The story of the infamous murder and robbery of Lewiston merchant Lloyd Magruder and his companions during the 1860s gold rush is legendary in Montana, Idaho, and Washington. Ladd Hamilton constructs a compelling account of the destruction of Magruder's pack train while traveling on the Southern Nez Perce Trail in the Bitterroot Mountains, and the subsequent quest by Magruder's friend Hill Beachey to track his killers to San Francisco, escort them back to Lewiston, and then protect them from lynching until they could be tried in Idaho Territory. By appraising written evidence and community lore, Hamilton has created an intriguing account based on fact and documentation. But he also blends in historical fiction when required to complement the narrative in those places where events are known to have occurred but the historical sources are sparse or virtually nonexistent. Underlying Hamilton's work is his exact and familiar knowledge of early Idaho Territory, which in 1863 stretched hundreds of miles from Lewiston at the Snake-Clearwater confluence to the gold camps of Virginia City, Bannack, and beyond in what is now Montana. Hamilton's imaginative characterizations of Magruder, Beachey, outlaw sheriff Henry Plummer, and the large cast of other historical figures in Idaho, Montana, and California is based on his years of knowing many and varied peoples of the West.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
Washington STATE University Press
ISBN-10
0874221072
ISBN-13
9780874221077
eBay Product ID (ePID)
537223
Product Key Features
Book Title
This Bloody Deed : the Magruder Incident
Author
Ladd Hamilton
Format
Trade Paperback
Language
English
Topic
Murder / General, General, United States / State & Local / West (Ak, CA, Co, Hi, Id, Mt, Nv, Ut, WY)
Publication Year
1994
Genre
True Crime, Law, History
Number of Pages
280 Pages
Dimensions
Item Length
9in
Item Height
0.6in
Item Width
6in
Item Weight
15.9 Oz
Additional Product Features
Lc Classification Number
Hv6533.I3h36 1994
Table of Content
Author's Note Part 1: Lewiston, Idaho Territory, August 1863 Part 2: California, Autumn 1863 Part 3: Lewiston, Winter 1863-1864 Part 4: Epilogue Endnotes Bibliography Appendix: "When History and Folklore Intertwine" by Carole Simon-Smolinski