P a g e 4 G h o s t T o w n s a n d H i s t o r y o f M o n t a n a N e w s l e t t e r The Story of the First Legal Execution in Montana according to Judge Hiram Knowles, an early pioneer of Montana In 1863 a man was tried and convicted on the crime of murder at Bannack, in Judge Buchett’s court. He was sentenced to be hung. He made an unsuccessful attempt to escape. The next morning the judge entered the court room and found the condemned man there under the charge of a miners’ sheriff, Henry Plummer. The judge advanced and, throwing a leg over the corner of his table, pulled out a plug of Common tobacco and biting off a chew, said, calling the prisoner by his given name : “Your time has come! You will be hung in three hours.” The prisoner expressed a desire for a longer time in which to prepare for the sad event. “No” said the judge, “you can’t be trusted. You tried to escape.” The prisoner then asked if there was a Catholic in the town. He was told of Uncle Jerry Sullivan, a very kind and respected citizen. Uncle Jerry, upon receiving this information, lost no time in visiting his coreligionist, who told him of his sad condition. He wished to be accorded the rights of his church before death. Uncle Jerry sought Judge Burchett and promised to have Father Ravalli there in a few days if the execution could he postponed. The judge insisted that he had no proper jail in which to confine the prisoner and that he having tried to escape, the sentence must be carried out. Sadly Uncle Jerry returned to the condemned man and told Photo by Jolene Ewert-Hintz him of his failure. I am not apprised of the date when the practice was inaugurated of giving a doomed man religious consolation. The ancients built as a part of the funeral obsequies of one of their heroes a pretentious funeral pyre. The religious ceremonies came after death. At a certain period of Christian religious history we find the claim made that the church could fix the status of the Soul in the life to come. The above-named prisoner believed in this power and was much dejected over the circumstances. Finally he said “Mr. Sullivan, what would you do under these circumstances?” Now Uncle Jerry, although a most excellent man, was possessed of the habit of profanity, it was simply a habit. In his usual vernacular he replied: “By God, sir, if you will kneel right down of this floor and ask God Almighty to forgive you for Christ's sake, I’ll be g—d d ----- d if I don’t believe he will do it.” Thus, with a rude sentence and uncouth religious consolation, the prisoner was executed upon the rough and temporary gallows that Henry Plummer had erected. This was the first execution in Montana.
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