
Did citizens lynch criminals in the West?
Pat Pirillo
Mansfield, Texas
Yes, “lynch law” was prevalent in sparsely-settled districts, where the government was weak and law officers were too few and too powerless to preserve order. Citizens either became impatient with the legal process, or they considered jails too fragile to contain a prisoner.
In 1864, Henry Plummer, sheriff of Bannock, Montana, organized a gang of cutthroats (including his own deputies) who robbed and murdered at will. Vigilantes lynched 22 of the outlaws, including Plummer and his deputies. Ironically, they hanged the sheriff from his own gallows.
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Marshall Trimble is Arizona’s official historian and the Wild West History Association’s vice president. His latest book is 2018’s Arizona Oddities: A Land of Anomalies and Tamales. Send your question, with your city/state of residence, to marshall.trimble@scottsdalecc.edu or Ask the Marshall, P.O. Box 8008, Cave Creek, AZ 85327.