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89 DOI: 10.7330_9780874219203.c006 6 The Murder of Nicholas Tiebolt and the Trial and Execution of George Ives Sanders! Ask him how long he gave the Dutchman! —John X. Beidler, December 21, 1863 S ometimes in history a singular event serves as a catalyst for other significant events that follow.1 Vigilantism in the region of Alder Gulch traces its specific origin to the discovery by William Palmer of a dead male body in early December 1863 as Palmer was outdoors hunting grouse near the Stinking Water River.2 The body was discovered when Palmer retrieved a grouse that he had killed from some brush.3 Palmer’s inspection of the frozen body revealed that the deceased had been shot above the left eye and then dragged by a lariat around his neck.4 By all appearances, the victim had been dragged into the brush while still alive, as evidenced by the presence of sagebrush clenched in the victim ’s hands.5 Palmer sought assistance at a nearby hut, known in those days as a wickiup, where he met “Long John” Franck and George Hilderman, neither of whom were willing to be of help.6 Indeed, Franck and Hilderman told Palmer to “go to Hell.”7 Franck was known as “Long John” because of his tall height.8 Without assistance, Palmer loaded the partially decomposed body into his wagon and ventured to Nevada City, where the victim was identified as a popular young orphaned Dutchman named Nicholas Tiebolt.9 Earlier Tiebolt had been sent by William “Old Man” Clark to retrieve certain mules that Clark had purchased. The mules had been pasturing at a livestock ranch, and Tiebolt left for the ranch with a buckskin pouch containing gold dust but then The Murder of Nicholas Tiebolt and the Trial and Execution of George Ives 90 disappeared.10 Tiebolt’s body, though disfigured and unsightly, was identified by a knife that had been given to him two years earlier by Tom Baume and found in the deceased’s pocket.11 The townsfolk were angered and disturbed by the crime. By all accounts, Tiebolt was a likable and popular young man. Palmer explained that Franck and Hilderman had refused to help with the body, and people noted that both men worked at the ranch to which Tiebolt had been traveling.12 The ranch was owned by George Ives.13 A posse was formed to investigate the murder.14 It included James Williams, John X. Beidler, Elkanah “Elk” Morse, George Burtschey, Henry Clark, Nelson Story, H. K. Harvey, Thomas Baume, Frank Angevine, and others.15 John X. Beidler, known in the region simply as “X,”16 will be heard from more than once later in this narrative. The total size of the posse was approximately twenty-five men.17 “Long John” Franck and George Hilderman were the prime suspects sought by the posse.18 After finding no one at the site where Tiebolt’s body had been found, the posse rode to Ives’s ranch, where they arrested Franck.19 One of the missing mules was discovered at the ranch.20 James Williams, who was the de facto head of the posse from having provided many of its horses, saddles, and bridles,21 interrogated Franck with both prodding and coercive threats of execution.22 Franck admitted that Tiebolt had been robbed of his gold dust and shot to death by George Ives, who was hiding in a nearby hut.23 Franck explained that he did not help bring Tiebolt’s body to Nevada City because he was afraid to be involved.24 Ives was arrested, followed by Hilderman,25 and the suspects were brought back to Nevada City, Montana, for trial.26 Nevada City had been chosen by the posse as the place for the trial, after some internal debate, as it was the mining community that was closest to where Tiebolt’s body was found.27 The prisoners were transported to Nevada City while bound in chains.28 During the trek to Nevada City, and despite the chains, Ives tricked his captors into a horse race during which he almost succeeded in making an escape into the mountains near Biven’s Gulch.29 Franck agreed to testify against Ives,30 and in exchange for that cooperation he would not be tried as a defendant in Tiebolt’s murder. Ives and Hilderman were tried separately, with the Ives trial the first of the two.31 Incredibly, in determining how Ives and Hilderman...

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