Frontier Justice- Cleaning Up the Town

The Reverend Arthur C. Saunders, of Pocatello, published a history of Bannock county in 1915. A Boise newspaper reported on Saunders’ efforts and recounted a colorful anecdote involving the theft of a small wester town’s only bathtub: 

 “The book is rich in early-life stories, some of the citizens still living in the state. One, the author claims, is vouched for by Herman Goldsmith, now in the employ of the (Oregon) Short Line, but formerly a cattleman of a southern Idaho town which boasted but one bathtub, and that owned by the barber.

“To this shop repaired the soiled and weary of the community for ablution and refreshment, ‘ says the story.  ‘One fine night a band of cowboys shot up the town, and the next day the bathtub was gone. Search was made high and low, but no tub could be found.  The loss was serious as there was no railway in those days and another tub could not be procured with a radius of many miles.  The town had little godliness, and now even its cleanliness was gone. 

One fine day the disconsolate barber was given a tip that his bathtub was secreted in a cowboy’s shack some miles from town.  A warrant was sworn out, the tub recovered and the culprit hied into court. “How many baths do you sell a week?” asked the judge of the barber. 

“About 70,’ was the reply of the barber. ‘At how much per bath?” asked the judge.  Fifty cents,” answered the barber.  How many weeks has your tub been gone?” the court asked. ‘Three,’ said the barber. 

“Let’s see,’ said the judge, ‘70 cents at 50 cents each equals $35 per week, three weeks would be $105.’ So he fined the cowboy $105 and costs and reimbursed the barber for what he was out.” 

Apparently Judge Roy Bean, whose legendary influence famously enforced his own brand of frontier justice “West of the Pecos,” had found a worthy competitor. Even King Solomen in all his wisdom, could scarcely have mandated a more equitable resolution to this filthy heinous crime.  

Source:  (Idaho Enterprise, 14 February 1915 and Saunders, History of Bannock County, Pocatello: The Tribune Co. 1915)