Vigilante Days and Ways: The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and IdahoLangford, Nathaniel Pitt
History
Vigilante Days and Ways: The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho
Langford, Nathaniel Pitt
Frontier and pioneer life -- Northwestern States; Northwestern States -- History; Vigilance committees; West (U.S.) -- History
These appalling witnesses to the cruelty and fiendishness of the
perpetrator of this bloody deed roused the indignation of the people to
a fearful pitch. They went to work to avenge the crime with an alacrity
sharpened by the consciousness of that long and criminal neglect on
their part, but for which it might have been averted. They felt
themselves to be, in some degree, participants in the diabolical
tragedy. In the presence of that dead body the reaction commenced, which
knew no abatement until the country was entirely freed of its
bloodthirsty persecutors. That same evening, twenty-five citizens of
Nevada subscribed an obligation of mutual support and protection,
mounted their horses, and, under the leadership of a competent man, at
ten o’clock started in pursuit of the murderer. Obtaining an accession
of one good man on their route, and avoiding Dempsey’s by a hill trail,
they rode six miles beyond it to a cabin, and with the aid of its
proprietor found their way to the point of destination. At an early hour
in the morning, they crossed Wisconsin Creek, breaking through the
frozen surface, and emerging from it with clothing perfectly rigid from
frost and wet. A mile beyond this they were ordered to alight and stand
by their horses until daybreak. An hour or more passed, when they
remounted and rode quietly on, until in sight of Long John’s wakiup. A
dog was heard to bark; and in anticipation of the alarm it might
occasion, they dashed forward at full speed, surrounding the wakiup,
each man halting with his gun bearing upon it. Jumping from his horse,
the leader discovered eight or ten men wrapped in their blankets,
sleeping in front of the entrance. Raising his voice, he exclaimed,
“The first man that rises will get a quart of buckshot in him before he
can say ‘Jack Robinson.’”
It was too dark to distinguish the sleepers. With half of his company at
his back, the leader strode on to the entrance. Peering into the
darkness, he asked,
“Is Long John here?”
“I’m here,” responded a voice, instantly recognized to be that of the
person addressed. “What do you want?”
“I want you,” was the rejoinder. “Come out here.”
“Well,” said John, “I guess I know what you want me for.”
“Probably,” replied the leader. “But hurry up. We’ve no time to lose.”
“One moment. I’ll be with you as soon as I can get on my moccasins,”
said John.
“Be quick about it,” shouted the leader.
Long John was taken in charge by the company, and as soon as it was
light enough to enable them to see distinctly, the leader, with four
men, escorted him to the spot where Tiebalt was found. The remainder of
the company kept guard over the men found sleeping near the wakiup. When
they arrived upon the ground, the leader said to him,
“Long John, we have arrested you for the murder of Nicholas Tiebalt. We
believe you to be guilty, and have brought you up here to the spot where
his body was found to hear what you have to say.”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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