From vigilantes to judges: What Montana’s past teaches us about justice today

From vigilantes to judges: What Montana’s past teaches us about justice today

A sign on a livery and stable in Virginia City noting where the vigilantes met to discuss how to apprehend road agents (Photo by Darrell Ehrlick of the Daily Montanan).Montana has always been a place that values freedom and self-reliance. But our early history shows what happens when justice is left to those acting outside the law. In the 1860s, before Montana was even a territory, rough mining camps like Bannack and Virginia City were plagued b…