Early the next morning, the road leading through the gulch was filled with people hastening from all the towns and mining settlements to Nevada. Before ten o’clock, fifteen hundred or two thousand had assembled and were standing in the partially congealed mud of the only public thoroughfare of the town. The weather was pleasant for the season, with no snow, but a little frostwork of ice bordered the streams, and the sun shone with an October warmth and serenity. The urchins of the neighborhood were dodging in and out among the crowd, in merry pastime; and the great gathering, with all its appointments, wore more of a commemorative than retributory aspect. And as this was the day preceding “Forefathers’ Day,” one unacquainted with the sterner matters in hand, might readily have mistaken it for an old-time New England festival. The illusion, however, would have been instantly dispelled on listening to the various opinions advanced by the miners, while arranging the mode of trial. It was finally determined that the investigation should be made in the presence of the entire assemblage,—the miners reserving the final decision of all questions. To avoid all injustice to people or prisoners, an advisory commission of twelve men from each of the districts was appointed; and W. H. Patton of Nevada, and W. Y. Pemberton of Virginia City, were selected to take notes of the testimony.
Col. Wilbur F. Sanders and Hon. Charles S. Bagg, attorneys, appeared on behalf of the prosecution, and Messrs. Alexander Davis and J. M. Thurmond for the prisoners. Ives was the first prisoner put upon trial. It was late in the afternoon of the nineteenth before the examination of witnesses commenced. The prisoner, secured by chains, was seated beside his counsel. The remainder of that day, and all the day following, had been spent; and when the crowd assembled on the morning of the twenty-first, the prospect for another day of unprofitable wrangling, long speeches, captious objections, and personal altercations, was promising; but the patience of the miners being exhausted, they informed the court and people that the trial must close at three o’clock that afternoon. This announcement was received with great satisfaction.