NCJ Number
152043
Date Published
1994
Length
271 pages
Annotation
This book describes one of the most infamous and oft-told robberies and murders of the Old West: the murder and robbery of Lloyd Magruder; this account encompasses the crime itself, the identification and tracking of the outlaws, their arrest, extradition, and detention, as well as their trial.
Abstract
Relying on newspaper accounts of the day and the trial transcript, this book documents the principal events of the crime and its resolution. The author acknowledges the addition of some fictional characters and events to make the story complete and more interesting. The robbery and murder of Lewiston merchant Lloyd Magruder and his companions during the 1860's gold rush is legendary in Idaho, Montana, and Washington State. The author describes the destruction of Magruder's pack train by road agents in the Bitterroot Mountains, along with the relevant events that preceded the crime. This is followed by the subsequent quest of Magruder's friend Hill Beachey to identify and track the killers as far as San Francisco, take them into custody, and escort them back to Idaho Territory. He then protected them from mob justice until they could be tried in court. The imaginative characterizations of Magruder, Beachey, outlaw sheriff Henry Plummer, and a large cast of other historical figures in early Idaho, Montana, and California are based on the author's years of studying the varied people of the West, as well as the early gold camps in Idaho and Montana territories. A 46-item annotated bibliography