Cassia County Courthouse
Frontier Law in Cassia County
A notorious gunman, Jackson Lee Davis, who was better known as
"Diamondfield Jack was hired by the Sparks-Harrell cattle company
to restrict sheep herders from crossing to the west side of Goose
Creek. Due to his reputation and a previous non-fatal shooting,
Davis was arrested for the murder of two sheepherders, and
became a pawn in the battle between cattlement and sheep
herders, Mormons and non-Mormons, and Democrats and
Republicans.
The sensational trail brought prominent attorneys from the
highest rank. William E. Borah who later became an Idaho
Senator served as the main prosecutor. Diamondfield Jack
was defended by James Hawley, a prominent criminal lawyer
from Boise who later became governor of Idaho, and Kirtland
I. Perky, one time law partner of William Jennings Bryan.
Based on circumstantial evidence, Jack Davis was convicted of
murder in February of 1896, and sentanced to be hanged. As
Diamondfield Jack awaited execution two cattlement confessed to
the murders. After nearly 7 years in prison and several stays of
execution, the State Board of Pardons finally exonerated
Diamondfield Jack.
Jack Davis moved to Nevada where he became a successful mine
operator in the towns of Tonopah and Goldfield. The once notorious
gunman faded into the shadows when in 1949 Diamondfield Jack died
after being hit by a taxi in Las Vegas.
The year was 1885 when Cassia County purchased an unfinished hotel for its first
courthouse. Idaho was still a vast territory—a place where disagreements were at times
decided by the business-end of a gun. Sparked by disputes between cattle and sheep
ranchers over water and grass during the 1890's, this courthouse became the scene of one
of the most published trials in Idaho Territory—branded the Diamondfield Jack Trial.
