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Pa g e 11 Gho s t T o w n s a n d Hi st o r y o f Mo n t a n a N e w s l e t t er painted a horrifying picture of how people would be frightened away from the region for fear of desperadoes like O’Keeffe. Not surprisingly, O’Keeffe with “blood in his eye” (according to McAdow), attacked the judge, Henry R. Brooks. O’Keeffe demanded, “Say, old Brooks, who in hell made you Judge?” Brooks said that he had been commissioned by the authority of Isaac I. Stevens, Governor of Washington Territory. McAdow reports that O’Keeffe called Brooks a “fraud,” and said, “You’re nothing but a squaw-man living with two squaws at the present time. You and Frank (Woody) are a disgrace to the community and should be driven out.” There was more, but Woody started for O’Keeffe, intending to break a chair over his head, and the fight soon involved every man in the place until the saloon owner, Peter J. Botte, managed to make himself heard. (A club may have helped quiet things, too.) The trial proceeded. Judge Brooks instructed the jury to go quietly to the shack behind Higgins’s and Worden’s store, examine the evidence carefully, and bring in a verdict in favor of the plaintiff. O’Keeffe, restored to his usual bonhomie, treated everyone to a drink on him, but it had no effect. He was fined either $40 or $10 (depending who tells the story) and costs (perhaps for broken furniture) of the trial. Neither account of the trial mentions James Stuart, Granville’s older brother, who had been elected sheriff of Missoula county. In the fall of 1862 word spread by word of mouth, or bush telegraph, that a group of men led by John White had made big gold strike on Grasshopper Creek, in the Beaverhead country, almost 200 miles due south of Hell Gate. There a settlement named Bannack, for the Bannock Indians that claimed the ground, mushroomed like most mining towns. As word of the gold strike spread, men left the Bitterroot and rushed to Bannack. Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz Hell Gate settled down, but nearly two years later, it was the scene of a much larger drama, involving the Vigilantes of Montana. –Carol Buchanan Carol and her husband, Richard live in Northwest Montana and enjoy the daily views of the Swan Range Mountains. Carol writes historical fiction primarily set in Montana between 1862 and 1920, about people forced to make dangerous choices to survive. Some of them were her own ancestors. You can check out more of Carol’s work at: https:// carol-buchanan.com/index.html and purchase her books at: https://www.amazon.com/Carol-Buchanan/e/ B0028OJX9K?ref_=dbs_p_pbk_r00_abau_000000 “There had been a reign of terror in Hell Gate. The robbers did as they pleased and took what they chose. A Colt's revolver was the instrument ever ready to enforce the transfer. Brown, a Frenchman, living in the neighborhood, stated to the Vigilantes, that he was glad to see them, for that the robbers used to ride his stock whenever they pleased, and that they always retained possession of such steeds as they especially fancied.” -Excerpt from The Montana Post, January 13, 1866, Accessed via: hps:// chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ Like what you see? We truly appreciate your donations to help us keep history alive! hps:// www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_buon_id=QPXY2JWST8YR2

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