have prompted much writing and discussion and are the subject of the best-selling history: A Decent Orderly Lynching by Frederick Allen
Although I am not inclined to read History, preferring to read historical novels instead, I found this book a real “page turner”. The author presents the history of the vigilante movement and describes the chronological development of government in what came to known as the Montana Territories. He portrays the principal actors in this drama with vigor and style that would serve a novelist well. The findings are documented carefully and moralistic opinions kept to a minimum. Along the way, the reader will discover how Montana got its name, the mythical origin of the Vigilante symbol 3-7-77 and learn about life in the gold mining camps that popped up in the American West after the initial gold rush to California.
The cover illustration is an historical photo of James Daniels a rowdy tavern owner who was lynched with his pardon in his pocket. Daniels stabbed and killed a man during a drunken brawl in a Helena. The Helena marshal subsequently arrested Daniels and he was tried and convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to 3 months in jail. Perhaps a light sentence, but justice was served.
However the story didn't end there, friends of Daniels approached the notoriously drunken Governor of Montana Territory, Thomas Frances Meagher, and obtained a pardon for Daniels and thus Daniels was freed from jail. The Vigilance Committee of Helena took offense at this contravention of Territorial law, seized Daniels and summarily lynched him on November 25, 1865—pardon or no pardon. The Daniels lynching is number 45 in the author’s list of Vigilante executions during the formative years of the new Montana Territory. Ironically there were more executions than recorded murders during this period.
So, how did Montana get its name? During the gold rush, Montana was part of Idaho Territory. The process of becoming a territory and then a state involved several acts of congress. First, a mining district was created by Congress for the initial gold discovery in Bannack. When gold was discovered in Alder Gulch additional mining districts were created by acts of congress. The population grew quickly as miners came to work the mining claims and soon there more than 10,000 people in the gold rush locations and congress was lobbied to create a territory. The chairman of the House committee on territories, John Ashley of Ohio, decided on the name Montana—a Latin word meaning mountainous. The Latin origin of the word made it less offensive to the sharply divided wartime congress than the similarly rooted French or Spanish words for mountain. After much wrangling a law creating Montana Territory was passed by congress and signed by President Lincoln on May 26, 1864.
While congress debated the law creating Montana Territory, the 23rd and 24th executions by the Virginia City vigilantes were carried out. In Virginia City a rowdy drunkard named J. A. Slade was hanged summarily for a non-capital offense. In nearby Nevada City a saloon-keeper James Brady was executed for murder while his victim lay mortally wounded nearby. To the chagrin of the Vigilantes, Brady’s victim recovered so the murder that Brady was hanged for never happened. Clearly the new territory had a ways to go before one could say that the law reigned supreme. In fact, another 25 evil doers would be executed before the law was in full control of the Territory.
A Decent Orderly Lynching by Frederick Allen is a very readable history of the Montana Gold fields and a good introduction to the wild and rowdy history of Montana Territory.
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