Even for law enforcement, vigilante justice in early Idaho was real and terrifying
“The body of D.C. Updyke, late sheriff of Ada County, and late Captain of the Ada County Volunteers, was found hanging to a tree on the Rocky Bar road. The body of Jacob Dixon, formerly of Stillwater Creek, Shasta County, California was also found within a short distance. A paper was attached to the person of Updyke accusing him of being cognizant of the Port Neuf robbery, of bogus gold dust operations, horse stealing etc., asserting also that he had confessed his crimes and given the names of his accomplices and winding up with ‘the roll is being called.’ The paper attached to the body of Dixon accused him of being the tool of Updyke.”
Idaho City’s Idaho World newspaper of April 21, 1866, continued: “It is said that Updyke was paid a thousand dollars just before leaving Boise City, and that at the time of his ‘taking off’ he had a considerable sum in greenbacks on his person. We hear nothing of the money since his death and probably never shall.
“A reign of terror prevails at Boise City and no man feels safe, or dare denounce these proceedings. It is an easy matter to strangle the best man in the community and pin a paper on the dead body accusing him of the worst of crimes. Dead men tell no tales. A Vigilance Committee once took the son of God and put him to death, attaching to the body, ‘This is the king of the Jews.’ It looks now that Updyke was murdered that his money might be obtained, a personal hate gratified, and a powerful political foe gotten out of the way, and that Dixon was strangled because he was found in Updyke’s company, and witnessed the murder.
“The organization of the Vigilance Committee seems to be mainly for the purpose of concentrating the disorganized fragments of the former Republican party into a shape to carry the Summer election against the Democratic party. It is their last hope. By enticing a few unreflecting Democrats into the organization, hanging some of the workers whom they fear, and frightening the balance into meekness, they hope to carry matters their own way at the polls. It will fail and the sooner they comprehend that fact the better for them.”
On May 12, 1866, the World asked: “Why does not the Vigilantes of Ada restore those articles taken from the dead body of Updyke? When he was murdered by the choking ruffians, he had several thousand dollars upon his person, a watch, a breast pin, and a diamond ring. Where are they? An administrator has been appointed on Updyke’s estate, but he hasn’t seen that property yet. It is possible that that immaculate committee has such an ‘itching palm’ that it could not keep its hands off a dead man. We advise the Administrator to make a search about the Statesman office for the stolen articles. A committee last winter fund Reynolds able to hold his own when any dead man’s trunks were to be gone through, and for lack of a trunk he may have ‘kept his hand in’ a dead man’s pocket.”
Statesman Editor James Reynolds responded on May 24, 1866: “Vigilante. There has been a rumor afloat for several days that a man by the name of Stocking, and one whose alias was ‘Skookum Jim,’ were hung at Little Camas Prairie. We have been able to trace the rumor to no reliable source, but it is generally believed. Stocking will be remembered as one of a couple men who were engaged in cattle stealing in this valley about a year ago.”