The Vigilantes of Montana:
1864 Revisited

Bannack District Miner's Court

The laws enacted on October 19, 1862, provided for an elected president of the district to act as the chief executive officer in administrative matters. A full time sheriff was not then contemplated: "The President may, at any time he may think proper, appoint a Sheriff to act in any case pending, or being commenced."

There doesn't seem to be any record of a criminal trial by the miner's court until early 1863, the date is somewhat uncertain -- Edwin Purple puts it in the latter part of February, but James Morley in his diary puts the date of the Plummer trial on January 22, 1863. There were two trials arising from two unrelated shootings. Moore and Reeves were tried for shooting into an Indian camp and killing a white man and several Indians. They were convicted and banished. Henry Plummer was tried for killing Jack Cleveland, and acquitted on the grounds of self-defense. The Cleveland-Plummer relationship is dealt with in great deal in Gold Camp Desperadoes by Mather and Boswell. An eye witness of the trial, James Morley, noted in his diary, "Plummer tried today before a jury and 'honorably acquitted,' the man shot having been proved a desperado and outlaw, said to have belonged to Watkins band in California."

For these two trials, the first on record in Beaverhead County for a homicide, the miners elected John F. Hoyt judge, Henry Crawford sheriff, George W. Copley prosecuting attorney, and H. P. A. Smith and W. C. Rheem as counsel for the defense. This was the start of a criminal justice system in Montana. It is not correct to say that this was a lawless society.

By April of 1863, the population of Bannack had grown considerably, and the populace must have felt the need for a more formal government. At a meeting on April 26, 1863, the miners adopted an addendum to the earlier laws which explicitly set out the President's powers to call a trial and appoint a jury.

But the most important organizational meeting of the Bannack District was on May 23, 1863. We have from Noyes, 224-225 the details of the laws adopted. It is worth emphasizing part of this code:

Art. 7. In all criminal cases, the punishment to be inflicted shall explicitly set forth in writing the verdict of the jury.
The vigilantes were in flagrant transgression of this article, since they held no trials, had no jury, and gave no written verdicts.

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