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Edwin Purple, who was in Bannack at the time, and served as election judge at the May 24 meeting, refers to him as Wm. Dillingham. See Perilous Passage, page 186. Dimsdale leaves out any first name or initial, and just calls him Dillingham throughout, as does Langford. Mather and Boswell in Hanging the Sheriff refer to him as J. W. Dillingham, but in their later book, Vigilante Victims he becomes D. H. Dillingham, same as the signature on the election meeting record. And in the still later book, Gold Camp Desperadoes, they also refer to D. H. Dillingham. Art Pauley in Henry Plummer Lawman and Outlaw calls him Donald Dillingham, but I have no way of confirming where Pauley gets the name Donald, except that it does check with the initials on the written record of the election of May 24. I cannot find a reference to Dillingham in any other publications I have access to.
All authors agree that Dillingham was a respected member of the Bannack community. Henry Plummer chose him as chief Deputy Sheriff, or Under Sheriff as Purple puts it. Between his election as Sheriff and his departure for Sun River less than a week later, Plummer chose Deputy Sheriffs from the available manpower. Dillingham, Smith Ball, and Buzz Caven, were all respected members of the community. Ned Ray had only shortly before arrived from Salt Lake, and was a known "rough," but a brave man and a good shot. Though Dimsdale claimed that Ray had escaped from San Quentin, prison records show that he was never an inmate there. Buck Stinson, who barbered at Skinner's saloon, was of no better reputation than Ray, despite being a married man. Trouble broke out between these deputies, trouble which would have a tragic consequence for first Dillingham, and, as I believe, indirectly for Henry Plummer.
The only eye witness to report on what started the trouble between the deputy sheriff is Purple, who has this to say:
Meeting Dillingham one day in June, he says to me "there is a lot of Robbers about this town, and I intend to nip some them one of these days. I have overheard them, talking over their plans, and am going after them." I have no doubt that this language, communicated by him to his chief, the High Sheriff of the County, Henry Plummer, the man of all others in the County who should have put forth every effort to aid and assist his subordinate, sealed his doom.One has to wonder how Dillingham could have communicated his suspicions about robbers to Henry Plummer who was a Sun River. Also, Purple "has no doubt" but also no evidence, no particulars, nothing but a suspicion. This was written many years later -- he was still working on his draft in February of 1878. He died in 1879. Although he left Montana in December of 1863, he was a close friend of Langford and other prominent Vigilantes, and knew the Dimsdale book in detail. You might want to look at a short biography of Edwin Purple.