rn what society means, and what the social
compact means, as did many of these wild men who had been running as
savages outside of and independent of the law. Slade got wind of the
deliberations of the Committee, as well he might when six hundred men
came down from Nevada Camp to Virginia City to help in the court of the
miners, before which Slade was now to come. It was the Nevada Vigilantes
who were most strongly of the belief that death and not banishment was
the proper punishment for Slade. The leader of the marching men calmly
told Slade that the Committee had decided to hang him; and, once the
news was sure, Slade broke out into lamentations.

This was often the case with men who had been bullies and terrors. They
weakened when in the hands of a stronger power. Slade crept about on his
hands and knees, begging like a baby. "My God! My God!" he cried. "Must
I die? Oh, my poor wife, my poor wife! My God, men, you can't mean that
I'm to die!"

They did mean it, and neither his importunities nor those of his friends
had avail. His life had been too rough and violent and was too full of
menace to others. He had had his fair frontier chance and had misused
it. Some wept at his prayers, but none relented. In broad daylight, the
procession moved down the street, and soon Slade was swinging from the
beam of a corral gate, one more example of the truth that when man
belongs to society he owes duty to society and else must suffer at its
hands. This was the law.

Slade's wife was sent for and reached town soon after Slade's body was
cut down and laid out. She loaded the Vigilantes with imprecations, and
showed the most heartbroken grief. The two had been very deeply
attached. She was especially regretful that Slade had been hanged and
not shot. He was worth a better death than that, she protested.

Slade's body was preserved in alcohol and kept out at the lone ranch
cabin all that winter. In the spring it was sent down to Salt Lake City
and buried there. As that was a prominent point on the overland trail,
the tourists did the rest. The saga of Slade as a bad man was widely
disseminated.

Chapter XI

The Desperado of the Plains--_Lawlessness Founded on Loose
Methods_--_The Rustlers of the Cow Country_--_Excuses for Their
Acts_--_The Approach of the Commercial West_.

One pronounced feature of early Western life will have been remarked in
the story of the mountain settlements with which we have been concerned,