Their methods were effective, they drove criminals from their towns and word spread quickly and no new criminal gangs would travel to a town with a strong vigilante group. In 1879 a newspaper report in Denver stated that: “The hanging was not only well deserved, but a positive gain to the country, saving it at least five or six thousand dollars.” However, these groups would often be lead by ex-criminals or people simply chosen because of their ability with a gun as opposed to their rationality or understanding which could’ve actually of been of use in trying suspected criminals. Wild Bill Hicock is an example of ‘Sheriffs’ chosen like this.
However, some of their practices were flawed. An article from the ‘Idaho World’ newspaper printed on the 2nd of September 1865 stated that: “The remedy for existing evils is greater than the evils”. This quote tells us that the vigilantes wee generally causing more trouble than they were preventing. Any trials held were usually held by the vigilantes themselves and local townspeople, no government officials were involved at all. In one case two French men, a Chilean man, neither of whom could speak English, were accused of murder. They were tried and sentenced to death in front of 200 miners; even though they cried for an interpreter they were ignored. So even though they were stopping crime and scaring off criminals, because of their poor methods of conduct, they regularly convicted innocent people and once they’ve been hung, they cannot be pardoned of their conviction.
While modern films may portray women in the west as no more than sleazy prostitutes or bar maids, they are rarely portrayed as leaders, but women did have a large impact on shaping the Western Frontier. Women in Wyoming successfully earned the vote, fifty years before it was achieved in Britain. There were also women criminals; Pearl Hart for example was the west’s last stagecoach robber.
Once a territory had 60,000 inhabitants it could become a state, so territories were happy to accept newcomers, be they men or women. However, they didn’t simply want the clichéd prostitutes and ex-cons; they wanted women who could be a positive part of their community.
Education was seen as one of the most important parts of making children into well rounded adults who understood the values and beliefs of their society. However, teaching paid low wages and had poor living conditions, so it didn’t appeal to career-minded young men, and as it was one of the few jobs open to women, women were very willing to take on the role. Some women chose to teach from their own home, or a few women from a community would set up a school for local children. Some teachers started as young as 15 and would have to teach mostly from heart as books were expensive and most of the time if they had any, children would have to bring them from home and share them with other classmates.
However, women had other roles besides teachers; women were some of the first people to lead the campaign for prohibition, the ban of alcohol. For example, the W.C.T.U (Women’s Christian Temperance Union), was set up in Kansas as women united together in the demand for prohibition and temperance. They took action not only by preaching the evils of drink, but by openly acting those who distributed it.
Women would also help during periods of illness. In western mining towns, when the men fell sick, the women would stay at home and look after them, perhaps this is one of the reasons that even though many people fell sick, most of the pulled through and few of them died.
In conclusion I feel that vigilantes were generally reckless in their actions and although they did reduce crime, they caused a lot of problems in the process. Despite the generalisation that all women in the west were prostitutes, women were actually a key part of the west and helped to build it into a strong functioning society.
