WHITE AND DORSETT
The attachments formed between men, where the privileges and enjoyments
of social life are confined to the monotonous round of a mining camp,
are necessarily strong. The surroundings, which dictate great prudence
in the choice of friends, where confidence is once established, are
continually strengthening the ties that bind men to each other.
Self-preservation and self-interest will furnish apologies for
incompatibilities of temper in the mountains, which would sever
friendships formed in less exposed communities. The sterling qualities
of truth, honor, integrity, and kindness are sooner ascertained and more
highly prized among miners than any other class. We have seen the
operation of these principles in the instance of Beachy and Magruder, a
very strong but not an exceptional case; this is another narrative of
similar import.
Rudolph Dorsett arrived at Bannack with a party of miners from Colorado,
in April, 1863. During the following Summer, he, in company with John
White, the discoverer of the Bannack mines, and a few others, left for
the interior on a prospecting tour. The Winter of 1863–64 found the
little party near the head of Big Boulder Creek, where they had made
some promising discoveries. Being nearly out of provisions, White and
Dorsett started on horseback for Deer Lodge, to obtain a fresh supply.
At the head of Boulder, they came upon one Kelley and a comrade, who had
made a camp there, and been detained several days by deep snows. They
were literally “snowed in”; and, their food being exhausted, they had
killed and were feeding upon one of their horses.
After supplying their immediate wants, White and Dorsett, discouraged by
the gathering snows from any further effort to cross the main ridge,
changed their course, and, taking the two men with them, started for
Virginia City, where they arrived after three days of perilous travel.
Kelley and his partner were entirely destitute. Their kind benefactors
made known their condition to Henry Thompson and William Rumsey, and
they paid their bills at a restaurant the two days succeeding their
arrival; and other citizens of Virginia City, at Dorsett’s solicitation,
provided them with clothing. An arrangement was made for Kelley and his
comrade to return with White and Dorsett to their camp; but, when the
time came to leave, Kelley said that he had been promised a horse the
next day, which he would get and overtake them. The three men departed
without him, and, after a cold ride of several days, found their party
camped on the upper waters of Prickly Pear Creek. They were all in
excellent spirits, and supposed they had found a very prolific placer.
Dorsett, true to the confidence reposed in him by his friends, Thompson
and Rumsey, returned immediately to Virginia City, to apprise them of
his good fortune, so that they might improve the earliest indications of
a stampede, and secure a good interest in the placer mine. This is one
of the rigid requirements of friendship in a mining region. No matter
how distant the discovery may be, nor how difficult the journey, when a
mine is found of any value, it is the duty of the discoverer, before
disclosing it to the public, to notify his friends, that they may make
sure of the best location. Indeed, in the early days of Montana, there
were hundreds of old miners, experts in the business of prospecting,
who, being unable to purchase “grub,” were fully supplied with horses,
food, and tools, upon the distinct understanding that they were to share
with those who “outfitted” them in all their discoveries. Woe to the man
who was base enough to violate this agreement! If he escaped lynching he
never failed being driven from the country by the hisses and execrations
of every “honest miner” in it. There was held
“in every honest hand, a whip
To lash the rascals naked through the world.”
During the night following the departure of White, Dorsett, and Kelley’s
partner from Virginia City, a mule belonging to William Hunt, and a
horse owned by another citizen of Virginia City, were stolen. Dorsett
was informed of this on his return, and, not having seen Kelley since
his promise to overtake his party, he at once suspected him of the
theft. The mule was a very fine animal, which Hunt had purchased of
Dorsett in Colorado.
“If I find him,” said Dorsett, as he mounted his horse to return to the
mine, “I will recover and send him back to you.”
The second day after this promise was made, while crossing the divide
between White Tail and Boulder, Dorsett met Kelley in possession of the
stolen animals. After a brief conversation, Dorsett asked,
“Where did you get that fine mule, Kelley?”
“The man at Nevada, who promised me the horse I told you about, could
not find him, and gave me the mule instead.”
Not wishing to arouse Kelley’s suspicion, Dorsett asked no more
questions, but, with a friendly “good-bye,” rode on as rapidly as
possible to his camp. He was informed that Kelley had been there, and
had told the miners that some friend in Deer Lodge had sent him a
written offer to furnish provisions and a good outfit for prospecting.
He was going there immediately to accept it, and had bought both horse
and mule for that purpose. When they were informed that the animals were
stolen, White agreed to join Dorsett, and they started immediately in
pursuit of the thief, thus furnishing another instance of the strength
of that friendship which neither the freezing weather and mountain
snows, nor long days of travel and long nights of exposure, could
overcome. The single thought of serving a friend put to flight every
consideration of personal comfort or convenience. They did not expect to
be absent longer than three days at the most.
A week passed and nothing was heard from them. Dorsett had promised
Thompson and Rumsey, when he left, that he would return to Virginia City
in five or six days. Ten days expired without bringing any intelligence.
Rumsey’s fears were aroused for the safety of his friends. Being at
Nevada on business, he mentioned incidentally this strange
disappearance, and Stephen Holmes, a bystander, observed that, four days
before, while at Deer Lodge, he had met Kelley with Dorsett’s horse,
revolver, Henry rifle, and cantinas, and that Kelley had told him he
traded for them with a man at Boulder. With characteristic promptness,
Rumsey replied to Holmes,
“The men have been murdered by the scoundrel, and he is fleeing with
their property.”
To think, with such men as Thompson and Rumsey, was to act. No time was
to be lost. Thoroughly equipped for a long pursuit, Thompson and a
friend named Coburn started immediately upon the track of Kelley, and at
the same time James Dorsett, brother of Rudolph, organized a party with
which he went as rapidly as possible to the Boulder, in search of the
missing men. This little party passed the first night at Coppock’s
ranche on the Jefferson. The next day, while passing through a hollow on
the Boulder range, called Basin, they found tracks diverging from the
road in the direction of White Tail Deer Creek. They followed that
stream nearly to the forks, when suddenly they saw, some distance before
them, two men emerge from the thin forest of pines. They spurred their
horses into a sharp run. The men turned at the sound and raised their
guns, and stood upon the defensive. The approaching party, rifles in
hand, drew nearer, and a conflict at long range seemed inevitable.
Fortunately, at this moment, one of the two men recognized James
Dorsett, and dropped his gun, and with friendly gestures rode toward
him. Offensive demonstrations were soon followed by hearty greetings.
The two men proved to be John Heffner and a comrade, who had just been
searching in the willows for a suitable camping ground for the night.
“I have found,” said he, in a mournful tone, “what you are searching
for. Rudolph Dorsett and John White have both been murdered, and their
bodies are in the willows.”
“My God!” exclaimed James, “my brother murdered!” and, bursting into
tears, he followed Heffner into the clump.
“I came in here,” said Heffner, “to pick up some wood for a camp-fire.
This heap of coals and burned sticks attracted my attention. Thinks I,
there’s been campers here before. I looked around and caught a glance at
the saddle. It startled me, for it seemed a very good one, and I thought
it strange that any one would leave it here. I examined it narrowly,
and, lifting it up, I beheld the dead face of John White. You may well
believe I was frightened. On turning to call my partner, I almost
stumbled over the corpse of your brother, which was covered with an
overcoat. We had just completed our survey of the camp, and stepped out
of the bushes to look up another camping place, when we heard your
horses.”
On a close examination of the spot, appearances indicated that White and
Dorsett, with Kelley as a prisoner, had arrived there either at a late
hour, or without any provisions, as there was no evidence of cooking.
They had tied their prisoner with twisted strips of blanket, pieces of
which were found near, and, as they doubtless supposed, secured him for
the night. A few fagots had been heaped up for a morning fire; and the
theory of the murder advanced by the searching party was that, while
White was on his knees kindling the fire, Kelley freed himself from his
bonds, picked up White’s revolver, and shot him twice in the back of the
neck; then seizing his rifle, turned and shot Dorsett, who was gathering
wood a little distance away, through the heart. An armful of wood lay
scattered where he had fallen. His skull was beaten in pieces, a bowlder
lying near, bespattered with blood and brains, bearing gloomy testimony
to the manner in which it was done. After this his body had been dragged
some twenty steps from the spot where he fell, and stripped of its
clothing, which the murderer had taken away with him, and wore the day
that Holmes met him at Deer Lodge. White’s body had also been removed,
and the saddle placed over the face. The bodies were taken to Coppock’s
ranche, and thence to Virginia City for burial.
This was one of the earliest and most brutal tragedies in the newly
discovered gold region; and, happening when they were populated mostly
by Eastern people, and before Plummer and his band of ruffians had been
arrested in their grand scheme of wholesale slaughter, it produced a
profound sensation throughout the country. The desire to capture and
make a public example of the ruffian who had committed the shocking
crime was universal. All eyes were turned to the pursuit of Kelley by
Thompson and Coburn, and all ears open to catch the first tidings of its
success. These men were beyond the reach of information of the discovery
of the bodies at the time it was made, but they had found evidence by
the way, which convinced them that their friends had been assassinated.
At Deer Lodge a pistol which Kelley had sold was identified by Thompson
as the property of Dorsett, and his initials, R. R. D., were graven on
the handle. They pushed the pursuit to Hell Gate, procuring two relays
in Deer Lodge Valley. Finding that the deep snows rendered the Cœur
D’Alene Mountains impassable, they turned back to take the route into
Oregon, by Jocko and Pend d’Oreille lakes. Between Frenchtown and Hell
Gate they met an Indian with Dorsett’s saddle, which Thompson took from
him. Forty miles below Jocko, they reclaimed the horse from a little
band of Indians who had traded for it with Kelley. Proceeding on towards
the Pacific, they met a company of miners, who had met Kelley fifteen
days before, on his way to Lewiston.
The men pursued their journey, following the devious windings of Clark’s
Fork to its junction with the Snake River, and thence on to Lewiston,—a
tract of country at that time more disastrous for winter travel than
perhaps any other equal portion of the continent. There were no roads,
and the solitary Indian trail leading over the mountains, through
cañons, and across large rivers, for much of the distance was obscured
by snow, and in many places difficult and dangerous of passage. Had
their object been anything less than to avenge the death of their
friend, they would have turned back, and consoled themselves with the
reflection that it was not worth the risk and exposure needful to win
it; but, with that in view, they welcomed privation and danger while a
single hope remained of its accomplishment.
At Lewiston, Coburn remained on the lookout, while Thompson continued
the pursuit farther west. At the hotel in Walla Walla, Thompson found
Kelley’s name upon the register. He learned, on inquiring of the clerk,
that he had told him he came from the Beaverhead mines. The barber who
shaved him remembered him, because he paid him an extra price for the
service. Kelley had purchased a new suit of clothes, of which Thompson
procured a sample. With these clews Thompson hastened to Portland, and
ascertained that Kelley had spent nine days there, and left by steamer
for San Francisco. In fact, on the day that Thompson arrived at
Portland, Kelley entered the harbor of San Francisco. Thompson
telegraphed the chief of police to arrest and detain him until he
arrived. He had taken the precaution to obtain requisitions from the
Governor of Idaho on the Governors of Oregon, California, and
Washington, and a commission as special deputy United States marshal.
Chief Burke, on receipt of the telegram, called at the hotel where
Kelley had taken quarters, and, not finding him, gave no further
attention to the matter. Learning on his return that he had been
inquired after, Kelley, suspicious of the object, left the city at once,
taking with him an overcoat and pistol belonging to a fellow boarder.
Thompson found, on his arrival at San Francisco, that the bird had
flown, but in what direction he was unable to ascertain. After spending
some time in fruitless inquiry, he returned home with nothing better
than his labor for his pains. It was a sore disappointment, but none the
less demonstrative as an illustration of personal devotion and
attachment.
Kelley returned to Portland, and soon disappeared from public view.
Thompson was constantly on the lookout for him, and in 1864 heard of him
as a participant in a robbery committed in Port-Neuf Cañon. It was
ascertained that after the robbery Kelley went to Denver, where he was
known by the name of Childs. He remained there several months. Thompson
heard of his being there, and sent a man to identify him. Kelley took
the alarm, and left immediately by the Oregon route for Mexico. Thompson
wrote to a friend in Prescott to arrest him _en route_, but the letter
arrived too late, as the rascal had passed through the town several days
before. If living, he is still at large; but there is no corner of the
globe where Thompson would not follow him, were he certain that the
journey would effect his arrest.