After several months confinement his friends petitioned for his release, on the alleged ground that he was consumptive, and he was discharged with a pardon signed by Governor John P. Weller. He then returned to Nevada, and joined again with Hyer & Co. in the “Lafayette Bakery.”
He soon made a bargain with a man named Thompson, that the latter should run for the office of City Marshal, and, if successful, that he should resign in Plummer’s favor. The arrangement became public, and Thompson was defeated.
Shortly after this, Plummer got into a difficulty in a house of ill-fame, with a man from San Juan, and struck him heavily on the head with his pistol. The poor fellow recovered, apparently, but died about a year and half afterwards from the effect of the blow, according to the testimony of the physician.
Plummer went away for a few days, and when the man recovered he returned, and walked linked with him through the streets. Plummer went over to Washoe and, joining a gang of Road Agents, he was present at the attack on Wells & Fargo’s bullion express. He leveled his piece at the driver, but the barrels fell off the stock, the key being out, and the driver, lashing his horses into full speed, escaped.
He stood his trial for this, and, for want of legal proof, was acquitted. He then returned to Nevada City.
His next “difficulty” occurred in another brothel where he lived with a young woman as his mistress, and quarreled with a man named Ryder, who kept a prostitute in the same dwelling. This victim he killed with a revolver. He was quickly arrested and lodged in the county jail of Nevada. It is more than supposed that he bribed his jailor to assist him in breaking jail. Hitherto, he had tried force; but in this case fraud succeeded. He walked out in open day. The man in charge, who relieved another who had gone to his breakfast, declared that he could not stop him, for he had a loaded pistol in each hand when he escaped.
The next news was that a desperado named Mayfield had killed Sheriff Blackburn, whom he had dared to arrest him, by stabbing him to the heart with his knife. Of course, Mayfield was immediately taken into custody, and Plummer, who had lain concealed for some time, assisted him to get out of jail, and the two started for Oregon, in company. To prevent pursuit, he sent word to the California papers that he and his comrade had been hanged in Washington Territory, by the citizens, for the murder of two men. All that he accomplished in Walla Walla was the seduction of a man’s wife. He joined himself, in Idaho, to Talbert, alias Cherokee Bob, who was killed at Florence, on account of his connection with this seduction. Plummer stole a horse, and went on the road. In a short time, he appeared in Lewiston, and after a week’s stay, he proceeded, with a man named Ridgley, to Orofino, where he and his party signalized their arrival by the murder of the owner of the dancing saloon, during a quarrel. The desperado chief then started for the Missouri, with the intention of making a trip to the States. The remainder of his career has been already narrated, and, surely, it must be admitted that this “perfect gentleman” had labored hard for the death on the gallows which he received at Bannack, on the 10th of January, 1864.
As one instance of the many little incidents that so often change a man’s destiny, it should be related that when Plummer sold out of the United States Bakery, to Louis Dreifus, he had plenty of money, and started for San Francisco, intending to return to the East. It is supposed that his infatuation for a Mexican courtezan induced him to forego his design, and return to Nevada City. But for this trifling interruption, he might never have seen Montana, or died a felon’s death. The mission of Delilah is generally the same, whether her abode is the vale of Sorek or the Rocky Mountains.