|
The Plummer Gang is
probably the most notorious band of outlaws to ever plague Garfield
County. It seems incredible that such a band of thieves and
cut-throats could continue their depredations so long without running afoul
of the law. However, when considered that in those early days there was no
organized government, no courts and no peace officers, it is understandable
that such an organization might continue its criminal exploits for a long
period without arrest and punishment.
There were organized
bands of outlaws who plundered the merchants in towns, pack trains and
stages on the road, and miners moving to and from their camps. The
members had passwords and they tied their neckties with a special knot by
which they would disclose their identity to each other. They had
regular routes along which they operated and stations where members of the
gang were located. They had members in every camp and town engaged in
various occupations. When organized government was established,
leaders often succeeded in being elected sheriff, marshal, chief of police,
etc. They knew when every pack train started, the goods it carried,
and the amount of gold dust it brought back. They watched every
stranger and learned his business; they took note of every good horse; they
knew of the departure of every stage, the number of passengers and the
probable gold it carried. The loan traveler was robbed of his horse by
a forged bill of sale.
The most noted of
these gang leaders was Henry Plummer. His band maintained a hide-out or "shebang" as it was called on the Pataha about six
miles east of the site of Pomeroy, at the point where the Nez Perce trail
left the valley on the east ward course over the Alpowa Ridge. There
was a log house at this place during the early sixties (1860's), which was
used as the gang's hideout.
A few facts about
the leader of this band may be of interest. Henry Plummer appears to
have come from a good family. He was rather handsome, with an
attractive personality, he was well dressed and upon arriving in a
community, made a good impression.
Plummer came to
Lewiston, Id. (30 miles east of Pomeroy) in 1861. He lived as a
respectable citizen, a quiet and law-abiding man with a woman who posed and
was accepted as his wife. Here he established leadership of a band of
outlaws, organized and managed in a totally unbelievable manner.
For a time in his
wild career of crime, Plummer "went straight", influenced no
doubt, by his marriage to a respectable young woman. When one of his
pals fell in love with his wife, however, threatening Plummer's peace of
mind with the danger of exposure, Plummer could only settle the impending menace
to his security by resorting to the well-gained criminal tendencies from his
past.
He organized a
bigger and more efficient gang than before, still posing as the honest and
efficient of the law. But when two members of the gang were arrested,
for some reason they betrayed Plummer, telling the vigilantly committee
all. Plummer was arrested, as well as part of his crowd, and brought
to the very scaffold he had himself erected. Now it was his turn to
beg and plead for his life, which he did more eloquently and movingly than
any of the unfortunate men he had slain in cold blood.
His cries fell on
deaf ears. Struggling, crying hysterically, trying to break free, he
was brought and placed under the gallows. Then resigned to his fate,
he tore off his necktie, the emblem of his organization, and threw it to a
young man who had boarded with. "Keep that to remember me
by!"
He turned to the vigilantes
who were placing the noose around his neck. "Now, men, as a last
favor let me beg you to give me a good drop.
That was the one
request they could grant, and they carried out the final wish of this
notorious outlaw to the last, grim letter.
|
|
