He, meanwhile, in the pursuit of his profession as a gambler, formed the acquaintance of many congenial spirits. From their subsequent operations it was also apparent that at his instigation an alliance was formed with them which had for its object the attainment of fortune by the most desperate means. Every fortunate man in any of the mining camps was marked as the prey, sooner or later, of this abandoned combination. Every gambler or rough infesting the camp, either voluntarily or by threats was induced to unite in the enterprise; and thus originated the band of desperadoes which, for the succeeding two years, by their fearful atrocities, spread such terror through the northern mines. Plummer was their acknowledged leader.
Professional gamblers everywhere, in a new country, form a community by themselves. They have few intimates outside of their own number. A sort of tacit understanding among them links them together by certain implied rules and regulations, which they readily obey. Of the same nature, we may suppose, was the bond which united Plummer and his associates in their infernal designs of plunder and butchery. The honor which thieves accord each other, the prospect of unlimited reward for their vicious deeds, and the certainty of condign punishment for any act of treachery, secured the band and its purposes against any betrayal by its members.
Nowhere are the conventionalities of social life sooner abandoned than in a mining camp. To call a man by his proper name there generally implies that he is either a stranger or one with whom you do not care to make acquaintance. The gamblers were generally known by diminutive surnames or appellations significant of their characters. I shall so designate those of them who were thus known, in this narrative.
Prominent among the associates of Plummer at Lewiston were Jack Cleveland, Cherokee Bob, and Bill Bunton. Cleveland was an old California acquaintance, familiar with Plummer’s early history. He used this fatal knowledge, as it afterwards proved, in a dictatorial and offensive manner, often presuming upon it to arrogate a position in the band which by common consent was assigned to Plummer.
Cherokee Bob was a native Georgian, and received his name from the fact that he was a quarter-blood Indian. He was bitter in his hatred of the loyal cause and all engaged in it. Before he came to Lewiston he had, in an affray of his own plotting, killed two or three soldiers in the Walla Walla theatre. He fled to Lewiston to escape the vengeance of their comrades.
Bill Bunton was a double-dyed murderer and notorious horse and cattle thief. He had killed a man at a ball near Walla Walla, was tried for murder, and acquitted on insufficient evidence. He afterwards killed his brother-in-law, and in cold blood soon after shot down an Indian, and escaped the clutches of the law by flight. Possessing himself of a ranche on Pataha Creek, he lived there with his Indian wife, under the pretext of farming. It was soon ascertained, however, that his business was secreting and selling stolen stock. The officers made a dash upon his ranche, but the bird had again flown. Soon afterward, disguised in the blanket and paint of an Indian, he entered Lewiston, and lounged about the streets for several days without exciting suspicion. During this time he became a member of Plummer’s murderous band.
There were several others whose names are unknown, that entered into the combination formed for systematized robbery and murder at this time. Around this nucleus a large number of desperate men afterwards gathered. They became so formidable in numbers, and their deeds of blood were so frequent and daring, that the mining camps were awed by them into tacit submission, and witnessed without even remonstrance the perpetration of murders and robberies in their very midst, of the most revolting character.
CHAPTER II
SOCIETY IN LEWISTON
Towards the close of the Summer of 1862, the band organized by Plummer having increased in numbers, he selected two points of rendezvous, as bases for their operations. These were called “shebangs.” They were enclosed by mountains, whose rugged fastnesses were available for refuge in case of attack.
One was located between Alpwai and Pataha creeks, on the road from Lewiston to Walla Walla, about twenty-five miles from the former, and the other at the foot of Craig’s Mountain, between Lewiston and Oro Fino, at a point where the main road was intersected by a trail for pack animals. The location of the latter was upon ground reserved by treaty to the Nez Percés Indians, and near a military post established for its protection. The chief of the tribe complained to the resident agent of the Indians, of the aggression. He laid the complaint before the commandant of the post, who treated it with neglect. The robbers occupied the spot without molestation, and when they abandoned it, it was of their own accord.