Distinctly Montana Magazine

w w w . d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m 61 More recently, some historians have con- cluded that Plummer was not only innocent, but that his hanging was politically moti- vated. The executive committee of the vigi- lantes was made up of well-to-do business- men of the area—all Republicans. Many of them also harbored political ambitions in what soon would be the new Territory of Montana. They may have seen the charismatic Plummer as a political threat. Additionally, Plummer was known to own stakes in many of the area mines and was considered to be quite well off, so it is also interesting to note that it was vigilante policy to appropriate all their victims' assets—supposedly to pay for their prosecution and burial! When it comes to Plummer, there is no record of who got what of his sub- stantial estate. More than 150 years later, the truth about Plummer, and his role in the area robberies, is now probably irretrievable. Finally, on May 7, 1993, Sheriff Henry Plummer received his long-overdue trial, of sorts, in Virginia City. As part of a "living history" class, the Twin Bridges Public School District staged a posthumous trial. Students were each assigned a character from the original saga and responsible for "becoming" them, so they could accurately act out their parts in the courtroom. The mock trial was presided over by a real judge, and 12 locally registered voters made up the jury. "Witnesses" took the stand, and the prosecution and defense presented their evidence (such as it was). In the end, the jury was split on the verdict 6-6. I suppose it was a forgone conclusion that the trial would result in a "hung jury!" Had Plummer been alive, he would have been freed and not tried again. Bannack is now a state park, complete with a camp- ground, and open to visitors year round to explore its history firsthand. The jail that Plummer built is still there, though the simple gallows have long since deteriorated and been replaced by a replica. However, nothing is left of Yankee Flats, that part of town on the south side of Grass- hopper Creek where a sick Plummer had been staying with his brother and sister-in- law, suffering from a relapse of his child- hood "consumption," when he was taken to the gallows that fateful night. And so, on a cold night, January 10, 1864, after watching his two deputies hang before him, it was Plummer's turn. After he uttered his final words, "Give me a high drop, boys," the vigilantes obliged, and in an instant, with a snap of the rope, his life was extinguished. Plummer was only 32. The bodies were left hanging overnight in sub-zero temperatures, freezing solid. The next day they were laid out and sketches were made of the three dead law officers before burial in shallow graves in Hangman's Gulch, near the gallows that Plummer himself had built. What happened next to Plummer's body has become something of folklore, as colorful as his mortal life. Leg- end has it that some time later, the town doctor, Dr. Glick, exhumed the body to amputate the right arm. Glick was curious about the shotgun slug Plummer had taken in the right elbow a few months earlier. It is reported that he found the slug in his wrist and that it had been "worn smooth and polished by the bones turning upon it." Later, a little before the turn of the century, it is said that two visitors dug him up again on a dare. To prove they actually accomplished the task, they cut his head off and brought it back as a trophy, where it is said to have been on display at the Bank Ex- change Saloon for several years, until the bar burned down in 1898, taking with it all its contents. Such indignities are obviously more than enough to turn any self-respecting spirit to haunting! So, if you find yourself wandering the streets of Bannack at night (which you are not supposed to do, as the park closes at sunset), you might just see a one-armed, headless apparition. Watch out—it's the ghost of Henry Plummer, and if you're a Republican, I suggest you run: he might be out for vengeance! AND SO, ON A COLD NIGHT, JANUARY 10, 1864, AFTER WATCHING HIS TWO DEPUTIES HANG BEFORE HIM, IT WAS PLUMMER'S TURN. AFTER HE UTTERED HIS FINAL WORDS, "GIVE ME A HIGH DROP, BOYS," THE VIGILANTES OBLIGED, AND IN AN INSTANT, WITH A SNAP OF THE ROPE, HIS LIFE WAS EXTINGUISHED. MONTANA HISTORICAL SOCIETY

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