Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Henry Plummer's Gold For Western Wednesday...!

Plummer was a man that used his political office for his own personal gain. Sounds like many of the politicians of today!

Looking at the estimated figures, I'd say that Henry did OK, until he got his neck stretched. Reckon that was the price of living his lifestyle.

Henry Plummer’s Gold



There was no such thing as a background check in 1863. If they’d had such a thing, the town of Bannack, Montana probably wouldn’t have elected Henry Plummer as their sheriff. The gunslinger had already been charged with murder, and it was that jail sentence that he was on the run from when he showed up in Bannack. Not wasting any time, he deputized a few of his outlaw associates. His only other deputy, an honest man he’d inherited, had an unfortunate accident involving a hail of bullets only a month later.

Right before he settled down in Bannack, he married a woman named Electa Bryan. His marriage didn’t keep him from working both sides of the law, though, and he used his position as sheriff to confiscate gold from local miners. Once he had as much gold as a mule could carry, he’d head out to a secret location and stash it for later. There’s only a vague idea where he stashed his ill-gotten gains. The treasure’s rumored to be in the neighborhood of $200,000 in gold near Birdtail Rock. His wife admitted that he’d stashed another part of his fortune somewhere along a creek that ran into the Sun River. There was a $50,000 haul from a stagecoach robbery that was purportedly buried somewhere along Cottonwood Creek, and $300,000 in gold near Cascade.

None of it was ever recovered. Plummer was only sheriff for about a year before he became the target of town vigilantes who also ensured the outlaw deputies met their end—at the end of ropes. Plummer himself was hanged on January 10, 1864. The knowledge of the location of the treasure died with him.

I can't help but wonder if they continued to keep an eye on his wife after he was hung. It's possible she knew much more than she let on, ya think?

Coffee out on the patio again this morning. Turned out the high yesterday was 75.

10 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Maybe not; he might have feared that she'd do him in as he slept, if she knew too much.

Chickenmom said...

Wonder what happened to the wife?
Expecting some snow this afternoon -
I forgot what it's like at 75 degrees!

linda m said...

Maybe that is why we don't know what happened to his wife. She recovered the gold and fled. I'm loving your warm temps. It is snowing here right now.

Mamahen said...

I'm betting she knew where it was....75° (sigh)....

JO said...

There are so many story's like this. wouldn't it be nice to just happen along a stash like that one day.

They said we hit 77 it was nice and right now watching a gorgeous sun rise

HermitJim said...

Hey Gorges...
Guess that would be a worry for some guys.

Thanks for coming over today!



Hey Phyllis...
I couldn't find any mention of the wife anywhere.

Thanks for stopping by today!



Hey Linda M...
Sounds like a logical thing to me. I figure she ha to know something.

Thanks for stopping by today!



Hey Mamahen...
Yeah, me too!

Thanks for the visit today!



Hey Jo...
It sure would be a happy accident, for sure!

Nice to get some good weather. Thanks, sweetie, for dropping by today!

Dizzy-Dick said...

Now that gives guys with metal detectors something to look for.

HermitJim said...

Hey izzy...
It certainly would! You have one?

Thanks for coming by this morning!

Anonymous said...

I think he didn't tell her, people like him trust no one. But it would be fun to find that gold :-) Who would it belong to if one did? I guess it all would go to taxes or something like that :-) :-)

Have a great day!
Christer.

Rob said...

Having to step up & replace the sheriff like that, tough times. My grandpa used to have stories of the vigilantes in San Francisco.
I read somewhere that Wyatt Earp as a tax collector got to keep a healthy percentage of the tax he did collect.