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R.E. Mather has taught English at Boise State University, College of the Redwoods, Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, University of Maryland-Far East Division, and Rama Roma de Iglesia de Jesucristo in Mexico City. She graduated from Caldwell High School and attended College of Idaho and Northwest Nazarene College. She received her B.A. and M.A. from Brigham Young University and Ph.D. from University of Mississippi in Oxford.
Mather and writer F.E. Boswell are co-authors of Hanging the Sheriff: A Biography of Henry Plummer (orig. 1987, University of Utah Press; Second Edition, 1998, Historic Montana Publishing), John David Borthwick: Artist of the Gold Rush (1988, University of Utah Press), Gold Camp Desperadoes (1990, History West Publishing Co., 1993, University of Oklahoma Press), and Vigilante Victims: Montana's 1864 Hanging Spree (1993, History West Publishing Co.).
Mather's published soft-cover titles include Scandal of the West (historical nonfiction) and two (based on fact) historical novels, The Bannack Gallows and The Cottonwood Murders: Unsolved, (History West Publishing Company).
A noted historian who has appeared on PBS's Old West Series, Ruth has contributed to South Dakota Review, Idaho Yesterdays, Montana Journalism Review, American National Biography of Oxford University Press, Horizons West, The Californians, True West, Wild West, NOLA Quarterly, and the WOLA Journal.
She is listed in Who's Who in the South and Southwest, Who's Who of American Women, Who's Who in America, Who's Who in the World, the 1998 Dictionary of International Biography of Cambridge, England, and Outstanding People of the 20th Century.
Fred Boswell graduated from High School in Arcata, California, received a B.A. from Humboldt State University, Arcata, and completed master's courses at University of Mississippi, Oxford. He has been an instructor at Humboldt State and for the Department of Defense overseas. A native of St. Louis, Missouri, Fred is an accomplished photographer whose works have appeared on book covers, in books, and in numerous other publications.
Co-authoring with R.E. Mather, their highly-acclaimed biography of Henry Plummer has prompted a documentary video, a Hollywood movie script, and a posthumous trial which attracted national attention. At the trial -- held in historic Virginia City, Montana, in May 1993 -- the prosecution failed to obtain a conviction from twelve jurors selected from a county in Plummer's former jurisdiction. Newspaper headlines in Butte, Montana, read: "HENRY PLUMMER FREED" (Montana Standard, 8 May 1993). Following the trial, a committee of history scholars submitted a petition to Montana governor Marc Racicot requesting he grant Plummer a formal pardon, and noted attorney Joseph Moch (defense attorney responsible for the acquittal of Tom Horn at the 1993 posthumous trial in Wyoming) volunteered to fly to Montana to speak on Plummer's behalf. However, the Montana Board of Pardons voted against granting the requested hearing that could have cleared Sheriff Plummer's name once and for all.
In addition to individual works, Mather and Boswell have co-authored numerous historical articles, several short stories, and four hardback Western history books:
 Second Editionby R. E. Mather and F.E. Boswell Recently Released:
THE BANNACK GALLOWS SCANDAL OF THE WEST: DOMESTIC VIOLENCE ON THE FRONTIER
THE COTTONWOOD MURDERS: UNSOLVED |
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from the book jacket:
Historians have long considered Henry Plummer to be the leader of a murderous band of robbers. Plummer's legend rests largely on accounts of his nefarious activities written after his death, particularly Thomas Dimsdale's The Vigilantes of Montana and Nathaniel Langford's Vigilante Days. In these works the authors present Plummer as the leader of an infamous gang of road agents who terrorized Idaho and Montana with robberies and murders. Plummer, who settled in Bannack, Montana, in 1862, supposedly became sheriff to cover up these activities. So great were the depredations attributed to Plummer and his gang that the settlers of Bannack and Virginia City rose as vigilantes and wiped them out. Plummer was hanged in Bannack [then in Idaho Territory] in 1864.
Mather and Boswell present a revisionist view of Plummer's role and his hanging in this engaging book. It constitutes the genealogical research done on the life of Plummer, and the authors present accurate biographical details of Plummer's life as well as information on the life of Electa Plummer, his wife. The book represents and enormous amount of meticulous work, and the authors boldly declare Plummer's innocence of all crimes attributed to him. This is a fascinating tale that will be certain to engender responses from critics of Plummer's role in the history of Montana.
Hanging the Sheriff and Vigilante Victims are among books available in hypertext version, created by Dr. Louis Schmittroth with the permission of the authors.
Read Was Dimsdale a Vigilante? An article by Ruth Mather (From Montana Journalism Review, Summer 1997)
You may also want to visit The Vigilantes of Montana, a site dedicated to finding and disseminating the truth about the Montana Gold Camp Vigilantes, who lynched 22 victims in January and February of 1864.
Fred & Ruth
Caught at family luncheon ~ 1994 ~
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