Legends of the Old West - OUTLAWS Ep. 6 | Henry Plummer: “Prisoner No. 1573”

Episode Date: March 2, 2022

In the wake of a deadly shootout near Nevada City, town marshal Henry Plummer kills a man whom he suspects is a danger to his wife. Plummer claims self defense, but a jury believes otherwise. Plummer lands in notorious San Quentin prison. After a short stint, Plummer begins a new life on the outlaw trail, a life that leads him to Idaho Territory and sets the stage for the most infamous phase of career. Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join To advertise on this podcast, please email [e-mail] For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please visit AirwaveMedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin’s World, Once Upon A Crime, and many more. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Si vous faites vos achats tout en travaillant, en mangeant ou même en écoutant ce balado, alors vous connaissez et aimez l'excitation du magasinage. Mais avez-vous ce frisson d'obtenir le meilleur deal? Les membres de Rakuten, eux, oui. Ils magasinent les marques qu'ils aiment et font d'importantes économies, en plus des remises en argent. Et vous pouvez aussi commencer à gagner des remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés, comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent dans vos magasins préférés comme Old Navy, Best Buy et Expedia, et même cumuler les ventes et les remises en argent.

C'est facile à utiliser et vous obtenez vos remises par PayPal ou par chèque. L'idée est simple. Les magasins paient Rakuten pour leur envoyer des gens magasinés. Et Rakuten partage l'argent avec vous sous forme de remise. Téléchargez l'application gratuite Rakuten et ne manquez jamais un bon deal.

Ou allez sur rakuten.ca to get more for your money. It's R-A-K-U-T-E-N. Henry Plummer is not a name that's often mentioned in the history of the West, though that's not the case in the state of Montana, where Henry's story is legendary. But to this day, that story is a series of contradictions, part fact and part fabrication. For some, Henry was an honest man who soldiered through a life filled with bad luck and bad timing, and who eventually tangled with treacherous men and their greed for money and power. For others, Henry was the one who was guilty of treachery and greed, a corrupt lawman who exploited his power.

Henry's life seemed to be going fine at first. He was a boy from New England who went to California on a quest for gold. Instead, he found a modest fortune in the business world. It wasn't until Henry gave up business and took up the law that his life took a dark turn. In 1856, Henry's tenure as the Marshal of Nevada City, California, got off to a rocky start. He rounded up a posse to arrest a gang of thieves, but his mission was complicated by not one, but two additional posses that had been organized by other people. One of those posses was a group of vigilantes who had no reason to be in on the action.

was a group of vigilantes who had no reason to be in on the action. In the attempt to arrest the thieves, a chaotic and complicated gunfight broke out. The county sheriff was killed. His deputy was wounded and later died. Marshal Henry Plummer was exonerated of any wrongdoing in the court of law, but public opinion was mixed. Even so, he won re-election in 1857, and then the trouble really began. As a podcast network, our first priority has always been audio and the stories we're able to share with you. But we also sell merch, and organizing that was made both possible and easy with Shopify. Shopify is the global commerce platform that helps you sell and grow at every stage of your business. From the launch your online shop stage all the way to the did we just hit a million orders stage. Whether you're selling scented soap or offering outdoor outfits, Shopify helps you sell everywhere.

They have an all-in-one e-commerce platform and in-person POS system, so wherever and whatever you're selling, Shopify's got you covered. With the internet's best converting checkout, 36% better on average compared to other leading commerce platforms, Shopify helps you turn browsers into buyers. Shopify has allowed us to share something tangible with the podcast community we've built here, selling our beanies, sweatshirts, and mugs to fans of our shows without taking up too much time from all the other work we do to bring you even more great content. And it's not just us. Shopify powers 10% of all e-commerce in the U.S. Shopify is also the global

force behind Allbirds, Rothy's, and Brook Brooklinen and millions of other entrepreneurs of every size across 175 countries. Because businesses that grow, grow with Shopify. Sign up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash realm, all lowercase. Go to Shopify.com slash realm now to grow business, no matter what stage you're in. Shopify.com slash realm. From Black Barrel Media, this is Legends of the Old West. I'm your host, Chris Wimmer. And this season, we're telling the stories of two outlaws, John Wesley Harden and Henry Plummer.

This is Episode 6, Henry Plummer, Prisoner No. 1573. In early 1857, a man named John Vedder, his wife Lucy, and their infant daughter moved to Nevada City. They rented a house from Marshal Henry Plummer, and John went to work as a card dealer. But the Vedder marriage was not a happy one, and the husband and wife were soon known around town for having loud and sometimes violent confrontations. John Vedder had a suspicious nature and became convinced that his wife was cheating on him. Vedder was worried that his wife might get a divorce and custody of their child, so he sought the advice of an attorney.

Lucy Vedder became suspicious that her husband was spying on her. One day, after she noticed a strange man following her, she confronted her husband about it. His reaction was not exactly measured. John first denied the accusation, then pulled out a bowie knife and held it to her throat. Lucy was afraid for her life and went to her landlord, Marshall Plummer, seeking protection. Some have speculated that Henry's motivation to help Lucy was not solely that of a lawman protecting a woman from a violent husband, but more about a man protecting the woman he was romantically involved with. Others contend there was never a shred of evidence to support the accusation.

The nature of their relationship is still unclear, but at the time, the rumors spread through Nevada City like wildfire, and the flames soon reached John Vedder. Henry moved Lucy and her baby to a hotel. Then he rented a room across the hall where he could keep an eye on her, a move that evoked more suspicion. After John Vedder made threats against his wife and the marshal, the situation escalated. Plummer warned Vedder to stay away from Lucy, but Vedder was not the type to heed such a warning. It was soon decided that the safest way to avoid a tragedy was for Lucy to leave town with the baby. With the situation so

volatile, Lucy took the baby to stay with friends at a ranch outside town. On the night Lucy was scheduled to take a 2 a.m. stagecoach to Sacramento, Henry asked a former deputy named Pat Corbett to wait with her. Around midnight, Henry relieved Corbett of duty. It's believed that John Vedder may have followed Henry to the ranch. While Henry and Lucy sat in front of the fireplace, they heard footsteps on the back stairs. What happened next caused tremendous controversy in Nevada City in the days that followed. Neighbors said they heard four gunshots,

and shortly afterward, they found John Vedder dead at the bottom of the stairs. Then they saw Pat Corbett return to the house and pick up Vedder's pistol. In a somewhat puzzling move, Henry walked to the jail and turned himself in to the jailer, who was now in the awkward position of having to lock up his boss. Henry Plummer said later that Vedder walked up the stairs, saw Plummer, pointed his pistol, and shouted, your time has come. Henry said he couldn't remember who fired first, but the coroner was clear that Vedder had been shot in the arm and the chest. Deputies found two more bullets above the spot where Vedder was standing, which accounted for all four gunshots.

But that also made it sound like all four had been fired by Henry Plummer. Lucy claimed to have a sharper memory of the event. plumber. Lucy claimed to have a sharper memory of the event. She swore that John fired first, in which case there would have been five gunshots. Deputy Pat Corbett later turned in John Vedder's pistol, and sure enough, it had been fired. But what aroused suspicion was that a short time after Corbett picked up Vedder's pistol from the scene of the shooting? A mysterious gunshot was heard across town. A gunshot that was never explained. A grand jury now faced the challenge of sorting out the situation. Did John Vedder fire first?

Did Marshall Plummer return fire in self-defense? Were there five gunshots instead of four, which meant the witnesses were simply wrong in their memories? Or did Henry Plummer kill John Vedder in cold blood and then ask his deputy to take Vedder's gun across town and fire a shot in an effort to cover up the crime? But if that was the case, then there was a problem with the motive. If Henry was not in a romantic relationship with Lucy, and if it wasn't self-defense, why would the marshal kill a man who posed no immediate threat, even if that man had a history of violence?

But the history of violence was the key to that one. John Vedder had borrowed the gun from a friend that very day, and if he was stalking up to the house in the middle of the night, he probably had bad intentions. The grand jury weighed the case and made his decision. It charged Henry Plummer with murder and made him stand trial. On October 15, 1857, a jury found Henry Plummer guilty of murder. His attorney immediately called for a retrial, claiming his client had not received a fair trial because the jurors had a biased view of Henry.

The retrial was granted, and two months later, a new jury delivered the same verdict, guilty. A third trial was denied, and a judge sentenced Henry Plummer to 12 years of hard labor at San Quentin. Just before Henry was to report to prison, his lawyer was able to convince the California Supreme Court to reverse the conviction based on jury prejudice and grant him a third trial. This trial took place in Marysville, a small mining town west of Nevada City. The jury heard the same evidence and testimony as the previous juries and delivered the same verdict, guilty as charged. Henry did get a slight break when the judge only sentenced him to 10 years of hard labor rather than 12. On February 22, 1859, Henry Plummer reported to San Quentin, where he became inmate No. 1573. In the space of his neck,

another on his left shoulder, and a nasty scar on his left forefinger. He also had three badly scarred and crippled fingers on the same hand. He had a fair complexion with light brown hair and gray eyes. The prison physical also discovered that Henry Plummer had a chronic lung illness, known then as consumption and later as tuberculosis. It was a disease that could easily prove fatal under the right conditions, and San Quentin had all the right conditions. It sat directly on San Francisco Bay, and it was cold and damp and prone to mold. Henry's 10-year sentence could very easily become a death sentence.

The prison doctor sent the new inmate to the sick bay. The doctor also took a liking to Henry, so to spare him from the chain gang, where the doctor was certain he would succumb to his illness, he made Henry his assistant. Henry also became a prison trustee and was allowed to run errands for the doctor outside the prison. But despite his special treatment, Henry's health continued to decline. Alarmed by his patient's deteriorating condition, the doctor sent a letter to the governor of California pleading for clemency. The letter said Henry's disease could be fatal in a very short period of time, and Henry might not live another five or six months

in the current conditions. The doctor ended his plea by asking for a speedy removal from confinement before it is too late. Back in Nevada City, Henry's friends and supporters circulated a petition asking the governor to facilitate Henry's release. The petition said Henry was a young man of excellent character who was elected city marshal twice and was convicted of murder purely on circumstantial evidence. Henry's friend and former deputy, Pat Corbett, delivered the petition to the governor himself, and the efforts paid off. On August 15, 1859, the governor granted a pardon to Henry Plummer based on his failing health,

and on August 16, Henry was released from San Quentin, having served barely six months of his 10-year sentence. But as always seemed to be the case in the life of Henry Plummer, his luck soon turned bad again. After his release from San Quentin, Henry returned to Nevada City, but he was not the same man. He began drinking heavily and became a regular at local brothels. According to those who knew him at the time, Henry was demoralized to discover that there was so much hostility aimed at him by those who he once considered friends and allies. so much hostility aimed at him by those who he once considered friends and allies. Henry's fall from grace was epic, and it left him depressed and disoriented. Then in February of 1861, Henry Plummer became entangled in yet another violent altercation, this time at a brothel

called Irish Maggie's. Once again, what happened, or didn't happen, was a point of controversy. Some newspapers practiced restraint in reporting the incident, while another, a paper that devoted a lot of ink over the years to criticizing Henry Plummer, wrote a condemning account, but without any way of knowing if its version was true or not. That paper's version held that Henry was in the company of one of the girls when he got into a fight with another patron, a man named W.J. Muldoon, who also wanted to share her company. When Muldoon pounded on the door, threatening violence and berating Henry,

Henry finally opened the door. Things immediately got physical, and berating Henry, Henry finally opened the door. Things immediately got physical, and Henry, allegedly, hit Muldoon over the head with the butt of his pistol. Henry was not arrested or charged, not even after Muldoon died a few weeks later, apparently as a result of his head injury. Henry narrowly avoided being sent back to San Quentin. For some, it would have served as a wake-up call and a pretty good reason to stay on the straight and narrow, or at least not to kill anybody else.

But Henry didn't seem to be comfortable living his life on the straight and narrow. In April of 1861, the Civil War broke out and stunned the nation. It also divided the country into two very different camps, creating a climate of volatility the country had never seen. And the West was not immune. Although far from the battlefields, there was still plenty of fighting after people took their sides and dug in their heels. Henry Plummer, as a Democrat, was expected to toe the party line and support the

Confederacy. But as a New Englander by birth, he did not. Henry supported the Northern cause, while at the same time remaining a Democrat. Henry's position was very unpopular in the eyes of Democrats who supported the Southern cause, which of course meant supporting slavery. And Henry's unapologetic loyalty to the North played a major role in his next altercation, at yet another brothel. Newspaper accounts claimed Henry and a young man from Missouri named William Riley, a Southern sympathizer, got into an argument over Henry's loyalties to the North. Riley drew a knife and slashed Henry's head right through his hat, causing a deep gash. The Nevada Democrat newspaper said, Plummer, at the time, drew his revolver and fired at Riley.

The ball took effect in his left side and must have killed him instantly. Plummer was taken into custody by Officer Kenner and lodged in jail. Henry's head wound was treated by a local doctor, and having lost so much blood, he was in a weakened state. But despite his condition, he somehow managed to escape jail and flee Nevada City. How he was able to do it is up for debate, but he almost certainly had help. Could it have been the girl from the brothel who posed as his wife and visited him in jail? Or could Henry's friends and law enforcement have stepped in, knowing another murder conviction for Henry meant a return to San Quentin?

knowing another murder conviction for Henry meant a return to San Quentin. Like Henry, they also knew, given his deteriorating health, this amounted to a death sentence. However it happened, Henry Plummer was now a fugitive. After Henry's escape, officers who may or may not have been involved in assisting him made a statement to the Nevada Democrat that read, There is no prospect of his being caught. The circumstances connected to the killing of Riley, as generally understood, would hardly justify Plummer's conviction for murder. But this being the second man he has killed in Nevada,

and knowing that there is a strong prejudice against him in the county, he doubtless thought it prudent not to risk a trial. The newspaper then added its own editorial spin. If Plummer shows as much tact in staying away from the county as he did in leaving the jail, the community should have no particular reason to deplore his departure, as the cost of an expensive trial would probably result in him leaving here a most useless, if not dangerous, man. After leaving Nevada City for the last time, Henry Plummer crossed the Sierra Nevada mountains in early November of 1861 and arrived in Carson City, Nevada, where he looked up an old friend named Billy Mayfield,

a professional gambler and part-time criminal. Despite Mayfield's Confederate sympathies, he welcomed his old friend with open arms. Although law enforcement in Nevada City had turned their heads while their former colleague escaped from custody, Nevada County did issue a warrant for Henry's arrest. When the arrest warrant reached the desk of Carson City Sheriff John Blackburn, he had a feeling Henry might be in his town. And knowing Billy Mayfield's reputation, Sheriff Blackburn thought he was just the man to talk to about Henry's whereabouts. Blackburn confronted Mayfield,

but Mayfield claimed ignorance. Sheriff Blackburn tried again the next day, and the next day, drilling Mayfield about where Henry was hiding out, certain that Mayfield knew something. drilling Mayfield about where Henry was hiding out, certain that Mayfield knew something. The harassment continued until one night, when Sheriff Blackburn once again started his interrogation of Billy Mayfield, who was drunk in a saloon, Mayfield had had enough. He took out his hunting knife and mercilessly stabbed the sheriff in the chest. Billy Mayfield was taken into custody, and it's believed Henry saw this as his cue to get out of town. Where he spent the winter of 1861 to 1862, one of the harshest winters in years, remains a mystery. But in July of 1863, Henry Plummer, still a wanted

fugitive, showed up in Lewiston, Idaho, where he inexplicably signed into the Luna House Hotel under his own name. It's believed Henry spent about a month around Lewiston and tried his hand at prospecting again while he figured out his next move. Unfortunately, Henry's rough streak continued. At one of the mining camps, he met a couple itinerant miners named Charles Reeves and William Ridgely. The two miners had been frequenting an establishment that was more or less a traveling saloon and dance hall that followed migrant miners and provided entertainment.

The owner was a man named Pat Ford, who was also a guest at the Luna House Hotel and a man whom Henry allegedly knew. As always with Henry, the details of what exactly happened that night are fuzzy, but it's believed that Henry and his two new friends got a little out of hand at Pat Ford's saloon. Ford asked them to leave, or more likely tried to kick them out. Henry and his buddies took issue with the request and refused to leave, or more likely tried to kick them out. Henry and his buddies took issue with the request and refused to leave, but eventually conceded and began their exit. This is where things get even fuzzier, but according to local newspaper accounts,

Ford wanted to make it clear that Plummer, Ridgely, and Reeves were not welcome back, so he drew his pistol and fired several shots at the men. He hit Ridgely twice in the leg and put a bullet into Plummer's horse. The men returned fire, and Pat Ford was shot dead. Plummer and Reeves fled Lewiston, leaving the wounded Ridgely behind. The pair headed to a new gold camp called Gold Creek near the town of Bannock. Apparently somewhere along the way, Henry had a change of heart, or possibly a falling out with Reeves, and decided he was going to head to Fort Benton instead. Some have speculated that Henry

may have intended to take a steamboat to St. Louis by way of the Missouri River and then continue east. But if that was his plan, it changed when he met a sketchy character named Jack Cleveland. The name Jack Cleveland was an alias. The man's real name was John Farnsworth, and ironically enough, he was one of the men who escaped from Henry's makeshift jail in Nevada City nine years earlier after a fire burned half the town. Some believe Cleveland joined up with Henry because he had heard rumors that Henry had a lot of gold and cash with him, and Cleveland planned to take it when he got a chance. Historians are still puzzled by Henry's choice to travel with Cleveland, because by all reports, their relationship was contentious at best. It would make sense that Henry's animosity toward his new traveling companion was because he knew Cleveland was one of the escaped prisoners from

Nevada City. But now Henry was also an escapee, and they were both fugitives. And they arrived at Fort Benton in October 1863. Fort Benton sat right on the banks of the Missouri River, and still does. It's a truly picturesque town that bills itself as a genuine piece of American frontier history and the birthplace of Montana. It's in north-central Montana, about 40 miles from Great Falls and about 80 miles south of the Canadian border. In October 1863, winter was fast approaching, and Fort Benton would soon become deserted after most of the miners caught the last few steamboats bound for St. Louis. The next batch of miners wouldn't arrive until spring, and Plummer and Cleveland, although still very much at odds with one another, needed to decide where they were going to head next. If Henry had been thinking about boarding a steamboat for St. Louis, he had

changed his mind. But Fort Benton was no place to spend a harsh winter, so they were looking to get out. As luck would have it, they were approached by a man named James Vail, who managed a U.S. government property called Sun River Farm. Vail offered them jobs protecting the farm and his family from Blackfeet raids, which he was certain were imminent. Plummer and Cleveland accepted, but it turned out the Blackfeet had no interest in raiding Sun River Farm. There wasn't a lot of protecting to do, which meant the men had plenty of time on their hands, and they spent much of it courting Vale's very pretty 20-year-old niece, Electa Bryan. But it was Henry who won her heart. That November, just weeks after meeting, Henry proposed marriage, and Electa accepted. Henry then formulated a plan.

He would travel back to Bannock, along with Cleveland, and establish himself with a job and a place to live. Then he would come back for Electa in the spring, and they would marry. The Vales and Electra agreed it was a good plan. But as was typical of Henry Plummer's life, things did not go according to plan. When Henry and Jack Cleveland made it to Bannock, they finally parted ways. But according to reports at the time, Cleveland was holding a serious grudge against Henry and was not shy about letting everybody know about it. Henry and Jack didn't like each other very much to begin with, for any number of reasons, but the tension in their relationship

may very well have been exacerbated when Electa chose Henry over Jack. Jack stuck around Bannock, but it wasn't because he was trying to start in a new town with a clean slate. It was more because Jack Cleveland didn't really have any place else to go. Without a job and consistently broke, Cleveland quickly established himself in town as a belligerent and dangerous drunk. And if Henry thought his problems with Cleveland were over, he was sadly mistaken. And he would soon learn that there were far more dangerous men in Bannock than Jack Cleveland. Next time on Legends of the Old West, the trouble between Henry and Jack explodes,

but Henry overcomes it to become Sheriff of Bannock, and that's when the real trouble begins. Stagecoach robberies, murders, and vigilante violence finishes the story of Henry Plummer. That's next week on the season finale of Outlaws here on Legends of the Old West. And members of our Black Barrel Plus program

don't have to wait week to week. They receive the entire season to binge all at once with no commercials. Sign up now through the link in the show notes

or on our website blackbarrelmedia.com. Memberships begin at just $5 per month. This series was researched and written by Michael Byrne. Original music by Rob Valliere. I'm your host and producer, Chris Wimmer. If you enjoyed the show,

please leave us a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening. Check out our website, blackbarrelmedia.com, for more details, and join us on social media. We're at Old West Podcast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. This show is part of the Airwave Media Podcast Network. Please visit airwavemedia.com to check out other great podcasts like Ben Franklin's World, Once Upon a Crime, and many more. Thanks for listening.