Vigilantes: How Much 1
The Vigilantes of Montana:
1864 Revisited

How much lawlessness was there?

There are three categories to consider: robberies with homicides, robberies without homicides, and homicides without robberies. The time period is from November, 1862 to January, 1864, or about 14 months, the time Plummer was in Bannack (except for his trip to the Sun River farm to mary Electa Bryan).

A. How many robberies with homicide?

  1. George Evans disappeared, assumed murdered. In the January of 1863 in Bannack, a young man George Evans disappeared, Later a nude body was found, but not positively identified. It was assumed that Jack Cleveland murdered him, since before Evans disappeared, Cleveland was broke and afterward had plenty of money. It was not known how much if any money Evans had.
  2. A Mormon went missing on the road to Salt Lake City and was presumed to have been robbed and murdered. There is no trace of how much money, if any, he lost.
  3. Nick Tiebolt was robbed and killed when he was on a trip to the Ives ranch to pick up some stock.
  4. Lloyd Magruder and four men were robbed and killed by in the mountains of northern Idaho, far from Bannack and Virginia City.
This totals 8 men either murdered or presumed murdered and robbed. The five killings in north Idaho had no connection with any presumed gang of road agents in Bannack - Virginia City. Evans and the Mormon might have been killed by Indians. At any rate there is nothing to link them to a gang of road agents. This leaves 1 murder/robbery attributable to the "gang" of "road agents." George Ives was convicted by a miner's court of the murder, with Wilbur F. Sanders acting as the prosecuting attorney. The testimony of "Long John" Franck was the key, but Ives maintained his innocence to the end. As he was about to be hung, he blurted out, "I am innocent of this crime; Aleck Carter killed the Dutchman." At the insistence of Wilbur Sanders, George Ives was hung immediately, and a few days later the Vigilance Committee was formed, with the goal of chasing down Aleck Carter as the first order of business.

Opinion: It is likely that one or more or the three men, George Ives, Long John Franck, and Aleck Carter was responsible for the robbery and murder of Nick Tiebolt. But it is unlikely that it had anything to do with an organized band of "road agents."

Then there the robberies without killings. Press the NEXT button.