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 T h e M o n t a n a V i g i l a n t e s a n d 3 - 7 - 7 7 Mustard Plasters Mustard Plasters were believed to produce “counter irritation”. They worked by drawing the congested blood, which produced the inflammation at the affected part, to an unaffected part where the plaster was applied. This relieved the pain at the affected part. Some of these were strong enough to take off your hide and simply substituted a new pain for the original. Vigilantes are an often revered part of Montana’s history. The Vigilance Committee represented the first organized law enforcement in Montana and 3-777 was the symbol they used to give warning that justice was about to be served. The numbers were found painted on cabins and scraps of paper with the number scribed onto it were left on hanged corpses. For years, historians have been at a loss as to the exact meaning of the mysterious “3-7-77.” What they can agree upon is 3-7-77 struck fear into thieves, armed robbers, claim-jumpers, and cutthroats. Ad from The Sanders County Independent (Thompson Falls, MT) July 10, 1929 CORN PUFFS Scald five tablespoonfuls of Indian meal, and when hot add a lump of butter the size of an egg; when cold, add two eggs beaten separately, two cups of sweet milk and eight tablespoonfuls of wheat flour. Some popular theories for the numbers include: 1) The numbers represent the dimensions of a grave: 3 feet wide, 7 feet deep, and 77 inches (6 feet 5 inches) long. 2) The numbers represent the time allotted to get out of town: 3 hours, 7 minutes, 77 seconds. 3) Another theory is that the numbers represent certain persons in the group from their earlier days in the mining camps of California. Most of the Vigilantes came from California and followed the gold from there to Montana. Many of the Montana miners had belonged to vigilante organizations in California where only numbers were used. This theory indicates that three prominent California vigilantes (3, 7, and 77) came to Montana and offered their expertise. 4) The numbers could signify the vocations of persons involved in the organization: 3 lawyers, 7 merchants, and 77 miners. 5) In 1974, historian Rex Myers wrote a compelling article for Montana: The Magazine of Western History proposing that the code has Masonic roots. Myers suggests that the 3 referred to the three immigrants from Minnesota who founded Montana's first lodge in 1862; the 7 referenced seven prominent Virginia City Masons who formed a vigilance committee and signed an oath in 1863; and the 77 represented a Mason named Bell who died of fever in 1862 plus the 76 others said to have attended his funeral. 6) The sum of the number 3+7+7+7 total 24, representing the criminal had 24 hours to leave town. 7) The number set may have something to do with the date March 7th, 1877; the numbers were first used in that decade and first appeared in print later in that decade of the 19th century. 8) In his 2013 book A Decent, Orderly Lynching, author Frederick Allen wrote: “The men responsible for posting the numbers did not see fit to give a public explanation of their meaning, but the message appears to have been an ultimatum directed at some two dozen roughnecks to get out of town, using a $3 ticket on the 7 A.M. stagecoach to Butte, by order of a secret committee of seventy-seven — or so the author believes, based on extensive research undertaken for this book.” In any case, the symbol still survives today. The numbers were added to the Montana Highway Patrol Troopers patch in 1956 and have remained as a tribute to those first law enforcers ever since.
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