The Montana Vigilantes 1863–1870: Gold,Guns and Gallows

Appendix F: Petition for Pardon of Henry Plummer, May 21, 1993

411 Appendix F Petition for Pardon of Henry Plummer, May 21, 1993 To: The Honorable Marc Racicot Governor of the State of Montana State Capitol Building Helena, Montana 59620–0801 SUBJECT: Request for a Pardon FROM: History West Publishing Company P.O. Box 612066 San Jose, California 95161 and Professor Jack Burrows History Department San Jose City College 2100 Moorpark Avenue San Jose, California 95128–2799 CC: The Senate of the State of Montana C/O The Honorable Fred Van Valkenburg, President 112 University Missoula, Montana 59801 CC: The House of the State of Montana C/O The Honorable John Mercer, Speaker P.O. Box 450 Polson, Montana 59680 DOI: 10.7330_9780874219203.c023 Appendix F 412 CC: List of news media who have been following the Plummer trial and are awaiting a report on the pardon plea: 72 newspapers, historical journals, radio, and television of ten western states; the New York Times; national magazines; and television networks. NOTE: The media is expecting our next news release on 30 June 1993. That release will include the two attached letters along with the replies from the Montana Governor and legislative bodies. If Montana officials have not yet replied by 30 June, the release will note that fact. Dear Governor Racicot: On 7 May 1993, the sixth grade of Twin Bridges Schools initiated a posthumous trial for Sheriff Henry Plummer in the Madison County courthouse. Students who had spent months researching took the roles of lawyers and witnesses , and The Honorable Barbara Brook presided. The jury was selected from registered voters of Madison County. Though the prosecution team presented a well researched and historically accurate case, they failed to obtain a conviction . After heated discussion and three votes, the jury remained at a six-tosix deadlock, and Judge Brook declared a mistrial and ordered the defendant released. Thus the headline of the Montana Standard for 8 May 1993 read, “Henry Plummer Freed.” The trial was more than a school activity to offer direct experience in the judicial system. It reflects the students’ hesitance to presume the guilt of an untried law officer of early Montana. The fact that six jurors entertained reasonable doubt suggests that adults also are troubled by the long-accepted account of Plummer’s alleged crimes. In light of 129 years of prejudgment of Plummer’s guilt, the six jurors’ doubt is astounding. As early as 1958, J. W. Smurr, of the History Department of Montana State University, warned of the danger of uncritical acceptance of the writings of Nathaniel Langford and Thomas Dimsdale. Not only was Langford a vigilante, but as authors R. E. Mather and F. E. Boswell point out in their recent book Vigilante Victims, in all probability Dimsdale’s name was also on the vigilante membership roll. Thus for twelve decades, historians have recorded as true fact a version of events prepared by the very men responsible for the assassination of the miners’ democratically elected sheriff and three [sic] of his deputies. Yet the Governor’s File of the State of California contains a document signed in 1859 by more than 100 officials of two counties stating that Henry Plummer was a man of “excellent character,” and diaries and reminiscences of numerous Montana pioneers confirm this evaluation of Plummer’s character. Petition for Pardon of Henry Plummer, May 21, 1993 413 The students of Twin Bridges have initiated a landmark trial. This trial is an eloquent appeal for textbooks that contain accurate information, that conforms to our justice system’s tenet of the accused being innocent until proven guilty, and that respect our Constitutional amendments guaranteeing that guilt be determined only by due process of law. On behalf of my staff and the individual readers and scholars who have prodded our company to help correct a historical injustice, I request that the State of Montana grant Sheriff Henry Plummer a pardon. Since Western history books uniformly declare Plummer guilty of conducting a huge band of murderous robbers, the Montana sheriff has in reality been convicted, and therefore a pardon is necessary. Until such time as Montana takes the lead in issuing an official statement, the historical inaccuracy written into our present school texts will prevail; and Montana students from grade school through university—as well as all other Western history students throughout the nation—will continue to be taught the counterproductive lesson that passing historical judgment on an untried individual is acceptable in America...