The Vigilantes of Montana

By late 1863 the remote gold fields and transportation links were rife with outlaws threatening and killing at will. With law enforcement unable to cope or even actively joining the outlaw gang, citizens of this remote part of Montana took the law into their own hands and formed the Vigilance Committee. Between January 4 and February 3, 1864, the vigilantes arrested and summarily executed at least 20 alleged members of Plummer’s gang.
Read here Thomas Dimsdale’s gripping true account of popular justice in the Rocky Mountains.