Distinctly Montana Magazine

W W W. D I S T I N C T LY M O N TA NA . C O M 77 EARLY LIFE ere are few things known for sure about Plummer's childhood. He was born in Maine, the youngest of six siblings. His father died when he was young, and Plummer, at 19, struck out for California, where within two short years he not only owned his own mine and ranch, but a bakery as well. He became an important part of the community, and was bandied about as a political prospect for state representative. He had brown hair and light, quick eyes. When he became angry, Ed Purple, traveler of the gold camps, said that his eyes grew "black and glistened like a rattlesnake's." Purple also re- membered Plummer's "low, quiet tone of voice", which he was never without, "even when laboring under such intense excitement as the Murdering of a human being must produce." So it would appear that he always had something of the desper- ado about him. e first time he killed a man, and perhaps not the last, he was acting in his capacity as City Marshall of Nevada City, California, where he was tasked with protecting a woman named Lucy Vedder. He was ostensibly protecting her from her abusive husband. But the record also shows that Plummer had booked a room across from hers at the local hotel, and it seems to have been an open secret that they were romantically involved. Plummer was convicted of second-degree murder. D E PA R T M E N T H E R I TA G E LYNCHED THE DAY THEY THE SHERIFF: VIGILANTES HENRY PLUMMER AND THE by JOE SHELTON I N MAY OF 1993, AS THE SUN SHONE WARM ON THE STREETS OF VIRGINIA CITY, 12 REGISTERED VOTERS OF MADISON COUNTY, MONTANA, ATTENDED A TRIAL FOR A MAN WHO HAD BEEN DEAD FOR ALMOST 130 YEARS. ey listened to the evi- dence of both sides, and when the time came to deliberate, they returned to the courtroom a hung jury. Six of the jurors favored his guilt, and six his innocence. Henry Handy Plummer, lawman, Western legend, prospector, city marshal, killer, and suspected ringleader of a gang of thieves and murderers, had gotten off. He didn't have it as easy the first time around: outside of Bannock, MT, on a bitterly cold January day in 1864, Plummer and two other men were stopped on the road by a group of Vigilantes 50-75 strong, who overpowered the men and led them to the town gallows whereupon they were hung, and killed. Plummer himself had built those gallows, and his workmanship must have been satisfactory, as they were sturdy enough to convey him from this life. Plummer, who was by all accounts a well-spoken, handsome man, had been accused of killing or facilitating the murders of 100 people, of stealing $100,000 dollars in gold, and of holding the town of Bannack in a grip of terror. But there has never been proof of his innocence, and there are some who maintain he was framed to this day. "NO MATTER HOW DANGEROUS IT WAS TO LIVE THERE, OR HOW DESPERATELY HARD IT WAS TO GET THERE, THIS WAS WHERE THE GOLD WAS. AND THIS WAS WHERE PEOPLE WERE STILL GOING TO GO." Hydraulic gold mining in Alder Gulch

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