In July 1865 the crisis came in Boise County, when Ferdinand J. Patterson, a
gambler and disreputable person,27 shot and killed Pinkham, the murder being
well-known to be a political one. The affair happened at the warm springs, near
Idaho City, on the 23d of July. Patterson coming suddenly upon his victim with a
threatening expression, Pinkham attempted to draw, when he was instantly
dispatched. Patterson was arrested as he was escaping, and examined before
Milton Kelly of the 3d judicial district, who had him committed for murder; but
his case being presented to the grand jury, the indictment was ignored by four
of the jurors, eleven being for indictment. A preliminary examination before
Chief Justice McBride, successor of Edgerton and Silas Woodson, resulted in his
commitment to await the action of the next grand jury.
Previous to the killing of Pinkham, who was regarded as the leader of the loyal
element of Boise society, no vigilance committee had existence within the
precincts of the mining district proper, but the action of the grand jury in
ignoring this crime, and threats made by desperate characters to burn the town a
second time, brought about an organization. A meeting was called by C. S.
Kingley, Methodist preacher, and the business men of the city were invited to
participate, an organization being formed similar to that of the Payette
committee of safety, Orlando Robbins28 being sent to confer with McConnell, the
president of that organization, and to solicit his aid. The meetings were held
in one of the underground warehouses of which I have spoken, where, between rows
of boxes and barrels, their anxious faces dimly revealed by flickering lanterns,
half a hundred earnest men resolved to adopt measures for the better protection
of life and property. The hanging of Patterson was determined upon, but the
purpose of the committee becoming publicly known, the sheriff, James T.
Crutcher, rallied the rough element, and to avoid a general conflict, the case
was allowed to go to trial. Patterson was acquitted, and realizing that his life
was in peril among the friends of Pinkham in Idaho, he lost no time in leaving
the country. But the avenger was upon his track, and he was shot down at Walla
Walla, in the spring of 1866, by order of the committee.29 Patterson was
followed to the grave by a large concourse of persons of his class, of whom
there were many in Walla Walla at that time.30 His death seemed to serve as a
warning, and there was a perceptible lessening of the crime of murder in the
Boise basin thereafter.
But the struggle with desperadoes was not ended, when Idaho City and vicinity
experienced some relief. All along the stage route from Boise City to Salt Lake
robberies were frequent and murders not rare. As in other places, resort was had
to committees of safety. In April 1866 John C. Clark, a gambler, shot and killed
Reuben Raymond in a quarrel over some accounts. He was placed in the guardhouse
at Fort Boise, but was taken out in the night by vigilantes and hanged.31 A few
days afterward David C. Updyke, ex-sheriff of Ada County, and Jacob Dixon,
formerly of Shasta County, California, were hanged on a tree on the road to
South Boise. Updyke had resigned his office of sheriff on being detected in
trading in county warrants and failing to pay over to the county the tax money
collected. A grand jury was called, which preferred two indictments, and some
papers issued preparatory to his impeachment, when suddenly a nolle prosequi was
entered, and the whole matter dismissed. Such was the power of his friends who
had elected him. The attention of an organization of vigilants extending from
Boise to Salt Lake City, of men in the service of the stage company,32 was
called to the movements of Updyke, who was finally proved to belong to a band of
highwaymen guilty of various crimes, among which were some aggravated cases of
stage-robbery, one within six miles of Boise City and another in Port Neuf
Canon, near Fort Hall,33 in the first of which a passenger was wounded, and in
the second the driver killed. For these and other crimes Updyke was hanged with
one of his accomplices,34 the others escaping through the courtesy of the law.
The act which led to the ex-sheriff's taking-off was the malicious burning of a
quantity of hay belonging to the stage company. The perpetrators were traced to
their rendezvous and captured, when Updyke made a general confession, which
revealed the names of the gang that for two years had infested the road. This,
with the ex-termination of Patterson, cleansed somewhat public morals. Whether
or not the same end could have been attained in any other way under the peculiar
condition of the territory, overrun with the concrete ruffianism which for
fifteen years had been gathering on the Pacific coast, to which protection was
extended by a political party, will never be known. It has been estimated that
in Idaho, and in Montana which was even more tormented,35 no less than 200
outlaws were executed by committees between 1861 and 1866. Such a carnival of
sin and violence could never be repeated. Had crime been confined to
professional criminals, vigilance committees might have crushed it. But such
were the temptations to dishonesty, that few of those who had the handling of
public money came out of office with clean hands. The first United States
marshal, D. S. Payne, was removed for corruption in office. Alfred Slocum,
treasurer of Boise County, was arrested in November 1865 for defalcation in the
amount of $13,000. Charles D. Vajen, treasurer of Boise County in 1863-4, was
found to have been a defaulter to the amount of between $6,000 and $7,000. It
was notorious that many officers failed to render any account of their trusts in
Idaho for the first few years, during the reign of mining excitements and mob
law, and it was little that the territorial judges could do to bring about a
better condition of society, juries, grand and petit, being tampered with, and
witnesses as well. The chief justice, McBride, maintained a character for
integrity and industry during the three years of his judgeship; but it is still
a conspicuous fact in the history of the territory that, notwithstanding the
great number of capital crimes committed in the first two years after the
organization of the territory, the murderers of Magruder were the only ones
hanged by the legally constituted authorities, and that robbery in office as
well as highway robbery found its defenders in society.
Governor Lyon left affairs in the hands of the secretary,
C. De Witt Smith, a
native of New York, a young man of promise, educated for the bar, and for some
time employed in one of the departments at Washington, but who could not
withstand the temptations with which he found himself surrounded in Idaho. His
honor was tainted with suspicion of peculation, and he died from the effects of
dissipation, at Rocky Bar, on the 19th of August 1865, six months after his
arrival.36
The territory was thus left without either governor or secretary.
Horace C.
Gilson of Ohio, who had been serving as acting secretary under Smith, was
commissioned secretary in September, and became acting governor. In the
following summer he too became a defaulter in the sum of $30,000, and absconded
to China; and Governor Lyon made such unwise use of the public funds as to
amount in effect to robbing the territory.37
Thus while the county officers sequestered the county funds, the territorial
officers either stole or squandered the money appropriated by congress. One of
the channels through which the public funds were embezzled was the territorial
prison. An act of the legislature of 1864-5 made the territorial treasurer
ex-officio prison commissioner, with a general supervision of the territorial
prisoners, the county jails of Nez Percé and Boise being designated as
territorial prisons, and their respective sheriffs keepers. The next legislature
made the Boise County jail alone the territorial prison. Thirty per cent of the
whole revenue of the territory was set apart for the expenses of this prison,
besides which it had at the end of two years brought the territory $22,000 in
debt.38
The first legislative assembly left the capital at Lewiston as appointed by the
governor; but the legislature of 1864 passed an act removing it to Boise City,
and appointing Caleb Lyon, C. B. Waite, and J. M. Cannady commissioners to
receive a deed of a plat of ground in that town, known on the map as
Capitol
Square, and the secretary was authorized to draw upon the territorial treasury
for the money to pay the expense of removing the archives and other property of
the territory, the law to take effect after the 24th of December, 1864. Such was
the reluctance of the people of Lewiston to having the capital removed, that the
majority of the county commissioners refused to acknowledge the legality of the
proceedings of the assembly, on the ground that the members had never taken the
oath required, but had met at a time not authorized by the law, with other
quibbles. Meetings were held, and the execution of the act removing the capital
was enjoined, bringing the case into the courts.39 Associate Justice A. C. Smith
decided in favor of the Lewiston party, against the law-and-order party; though
if the truth were told, neither cared much for order or law, but only to carry
out their schemes of ambition or theft Governor Lyon had escaped all
responsibility by leaving the territory, and the new secretary sided with the
legislature and Boise party.
There seemed to be no way out of the controversy except to appeal to the supreme
court, which the law said should be held "at the capital" in August of each
year. But the judges did not hold a court in either of the two places claiming
to be the capital, and for ten months there was anarchy. Secretary Smith died in
the midst of the quarrel, and for a while there was neither capital nor
governor, nor even secretary, as I have said. Finally United States Marshal
Alvord received orders from Washington to take the archives and convey them to
Boise City, the capital of Idaho. The men of Lewiston dared not resist the
authority of the general government, and the change was effected in the latter
part of October.
The county of Ada was created out of the southwestern part of Boise County, at
the legislative session of 1864, with the county seat at Boise City. Lahtoh
County was created out of the territory lying north of the Clearwater and west
of Shoshone County, with the county seat at Coeur d'Alene. The remainder of the
narrow strip of territory reaching up to British Columbia was organized into the
county of Kootenai, with the county seat at Sinnaacquateen.40
The legislature of 1864 does not seem to have made any requests of congress,41
nor was there anything more remarkable in its legislation than the number of
bills passed granting charters showing the improvements in roads, ferries, and
bridges. The legislature of 1865-642 passed a large number of memorials asking
for appropriations for public buildings, and other matters, and for some changes
in the organic act, so that the territorial auditor, treasurer, and
superintendent of public instruction might be elected by the people, besides
praying that the probate courts might have jurisdiction in all civil cases where
the sum in dispute did not exceed $1,000, and also that the justice's courts
might receive authority from the legislature to settle cases where no more than
$250 was involved.
The act passed by the first legislature providing for the increased compensation
of the officers of the territory was amended so as to exclude the governor from
the benefit of the act, and to increase the benefits accruing to the attaches of
the legislature.
Late in the autumn of 1865 Lyon43 returned to Idaho, having been reappointed
governor, and interested himself in creating a diamond insanity which ruined
many a better man, while he lent his signature to any and every bill of the most
disloyal and vulgar minded legislature that ever disgraced the legislative
office, except the one that followed it, the single act which he dared not sign
being one to nullify the test oath. His appointments were equally without regard
to the welfare of society and the territory; and after six months of such an
administration, he once more abandoned his post, suddenly and finally. The
territorial secretary, Gilson, was succeeded by Lyon's private secretary, S. R.
Howlett, who filled the executive office until June 1866, when
David W. Ballard
of Yamhill County, Oregon, was appointed, and arrived in the territory to
inaugurate a different condition of gubernatorial affairs, Howlett being
appointed to fill the secretary's office.
The organic law gave members of the legislature four dollars per diem, and four
dollars for every twenty miles of travel to reach the capital. The territorial
law gave legislators six dollars per diem additional, which sum of ten dollars a
day was not too great during the first year or two of territorial existence,
when the necessaries of life cost high. But this was now uncalled for. The same
act which raised the per diem of the legislators doubled the salary of the
governor, making it $5,000 per annum, and also doubled that of the secretary,
making it $3,000, while the pay of clerks and other officers was proportionately
increased, the whole territorial tax to support this extra pay amounting to
$16,000 yearly. The legislature of 1865 had passed an act abolishing the extra
pay of the governor and secretary, but retaining, and even increasing, their own
or that of their clerks. Becoming ashamed of this arbitrary exercise of power,
they restored it a few days afterward by another act.
Ballard, learning that the present legislature was about to deprive him of his
extra pay, and that of the secretary, sent in a special message, very artfully
worded, approving of the measure, and suggesting that the territory might be
saved the whole of the $16,000, and congress relied upon to furnish the funds
necessary to support the federal branch of the government, as in other
territories. Upon this provocation there began and continued throughout the
session a series of insults to the executive, requiring extraordinary nerve to
meet with self-possession.44
A quarrel was also sought with the secretary, who was treated with scorn, as
successor to the scandals of his office. With a virtuous air, the legislature
demanded information concerning the amount of federal appropriations, the money
received, and the correspondence with the treasury department. Howlett replied
that the statement given in the governors annual message was correct; that he
found Secretary Smith to have expended $9,938 for the territory, but that he had
no knowledge of any other money having been received by previous secretaries,
nor had he received any, although he had applied for $27,000 on the approval of
his bond for $50,000.45
The legislature chose to ignore Hewlett's answer, and telegraphed to McCulloch,
secretary of the United States treasury, alleging that Howlett had refused to
give the information sought. This brought the statement from the department that
$53,000 had been placed at the disposal of former secretaries, and that $20,000
had that day been placed to Hewlett's credit. This was the knowledge that they
had been thirsting for, as it was a promise of the speedy payment of their per
diem.
Meantime the governor was resolutely vetoing such bills as conflicted with the
Organic Act, and other congressional acts or established and beneficent laws of
the territory. Few of the members had taken the prescribed oath of office, but
had devised an oath which evaded the main point in all official oaths,
allegiance to the government, which was passed over the governor's veto. In this
manner was passed the act abolishing the extra pay of the governor and
secretary; an act taking from the executive the appointing power, regardless of
the organic act, and lodging it with themselves, or the county commissioners;
and a bill appropriating $30,000 for sectarian schools. This bill, a substitute
for an act passed at the previous session to establish a common-school system,
provided for the issue of territorial bonds to the amount of $30,000, drawn in
favor of F. N. Blanchet, archbishop of Oregon, bearing interest at the rate of
ten per cent per annum, and redeemable by funds arising from the sale of the
36th section of school lands.46 And so with every bill vetoed by the governor,
they passed it over his head by acclamation. With the exception of a few
harmless acts, all were made with a motive to defy the administration, and grasp
the money and the power derived from it and from the territorial officers.
Howlett, during these proceedings, had been in correspondence with the treasury
department, and had given information concerning the refusal of the majority of
the members to take the oath of office, on which instructions had been issued to
him to withhold their pay. This order raised a tempest. Resolutions were passed
charging the secretary with everything vile, and demanding his removal from
office. This was followed by threats of personal violence. The secretary then
called on the United States marshal for protection, who in turn called upon the
military at Fort Boise, and a squad of infantry was stationed in front of the
legislative hall, which only increased the violence of the disloyal members. To
avert a collision, judges McBride and Cummings recommended Howlett to pay all
such as would then take the oath of allegiance, which, on the following day, the
majority consented to do, and the threatened émeute was prevented.47 This
law-making body, elected by rebellion sympathizers, has been styled the
'guerrilla legislature.' "The third session," writes one, "was by all good men,
irrespective of party, pronounced infamous, but this one is Satanic."48
Ballard's policy as governor was such that his political opponents very much
desired to get him out of office.49 Holbrook had been reelected50 delegate in
1866, and was in Washington for the furtherance of any schemes concocted by his
constituents, the principal one being a plan by which Ballard could be unseated
and a man put in his place who could be used for gain; and in this they were so
nearly successful that in the summer of 1867 President Johnson was induced to
suspend Governor Ballard and nominate Isaac L. Gibbs. But before the commission
was made out Johnson had changed his mind. A letter containing a notice of
suspension had, however, been sent to Ballard, which, being forgotten, was not
revoked until November, when he was restored to office.51
Idaho continued to be democratic, but gradually the more objectionable
representatives of the party were discountenanced and dropped out of sight. In
1868 J. K. Shafer52 was elected delegate over T. J. Butler, founder of the Boise
News, the pioneer newspaper of southern Idaho.53 The last two years of Ballard's
administration was peaceful as it was wise and energetic. On the expiration of
his term of office two thirds of the citizens of Idaho territory voluntarily
petitioned for his reappointment,54 but another appointment had been made,55
that of Oilman Marston of New Hampshire. Secretary Howlett was also displaced by
the appointment of E. J. Curtis, who - Governor Marston not yet having arrived -
delivered the annual message to the legislature of 1870, and remained acting
governor56 for a year and a half, during which time Marston resigned and Thomas
A. Bowen was appointed governor,57 who also resigned, when Thomas W. Bennett58
was appointed, and accepted. Idaho did not appear to men at a distance to be
much of a paradise, politically or otherwise. The republicans again put forward,
in 1870, T. J. Butler as a candidate for the delegateship, but he was again
defeated by the democratic candidate, S. A.
Merritt. In 1872 the republican candidate, J. W. Huston, was overwhelmingly
defeated by John Hailey, democrat.59
The chief justiceship was left vacant by the resignation of McBride, until the
appointment of David Noggle in 1869, a man whose brain was affected, and who
allowed himself to be made the instrument by which thieving politicians carried
their points.60 The associates of Noggle were William C. Whitson in the 1st and
J. R. Lewis in the 3d districts.61 Lewis was an upright, able judge, and became
immediately obnoxious to the dominant political ring, which, to get him out of
office, resorted to the device of sending a forged resignation to Washington.62
Before the trick was discovered, M. E. Hllister63 had been appointed in his
place.64 Hollister succeeded Noggle as chief justice in 1875, and John Clark
succeeded Hollister in the third district. Whitson died in December 1875, when
Henry E. Prickett was appointed judge of the first district,65 which position he
held down to 1884, from which it would appear that he administered the laws in a
manner satisfactory to the majority in his district.
Governor Bennett was succeeded by D. P. Thompson of Oregon, a rising man in his
state.66 Bennett, while still in office, ran on the republican ticket for
delegate to congress, against S. S. Fenn, democrat. There were some
irregularities in the election returns, and the election was contested. Coming
before congress, Fenn was declared elected, and in 1877 was returned to the same
office for another term.67 Thompson did not long retain the gubernatorial
office, his private affairs requiring his presence in Oregon. He was succeeded
in 1876 by M. Brayman, Curtis continuing in the secretary's office until 1878,
when R. A. Sidebotham was appointed. At the expiration of Brayman's term, J. B.
Neil became governor, and Theodore F. Singiser secretary. In 1878 George Ainslie
was elected to succeed Fenn as delegate to congress. At the expiration of his
term he was again returned to this place.
A matter which greatly troubled the people of the
Idaho panhandle was their
isolation and want of a community of interest with the southern counties. On the
removal of the capital in 1864-5, they desired the re-annexation of this portion
of the territory to Washington. For the purpose of advocating this measure, the
Radiator newspaper was established at Lewiston, and the subject was not soon
suffered to drop, either by the people of northern Idaho or by those of
Washington, who, as I have before shown, were equally desirous of recovering
this lost territory.
The Idaho legislature of 1865-6 passed a memorial to congress praying that the
portion of the territory lying south of the Salmon River Mountains might
dissolve connection with the panhandle, and receive instead as much of Utah as
lay north of 41° 30'; while that portion of Montana lying west of the Rocky
Mountains, the northern part of Idaho, and the eastern part of Washington,
should constitute a separate commonwealth, to be called the territory of
Columbia. The people of the Walla Walla Valley, being strongly in favor of a
readjustment of boundaries, aided the agitation, which in 1867 was at its
height, meetings being held and memorials adopted in Lewiston and Walla Walla.68
But neither Montana nor southern Idaho, on reflection, would consent to the
division. Montana wished to retain the Bitter Root Valley, and southern Idaho
feared to have its burden of taxation increased by parting with any of its
population, already diminishing with the exhaustion of its placer mines.69 Still
another proposition was made in 1869 by the legislature of Nevada, to re-adjust
the boundary of Idaho, by annexing to that commonwealth the rich mineral
territory lying south of Snake River between the eastern boundary of Oregon and
the eastern limit of Nevada, or, in direct terms, the Owyhee country. This
project was also strongly protested against by Idaho, and was rejected by
congress.70
But much dissatisfaction still existed concerning the manner in which the
extensive district lying between the Cascade and Rocky Mountains had been
partitioned off in the hurry of forming new territories. It had always been held
by a considerable portion of the Oregon people that the natural boundary of
their state on the east was the Cascade range; but if they were to retain the
country east of the mountains, they desired to have the Snake River for their
boundary on the north as well as the east, giving them the Walla Walla Valley.
Washington, while less willing to part with its eastern division, was positive
about never yielding the Walla Walla Valley to Oregon, and so the two
communities could never agree to the same scheme of re-division. The Idaho
legislature of 1870 again memorialized congress for a change, but none that
would leave the territory less able to maintain the burden of government,
interfere with the congressional ratio of representation, or decrease the
prospect of arriving at the dignity of statehood. A plan was then discussed by
journalists of making a state out of eastern Oregon, Washington, and Idaho.
About the same time the citizens of the town of Corrinne in Utah petitioned, but
in vain, to have that portion of Utah north of the north line of Colorado
annexed to Idaho, not being in sympathy with the government of the Mormon
Church. The boundary line between Utah and Idaho was not then established, but
was surveyed in 1871, when it was found that several large settlements which had
previously paid taxes and tithings in Utah were over the line in Idaho. Defining
this boundary gave Idaho about 2,500 inhabitants more than previously claimed,
and a considerable addition to its wealth, as nine tenths of the population thus
acquired belonged to a class of large farmers and cattle-raisers.71 The
proposition to reunite northern Idaho to Washington was revived in 1873, with
the unification of the great Columbia basin under the designation of Columbia,72
a plan dear to the hearts of the people east of the northern branch of the
Columbia.
The surface of Idaho, after taking all the territory east of the Rocky and
Bitter Root Mountains to create Montana in 1864, to enlarge Dakotah, and to
organize Wyoming in 1868, was over 86,000 square miles, or nearly as large as
New York and Pennsylvania together. Its northern boundary was latitude 49°, and
its southern 42°. At its greatest width it was seven degrees of longitude, also,
in extent. There was grand and wonderful scenery, great mineral and
manufacturing resources, and, what was not known at the time of its settlement,
good agricultural lands in all its sunny vales. Most of the disorders, which
attended its infancy as a territory soon disappeared. Hidden in a great mass of
sin and folly were the elements of social excellence, which, with an opportunity
to germinate, spread their goodly branches throughout the land.73
Footnotes:
27. Staples of Portland was killed by Patterson, who was acquitted when it
was shown that there was a quarrel. Patterson was educated in Texas, where his
father was a man of good social position. He came to Cal. in 1850, and fell into
evil ways, but not for some years did be engage in those street fights which
gave him the reputation of being a dangerous character. He was shot in 1856 at
Yreka, was again wounded at Sailor Diggings, Or., in 1859, and engaged in
several other shooting affairs before killing Staples at Portland in l86l.
According to McConnell, he scalped his mistress, unintentionally however, while
threatening to cut off her hair for some offence. He had been but a short time
in Boise when he killed Pinkham.
28. Bobbins was in 1878 U. S. marshal of the 3d district.
29. See Popular Tribunals, passim, this series. Patterson was killed by Thomas
Donovan, who was a night watchman in a hotel at Walla Walla. McConnell says
about the case: 'Arrangements were made to have him killed in Walla Walla. He
was killed in a cowardly, cold-blooded way, as he had killed Pinkham. The man
who killed him was afraid of him, he having threatened the man's life.' Idaho
Inferno, MS., 71. Donovan was tried, the jury disagreeing, 7 being for
acquittal. He was rearrested in S. F., brought back to Walla Walla, and finally
released.
30. McConnell states in his Inferno that he left Idaho in the autumn of 1866,
because there was 'a hand lurking in every haunt to deprive him of life,' for
the part he had taken in endeavoring to suppress outlawry. Idaho Inferno, MS.,
71.
31. See Dalles Mountaineer, Apr. 4, 1865. On one of the posts of the gallows was
pinned this notice: 'Justice has now commenced her righteous work. This
suffering community, which has already lain too long under the ban of
ruffianism, shall now be renovated of its thieves and assassins. . .This fatal
example has no terror for the innocent, but let the guilty beware and not delay
too long, and take warning.' Boise City Statesman, April 10, 1866.
32. 'Ben Holladay, 'says McConnell, 'was a splendid organizer. He had a lot of
men around him who were, as we term them, thoroughbreds. Every one was a
fighting man.' Idaho Inferno, MS., 55.
33. The governor of Idaho issued a requisition for three suspicious characters
detained by the governor of B. C, viz., George Smith, Lawrence Dulligan alias
Brocky Jack, and one Murphy. They were taken, but owing to a delay about the
papers were released, and escaped in a boat. The Idaho officers who were in
pursuit chartered a schooner, which they armed with 2 swivel guns, traced them
to and captured them at Orcas Island in the Fuca Sea, where was a large amount
of property concealed, with boats in which the robbers made their plundering
expeditions.
34. On the body of Updyke was fastened a card reading: 'David Updyke, the aider
of murderers and horse-thieves.' On Dixon's body was this: Jake Dixon,
counterfeiter, horse-thief, and road agent generally. A dupe and tool of Dave
Updyke.' Both cards were signed XXX, Boise City Statesman, April 17, 1866;
Owyhee Avalanche, April 21, 1866.
35. The vigilance committee in Montana - then eastern Idaho- in 1863-4 hanged
many. The desperadoes had become so bold that if a man ventured alone any
distance from his house he was attacked, robbed, and often murdered. Charles
Allen was set upon 200 yards from his own door, robbed of a little money, and
beaten about the head with a revolver until he was thought to be dead, though ho
recovered. After many such outrages the work of retribution began. In Dec. and
Jan. 1863-4 the vigilants of Virginia City hanged 21 professional rogues. Their
organization numbered 1,000, with detectives in every mining camp, and they
acted with the utmost secrecy and celerity, swooping down upon a brace or a
double brace of the men they had marked at the most unexpected times and places.
In 15 minutes they hanged them up and went their way. Walla Walla Statesman,
April 15, 1864; Boise News, April 23, 1864. On the other hand, the sheriff of
Virginia City, Henry Plummer, was himself the leader of a band of outlaws
scarcely less well organized, and was able for some time to thwart the ends of
justice. But he did not long escape. He was hanged early in 1864 at Bannack,
being one of the 21 . On his person were found the names of 85 of his clan, with
records of their proceedings. When he was taken he wept and begged for mercy.
Salt Lake Vidette, Feb. 5, 1864. Boone Helm, long a terror on the Pacific coast,
was hanged at the same time, 'hilariously hurrahing for Jeff Davis.' Helm had a
fearful reputation. He attempted, in 1858, to make the trip from The Dalles to
Salt Lake with several others, all of whom perished, Helm being suspected of
murdering them, as they had considerable money, and he was distinctly accused of
living on their flesh, and of boasting of it. He killed several men in the
mines. Portland Oregonian, Jan. 23, 1863. Of this class of men, a correspondent
of the Rocky Mountain News of May 1864 says the vigilants had hanged 27 before
the middle of March.
36. Portland Oregonian, Aug. 25, 1865; Boise Statesman, Ang. 27, 1865; Idaho
World, Aug. 26, 1865.
37. Sac Union, April 4, 1867; Idaho Scraps, 194.
38. Idaho Laws, 1804-5; message of Governor Ballard, in Idaho Scraps, 208.
39. Idaho Laws, 1804,427; Walla Walla Statesman, Dec. 30, 1864; Portland
Oregonian, Jan. 12, 1800; Richardson's Missis., 500; Bristol's Idaho, MS., 3;
Boise Statesman, March 25 and May 20, 1865.
40. The county boundaries of Idaho gave much trouble on account of the
mountainous nature of the territory, and the lines of most of them were several
times altered. Five new ones were organized after 1865: Lemhi in 1869, with the
county seat at Salmon City; Cassia in 1879, county seat at Albion; Washington in
1879; Custer in 1881; and Bear Lake in Jan. 1875, with Paris for the county
seat.
41.
Idaho Council Members 1864 - 1867
42.
Idaho Council Members 1864 - 1867
43. Butler says of him: 'He was a conceited, peculiar man, and made many
enemies, and misappropriated much public funds.' Life and Times, MS., 8. Lyon
accepted his reappointment in tho hope of gain. While in New York, pending his
confirmation, he was approached by one Davis, who had in his possession a number
of small stones which he declared to be Idaho diamonds, found in Owyhee County.
One of them sold for $1,000, and others for less. The secret was to be kept
until they met in Idaho, bat Lyon arriving first, and after waiting for some
time, having become convinced that Davis was drowned on the Brother Jonathan,
went to Owyhee and imparted his secret to D. H. Fogus, to whom he presented one
of his diamonds, receiving in return a silver bar worth $500. One evening the
governor and the miner stole away over the hills toward the diamond fields, as
described by Davis, under cover of night, to make a prospect. But the sharp eyes
of other miners detected the movement, and they were followed by a small army of
treasure seekers who aided in the search. 'The result,' says Maize, 'of two
days" hunting was several barrels fall of bright quarts and shiny pebbles. Lyon
was greatly disappointed, and showed us the specimens, which I saw, and on one
of which the carbon was not completely crystallized.' Early Events, MS., 9.
Maize says that he has found stones described in mineralogical works as allied
to the diamond, a number of times, along the beach line of the ancient sea which
once filled the Snake River basin. A newspaper correspondent calls Lyon 'a
revolving light on the coast of scampdom.' Idaho Scraps, 194.
44. Said S. P. Scaniker: "Does he suppose we shall consent to it? By the eternal
God, I will never consent to it, and I do not believe the house will submit to
it, for the governor to say we shall act thus and so. When we want any
recommendations of that sort we will let him know. We didn't appoint him
governor. We didn't elect him governor. He is no part or parcel with us.' This
language was tame in comparison with some of the blasphemous abuse heaped upon
the "imported governor from Yamhill County, Oregon.' Idaho Scraps, 193.
45. Idaho Jour, Council, 1866-7, 62; Idaho Scrap's 193.
46. Idaho Times, in Owyhee Avalanche, Jan. 10, 1867. Congress had the power to
disapprove, and did disapprove, of these laws.
47. Idaho Jour, House, 1866-7, 412; Owyhee Avalanche, Jan. 19, 1867; Boise
Statesman Jan. 15, 1867.
48.
Idaho Council Members 1864 - 1867
49. David W. Ballard was a native of Indiana, and an immigrant to Oregon in
1852. He was a physician by profession, but had served in the Oregon legislature
from Linn County. A mild-mannered man, but fearless. Boise Statesman, April 4,
1868; Idaho Scraps, 194.
50. Holbrook is said to have studied at Oberlin College, Ohio. He came to the
Pacific coast in 1859, and practised law for a short time at Weaverville, Cal.
He followed the rush to the Nez Percé mines, and thence to Boise. He drank
whiskey freely, and had pluck and assurance, although his attainments were
mediocre. His age, when elected in 1864, was under 30 years. His services to the
territory were the securing of the penitentiary appropriation and U. S. assay
office. He was shot and killed by Charles Douglass while sitting in front of his
law office in June 1870. Boise Statesman, June 25, 1870.
51. John M. Murphy of Idaho was first nominated. The trickery by which the
suspension of Ballard was effected has been explained thus: In March 1867
congress appropriated several hundred thousand dollars to be expended by the
Indian department in Idaho, and this money it was desirable to have disbursed by
democratic officers. To this end the department was brought to declare that it
did not recognize Ballard as superintendent, although by the organic law of the
territory that was his office. Fraudulent charges and false certificates were
used, and influences brought to bear amounting to the repudiation of Ballard as
governor by the territory; consequently the money, which must be disbursed to
put an end to Indian wars, could not be paid out until another appointment was
made. Gibbs' name being sent in, and the senate about to adjourn, the nomination
was confirmed. But some facts coming to light, the senate withdrew its
confirmation by reconsidering the matter, and finally laying it on the table ten
minutes before adjournment. Boise Statesman, Sept. 14, 1867. President Johnson
then reappointed, under the provisions of the tenure-of -office law permitting
him, during a recess of confess, to suspend on satisfactory evidence of crime,
misconduct in office, or disability. Within 20 days after the reassembling of
the senate the protest of the loyal people of Idaho was laid before it, and
Ballard was reinstated. Attorney general Stanberry holding that his removal
during recess was not legal Owyhee Avalanche, Sept. 21, 1867.
52. Shafer was a lawyer of ability; immigrated to Cal. in 1849; was a native of
Lexington, Va, and graduate of the college at that place; 'was first dist atty
of San Joaquin County, and for 10 years judge of the dist court of said county;'
went to Idaho as a pioneer; possessed fine literary attainments and
irreproachable character. Died at Eureka, Nev., Nov. 22, 1876. Owyhee Avalanche,
Dec. 2, 1876.
53. There were a few newspapers started for political effect about this time.
The Times of Idaho City was independent. The Idaho Index, published at Silver
City, Owyhee, by W. G. T'Vault, about June 1, 1866, was democratic. The
Territorial Enterprise was started in 1866; the Salmon City Mining News in 1867
by Frank Kenyon, afterward removed to Montana; the Boise Democrat, first issued
Nov. 29, 1867, at Boise City, by Buchanan & Carleton, former proprietors of the
Bulletin of Silver City; in Feb. 1868 the Democrat was sold to Bail k Carleton,
and in June 1868 it was discontinued. The Lewiston Journal was issued Jan. 17,
1807, by A. Leland & Son; a non-partisan journal. It suspended in Feb, 1872. The
newspapers which succeeded the Journal at Lewiston were the Signal, begun
immediately after the suspension of the Journal, which lived about two years, to
be succeeded by the Northerner for two years more, and again by the Teller, A.
Leland editor and proprietor, in 1876. The Idaho Herald was started at Boise
City in October 1871, surviving only until April 1872. The Boise Republican,
established at Boise City March 1, 1879, was at that date the largest journal
published in Idaho, and by its prosperity illustrated the change in political
sentiment. Published by Daniel Bacon. The Yankee Fork Herald was established at
Bonanza City July 24, 1879, by Mark W. Musgrove, who also started the Alturas
Miner in 1880. See Shoup's Idaho Ter., MS., 9; Yankee Fork Herald, April 3,
1880; S. F. Alta, Oct. 6, 1807; U. S. 9th Census, Pop., 482-93.
54. See farewell letter, in Boise Statesman, July 23, 1870.
55. Samuel Bard was first appointed to succeed Ballard. He was from New York,
but in 1866 was editing the Atlanta New Era, and declined. A. H. Conner was also
spoken of as governor. He was of Indianapolis, Ind.
56. The Boise Statesman of Feb. 5, 1870, says: "He has brought order out of
confusion in the books and papers of the office, and has labored hard and
successfully at the formation of a working state library." Curtis was a native
of Massachusetts, and a lawyer. He came to Cal. in 1849; resided im Siskiyou
County, which twice elected him to the legislature; was judge of the court of
sessions in Trinity County for two years; came to Owyhee in 1865, and settled
finally in Boise City in the practice of the law. Owyhee Avalanche, Nov. 13,
1875.
57. Bowen was a southern republican; had been district judge of Arkansas.
58. Bennett was born in Ind. Feb. 16, 1831, graduated at Asbury University in
1854, and studied law. On the breaking out of the civil war he enlisted as a
private, but was chosen captain of a company in the 15th Indiana vols. He was
commissioned major of the 36th Ind., and afterward Col of the 67th; Brevetted
brig.-gen. March 6, 1865; visited Europe in 1867; was elected mayor of Richmond,
Ind., in 1869. Richmond Herald, in Owyhee Avalanche, Dec. 9, 1871.
59. Hailey was a businessman, and employed a large number of persons, who worked
for his election, while Huston's friends were not thoroughly organized. Huston
was a good public speaker, and had been district attorney. Boise Statesman, Nov.
16, 1872.
60. David Noggle was from Monroe, Wis. , where he was a leading lawyer and
campaign speaker. For 9 years he served as a circuit judge in that state. He
held the office of chief justice of Idaho for 6 years. Soon after his removal
his disease, softening of the brain, developed fully, and his errors in office
were imputed to it. He died July 18, 1878, at his home in Wisconsin. M. Kelly,
in Boise Statesman, July 27, 1878.
61. Thomas J. Bowers of Cal. was appointed chief justice in the latter part of
1868, but did not serve. R. T. Miller was also appointed judge of the 3d
district before Whitson, but did not accept. Idaho Laws, 1868-9, 149; Camp's
Year Book, 1869, 493.
62. Boise Statesman, April 15 and May 13, 1871; S. F. Chronicle, May 7, 1877.
The same means was used to get rid of Lewis in Washington, by the whiskey
sellers of Seattle.
63. Hollister was from Ottawa, Ill., and a pioneer of that state. Boise
Statesman, May 13, 1871.
64. Whitson was from Oregon. He had been chosen county clerk of Polk when 21
years of age, and elected county judge at 28 years. Ho was a man of liberal
education, and a successful law practitioner.
65. Alanson Smith of Boise City was the people's choice for judge - a choice
expressed by petition; but trickery again prevailed, and Prickett was made
associate justice. His antecedents were anything but creditable, as he had been
confidential clerk to J. C. Geer, collector of internal revenue, who defaulted
to the amount of $21,000. He had been a member of the legislative council in
1874-5.
66. Thompson was born in Harrison County, Ohio, in 1834, where he resided until
he migrated to Oregon, overland, in 1853. The following spring he engaged in the
public surveys under Surveyor-general Gardiner, and continued in the service
until 1872. During this period ho ran the base line of Oregon across the Cascade
Mountains to the Blue Mountains, and the Columbia Guide Meridian north to the
Big Bend of the Columbia, and south to California. He was state senator from
1868 to 1872, from Clackamas County. In 1872 he was appointed commissioner to
allot lands to the Indians of Grand Rond Indian agency. He was one of the
presidents and business manager of the
Oregon City
Woolen Mill, in which he was
joint owner with Jacobs Bros and L. White & Bro. From 1872 to 1878 ho was
extensively interested in mail contracts, having at one time over a hundred
contracts in the states and territories. He was appointed by President Grant
governor of Idaho in 1875, but resigned in 1876 for business reasons, returning
to Oregon. In 1878 he was elected a representative from Multnomah County to the
lower house of the Oregon legislature, and the year following was chosen mayor
of Portland, resigning in 1882. The Portland Savings Bank, of which he was
president, was organized by him in 1880; and he was one of the organizers of the
First National Banks of Walla Walla, of Baker City, of Union, and president of
the Bank of McMinnville. He built and equipped the railroad around the Falls of
the Willamette, between Oregon City and Canemah. It was a horse-railroad, cost
$23,000, and in one year paid dividends amounting to $48,000. He was a member of
the Willamette Falls and Lock Company, which constructed a substantial canal,
with locks about the falls. In 1880 he was one of the organizers of the Oregon
Construction Company, which opened up a large portion of eastern Oregon and
Washington by means of railroads, building the Umatilla and Baker City Railroad,
Or., and the Columbia and Palouse Railroad, Wash. In 1882 the board of trade of
Portland sent him as a special commissioner to Washington City to obtain from
congress an appropriation for the improvement of the Columbia River bar, in
which he met with his customary success. Enterprising, energetic, and farseeing,
he presented a standing example of what these qualities may be made to achieve
for society and one's self.
67. H. Misc. Doc., 82, 44th cong. 1st sess. Fenn was not the popular candidate
of his party in 1874, but was taken as a compromise between Ensign and Foote.
Helena Independent, Dec. 20, 1874.
68. Idaho Law, 1865-6, 293; Lewiston Journal, Oct. 3, 1867; Walla Walla
Statesman, Oct. 4 and Nov. 1, 1867.
69. Boise Statesman, Sept. 21, 1867; H. Misc. Doc, 100, 30th cong. lst sess.
70. Nev. Jour. Sen., 1869, 23; Id., 1871, 175; Misc, Doc, 32, 42d cong. 1st
sess.; Cong. Globe, 1870-1, 966; Boise Statesman, June 23, 1869; Id., Jan. 29,
1870.
71. The addition thus made consisted of the settlements of Franklin, Weston,
Malade, Fish Haven, Ovid, Bloomington, Paris, and St Charles. The larger portion
of Bear Lake was also found to be north of the line. Rept Sec. Int., i. 159, 42d
cong. 3d sess; Cong, Globe, 1870-1, app. 362, 366; Zabriskie's Land Laws, 1118.
72. Lewiston Signal, Nov. 1 and Dec. 13, 1873, and March 28, 1874.
73. The following is a list of the federal and territorial officers, and members
of the legislature from the organization of the territory of Idaho to 1884. The
lists of legislators down to 1866 have been given.
Federal and Territorial Officers 1864-1884
Source: Bancroft Works, Volume 31, History Of Washington, Idaho, and Montana, 1845-1889, Hubert H. Bancroft, 1890. The History Company, Publishers, San Francisco