The Sheriff and Outlaw Henry Plummer Part 2

Astonishing Legends

Scott Philbrook

History, Society & Culture

4.6 • 9.8K Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2017

⏱️ 160 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The dual nature of Henry Plummer's character would leave us questioning his legacy and the legitimacy of his ending. Was he simply an honest lawman reluctantly entangled in the rougher aspects of frontier justice or a downright robber and murderer with a badge? There are authors who believe he was solely one or the other but there also seems to be ample circumstantial evidence that he was likely some combination of both. The problem of determining his guilt or innocence, set against the backdrop of a nascent legal structure for the American West, would stir a debate that we continue to struggle with today. When it comes to the protection of our families and communities, what measures are we willing to accept to ensure our safety? When does crime prevention and the ad hoc adjudication of those in authority become a miscarriage of justice? Where is the line between the precepts of our more mature legal system and common sense and what measurement should guide our conscience to determine when a line has been crossed? We all want what's fair in light of our personal convictions, but like every condemned man, all Sheriff Henry Plummer wanted was a little more time.

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0:00.0	This week's episode of Estonishing Legends is brought to you in part by the Great Courses
0:03.3	Plus, Blue Apron, and Upside.com.
0:05.8	And we're back, partner.
0:07.9	First things first.
0:08.9	For all of our listeners in Detroit, we're going to be there next week.
0:11.8	We're making our first live appearance at McComb Community College on Thursday, May 4th,
0:16.8	as part of their ongoing series entitled Tall Tales and Folklore, Exploring Michigan's
0:21.7	Traditional Stories.
0:23.1	Our presentation is at 7 p.m. on May 4th at the Lorenzo Cultural Center in Clinton Township.
0:29.4	There are already 250 people registered to attend if you can believe that or not.
0:33.6	That's because registration is free.
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0:36.6	So, there you go.
0:37.6	So if you'd like to attend, visit bit.deo slash Estonishing Michigan and select the register
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0:45.3	You can also find an event page on Facebook by searching the term Estonishing Michigan.
0:49.4	And to be clear, that's not on our page, it's on theirs.
0:52.6	So here's a quick language warning about tonight's show.
0:56.2	We know we have some younger folks that listen and we wanted to advise listeners in general
1:00.8	that tonight's episode makes use during some actual quotes of a phrase that was pretty
1:05.9	popular in the Old West and will be most familiar to our listeners by the acronym SOB.
1:12.1	We debated bleeping it, but it's only in there a few times and we feel like it contributes
	...

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