JAMES DANIELS
Of the early history of this individual I know but little, and but for
circumstances attending his “taking off,” should not trouble my readers
with any notice of him. That he was hardened in vice and crime, and,
possibly, was one of the worst of all the ruffians whose careers I have
passed under review, will hardly admit of a doubt, when the reader is
informed that he murdered one man in Tuolumne County, California, and
was only prevented by want of agility to complete a race, from killing
another. His appearance in Helena, and the commission of the crime for
which he lost his life, were almost simultaneous. In a quarrel incident
to a game of cards, near Helena, he stabbed and instantly killed a man
by the name of Gartley. He was immediately arrested by the Vigilantes,
who surrendered him to the civil authorities. On his trial for murder,
circumstances were proved, which, in the opinion of the jury, reduced
his crime to manslaughter. Judge Munson sentenced him to three years’
imprisonment in the territorial prison. After a few weeks’ confinement,
a petition for his pardon, signed by thirty-two respectable citizens of
Helena, was also presented to acting Governor Meagher, who, under
mistaken sense of his own powers, issued an order for his release. The
right to pardon belonged exclusively to the President. Judge Munson went
immediately to the capital to show the law to the Executive, convince
him of his error, and obtain an order for the re-arrest of Daniels.
Meantime, that individual, uttering the most diabolical threats against
the witnesses who had testified against him, found his way back to
Helena; and before the judge could effect his object with the governor,
in fact, on the night succeeding the day of his arrival in Helena,
Daniels was arrested by the Vigilantes and hanged.
As I have endeavored to justify, in all cases where I deemed the
circumstances warranted it, the action of the Vigilantes in taking life,
so, as such circumstances were not apparent in this case, do I deem it a
duty to say that they committed an irreparable error in the execution of
this man. However much, by his threats and reckless conduct, he may have
deserved death, they had no right to inflict it. If he had been
wrongfully pardoned, he could easily have been rearrested. He was a
single individual in the midst of a populous community, warned by his
threats of his designs, which could easily have been thwarted by
arresting him, or by setting a careful watch over his actions. No excuse
can be offered for the course that was pursued. This, at least, was one
case where the Vigilantes exceeded the boundaries of right and justice,
and became themselves the violators of law and propriety.
I was at that time a member of the Executive Committee of the Virginia
City branch of the Vigilante organization, and that Committee disavowed
all responsibility for the execution of Daniels, and expressed its
disapproval of that act, which, it was believed, did not have the
official sanction of the Executive Committee of Helena, but was regarded
as the unauthorized act of certain irresponsible members of the
organization at Helena.
And I will here take occasion to say that this was not an isolated
instance. Under the pretence of Vigilante justice, after the
establishment of courts of justice in Montana, and when many of the
respectable citizens of the Territory had virtually abandoned the order,
a few vicious men continued occasionally to enforce its summary
discipline. Several individuals were hanged who had been detected in
stealing horses, several for giving utterance to threats of vengeance,
and several on mere suspicion of having committed crime. As soon as this
order of things was understood by the people, the Vigilante institution
was brought to an end, and the men who had misused its powers were given
to understand that any further employment of them would probably cause
it to react upon themselves. These abuses had not been frequent, and
when discovered were promptly terminated.