In late 1862, at around 23 years of age, with a string of dead men reportedly in his past (a rumored four to ten in Sacramento, California, alone), Daly rode into the boomtown of Aurora in the Nevada Territory, in what is now Mineral County, to make his living off of the gold rush underway there at the time.
"No sooner had the Marshal been sworn in," the Star said the next year, "than the worst villains that ever infested a civilized community were appointed policemen, and with but few exceptions they were composed of as hard a set [of] criminals [as] ever went unhung."
In April 1863, Daly Gang member Jim Sears stole a horse tied near Hoy's Station, on the banks of the West Walker River, and rode away.
Daly, James Masterson, and John McDowell were arrested by the authorities and lodged in jail, while Sheriff Francis, with an eager posse, started in pursuit of William Buckley, who had fled.
Gang member and gunman Pliney Gardner was also captured, along with "Irish Tom" Carberry and others, but, deemed to have played no part in the murder, they were simply banished from the territory.
Infuriated at this timid response, around 600 men met at Armory Hall and formed a "Citizens Safety Committee" of vigilantes, who took matters into their own hands, marching to the jail and demanding custody of the prisoners.
Daly reportedly took a swig of whiskey while McDowell professed the innocence of Masterson and Buckley, but at 1:30 PM a little cannon that stood beside the gallows was fired, the rope was cut, and the four men disappeared through the trap-door and soon hung lifeless, a terrible testament to the vengeance of an outraged community.