As afore said, for the first weeks after the discovery of Alder Gulch there was no law aside from the miners' courts that were called into session on occasion. The only duly elected sheriff in that portion of the territory was Henry Plummer at Bannack, absent at the time in Sun River. Deputies from Bannack had made themselves known in Virginia City, but they were not dependable and seldom exercised any authority. After the death of Dillingham, Deputy Stinson, due to his close brush with the hangman, stayed clear of the town. Gallagher, no longer a deputy, was very much in evidence usually drunk and usually in trouble. On one occasion he became involved in an argument with Jack Slade. Fortunately friends of Slade intervened, disarmed both men, saving the lives of one or both in the process. Prior to the trial of Forbes, Stinson and Lyons, a miners' meeting was called and George Todd was appointed to maintain order at the trial. At the request of the business element, his tenure in office was continued until an official election could be arranged. After Todd's appointment, Plummer's influence and authority in Virginia City was in name only. Plummer had no objection to this arrangement as his wife of only a few weeks dreaded being left alone for the two or three days that it took to make the round trip to Virginia City. Electa Plummer found Bannack a strange and primitive place. There were few women of her age in the town and some of these were not the type with whom she had anything in common. The friends of her husband were ribald and rough in manner and she found their habits and profanity offensive to her nature. Electa knew that she could never be happy in Bannack, although her sister and brother-in-law were due to arrive in September. Henry Plummer well knew his wife's feelings and he knew without his presence she felt friendless and alone and the small cabin was no more than a prison. For this reason he stayed close to the town. Those who knew him at the time noticed a change in his conduct for he no longer frequented the saloons and was seldom seen in the company of his old associates. Langford and others who knew him at the time stated his duties were attended to in an efficient manner. To keep the business of his office and old cronies away from his home he rented space for an office in the rear of Crisman's store, directly in front of the city jail. The discovery of Alder Gulch relieved Bannack of many of the hoodlums who had made the town their headquarters during the spring of 1863. The distance between the two towns made communication difficult, at least a matter of two days being required to complete a round trip. For this reason there was little if any coordinated activity between the criminal elements of the two towns after the discovery of Alder Gulch. It is doubtful that the few stagecoach robberies that took place during the fall of 1863 were carried out by any preplanned arrangement, but rather were the result of decisions made on the spur of the moment.

Even if such was not the case, one would have to stretch the imagination to think that scoundrels like Boone Helm, the cannibal, or Jack Gallagher and others of the same stripe would split any of their blood money with the sheriff at Bannack. Plummer was indebted to these men for their silence and his life if he interfered with their life style. Langford and others of the time knew this and said as much. While Plummer tried, perhaps belatedly, to gain some measure of respectability, we find these outcasts living in their brush wikiups. Not that they enjoyed the fresh air or the sub-zero weather, but for the simple fact that they were not welcome among decent people. By necessity they ganged up to rob and murder and then like the jackals they were, oft times fought and killed each other over the spoils. There is no factual evidence that Plummer, in his position as sheriff, ever used his office to aid these felons in the commission of their crimes. Nor were all of the sheriff's deputies men with questionable backgrounds, men such as Ned Ray and Buck Stinson. Aside from Donald Dillingham, later killed at Virginia City, there were others (B. B. "Buz" Craven and Smith Ball) who had gained the trust and respect of their fellow residents. These are facts that seem to have been overlooked by others in writing the story of Henry Plummer. Not that these writers tried to mislead their readers; they only omitted pertinent facts and to create readers' interest, acted in the manner of attorneys for the prosecution.