The Vigilantes of Montana

Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains

De: Thomas J. Dimsdale

Narrado por: Steve Coulter

The classic Old West narrative of the chase, trial, capture, and execution of outlaw Henry Plummer and his road agent band.

In the gold rush era of Virginia City, Montana, crime was afoot and justice shaky. Lawlessness ran amok in the form of gamblers, saloonkeepers, miners, dance hall girls, and road agents - outlaws who ambushed travelers on the road for a chance to steal precious gold.

Of all the road agents, Henry Plummer was their king and elected sheriff. Plummer’s notorious road-agent band terrorized the highways until a group of ordinary citizens resolved to take the responsibility of social governance into their own hands. In the year 1863, these righteous, disgruntled men rose to form the Montana Vigilantes, a watch group that proclaimed judgment over the criminals. In less than a month, the Montana Vigilantes pursued, captured, tried, and hung Plummer’s road agents, including Plummer himself. Their acts of heroism, which consisted of hasty trials and quickly arranged executions, were also colored by controversy.

The Vigilantes of Montana is an electrifying tale of old-world Montana where villains ran astray, citizens exercised justice, and lines were blurred in a mining town too young for legitimate law enforcement. This true eyewitness account comes alive with elements of gold, greed, murder, nostalgia, and romance that will thrill any fan of American history.

©2014 Skyhorse Publishing (P)2014 Audible Inc.

Brutal violence in a lawless territory

I'm pretty familiar with the vigilantes' story and enjoyed time at Bannack State Park, it has the spirits in the wind much like the Custer Battlefield. There is something sickening about the mob violence in some of the story. One poor guy got lynched for murder while the victim was still alive. The shooting victim survived alright and the 'justification' for the hanging was that the bullet went into the rib cage. The vigilantes were out of their minds at times. Dimsdale's prose is antiquated English, hard to read but much easier to follow through the narrator.

Montana history at it's finest

As a primary source, this book is enormously valuable. Obviously the author, a contemporary and close associate of the Montana vigilantes, was biased in favor of them. Thus anything he said should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, this book was a great source on early Montana history, mountain history, and the gritty realities of the frontier.

Good listen

Im a huge fan of the Wild West especially Montana where I live. This book was really good. I kept going back to listen twice. I only do that with interesting books. The narrator was pleasant as well. I would definitely recommend.

Absolutely the best historically accurate non-fiction work of the developing western United States

I can think of no other work, more exciting, socially, relevant, and and necessary work from the late 1800s. True inside into a good man must rise to to maintain society when the government simply cannot do it. this is not a candy coated historical novel.

Rough justice on the margins of civilization.

Rough justice on the margins of civilization.

Dimsdale's 1866 history of the citizens of Alder Gulch (Montana territory) forming a "Vigilance Committee" and their attempts to thwart/capture the notorious Plummer gang in 1864is a fascinating look into life on the frontier as people try to create ordered society out of nothing.

Living beyond formal law and order, citizens take it upon themselves to structure a free settlement, elect judges, prosecutors, and committee members all for the purpose of ensuring that brigands and "road agents" can't continue to prey on them or other travelers. When captured, many are summarily hanged, but not without at least the semblance of a "trial." Sometimes these trials occur back in town where, with only the common law to guide them, juries hear evidence and render judgement. Sometimes, these trials are more immediate affairs occurring out beyond the tree line where the victim's friend/witness is with the posse when the bandit is captured and that's all the evidence necessary. More often than not, the verdict is guilty, and the sentence is hanging, but not always, and Dimsdale does recount a couple of instances of people being acquitted.

While the writing is not the strongest (a bit too Victorian-lite), what comes through is the quintessential "Americanness" of everyone involved. Despite Alder Gulch being just another mining town/camp, there's a real attempt to form an ordered settlement with the principles of open debate, rule of law, and even due process around every corner. The repeated tales of a road agent gunning someone down, the posse being formed and riding out, and later capturing the desperado begins to get repetitive, but by the same token, this is how these people lived and operated. Western cliches existed for a reason, and "The Vigilantes of Montana" shine a fine little light on a slice of it.