Читать книгу Vigilante Days and Ways. The pioneers of the Rockies; the makers and making of Montana and Idaho онлайн

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I record the following as an incident which will better illustrate the condition of society than anything I can write. A gambler named Kirby borrowed of another a revolver. Secretly withdrawing the charges from it, an hour later he returned it, and requested the owner to lend him a few ounces of gold dust, which request was declined. Knowing that he had the money, Kirby, enraged at the refusal, put the muzzle of a loaded revolver to the temple of the other, and blew out his brains. No arrest was attempted. The cold-blooded, mid-day murderer walked the streets of the town during the entire winter, mingled in the sports, and escaped unwhipped of justice. Three years afterward he was arrested in Oregon, and turned over to the Idaho authorities, upon the requisition of Governor Lyon, but no witnesses appearing against him he was suffered to go at large.

In a state of society where the majority of the people depend upon vicious pursuits for a livelihood, want and destitution are the natural elements. Increase of crime in all its forms follows. All through the Winter of 1861–62, and until returns began to come in from the mines the following Spring, Lewiston was daily and nightly a theatre where the entire calendar of crime was exhibited in epitome. Murders were frequent; robberies and thefts constant; gambling, debauchery, drunkenness, and all their attendant evils, openly flaunted in the face of day in defiance of law. Money and food were so scarce that robbery with the sporting community became an actual necessity. How to protect themselves against it sorely taxed the wit and tried the courage of the unfortunate property holders. Canvas walls offered slight resistance to determined thieves, and life was not protected by them from murderous bullets. An exemplification is furnished in the following incident: