On this day, May 24, in 1863, Montana citizens elected Henry Plummer sheriff, not realizing he was a fugitive who would use his office to rob and kill them.
Seven years earlier, Plummer was sheriff of Nevada City, Calif., but was convicted of killing a man after having an affair with the man’s wife.
Plummer served six months, and fled east after killing a man in a whorehouse brawl.
He formed a gang called “The Innocents,” and then got elected sheriff of Bannack, Mont. Plummer tipped his henchmen to gold shipments, and people were robbed or murdered. Within months, Montana formed a posse and dismantled Plummer’s gang.
When the vigilantes caught Plummer, he wept and begged for his life before he was hanged.
— Scott McCabe
