Hurley's Gulch, though subsequently called "Hurley City," has no right
on the map if it ever had a place there, for, like many other more
ambitious and important cities, it has ceased to be the abode of man and
returned to its original state of barrenness and desolation.
It was at this time a mining camp that had sprung up in a night, as it
were, when a man named Hurley--after whom the place was named--had
discovered gold in a little creek near the spot that so suddenly became
the site of busy mining life.
Though less than six months old and destined not to survive a second
birthday, Hurley's Gulch had nearly a thousand inhabitants, with stores,
saloons, assay offices, hotels and all the business establishments that
characterize such places.
There were a few women in the camp and a sprinkling of Indians, Negroes
and Mexicans, but the great mass of the inhabitants were miners, rough
in appearance and even rougher in speech.
A more picturesque and novel settlement than Hurley's Gulch it would be
impossible to find outside the peculiar mining camps of the West.
Two little streaks of grass could be found growing beside the creek on
the bluff above which the camp had been established; but beyond this
there was hardly a sign of vegetation in sight.
All about the place, far as the eye could reach, was a tempest-tossed
expanse of dry, glistening rocks.
As there was neither timber for building nor material for bricks, the
dwellings, stores, saloons, hotels and offices were necessarily of
canvas.
The tents were pitched here and there irregularly, and as all of them
had seen hard service in other mining camps and "cities," their general
appearance was patched and dilapidated in the extreme.
The great majority of the men at Hurley's Gulch were industrious miners;
but as vultures hover over the track of an army in the field and wolves
follow up a buffalo herd to prey upon the weakest, so crowds of
well-dressed gamblers and red-faced whisky sellers swarm in prosperous
mining camps to plunder and demoralize.
Hurley's Gulch had more than its share of these wicked fellows, and as
there was not the shadow of law there to defend the weak, every man went
armed as a matter of course.
Until law officers can be elected or appointed and courts of justice
established in such camps, it is the custom of the more industrious and
peaceable to form what they call "vigilance committees" for their own
protection.
It need not be said that, no matter how well-meaning the purpose, many
men, themselves criminals, get on such committees, and that great wrong
is often done to the innocent by these rude efforts to do justice.
Mr. Willett's was a case in point.
A few days before he had come over this last time to Hurley's Gulch, a
hard-working miner had been killed and robbed of the gold-dust which he
had patiently panned out from the bed of the stream.
This crime made the miners angry, and they held an indignation meeting
after the poor man's funeral, and organized a committee to ferret out
and punish the criminals.
As there was no jail in which to detain those guilty of lighter
offences, there was only one penalty in the code of the vigilantes, and
that was _death_!
Tom Edwards had not been a favorite with the better class of men at
Hurley's Gulch.
In his opinion money was made for the sole purpose of gambling away and
getting drunk on.
It was generally believed that he had been paid for his claim at Gold
Cave Camp by Mr. Willett, so that many who heard him declare to the
contrary and say that he had sold on credit, placed no faith in his
word.
But when Tom Edwards was found dying the night before Mr. Willett was to
have left the Gulch, his past falsehoods were forgotten in view of the
nearness of his end and the calmest were inclined to believe him.
It was well known that hot words had passed that very day between Mr.
Willett and Tom Edwards, and this afforded to many a reason for the act.
It was pitchy dark when the wretched man was shot, and he was very drunk
at the time, so that when his wound restored him, for a short time, to
his senses, there can be no doubt but he was honest in the belief that
"two men," Mr. Willett and Hank Tims were the guilty parties.
The accused men were at once arrested by the vigilance committee and
placed under guard in a tent.
Both protested their innocence, as well they might, and Mr. Willett
asked to be permitted to send to his camp for papers that would prove to
all that he had paid Tom Edwards in full the price at which he valued
his claim.
A few men were inclined to believe Mr. Willett, but to set all doubts at
rest, it was decided that further action should be postponed in the case
till the receipt of the money and the deed of sale had been procured.
The next morning Ulna was dispatched on this mission, and we have seen
the fidelity with which he performed the duty and the unexpected
obstacles that prevented the return of the accused man's son with the
papers.
There were two men at Hurley's Gulch at this time who, if they had
chosen, could have set at rest all doubts as to the mystery surrounding
Tom Edwards' death and handed over the guilty parties to the vigilantes;
but as this act would have resulted in their own swift destruction, they
kept their awful secret to themselves.
These men were Frank Shirley and the outlaw Badger.
Frank Shirley believed, and with reason, that if Sam Willett was out of
the way, the last bar between him and a great fortune would be down.
He was a dissolute, thriftless fellow, every faculty of whose low mind
seemed to have been concentrated into the one mean gift of cunning.
On the way from Gold Cave Camp to Hurley's Gulch, Frank Shirley and the
man whom he had hired to help him in his wicked purpose, discussed the
situation from every point of view.
The first thing they decided on was that Mr. Willett and his son must be
prevented from ever meeting again, but they did not agree so readily as
to how this was to be done.
More bluff, and possibly more brutal than his employer, Badger urged
that he be allowed to waylay Mr. Willett and kill him on his return.
But Frank Shirley opposed this, saying, for he was a coward at heart, as
all such men are:
"Willett will have with him the Indian boy and the old hunter, Hank
Tims; they are all well-armed, and they would be stronger than us. No,
Badger, we must hit upon some plan that has less risk in it."
"Wa'al," responded Badger, "hit upon the plan yersel', an' if I don't
carry it out without flinchin', I'll give you leave to shoot me down
like a dog."
When these men reached Hurley's Gulch they found Edwards "drunk as
usual," and loudly declaring wherever he went that Mr. Willett was
trying to rob him out of fifteen hundred dollars.
Here was the very chance for which Frank Shirley had been looking.
If he could have Edwards put out of the way, in such a manner as to
fasten the crime on Mr. Willett, a hundred stronger and braver men would
be ready to accomplish his purpose with their own hands.
He told Badger of his scheme, and that creature, without a moment's
thought of the awful crime he was about to commit, pledged himself to
carry it out when the other gave the word.
To add to the evidence against Mr. Willett, as that gentleman was
arrested, Frank Shirley appeared to be very much cast down.
With tears in his eyes, he explained to the many who were only too eager
to listen, that Mr. Willett had married his, Shirley's, cousin, that he
had borne a bad character in Detroit, and that he had recently fled from
that city to escape the consequences of his many crimes.