dly. More than one himself
jumped from the ladder or kicked from under him the box which was the
only foothold between him and eternity. Boone Helm was as hardened as
any of them. This man was a cannibal and murderer. He seems to have had
no better nature whatever. His last words as he sprang off were "Hurrah
for Jeff Davis! Let her rip!" Another man remarked calmly that he cared
no more for hanging than for drinking a glass of water. But each after
his own fashion met the end foreordained for him by his own lack of
compassion; and of compassion he received none at the hands of the men
who had resolved that the law should be established and should remain
forever.

There was an instant improvement in the social life of Virginia City,
Bannack, and the adjoining camps as soon as it was understood that the
Vigilantes were afoot. Langford, who undoubtedly knew intimately of the
activities of this organization, makes no apology for the acts of the
Vigilantes, although they did not have back of them the color of the
actual law. He says:

"The retribution dispensed to these daring freebooters in no respect
exceeded the demands of absolute justice.... There was no other remedy.
Practically the citizens had no law, but if law had existed it could
not have afforded adequate redress. This was proven by the feeling of
security consequent upon the destruction of the band. When the robbers
were dead the people felt safe, not for themselves alone but for their
pursuits and their property. They could travel without fear. They had
reasonable assurance of safety in the transmission of money to the
States and in the arrival of property over the unguarded route from Salt
Lake. The crack of pistols had ceased, and they could walk the streets
without constant exposure to danger. There was an omnipresent spirit of
protection, akin to that omnipresent spirit of law which pervaded older
and more civilized communities.... Young men who had learned to believe
that the roughs were destined to rule and who, under the influence of
that faith, were fast drifting into crime shrunk appalled before the
thorough work of the Vigilantes. Fear, more potent than conscience,
forced even the worst of men to observe the requirements of society, and
a feeling of comparative security among all classes was the result."

Naturally it was not the case that all the bad men were thus
exterminated. From time to time there appeared vividly in the midst of
these surrou