Who is Henry Plummer?

Answer 1

Henry Plummer About a year after his arrival in California, documents show that he owned a ranch and a mine outside Nevada City, California. Some twelve months later, he traded some of his mining shares for the Empire Bakery in Nevada City. By 1856, the local residents, so impressed by the young man, persuaded him to run for sheriff. At the age of 24, he became marshal of the third largest settlement in California. The young marshal was well liked by the Nevada City citizens and respected for his promptness and boldness in handling his duties. He easily won the re-election in 1857. But, shortly after the election, he killed his first man. At the time, Henry was said to be having an affair with the wife of a miner by the name of John Vedder and when he was confronted by the angry husband, the two competed in a dual, for which, Henry obviously won. Plummer was arrested and tried in a sensational, emotionally-charged case that went twice to the California Supreme Court before he was finally convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to ten years in California's infamous San Quentin Prison. He began to serve his sentence on February 22, 1859 and local residents quickly petitioned the Governor for a pardon, claiming that Henry had acted in self-defense. Among his comrades behind bars was Cyrus Skinner, serving time for grand larceny, who would later be connected with Plummer again. Plummer served time only until August 16, 1859 when he was released due to his tuberculosis and pressure on the Governor by the petition. Awhile after he gathered a vigilante group which they calle "The Innocents." They would go around the town robbing and killing people because they were looking for money. But on January 10th, 1862 he was hung in the very gallows of the place he ordered built only a few days earlier.