1868 – Henderson Gulch, Montana Territory: Mob Lynching Recalled by Judge Knowles; No Indictments Secured

In a 1904 article published in the Anaconda Standard, Judge William W. Knowles recalled an 1868 lynching of a Chinese man at Henderson Gulch, Deer Lodge County, and emphasized the judiciary’s failure to punish those responsible. Knowles recalled “a mob that had lynched a Chinaman in Henderson Gulch… in 1868,” and that he “tried to bring about indictments… but was unsuccessful” (Anaconda Standard, Nov. 2, 1904). The Henderson Gulch lynching shows that even when an official tries to bring justice for a Chinese victim, the white community bands together to protect the perpetrators. It also situates anti-Chinese lethal violence within the broader history of Western vigilantism and weak enforcement in mining regions.