John X. Beidler

A shotgun messenger in Old Montana left a great legacy of service and courage.

- John Boessenecker

John X. Beidler was one of Montana’s best known pioneers. A leader of the Montana vigilantes in the 1860s, he played a major role in breaking up the outlaw gang led by Henry Plummer, the archetypical crooked frontier sheriff. Although a small man, standing but five feet, five inches tall, he was a figure larger than life on the frontier. And like the mountain men who came before him, “X,” as he was called by his comrades, loved to tell often exaggerated stories of his career. Yet one aspect of his adventurous life has been almost totally forgotten: his service as a Wells Fargo shotgun messenger from 1870 to 1877.