On November 13 Samuel Hauser, merchant and financier, arrived in Bannack on the stage from Virginia City. Henry Plummer had also been a passenger on that stage. Hauser was carrying $14,000 in gold (the equivalent of about $250,000 today) which he gave to Plummer to keep for him overnight. Plummer took the money, locked it up in Chrisman's store where he had his office, and returned it the next morning. The next evening, November 14, Langford and Hauser joined a wagon train headed for Salt Lake City where they were to take the overland stage for the States.

Also on the 14th, a party of horsemen, including Henry Plummer, was forming to ride over to Rattlesnake Ranch from Bannack to look after the horses that belonged to Frank Parrish, who was ill and feared close to death. Edgerton and Sanders, however, suspected that the party was really going to prospect for silver, since Plummer had expertise in silver mining from his days in Nevada. [Note: Rich silver mines were later discovered upstream from Rattlesnake Ranch near what became the town of Argenta—silver in Latin]. Edgerton insisted that his nephew Wilbur Sanders follow the expedition, but could only find a small mule for him to ride. Plummer and company took off up the mountain to the east heading for Rattlesnake Ranch, and a short time later Sanders, riding the small mule, took out after them, but did not make it to the ranch until nightfall, and did not find Plummer there.

Plummer appeared back in Bannack the morning of November 15 riding in from the east, the direction from Rattlesnake Ranch.

As it turned out, Hauser and Langford with their gold arrived safely in St. Louis, but they missed out on the formation of the vigilantes and the hanging of Sheriff Plummer.

If this were an Agatha Christie detective story, the night of November 14, 1863, would take center stage. That night young Henry Tilden, who had come west with Sidney Edgerton, reported he had been stopped on his way back to Bannack from Horse Prairie (south and west of Bannack) by three masked men. He said he identified one of them as Henry Plummer by the color of the lining of the overcoat the man wore. Plummer was supposedly the only man in town who had a red lining in his overcoat, although there is no independent corroboration of this. The masked men reportedly searched Tilden, and, finding nothing of value, sent him on his way. Could he have made a positive identification under the circumstances?

If Sherlock Holmes were investigating, he would have looked up the time of sunset, the phase of the moon, the luminosity of the red lining, and somehow inferred that identification was or was not possible. But Sanders and Edgerton did not play detective, they simply believed the fifteen year old, and hence condemned Plummer to the gallows, since Tilden's testimony was crucial in convincing the vigilantes of Plummer's guilt. Henry Plummer died without knowing that Tilden had accused him of attempted robbery.

1. Given the distances and the mountainous terrain, was it possible for Plummer to start off up the mountain to the east, going at least part way to Rattlesnake, double back in time to intercept Henry Tilden and attempt to rob him, then double back again so as to come into town from the east?
2. Henry Plummer was executed because he was supposedly the sophisticated leader of a sophisticated gang of highway robbers (road agents in the parlance of the times). He had a reputation for intelligence and executive ability, as his bitter enemy Langford conceded, "He possessed great executive ability—a power over men that was remarkable, a fine person, polished address, and prescient knowledge of his fellows..."
   Why then would he stoop to rob a lone teenage rider? And, one that he was well acquainted with since Tilden worked in the Express office in Bannack, and Plummer frequented that office in his duties as sheriff. If Tilden could recognize Plummer, then it follows that Plummer could recognize Tilden, and it is inconceivable that he would have attempted a robbery. Reductio ad absurdum, as Euclid would have said.
3. Langford says that Henry Tilden came in "just after seven," with the report of being robbed by three masked men. We don't know exactly what time it was he was stopped, but let's assume it was six or after. From the sunrise/sunset table for November 14, 1863, we see that sunrise was at 0727, sunset at 1702. So by five o'clock the sun had set, but what about the moon? Again, from the United States Naval Observatory web site, we find that moon rise on that date was at 1053 and had set at 2026. But what phase was the moon? The Web has an answer there too. Take a look at the sliver of a moon. There are two more factors to look into. What was the weather? And what was the reflectivity of the lining? There is no answer for either. Red, however, is not easily seen at night with a sliver of a moon setting in the west.
4. Was Henry Plummer the only man in the area who wore an overcoat with a red lining? We will never know.