The Vigilantes of Montana:
1864 Revisited

Robberies without homicide

  1. In October 1863 the Peabody coach from Virginia City to Bannack was robbed. According to Dimsdale $2800 was taken, but according to Edwin Purple, the amount was $2000. The robbers were masked and not identified at the time. The location of the robbery was between the Rattlesnake Ranch and Bannack.
  2. In November 1863 the Oliver coach to Salt Lake City was robbed. Dimsdale reports that $500 was taken.
  3. Anton Holter was robbed of a few greenbacks.
  4. The Davenports were robbed while eating lunch on Rattlesnake Creek, but Mrs. Davenport's money was returned. There are conflicting accounts of this robbery.
  5. Dutch Fred was robbed of $5
  6. Henry Tilden might have been robbed of $10 on Horse Prairie, although by some accounts he was only threatened with robbery.
  7. A man was robbed of $2 or $3 dollars a few miles from Nevada City, near Virginia City.
The total take was $3300 plus change. Nicholas Tiebolt was robbed of an unknown amount and killed. Since he as an ordinary laborer, he would likely not have had more than $200 with him. This gives a grand total of $3500 for the year, to be split by some unknown mechanism among the alleged gang.

In their January-February expeditions the vigilantes hanged 21 men as "road agents." Assuming these had formed an organized gang and the profits were split, this gives about $167 a piece spread over 12 months, or about $14 per month per road agent. And this, when wages were $7 a day for surface miners, and $10 a day underground. So while a simple laborer could make, say $200 a month, the road agents would have been making $14 on the average. Pretty slim pickins.

The source of Plummer's wealth was his mining claims. Plummer was part owner of the Dakota lode, and helped design and build the first stamp mill in Montana. Just how much Plummer earned from his mining claims will never be known, but an article in the Sacramento Daily Union newspaper indicates it was considerable. Records show that on December 27, 1863, Henry Plummer gave a Power of Attorney to George Chrisman, to settle with parties who owed him $3500.00 for a half interest in No. 7 Dakota lode. This was recorded January 2, 1864, just 8 days before Plummer was executed. There is no record of what George Chrisman did with this money after the vigilantes hanged Plummer.

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