Previous to the organization of the Territory of Idaho on the third of March, 1863, all of that which is now Montana west of the Rocky Mountains, was part of Washington Territory, with Olympia on Puget Sound as capital. All east thereof belonged to Dakota, the capital of which was Yankton on the Missouri, which by the nearest available route of travel, was two thousand two hundred miles distant. The existence of Bannack was not known there at that time, to say nothing of the impossibility of executing any Territorial laws, at such arm’s-length, even if it had been. Our legal condition was not greatly improved by the organization of the new Territory of Idaho. Lewiston, the capital, was seven hundred miles away, on the western side of the mountains. Eighteen months had passed since we became part of that Territory, before we received an authentic copy of the Territorial Statutes, and when they came we had been half a year in Montana. In August, 1863, D. S. Payne, the United States Marshal of Idaho, came over from Lewiston to Bannack to district the eastern portion of the Territory and effect a party organization of the Republicans. Our people felt little interest in the measure. Some of the leading citizens had requested, some time before, that I should make application in person for them, at the next session of Congress, for a new Territorial organization, east of the Cœur D’Alene Mountains. Payne was urgent for a representation of this part of the Territory in the Legislative Council, and as an inducement for me to consent to the use of my name as a candidate, offered to appoint any person whom I might name to the office of Deputy United States Marshal in the east side district. A Union League had been for some time in existence in Bannack, of which I was President. I asked the advice of the members in making the appointment, first cautioning them to ballot secretly, as by that means those who otherwise would not support Plummer, who was known to be a candidate, would escape detection by him. Neither Mr. Rheem, the Vice-President of the League, nor myself voted. The votes cast, about thirty in number, were unanimous for Plummer. Some one informed him of it. He expressed his gratification at the result, and told me that the confidence of the League in him should never be betrayed. I immediately informed him that he must not expect the appointment. He gave this reply a favorable interpretation, and even after it was repeated, turned upon his heel, laughing, and saying as he went, “It’s all right, Langford. That’s the way to talk it to outsiders.” Soon after this, in a conversation with Mr. Samuel T. Hauser, I informed him of the recommendation of the League. Hauser replied, “Whoever lives to see the gang of highwaymen now infesting the country broken up, will find that Henry Plummer is at the head of it.”