9 o'clock
There was none of the usual late breakfasting , the leisurely perusal of a morning paper . In some mysterious fashion word had gone abroad that history would be made this morning . The odd and feverish expectancy which rides , an unseen herald in the van of large events , was everywhere . A part of this undue activity resulted from the summoning of male members out of nearly three thousand households for military duty to begin at 9 o'clock . Long before that hour the general headquarters of the Vigilantes swarmed with members . * * * * * As a neighboring clock struck noon , the Vigilantes debouched into the street , an advance guard of riders clearing that thoroughfare of crowding spectators . First came Captain James N. Olney commanding the Citizens ' Guard of sixty picked men , so soldierly in appearance that their coming evoked a cheer .