Henry Plummer

This story reeks of rumors, falsehoods, and flatout lies. Henry Plummer saw a horrific demise when men strung him up and let him strangle to death. Before that fateful night, though, he had been a murderer. He killed the husband of the wife he had relations with, totally cognizant that he had broken the law.

His sentence stood at a decade but he only served two years. In the time that followed, he hopped on a gang, attempted to rob a Wells-Fargo wagon, and officials booted him out of Nevada City.

He then escaped to Bannack, Montana in search of gold. The town put their trust in Plummer as their sheriff.

A crooked cop, Plummer oversaw a city overrun by crime. With a stage robbed on two occasions, a homicide, and hundreds of thousands or even millions of dollars in today’s money.

Soon, Plummer found himself plumb out of luck. A group calling themselves the Vigilance Committee organized against Plummer. In a few moments, Plummer found himself surrounded and the men wrapped a noose around his neck.

Plummer was a bastard. He guarded the law and then broke it. He killed men and then saw thievery under his watch.

What Plummer failed to realize consisted of a proper morality. If he were a real man, he would’ve upheld the law and processed all of those criminals who tried to besmirch the good name of the town of Bannack.

This happened far too often in the 19th century. In reality, the “Wild West” took over too many towns and to have an elected sheriff deal in the underworld is beyond abhorrent.

With all the opportunities to strike it rich and improve his life, Plummer opted to become a scoundrel. His ways showed himself to be a lesser man. His system of virtues did not hold up against reality.

By foregoing all avenues to a proper life, he disallowed himself the chance to discover bliss. Plummer was not a happy man. Not if he slept with another man’s wife, then murdered him, then ran off to another city and became a shoddy sheriff. That’s no way to live.

When Plummer finally realized the errors of his ways, it was too late. A rope had already tugged at his neck. As he struggled for air from atop a gallows post, the men responsible for his death, looking on as he jerked violently, the notion of his being vanished from the Earth.

His inability to choose a proper philosophy doomed him to hell. Not the fictitious fantasyland touted by Bible thumpers, this is a place in psychology.

In his head, he must have known he did wrong. Evasion became the name of the game for Plummer. Instead of choosing to live a wholesome life, full of wonder and enjoyment, he wanted to be a loser.

To not discover and live up to a system of virtues and values, this brought into focus the reality of discontent. If he had just honed in on being a better sheriff, a better man, then he would have reaped joy from his endeavors.

No, he would have rather been a coward and a criminal. Plenty of time had been allotted for him in life to be on the right side of history. There’s no reason why he shouldn’t have been a prospector or a mayor somewhere.

Plummer brought his grisly end upon himself. This is that logical karma where what you do leads up to the end you deserve. In the end, he understood justice and it certainly found him without looking too far. What a waste of flesh.