lynching
Joseph Alfred “Jack” Slade was a stagecoach and Pony Express superintendent early in his life. He was instrumental in the opening of the American West, and he was also the archetype of the Western gunslinger. Slade was born on January 22, 1831, in Carlyle, Illinois, the son of Illinois politician Charles Slade and Mary Dark (Kain) Slade. Slade’s life started out decent. He served in the US Army that occupied Santa Fe, 1847-1848, during the Mexican War. His father died in 1834, Slade’s mother married Civil War General Elias Dennis in 1838, when Slade was just seven years old.
In about 1857, Slade married a woman named Maria Virginia. Her maiden name is unknown. In the 1850s, he was a freighting teamster and wagon master along the Overland Trail, and then became a stagecoach driver in Texas, around 1857-1858. After years on the job, Slade became a stagecoach division superintendent along the Central Overland route for Hockaday and Company from 1858–1859, and when it was purchased, he worked for its successors Jones, Russell and Company in 1859 and Central Overland, California and Pike’s Peak Express Company from 1859 to 1862. With the latter concern, he also helped launch and operate the Pony Express in 1860-61. These were critical lines of communication between the East and California. As superintendent, he enforced order and assured reliable cross-continental mail service, maintaining contact between Washington DC, and California on the eve of Civil War.
Slade was know as a strict, and even ferocious boss. While division superintendent, he shot and killed Andrew Ferrin, one of his subordinates, who was hindering the progress of a freight train, in May 1859. This type of situation was rare for the time, but it served to build his reputation as a gunslinger. In March 1860, Slade was ambushed and left for dead by Jules Beni, who was a corrupt stationkeeper at Julesburg, Colorado, and whom Slade had removed. Remarkably, Slade survived, and in August 1861, Beni was killed by Slade’s men after 
ignoring Slade’s warning to stay out of his territory.
Slade’s temper and the reputation that came with it, combined with a drinking problem, caused his downfall. After he was fired by the Central Overland for drunkenness in November 1862, Slade crossed paths with the Virginia City Vigilance Committee, which was composed of honest, determined citizens, including bankers, storekeepers, miners, stockbrokers, and other citizens of all backgrounds, who had decided to take the law into their own hands and combat lawlessness in Virginia City. Slade found himself in Virginia City, Montana on a drunken spree. After being arrested, he was lynched by local vigilantes on March 10, 1864, for disturbing the peace. Of all the killings he was guilty of, Slade was lynched for disturbing the peace. Unbelievable, but the truth, nevertheless. He was buried in Salt Lake City, Utah, on July 20, 1864.
When a crime is committed, it seems to take forever to bring justice for the victims. Sometimes people just don’t want to wait, or they are so mad about the crime committed against them or their family, that they decide, either consciously or unconsciously, to take matters into their own hands. This is known as vigilante justice, and while we still have it today, it really was more prevalent in the Old West….at least as it applies to storming the jail and hanging the “criminal” accused of the crime, without a trial.
Vigilante justice was more common in the wild west days because law enforcement was almost non-existent. Vigilantes took it upon themselves to “enforce the law,” as well as their own moral code, even if the event was not necessarily against the law. When a mob would decide that a prisoner is guilty, they would storm the jailhouse, drag the prisoner out, down the street to a big tree, and there they would hang the prisoner, whether they were guilty or not. The mob had decided. I suppose that a lot of times the person who was hanged was guilty of the crime, but without a trial and evidence to prove their guilt, how could anyone be sure?
The term vigilante stems from the its Spanish equivalent, meaning private security agents, but the vigilantes of 
the old west and the mobs, who riot for their idea of right these days, have little in common with security agents. Most vigilantes and mobs are driven anger and adrenaline. Unfortunately those two things together don’t often bring a good outcome, and in the case of lynch mobs, it’s never a good outcome. Old West vigilantes were most common in mining communities, but were also known to exist in cow towns and in farming settlements. These groups usually formed before law and order existed in a new settlement. The justice dished out included whipping and banishment from the town, but more often, offenders were lynched. And sometimes the vigilante groups formed in places where lawmen did exist, but were thought to be weak, intimidated, or corrupt.
Some people see vigilantes as heroes, thereby giving them he support of some of the law-abiding citizens. Some people saw them as a necessary step to fill a much needed gap. Nevertheless, sometimes the vigilance committee began to wield too much power and became corrupt themselves. At other times, vigilantes were nothing more than ruthless mobs, attempting to take control away from authorities or masking themselves as “do-gooders” when their intents were little more than ruthless or they had criminal intent on their own minds. One of the first vigilante groups formed was the San Francisco Vigilantes of 1851. After several criminals were hanged the committee was disbanded. When the city administration, itself, became corrupt, a vigilante group formed once again in 1856. There were many vigilante groups formed in the American West. The Montana 
Vigilantes who hanged Bannack Sheriff Henry Plummer in 1864. They controlled the press, so the sheriff was made out to be the leader of an outlaw gang called the Innocents. Further investigation indicates that it might have been the vigilante group, themselves, who were behind the chaos reigning in Montana and that Henry Plummer was an innocent man. Following the Civil War, the Reno Gang began to terrorize the Midwest, resulting in the formation of the Southern Indiana Vigilance Committee. The next time the Reno Gang attempted to rob a train, a the vigilante group lynched its leaders…Frank, William and Simeon Reno. Vigilantes did good in some instances, but it was not really the best form of justice.
When a vicious killer is caught, sometimes the townspeople lose control of their emotions and take matters into their own hands. While it is a little less common these days, people would sometimes storm the jail to execute the prisoners themselves. Often it was thought that justice would not be served in the court system. People fear the possibility that the killer might get off and be back out in society again. These days, it is pretty hard to storm a jail, but jails weren’t as secure then, as they are now.
On November 9, 1933, Brooke Hart was abducted by two men in his own Studebaker. His family received a $40,000 ransom demand and, soon after, Hart’s wallet was found on a tanker ship in a nearby bay. The investigative trail led to John Holmes and Thomas Thurmond, who implicated each other in separate confessions. Both acknowledged, that Hart had been pistol-whipped and then thrown off the San Mateo Bridge. After Hart’s body 
washed ashore on November 25, a vigilante mob began to form. Newspapers reported the possibility of a lynching and local radio stations broadcast the plan. Not only did Governor James Rolph reject the National Guard’s offer to send assistance, he reportedly said he would pardon those involved in the lynching. Now, when you have a governor who is on the side on the lynch mob, you have a volatile situation.
On November 26, 1933, thousands of people in San Jose, California, stormed the jail where Thomas Thurmond and John Holmes were being held. The angry mob converged at the jail and beat the guards, using a battering ram to break into the cells. Then, Thurmond and Holmes were dragged out and hanged from large trees in a nearby park. Contrary to the way most of us think, when our emotions aren’t raw, the public seemed to welcome the gruesome act of vigilante violence. After the incident, pieces of the lynching ropes were sold to 
the public. Though the San Jose News declined to publish pictures of the lynching, it condoned the act in an editorial. Seventeen-year-old Anthony Cataldi bragged that he had been the leader of the mob but he was not held accountable for his participation. At Stanford University, a professor asked his students to stand and applaud the lynching. Perhaps most disturbing, Governor Rolph publicly praised the mob. “The best lesson ever given the country,” said Governor Rolph. “I would like to parole all kidnappers in San Quentin to the fine, patriotic citizens of San Jose.” I understand the anger, but not the method. While the two killers might have deserved the death penalty for their crimes, this was not the way it should have happened. Nevertheless, I guess justice was served…even if it was vigilante justice.
