The tainted sheriff in this narrative is Henry Plummer, who arrived in Nevada City, a gold camp in California's high Sierra, in 1852 and soon had two murders to his credit-both the results of bawdy-house brawls. Ten years later he was a full-fledged villain directing a gang of criminals. In 1863 Plummer moved into the Territory of Idaho, which included present-day Montana, and was elected sheriff despite his doubtful past. But it was there that he ran afoul of the vigilantes, and the story of the chase, capture, trial, and execution of Henry Plummer's road agents surpasses the wildest imagination of any Hollywood writer.
