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Hanging the Sheriff: A Biography of Henry Plummer
This is a ground-breaking look at the sheriff elected in Bannack, Montana in 1863 and hanged by vigilantes in January, 1864. This is also a revisionist history of the Montana Vigilantes. After thirty-five years of research, the authors conclude that the conventional story of the Vigilante activities in Montana's gold camps is erroneous.
- GenresHistory
218 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1987
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October 14, 2018
Hanging the Sheriff takes another look at the life of Henry Plummer. Conventional history labels Plummer as the leader of a notorious outlaw gang in the territory that would eventually become Montana. This book suggests that Plummer's life story was written by the vigilantes who killed him and they had every reason to make him seem worse than perhaps he actually was.
It was kind of funny — the authors assumed everyone reading their book would know exactly who Plummer was. I had no clue: The image of Plummer as the one man responsible for all crime committed in the mining districts east of the Rockies is so firmly ingrained it is nearly impossible for even the most impartial of readers to drop old suspicions and view him with an open mind." pg 7
Like I said, blank slate here. And the story they revealed was fascinating.
Plummer was born in Maine and migrated West not just for the Gold Rush but also because of his lung disease. He was a successful business owner and prospector. He was a notorious gunslinger, able to fire five bullets in three seconds. He got in trouble with the law, but was elected marshall and sheriff in two different towns. He killed at least half a dozen people.
"Plummer jumped up. 'I'm tired of this,' he said, drawing his pistol and firing at the ceiling. A second shot struck Cleveland, who fell to his knees, pleading, 'You won't shoot me when I'm down?' 'No,' Plummer said, 'Get up.' pg 25
In his defense, the American frontier was wild and untamed with very few courts or lawmen. Everyone had to police themselves: "As Granville Stuart explained, 'There was no safety for life or property only as far as each individual could, with his trusty rifle, protect his own.'" pg 26
I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been arranged in a linear fashion (it wasn't) and if they had included some of the other viewpoints about Plummer. They go on and on about Plummer's bad reputation but give little explanation, for those who haven't heard of it, exactly what that reputation was.
"She said that she loved Mr. Plummer," Thompson wrote, "that she knew that he loved her, that she had the upmost faith in him, that the terrible stories of him were told by men not worthy of belief; that she could never be happy unless she married him." pg 41 What stories!
This book made me wonder about all of the "history" of the Wild West. Who were the heroes and who were the villains? Things weren't black and white... and, as the authors pointed out, history was written by the men who survived. Was that the truth of what really happened? I guess we'll never know.
It was kind of funny — the authors assumed everyone reading their book would know exactly who Plummer was. I had no clue: The image of Plummer as the one man responsible for all crime committed in the mining districts east of the Rockies is so firmly ingrained it is nearly impossible for even the most impartial of readers to drop old suspicions and view him with an open mind." pg 7
Like I said, blank slate here. And the story they revealed was fascinating.
Plummer was born in Maine and migrated West not just for the Gold Rush but also because of his lung disease. He was a successful business owner and prospector. He was a notorious gunslinger, able to fire five bullets in three seconds. He got in trouble with the law, but was elected marshall and sheriff in two different towns. He killed at least half a dozen people.
"Plummer jumped up. 'I'm tired of this,' he said, drawing his pistol and firing at the ceiling. A second shot struck Cleveland, who fell to his knees, pleading, 'You won't shoot me when I'm down?' 'No,' Plummer said, 'Get up.' pg 25
In his defense, the American frontier was wild and untamed with very few courts or lawmen. Everyone had to police themselves: "As Granville Stuart explained, 'There was no safety for life or property only as far as each individual could, with his trusty rifle, protect his own.'" pg 26
I would have enjoyed this book more if it had been arranged in a linear fashion (it wasn't) and if they had included some of the other viewpoints about Plummer. They go on and on about Plummer's bad reputation but give little explanation, for those who haven't heard of it, exactly what that reputation was.
"She said that she loved Mr. Plummer," Thompson wrote, "that she knew that he loved her, that she had the upmost faith in him, that the terrible stories of him were told by men not worthy of belief; that she could never be happy unless she married him." pg 41 What stories!
This book made me wonder about all of the "history" of the Wild West. Who were the heroes and who were the villains? Things weren't black and white... and, as the authors pointed out, history was written by the men who survived. Was that the truth of what really happened? I guess we'll never know.
Displaying 1 of 1 review