Old Missoula

A Montana Cowboy – Lynched in Alaska – 1898

The sorry news of the summary lynching of M. F. Tanner in Valdez, Alaska came hard to residents of Montana in February of 1898. Known as “Montana Cowboy”, Tanner killed two of his campmates while they sat defenseless in their tent, high up in the wilds of the north. After overhearing them in a discussion they were having about his behavior, Tanner walked to his bedroll, got his gun and returned, saying, “I overheard your talk about me, and am here for business.” He then quickly shot two of his four companions, while missing a third. Though far from Montana and Alaska, word of the incident spread across the whole country like wildfire. The news was especially tragic in Montana where he claimed his home. Montana residents were quick to disavow him and his particular brand of cruelty.

 

An acerbic editor of the Daily Missoulian excoriated him in a blistering editorial[1]:

M. F. Tanner, known as the “Montana cowboy,” is not as vociferous as he was. His tantalizing spirit sits out in the cold at the head of a grave in Alaska where the remains of Tanner are well preserved in the cold storage plant he selected as a home. Mr. Tainer (Sic) was a cultured gentleman able to speak all languages right or left handed through his faithful interpreters, his petulant pops [revolvers]. Walking upon his uppers in Seattle he attracted the attention of some Massachusetts tenderfeet bound for Klondike by his grace of manner and ability to make it appear that he and he alone was fitted for guide, counselor and protector. The Massachusetts men were generous of purse as well as of heart and took the “Montana cowboy unto themselves, buying him an outfit and making him, in all respects as one of them.

Landed upon Alaskan shores the “Montana cowboy” became expansive in that peculiar way assumed by bad men of the west who have to have a matutinal cocktail of human blood to secure an appetite for breakfast. It took the Massachusetts men several days before they became saturated with his offensiveness and they decided to rid themselves of his odoriferous presence. Four of them talked the matter over and decided that it was best that the “Montana cowboy” should leave the party for the party’s good, giving him his share to which he had no claim. The “Montana cowboy” overheard the conversation and did not appreciate their generosity. Suddenly he lifted the flap of the tent in which were seated the council discussing him, and, realizing that diplomacy had reached the acute stage, appealed to the arbitrament of arms. N. A. Call and W. A. Lee went out with the candle and darkness providentially saved the lives of the other two members of the committee.

The “Montana cowboy” made no effort to escape from the party and when caught offered to tie the noose around his own neck. His only expressed regret was that he “had not got the four of them.” Just before he was swung off he asked his executioners if they were aware that they were hanging the best shot in the northwest.

Who was M. F. Tanner, the “Montana cowboy?” What manner of creature was he? Where did he hail from? His kind is scarce in this state, and we do our best to eliminate such creatures wherever found, and if Tainer (sic) ever belonged to Montana he made his escape while still a tenderfoot, before he hungered and thirsted for blood. If he really came from Montana the state owes Massachusetts an apology for allowing such an individual to run at large. We try to remove all our bad men but occasionally one will slip away. To the Massachusetts men who hanged the fellow Montana lifts its hat.

 

Several questions about Tanner were soon answered in an article found in the Helena, Mt. newspaper on February 10, 1898[2]:

NOT A SURPRISE

The “Montana Cowboy” Lynched in Alaska Was Expected to Die With His Boots On.

M. F. Tanner, the “Montana cowboy” who was lynched in Alaska for the murder of two prospectors, was well known in southern Montana and northern Wyoming, and the news that he had died with his boots on occasioned no very great amount of surprise among those who were acquainted with the fellow.

Tanner came to Montana 10 years ago and was well known to H. G. Williams, the manager of the OZ outfit, the Huribut Land & Cattle company, whose cattle now range on the Crow reservation. Tanner was a red-headed man, quick tempered, a chronic kicker, and was familiarly known among the cowboys as “Doc.” In 1885 the OZ outfit drove a herd of Texas cattle to the Wyoming range and picked Tanner up en route. After working about six months he became such a nuisance that Manager Williams discharged him, and later he sought and secured employment with the Murphy Cattle company, where his kicking propensities and mean disposition brought him into disrepute with the other cowboys and resulted in his being let out again.

He was continually in trouble and had a mean disposition, being overbearing and arrogant and hot headed. He was also a dead shot and boasted of his marksmanship, and it is probably true, as the dispatch about the lynching stated, that Tanner was game to the last and informed his executioners that they were hanging the best shot in the northwest. Though it is not known that he ever killed anybody before going to Alaska, he was considered a dangerous man and one who would not hesitate to take human life on the slightest provocation. He was considered to be slightly off mentally, or, as the cowboys express it, “buffaloed.”

 

Another article described the manner of Tanner’s hanging[3]:

All the men in the community were immediately notified and they went in a body for the cowboy, who surrendered without resistance. He merely said: ‘I had intended to get them all.’

Thirty-eight men, as jury, deliberated from 11 o’clock that night until 4 o’clock in the morning. At the end of that time it had been decided that the cowboy must hang.

A path was broken about daylight through the deep snow to a tree. A rope was thrown over a limb and Tanner was executed. The whole affair was conducted with great solemnity and with the feeling that duty was being performed.

At a meeting it was decided to sell the murdered men’s outfits and send the proceeds to their families.

 

Tanner was the son of Henry Tanner and hailed from Taylorville, Illinois. He left there as a youngster and was never heard from again.