A vigilante past was no career obstacle in nineteenth-century western politics

Evidence

Vigilante action was obviously illegal: a violation of formal law. But public opinion did not condemn vigilantes. Vigilantes never went to trial. Quite the opposite: the leaders were proud of what they did. Indeed, public opinion was often on the side of these “beloved rough-​necks.” Many vigilantes were community leaders, or became community leaders. Thomas Dimsdale, the Englishman who chronicled the vigilantes of Montana—​and praised them—​served as the state superintendent of public instruction. Two governors of New Mexico had vigilante episodes in their past. A vigilante past was obviously no disgrace, no impediment to success. William J. McConnell, “captain” of vigilantes in Payette, Idaho, became a senator and governor of the state. Dr. John E. Osborne, of Rawlins, Wyoming, who had skinned Big Nose George Parrott, an outlaw, and made a pair of shoes out of part of the skin, became governor of that state, too. — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2159

Categorization

• CANDY: The governor who skinned an outlaw and made shoes from his skin is a striking, tweetable detail.
• XREF: connects to: Nineteenth-century chroniclers mythologized vigilantes as folk democracy and heroic surgeons of the body politic — Lawrence M. Friedman, A History of American Law, 2158