Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A M A G A Z I N E • F A L L 2 0 2 0 68 Dr. Byam and Judge Wilson served as judges during the area's first criminal trial against George Ives. On December 21, 1863, the jury and 1,500 bystanders found Ives guilty of murdering a young Dutch immigrant, Nicholas Tiebolt. With a noose around Ives's neck, Dr. Byam said, "Men, do your duty." Ives was hanged from makeshift gallows without delay. Days later, the citizen's Vigilance Committee formed to deliver swift justice. Dr. Byam joined the Vigilante group in Nevada City, offering his upstairs room as a meeting place. And now for the theo- ries: 3-7-77 AND THE FREE- MASONS Many, if not all, original Vigilantes were Freema- sons. John Ellingsen, a historian who worked with Charlie Bovey on Virginia and Nevada City restoration, believes 3-7-77 began with the Freemasons and continued with the Vigilantes. "Three is the number of officers in a lodge. Seven is the number needed for a quorum. And 77 is the number of Freemasons, including the deceased, at the 1862 funeral for Brother William Bell," Ellingsen said. Even though an official lodge had not yet been formed, members gathered to honor Bell's wishes for a Masonic funeral with Nathaniel Langford, who came to Montana as part of the Fisk Expedition, presid- ing. It may also be that resorting to a freemasonic code was done in order to circumvent the local con- stabulary. Since crime continued unabated following Sheriff Henry Plummer's election in 1863, townspeople began to suspect Plummer and his handpicked deputies were on the wrong side of the law—a fact confirmed when a colleague of George Ives named names. That was all the proof they needed. Vigilantes rounded up Plum- mer and his gang of Innocents and executed them all by the end of February 1864. True law and order had fits and starts in Montana's early days. The first territorial judge, Hezekiah Hosmer, an indecisive fel- low, arrived in late 1864. Despite proper legal channels, a lack of confidence in the judge meant Vigilante justice of the no-trial variety continued. A posted 3-7-77 may have been a Vigilante call to meet—a message only those in the know could decipher—and a call for extra-legal justice. A TICKET TO LEAVE Frederick Allen, author of A Decent and Orderly Lynching, proposed another theory based on Robert E. Fisk's edito- rial comments in the Helena Daily Herald in response to a murder in 1879. Helena experienced an uptick in crime as unsavory char- acters arrived in Montana on the new railways. Fisk had this to say, in part: "Would it not be a wise precautionary step to invite some of these desperate characters to 'take a walk,' or shall we wait for other murders and robberies, or perhaps until they burn the town again?" On November 1, 1879, 3-7-77 scrawled on fences and walls puzzled Helena residents. Two days later, Fisk's column mentioned that the rough characters menacing Helena would be given a "ticket to leave." From this, Allen concluded 3-7-77 referred to a $3 ticket to leave Helena on the 7 a.m. stagecoach to Butte by order of a secret committee of 77. TIME'S UP There's no written proof of 3-7-77's use before the Helena incident. Books written by early Vigilantes Thomas Dimsdale and Nathaniel Langford don't mention 3-7-77 at all. But Montana Supreme Court Judge (and Freemason) Lew L. Callaway stated the symbol was used before 1879 as a warning to get out of town, specifically in 3 hours, 7 minutes, and 77 seconds. He knew Vigilantes firsthand, growing up in the company of the first Vigilante leader, Captain James Williams. Montana Vigilantes ad- opted the symbol from California Vigilantes who had used it for the same purpose. Interestingly, Calla- way denied the Masonic link. In Callaway's 1973 book, Two True Tales of the Wild West, he said the running joke in the 1870s was that if a suspicious character found 3-7-77 written in charcoal on his tent flap, he'd say "Huh, I've got 3 hours, 7 minutes and 77 seconds to leave camp, have I? If you fellers will help me ketch [sic] my horse, the 77 seconds will be plenty for me. You can have the rest of the time." Rumor has it Callaway used it effectively himself, posting a sign with 3-7-77 and a call to meet when a group of vagrants landed in Virginia City in the 1890s. Once the signs appeared, the miscreants left town, problem solved. Vigilante justice continued alongside legitimate law in the territo- ry and even after Montana achieved statehood in 1889. A card with 3-7-77 was pinned to the back of Con Murphy, hanged in 1884 for his jail break. This was the first recorded use of the symbol associated with a lynching. The last Vigilante lynching involved labor leader Frank Little in 1917. He, too, died with a 3-7-77 placard on his back. Explore the mystery of 3-7-77 www.distinctlymontana.com/vigilante204 DISTINCTLY MONTANA | DIGITAL Dr. Byam's Home in Nevada City, a Vigilante Meeting Place Portrait of Dr. Byam

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