The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume], June 29, 1934, Page PAGE FIVE, Image 5

About The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973

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Friday, June 29, 1934.
Protests Against Leasing Portion of Crow Reservation
Were Strenuously Voiced by Stockmen of Entire Area;
Believed Indians Would Have Been Deprived of Rights
By “MON TANA LOW” GRILL
Resolutions protesting against the
leasing of the western portion of the
Crow reservation were adopted at a
mass meeting held in Billings in No
vember, 1884. The Crow Indians oc
cupied a domain containing three
hundred and one million acres of the
richest farming and grazing lands of
Montana. There was an inexhaus
tible store of mineral wealth. The re
gion was capable of supporting a pop
ulation of 100,000 people.
Indignation was expressed, not only
by the stockmen of Yellowstone county
but throughout the entire northwest
country. The report had been received
that a syndicate of capitalists, with
headquarters in Denver, Colo., were
seeking to control grazing operations in
the west. It was felt that the movement
to secure a lease was no longer “an at
tempt." There was every reason to be
lieve that important steps had been
taken looking to the consummation of
the lease.
The bold declaration was made at the
time that an agent, representing the
syndicate, had been at work among the
Crow Indians. It was hinted that the
potent influence of a little food were
being used as a leaven to ferment the
hope of substantial gain. It was whis
pered about that a few silver dollars
were being judiciously distributed
among the leading men of the Crow
nation to secure signatures to the pro
posed lease.
Leading stockmen of southern Mon
tana contended that the proposed lease
would deprive the Crows of their rights
to the domain. It would also prevent
the occupancy of the valuable grazing
ground by stockmen already resident
there, except on such terms as the syn
dicate might dictate. Under any cir
cumstances, if the lease was consum
mated, resident stockmen on the reser
vation would be permitted to remain
only temporarily, it was heard. The pos
sible acquirement of title to a new,
extensive and excellent range by a cor
poration which, it was stated, had tak
en no part in the development and the
settlement of the country, was resented.
Calamity Jane Once Took Possession of
Shack Behind Grey Mule Saloon in Miles
City; Was Soon Ordered to “Move On”
By VV. K. (WIRT) NEWCOM
I came up the trail, the last time in
1893. During the summer of 1894 I re
ceived my last check as a cowpuncher
from O. C. Cato of the X. I. T.—peace
to his aches. I was looking for some
kind of a job. There seemed to be
plenty of gamblers, and bartenders
were on the waiting list. I secured a
place In the livery stable of Loveridge
and Thurman, at Miles City. The
stable was located on the present site
of the Arnold store. The next year
this company purchased the old Hi
Astle stable on Park street. I was
“moved over with the rest of the
horses.” It was not long after we got
settled in our new location that we had
a new neighbor, who had just moved in.
It was “Calamity Jane."
She had taken possession of an old
shack standing back of the old Grey
Mule saloon.
Jane was a great old girl and good
hearted to a fault. She told me she
was married to a "young looking fel
low by the name of “Burke.” He must
have been much younger than Jane.
I mentioned to her one day:
“Burke is sure some good looking fel
low.” Then I remarked: “Wild Bill Hic
kok was a fine looking fellow, too.”
“Yes,” said Jane, “I never had a fel
low with a h—- of a lot of money; I
always did pick a good looker.”
I was asleep in the old Hi Astle stable
office one night when the door opened.
It was never locked. Some one shook
me. I rolled over, thinking I was call
ed to go on guard. But a voice called
to me in the dark.
“Slim, wake up; I want you to take
me to Deadwood. Ed Johnson put me
in jail because I was a celebrity, and
Judge Milbum fined me one hundred
dollars. I haven’t got any money. He
let me out to rustle it. I am going
to make a run for it. So Sam Pepp
told me to come down and have you
take me to Deadwood tonight.”
I rolled the horse blankets off and
pulled on one boot. I said to Jane:
“Did Sam say for you to come to this
stable?”
"Yes,” Jane replied, "he said you
wake up that long hungry-lcoking fel
low and tell him to drive you to Dead
wood and bring the bill to me when he
gets back and I will pay it.”
“I pulled on the other boot at “this
call of the wild." I walked up Park
street to Main street. Jane had in
formed me that she was at a little log
house across the street north from Mor
rison’s old frontier studio. I went into
Louie King’s old saloon. I had to have
some one to drive as I was alone in
the stable. Four cowpunchers were
playing poker. It was early morning
then. I asked one of them who had
driven for me before to make the drive.
He “turned me down flat,” and ex
plained to me almost in the same
breath in a big business way, that he
was winning. Said the cowpuncher:
“I have the game in my war bag
right now, and I just can’t leave? I
called him to one side.
“It’s Calamity Jane,” I said. “She was
jumping her bond and had to leave
right now.” Jack looked over at the
game.
“Walt a minute,” he said. “I win
The point was raised that the law
made it a criminal offense for any per
son, firm or corporation to negotiate
with the Indians with a view of secur
ing a cession, or lease, upon their land.
Notwithstanding this, it was stated up
on what was said to have been good
authority, that the negotiations had
been, and were then being, carried on
in the immediate presence of Indian
authorities appointed by the United
States government.
“Indeed, it has been openly hinted
through the public press,” says one ob
servation made at the time, “that the
secretary of the interior in his struggle
for office through Colorado influence,
has connived at the doings of the syn
dicate, if the agent has not actually
worked under his instructions.”
Public feeling among the stockmen of
Montana ran high. If the Indians are
influenced to give up their lands they
ought to go to the benefit of all citi
zens of the United States, it was con
tended. Others besides the members of
the syndicate, or their lessees, might
choose to avail themselves of the ad
vantages presented for settlement. The
lease sought was declared to be, if con
summated, a positive and absolute in
justice to the Indians themselves.
The further argument was made that
the occupancy of Indian lands by a syn
dicate, or such persons or firms as it
might select to place upon them, would
lead to inevitable collisions between
the stockmen and their employes and
the Indians. If white men were to be
permitted to occupy Indian lands which,
it was felt, they would in time, they
should be thrown open to actual occu
pation “and not controlled by a syndi
cate that has none other than a mer
cenary Interest in the matter. The fact
that a lease had been made would prove
no protection against loss to men who
took sub-contracts under the syndicate.
There must be a well-defined line be
tween Indian and other lands, or much
trouble and possible bloodshed will re
sult.”
The proposed lease could not possibly
prove satisfactory to the Indians, many
. U-.W
O' -fiMR
■ fl
"Calamity Jane.” Western Character.
Arrested in Miles City, because, as she stated, she was a “Celebrity".
Mr. Newcom gives an interesting account of Calamity Jane “jump
ing her bond,” to get to the Black Hills again.
check in and then I will go. Let’s have
a drink.”
We hooked up and dropped down to
the little log house. Jane came out
with her war bag and we carried out a
cheap suit case, and all that was good
old Jane’s ‘forty years’ gatherings.”
Jane grabbed me by the hand in
saying goodbye.
“- and you tell old Jackson, the
chief, Slim, he ought to be ashamed
of himself. Do you know it took him
and two more men to put me in jail.
Tell him for me some day I am coming
back here to Mlles City and I will whip
h out of him. Goodbye, Slim.”
Some years later, by appointment I
met quite a group of my relatives at the
Panama Exposition at Buffalo. I had
come down by boat from Chicago, We
all started to visit the show. Two or
three of the folks lived there and so we
had some one to herd us all around.
Four or five ladies were in the crowd.
THE HARDIN TRIBUNE-HERALD
stockmen declared. The actual occu
pants of the range would hold the own
ers of the lease responsible for every
head of stock lost through resultant
operations. If the loss was actually sus
tained through the activities of the In
dians themselves, the syndicate In turn
would deduct from their proposed pay
to the Indians all such losses, with in
terest added. The income that the In
dians might reasonably expect under
the terms of the lease would dwindle
to an insignificant sum and increase
the discontent.
“It can hardly be possible,” continues
the comment of that day, “that the in
terior department will allow this scheme
to be carried through. It would, indeed,
if consummated, be a cruel disappoint
ment to hundreds of men who have so
patiently waited along the banks of the
Yellowstone for years, braving all the
hardships and dangers of frontier life
in its most rugged form, and stood as
the bulwark of government itself, that
they might settle upon these domains
that are now sought to be occupied by
men who have no right or title to them.
If so occupied trouble will result for
stockmen in the great northwest will
not tamely submit to open and bare
faced robbery."
The mass meeting held at Billings
maintained in resolutions adopted that
when the Crow Indian reservation was
thrown open it should be done for the
benefit and use of only such citizens of
the United States as desire to secure
homes for themselves and their fami
lies and not for the exclusive use of
grasping monopoly. It was declared by
the stockmen attending the meeting
that experience had taught them that
such a lease would work an injustice
to the Crow Indians as well as to the
white settlers of eastern Montana. It
would result in endless conflict between
the Indians and cattlemen with all the
horrors of savage warfare.
The mass meeting represented all the
people of eastern Montana, irrespective
of party or business interest. It was re
solved “that we earnestly protest
against a lease being made between
We started down the pike, when the fun
commenced. Little did I think what
was coming. Soon we began to hear
some shooting. Some member of the
party remarked:
“O, that is the Wild West show. Do
you want to go in there with us? They
have that wonderful woman with the
show; I think they call her Calamity
Jane. Did you ever hear of her in the
west?"
“Yes,” I replied, “I know Calamity
Jane.”
“Well, let’s go in; we all want to
meet her. You must Introduce us.”
Nells Bells! This crowd never fails
to go to church twice on Sunday, and
to prayer meeting on Wednesday nights,
and here I was “on the spot” and not
a balloon in sight. There was no way
of getting away from it. They were
wild to meet her. I tried to explain
that “Jane” was a bit rough. But it
was no use, the majority was against
the Crow Indians and any person or
persons having for its object the exclu
sive use of the Crow reservation.”
A call was made upon Henry M. Tel
ler, secretary of the interior, to prevent
any such scheme being carried into ef
fect. H. J. Armstrong, agent for the
Crow Indians, was asked to stop any
negotiations looking to a lease so far
as he might be able to do so. The reso
lutions pledged “ourselves to o<ne an
other to resist to the extent of our
power, by all lawful means, any such
disposition of the Crow reservation."
It was further resolved that a com
mittee be appointed to circulate a peti
tion to the secretary of the interior
asking his intervention to prevent the
consummation of the proposed lease.
He was also asked to take immediate
action to restore to the public domain
any portion of the Crow Indian reser
vation as was not actually necessary to
the use of the Indians. Copies of the
resolution of protest were sent to Sec
retary Teller and the delegates in con
gress from Montana and Wyoming, also
to United States Senators Dawes, Lo
gan, Vest, Cameron and Morgan. The
mass meeting adjourned amid great
enthusiasm.
The indignation of the stockmen of
Montana increased and the protests be
came more emphatic when it was later
learned, through press dispatches, that
the Lease Association of Colorado had
been formed at Pueblo during the early
part of November, 1884. It was reported
to be composed of some of the largest
cattle operators of that state. Names of
Mattice and Vroman, Beattie Brothers,
A. D. Carpenter, Robert Grant, George
Haas, C. C. Toll, Garrett Lamford, the
Messrs. Ross, McDaniels, Hershberg,
Burke and others were mentioned as
being interested in the organization. It
was reported that the company was to
be the nucleus of a mighty effort to
bring about a radical change in the
United States land laws, particularly
in regard to the vast arid districts of
the great plains. The statement made
that the law which the lease associa-!
tion hoped would be enacted would:
then apply to all public domain and)
not to the Colorado ranges alone, struck;
the stockmen of Montana as a most
menacing gesture.
Information was broadcast that the
organization was formed for the pur
pose of laying plans to effectually in
troduce an act in congress that would
allow cattle raisers to lease the public
domain to actual settlers,” who have
already possessed water frontage, and
wish to avail themselves of further pro
tection than now is accorded them.
The movers in the scheme believe that
their plans can be brought to success
ful maturity. They maintain that the
act of leasing arid lands should be
placed in the land department, and
that each settler should have as much
arid area on the lease plan as his wa
ter front will justify—that is, he is to
get a range pro ratio to his supply of
running water. By this method the in
terloper will be forced to keep off the
grass that rightfully belongs to others.
These men favor the renting of leased
land at such prices per acre as may be
determined by a board of commission
ers appointed by the land office —and
that the terms should accord with the
productiveness of the leased land. As a
rule they all favor fencing, but wish in
no way to interfere with the right cf
bona fide homesteaders or pre-emption
locators, who will be required, however,
to provide means of access and egress
for their claims. That can be done by
building such roads as will be neces
sary.”
me. We entered the big show. Another
salute was fired as we went in, but fate
also was against me; I did not get hit.
We found seats and the show opened.
It was a very good show. Somehow, I
became interested and forgot my wor
ries. But suddenly there was a lull
in the performance.
A ballyho man mounted a pedestal,
and speaking through a large mega
phone began to tell of the wonderful
character of the great west he was
about to announce. Again I felt a sort
of high fever coming on, together with
a wild desire to get outside.
And then it happened. With a great
fan flare and bugle calls, Calamity Jane
was announced. She came “tearing
into the ring” on horseback, buckskin
boots and guns, “and stole the show.”
I mopped my brow as one of the girls
called to me:
“O, I see where she went, and we will
go right over there as soon as the show
is out.”
So, down across the arena we went as
the show closed. We came to the place
where the young lady said Jane went
into. It was her living quarters. A solid
door stopped us. The alarm was given.
A Spanish-looking fellow opened the
door about six inches.
“What do you want?" he inquired.
“I want to see Jane," I said.
“Well, what do you want of her?"
“Well, I am an old friend from Mon
tana.”
“O, why didn’t you say so. Wait a
minute. I will see if she is in here.”
My friends, by this time, began to
realize that they were in a part of the
country they did not realize existed.
Wild West show people and Indians
and mangy dogs and smells of a new
order and odor, the expression on their
faces were rapidly changing their at
titudes. I noted their eyes were becom
ing much larger, and I imagine some of
them were already wondering. O, if
there was only a way out. I turned as
I heard the door open.
“Slim! Old Slim from Miles City.
Damn my skin, if it ain’t. Where in
h did you ??”
I pushed Jane back through the door
again.
Montana stockmen, who studied the
proposal, and professed to read into it
a menace, saw in the movement an
avowed purpose to combine for the con
trol of government lands in the west
that might be used for grazing opera
tions. One editorial comment of that
day said:
“Just now Colorado seems to be the
abiding place of a lot of grasping spirits
that would take possession of the entire
country. The scheme proposed by the
Pueblo gentlemen is to allow their com
bination to lease all the grazing lands
from the government where they may
choose to operate and then rent the
lands to actual settlers or those who
may desire to locate and engage in live
stock raising or other pursuits on such
terms as the lessees may dictate.
"Outside the question of conflict,”
continued the Miles City editor, "be
tween the scheme and existing law, ex
perience has demonstrated the impos
sibility of transferring large tracts of
the public domain to the control of a
few persons. If such a plan were prac
tical, one company, or a single indivi
dual, might hold all of Montana or any
other grazing country, and instead of
the combined increase of beef produc
tion that has been witnessed for years
past, only a nominal yield, sufficient to
satisfy the desires of the holder, would
result. Justice to the present range
holders and the increasing demands of
the times will effectually prevent any
such monopoly of the natural advan
tages of nature as is proposed by the
Pueblo scheme cr the contemplated
opening of the Crow reservation.”
So widespread had become the con
cern exercised in Montana over the po
tentialities of a proposed lease of the
Crow reservation that the Helena In
dependent said: “The people cf Mon
tana should send protests against the
proposed lease of the Crow reservation
to our delegates. They should go from
every postoffice in the territory.”
The committee appointed at the mass
I meeting held in Billings completed the
I circulation of a petition protesting the
I lease. This was forwarded in Decem-
I bcr. 1884 to United States Senator Hen
। ry L. Dawes, chairman of the commis
sion to treat with the Crows by the
Wells-Fargo and company’s express.
The petition was 51 feet long, of closely
written signatures.
The Stockgrowers’ Journal of Miles
j City had been outspoken in its opposi
, tion to leasing vast bodies of public
। land, whether Indian reservations or
i otherwise, to syndicates or other corpo
! rations or companies composed of a few
I individuals. That newspaper gave its
reasons. First, that such transactions
could benefit a few at the expense of
| many. Second, that each and every
citizen of the United States should be
secured in rights to the public domain
' when desired, which these leases effec
tually annihilated. Third, that such
contracts worked an injury to the vast
I country in which they W’ere consum
mated, and finally, that they were in
■ direct opposition to the letter and the
' spirit of the American form of govern
ment.
; "There should be no necessity for a
‘land league’ in the United States, but
the general drift has seemed to be in
the direction of a gigantic monopoly of
the soil, reaching even into the Indian
. reservations of the far northwest. In
| opposing such schemes the stockgrowers
’ believe it has voiced the sentiment of
the people of the country, and is glad to
see that the protest is being recognized
in the councils of the nation. The In-
1 dian reserves should be occupied by
“Quiet, Jane quiet! Let me tell you
that the crowd out there is of my own
people, and they are great church peo
ple, and they are simply wild to meet ।
you. Are you all right? You are not i
drinking?”
“O. no, I’m all right. H , 11
thought you was alone.”
“Well, let’s go out.” I said.
“Miss Henderson, meet my old friend,
Calamity Jane.”
“Miss Henderson." said Jane, “I am
delighted to meet you all, and I think
it very kind of you to look me up when
you have come to Buffalo.”
Never will I forget poor old Jane, and
and never was I more amazed at any
change of front in a person; never
could you imagine it could by any
chance be the same person I had just
met in the rough, boisterous w-ay. I
stopped sweating blood. I was too de
lighted with her and she was as polite
as any one of the party and entertain
ed them all royally for fifteen or twen
ty minutes.
She told them how Francis Drake,
a writer, had come out to Deadwood
and induced her to go east to live in
her mansion house for the rest of her
life. (But Jane told me, to one side,
there was a proviso in the deal that
was that she had to promise she would
not drink and carouse any more, and I
could tell, that when Jane told me that,
she was in doubt about her ability to
do this, and sure enough, traveling
home a few days later I picked up a
Chicago paper, and there it was, on the
front page. Poor old Jane had got out
on a “high lonesome" and had fought
a policeman to a finish who tried to ar
rest her. She died a few years later
in Deadwood and I was told that she
had the largest funeral ever held in
that city, with flowers all along the line
of procession.)
“ and now I have written you
something for your Golden Jubilee. It
seemed I never could do it. I started
a half dozen times and now I don’t
believe you will be able to read it, for
I can hardly make it out myself. But
if you get stuck, call on Tom Shore
or Arthur Eichhorn; they used to help
me out when I was swamped.”—From
Jubilee Edition, Miles City Daily Star.
PAGE FIVE
BUTTE MAN DRINKS
POISON AT GRAVE
WILLIAM H. KITTO SAT UPON
TOMBSTONE OF WIFE’S GRAVE
AND DRANK ACID
Walking some three miles from the
county hospital to Mount Moriah
cemetery, near Butte, on his daily
visit to his wife’s grave, William H.
Kitto, 61, sat upon her tombstone re
cently and drank poison, Coroner Con
Murphy announced. Sheriffs Offic
ers E. J. Budrcck and John Bawden,
summoned by the cemetery caretaker,
returned the man to the hospital,
wMure he failed to rally to emergency
treatment and died a few hours later.
The coroner announced that no in
quest will be necessary. Burial will
probably be in the plot where Kitto
was found dying.
Recounting a tale of loneliness
grown into despair, attendants at the
hospital said Kitto had been a patient
there since September, 1932, a short
time after his wife’s death. He told
friends occasionally of his grief for
his wife, but the most part he ap
peared normally cheerful and had
never spoke of contemplating suicide.
Quiet and not fond of company, he
went on long daily walks and no one
suspected anything wrong when he
left the hospital and failed to return
at lunch time.
Kitto’s action at the cemetery at
tracted the attention of the caretak
er, who hurried to the man and found
him sitting on the grave, a bottle of
poison beside him, still conscious and
gasping from acid burns in his throat
and mouth, authorities were told. Al
though help was secured at once, tMe
quantity of poison taken was too great
to be offset by first aid measures.
Born in Cornwall, England, Oct.
10, 1872, Kitto had lived in the Un
ited States for the post 42 years,
spending most of the time as a miner
in Butte. At one time he was a laun
dry driver. He formerly was a mem
ber of the Welsh choir of Butte.
Fishing in Yellowstone Park
Fishing in Yellowstone national park
has been open for several days, and
the season was greeted with a resound
ing snapping of flies, spinners and the
old trusty worms. In some places fish
ermen found it necessary to await their
turn to get a place to cast their bait.
«■
Exports from Shanghai, China, last
year were 43 per cent above 1932.
the people, but not gobbled up by a
few individuals.”
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