Mr. Beachy, after repeated rebuffs, succeeded in getting the seventeen thousand dollars, which the murderers had deposited in the mint at San Francisco. This was given to the widow and heirs of Magruder. After a delay of some years, the Legislature of Idaho appropriated an amount sufficient to defray the expense he had incurred in the capture and prosecution of the murderers; and he subsequently removed to San Francisco, where he died in the year 1875, esteemed by all who knew him, not less for his generosity of heart, than the other manly and noble qualities of his character.
CHAPTER XXXIV
HOWIE AND FETHERSTUN
Several days after the execution of “Red” and Brown, when their bodies were taken down for burial, there was found, fastened to each, a monograph which has few parallels for brevity in the annals of necrology. “Red! Road Agent and Messenger!” “Brown! Corresponding Secretary!” Laconic, but explicit, they fitly epitomized the history, both in life and death, of these ill-fated men.
The little company of Vigilantes arrived in Nevada early the morning after the execution. The Committee assembled immediately to consider what action should be pursued with reference to the disclosures made by “Red,” but, as the results of their recommendations will hereafter appear, no further allusion to the subject is necessary at this time.
The fluttering among the robbers, when it became known that two men of their number had fallen, was very perceptible both at Bannack and Virginia City. Many of them fled at once; others, who would have accompanied them, had they heard of the disclosures made by “Red,” believed themselves secure, until some testimony should appear against them. Not anticipating treachery from any of their comrades, they regarded such treachery as wholly unattainable.
Dutch John was not of this number. Alarm grew upon him day by day, after the execution of Ives. He knew that, with the unhealed bullet wound in his shoulder, his identity with the robbers who attacked Moody’s train would be clearly established. He went to Plummer with his fears. Plummer advised him to leave the Territory. In pursuance of this advice, he shouldered his saddle and left Bannack in the direction of Horse Prairie. A person who saw him leave, suspecting that he had designs upon a fine gray horse, wrote to the owners of the animal, warning them of his approach. They lay in watch for the thief, and discovered him sitting in the underbrush. They immediately hedged him in, and captured him. After a severe lecture and taking his saddle, they gave him an old mule and blanket, and bade him depart. Accompanied by a Bannack Indian, he rode slowly down the road leading to Salt Lake City.
A few days after the execution of Ives, John X. Beidler, who had officiated on that occasion, went down the Salt Lake road to meet a train which was expected from Denver. Meeting it at Snake River, he returned with it to Beaverhead valley, where he was told of the attack, by Dutch John and Marshland, on Moody’s train, and furnished with a description of the robbers. His informant, believing that Moody’s shot would prove fatal, told him that he would know the body of the robber by his leggings.
“I need a pair of leggings,” replied X., “and, if I find the man dead, will confiscate them.” Beidler turned back, and met Dutch John and the Indian in Beaver Cañon, at the toll-gate. Failing to recognize him as the robber, he offered him a drink from a bottle of schnapps. John’s hands were so severely frozen that he could not grasp the bottle. Beidler soaked them in water, to take the frost out. While thus employed, John asked,
“Is it true that George Ives has been hanged?”
“Yes,” replied Beidler; “he’s dead and buried.”