Great Falls tribune. [volume], July 23, 1885, Image 1

About Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1885-1890

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GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE.
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per published in the territory.
Address all communications to the
TRIBUNE, GWot T FALLS, MoNT
31Y FIRST NIGHT IN MONTANA.
The Experiences of a Miner in fil
Early Days of Montatna. A C los
Call From the l igiiities.
The first night which I spent ii.
Montana Territory came so near be
ing my last one on earth, that to this
day the recollection of it sends
thrill along my nerves. It was six
teen years ago, in 1869. and I was Pt
no means a "tetnderfoot" even then.
for I had spout a year in Colorado,
another in A rizona. six months in
California, and about as mnuch Imor
in Oregon. Now il the regular urd.r
of peregrination which a youtng tuna
once fairly afloat in the far West. is
apt to follow outt I "swung round"
into Idaho and thence ieinted for Vir
ginia City, ianaeak City and Miles
City.
Why was I going there? (old, and
as a miner and an honest one: I can
honestly claim so muinh: in fnct. I was
rather too "'in'niscotut" for that psace,
as my story will shbo. Montana as
a "hard country" then: i ai I say so
now, with no oflence to its good c
zens of to-day. They will all agree
with me I think. The Henry Plum
mer "gang" was not then all "cleared
out?" though a most determined vigi
lance committee, composed of the
"best meu" in the Territory, had al
ready hanged a score or two of them.
without judge or jury prode'
Such rude acts of justice are apt to
make eastern people shudder. But
really, Montana could never have
been settled without its .vigilantes"
and the aid of lynch law. The Plum
mer gang of road agents and robbers
had previously terrorized everybody,
and had brought all business to a
standstill. It was impossible to pos
sess any property of value and live.
Court and law there were none.
This condition of things lasted for
a year or two. Then the honest ele
ment rallied and formed secret league,
sworn to establish order, or die in the
attempt.
From 1837 to 1880 the vigilantes
sometimes had a peculiar symbol
which a rogue sometimes found af
fixed to his cabin door on a morning,
or otherwise posted where he could
not fail to see it. It signified that his
further residence in the Territory was
not desired-in a word it meant "go,"
and if he was a wise man he obeyed
the hint thus conveyed sometime that
day, and did not return.
But as this mystic symbol has to do
with my story, I will speak of it in
that connection.
On the afternoon in question I was
jogging forward, perched on a mule.
with my outtit la4hed and cinched to
the back of another. expecting to get
to Bannack by sunset; and I should
have done so but for taking a wrong
trail, eight miles back, and going otl
to the east of the town. At incgtih,
seeing a shanty -with a smoke. down
beside a creek among a cose of (dia
mond willows, I rode in to in[hire
my way.
A lank, quick-eyed loan of twenty
two or three appeared at the loor as
I came through the willows, ' nd I
noticed that he seemed to regard 1y
approach very sharply. not to say sus
piciously. But I did not much won
der at that, for all strangers are sus
picious characters in these settle
ments.
I noticed, too, what did arouse in
me a certain queer feeling of curios
ity, namely, a placard of white paper,
about seven inches square, pinned to
the trunk of a cottonwood ten or
twelve feet from the cabin door. On
this placard, roughly drawn with a
very black pencil, was most truaclent
ly grinning skull with crossbones, un
derneath which were the large figures
"3-7-77."
At that time I knew nothing what
ever of the interpretation of this ca
balistic inscription; had never even
heard of it. I merely glanced at it,
then addressed myself to the occu
pant of the shanty and asked my way
to Bannack. Meantime a Crow Indi
an squaw made her appearance at the
door.
"Well, you have missed your way,"
replied the man, in exceptionally good
English; not at all of the frontier
sort, nor were his tone and inflection
what we usually heard in those parts
at that time.
"You are a matter of eleven miles
out of the 'city'," he continued, re
garding me closely as he spoke. "I
doubt if you could get there to-night.
The trail is a blind one. But" (he
went on in a tone that seemed to con
vey to me some occult significance) "I
sm rather looking for a party of old
acquaintances over to-night, after the
moon rises, and I may go back with
them: You are welcome to stop and i
go along with us, if you like. We
have half a buffalo hump roasting in
side, and there is grass for your mules
along the creek "
VOL __ FALLS TRIB UES
S-OL 1. GREAT FALLS, MONTANA TERRITORY, THURSDAY, JULY 23, 1885, NO.11
Something in the man's manner and
the way in which his eyes sized me
up, gave me a sinister impression.
Yet the offer was hardly one to be re
fused in my present situation. So I
i expressed my thanks, dismointed, and
I hobbling out my two mules, took my
pack insido the shanty and began con
versation.
Like m self. my host was a young
mian and of about my own siOe, build
and coraplexion. HIe told me that he
had b en in Montana three months
arspecting" and elk hunting; that
ie i manvaged to get a living by the
sal' of bniialo and elk hides. In a
Sgmneal way he talked of the pros
mpcts of finding gold; and told me
ona or two anoedotes of his experience
hu't ig hualoes, and al-o his nIuno,
ll) L . aid lanl s.
Tih' sfluaw soon prepared dinner.
and i ve us a tine roat of buffalo
0 moat, along iha sauce iromn some
kiin. of vd1 phn s _ihk s1' had
gathered. We partook "on~ititillv.
Lit once' as we sat eating. I noticed
that a sight noiis outside the cabin,
mide by one of my mules, caused my
host 1) start uneasily, and that he
went lh.tily to the Ooor for a look
As sion as we had fairly liniahed
eating lie observed to me, contiden
tially, that he had promised ` Maggy.1
the squ iw, to set set her on her way
to her "folks" that evening, she being
desirons of returning to her tribe;
and he asked me if I would mind "sit- i
ting by" in the shanty to look out for
things. for an hour and a half, possi
bly, while he started the Indian wo- I
man on her way.
Such a request, involving no sor- I
vice or trouble on my part, was not t
easily refused to a man who had just
furnished me with a good dinner. I
assented, made myself comfortable I
before the fire in the shanty, for the r
night was rather chilly; and immedi
ately Fairbanks, accompanied by the t
squaw, set out on foot. t
An hour passed, perhaps more;
night had fallen, and it was quite t
dark outside, the moon not having t
risen yet. I had hitched my mules t
to a tree outside, when my ear caught n
the gallop of horses' feet coming mo- li
mentarily nearer. evidently a numer- lo
ous party. "It's Fairbanks' friends," ti
I thought to myself, getting up and
walking to open the door. s
There, by the wavering reflections o
cast out from the from the wood fire e
in the fireplace inside, I saw ten or I
twelve men on horseback facing me, c.
each with a revolver pointed straight a
at mIv head. cC
"Throw up your hands!" cried a
stern voice from behind one of the Is
pi tols q
Ii obe e_ instinctively. resistance
was out of the question; I had, Icon
clud d, fallen into the clutches of
road agents.
Ie e niipleasant business with
you my friend.' the leader continued.
"'You prooably know what's coming,
since z ouvejVpaid 11 heed to our warn
in g: and he pointed to the placard
oi the tree by the shanty.
I utterly failed to understandd or
gain so much as a hint of their mean
n Even as their leader spoke, they
ail .prang off their hores. which two
of their "umber took hold; two oth
ers, stepping d(-'terminedly forward,
seized may upraised armns. One on each
side. while the fifth, whipping a lariat
from be:,eah his coat, threw a noose
over my hLad which drew rather un
co.forta`ly tight and held so.
I now saw that it was a case of pro
ospective lynching, and that I was
probably mistaken for some other
man- 1Fairbanks, most likely. I im
mediately and most vigorously remon
strated with them.
"Whom do you take me for?" I ex
claimed, with great heat. "What are
you hanging me for?" etc.
"Forward'." the leader ordered, and
in the midst of my remonstrant out
cries, I was forced along, out through
the willows to the trail and thence
onward to a crag beside it, where two
cedars grew, overhanging the path
below.
My shouts, my frantic denials of
having been guilty of any crime, and
vehement assertions that my was not
Fairbanks, made not the least impres
sion on my captors, and were received
with nothing more than an incredu
lous laugh.
The leader now spoke again. "Al
Fairbanks, alias Henry Dothan, alias
Charles Campbell," he said slowly,
implacably, "we know all about you.
Montana's no further use for ye. We
gave you a fair chance; and if you
had been disposed to be a decent man
none of your old record would have
been dug up, though you were a
double-dyed criminal when you came
here. You robbed sluices at Dead
wood and Silver Gulch. We knew all
about ye when ye first came here; but
we gave ye a chance for yourself. You
ad would go on the old road though.
ne Last week you broke into a camp at
n. Bannack; and not a month ago you
shot and robbed a miner not two miles
I from here. Fact, we've let you run
id altogether too long. If you've any
2y remarks to make, we will listen-two
n- minutes."
Again I protested that I was not the
ig man, that my name was Stuart, that I
Id had just arrived at Fairbanks' cabin;
ie and for a moment or two I hoped that
)s my frantic asseverations had produced
at some offect. The leader took a Ian
le tern which one of the party carried
a and held it close to my face. They
s- looked at me searchingly.
Io "This is Fairbanks fast enough!"
0' one said; the others agreed with him.
S"Don't waste your breath in useless
lies about yourself," saidthe leader of
r. the committee.
I thought of home, and of my sis
e ter, the only living relative whom I
now 11 had. If you will murder me,"
I exclaimed, `.send my watch and my
d pocket-book to my sister, Miss T. R..
i, S---. Pennsylvania."
y "Give that address again, please,'
e said the lea der, taking out a note-book
k and pencil. Irepeated it and lie wrote
it donv saying, .All right; they shall
J go as you direct."
XWhile lie spoke two others of the
party seized my arms. Suddenly they
stopped and spoke to the leader, who
stood in front of me. He went round;
I felt that they were examining my
wrists. By why?
"W. S. on both of them," one said.
Then I recollected the initials on
my wrists, in Indian ink, with which,
when a boy at school, I had been
- pricked on each arm, and along with
t them an anchor.
"Those are my initials-for William
I Stuart!" I exclaimed. "They were
put there years ago. That is my
name."
"It is just possible," the leader said i
to the others. "We will keep him
till to-morrow."
Forthwith I was hurried back to s
the shanty, mounted on a horse and r
thence taken closely guarded, across
the country, by moonlight, to Ban
nack City. Here I thrust into a cel
lar, and left in darkness till the fol
lowing evening, when three men came
to the door and bade me come up.
With some natural anxiety I re- s
sponded to the call, when a brief apol- l
ogy was made me for the "inconveni- b
ence" to which I had been subjected. h
I was, moreover, advised to keep a a
close mouth as to what had occurred,
and also to be more cautious in whose
company I was found in future. g
Fairbanks, alias Campbell, I never 0
saw nor heard of afterwards. It is a.
quite apparent that having received a a
"permit to travel" from the vigilantes, A
he had seen fit to do so and leave me si
to explain to these summary gentle- i
men as best I could. e
I found the law of keeping one's 'a
self among good associations was the r`
way of safety even in a new country, ic
and I was glad enough afterwards to
follow the advice of my new friends, y
and "to be more cautious in whose
company I was found." ti
(O CAL (UL FO 1 3AJ.LWII PPLE.
A Poplar River, Montana. dispatch,
July 11, says: A man was this week
arrested in Miles City and confessed
being an outlaw of tie notorious
Dock Middietoth's gang, and on inter
rogation gave numerous particulars
of their operations and projects. He
told of a contemplated robbery on
Paymaster Whipple, to take place be
tween Fort Buford, Dak., and Glen
dive, Mont., on Wodnesday last. The
plan of attack had been elaborately
arranged, but on learning this five
civil officers in the guise of soldiers
were dispatched to join the military
escort, then nearing Glendive. From
there the paymaster, accompanied by
eleven men, started Wednesday morn
ing en route to Buford, all heavily
armed, expecting at any moment a
deadly conflict. But the cunning
road agents were not to be thus de
ceived, and abandoned their scheme
on seeing the augmented defense of
the army treasury.
INDIAN TROUBLES.
A telegram received at the war de
partment in Washington, July 10, in
dicates that Indian difficulties had oc
curred in a new place. This dispatch
was from Gen. Terry, and read:
CoL Brooke, Fort Shaw, command
ing the district of Montana, has re
ceived information from Canadian au
thorities that twenty-five lodges of
insurrectionary Canadians, under a
son of Big Bear, are going towards
the boundary line. They probably in
Lend to go to the Crow Indian reserve
in Montana. They would be a dis
lurbing element if suffered to join
the Indians who are now on the ree
ervation.
L. A FATHERS LONG SEARCH.
it
u A Ian Who is Looking For an Heir
s to $10,000,000.
.n
He was a queer looking genius.
Below the medium height, thin and
emaciated; face brown and wrinkled;
t black beady eyes; scanty gray board
I all over his face; bushy, black eye
brows; iron-gray hair, thin and long,
t with just the suspicion of a tuck at
d the ends. His clothes were black,
shiny, seedy and ill-fitting. His hat
was a relic of by-gone days--a cross
between a bell-crown and a sawed-off
derby. His shoes 1ur iod up at the
toes and down at the heels. The
queer looking old gentleman was
"Professor" Richard I3elvan, a gen
tleman who announces that he will
give private instructions at night to
persons who have not had the advant
[ ages of educational facilities.
"If it is as you say that you are
making a good living out of your
business, why is it. if a fair question,
that you do not dress in better tasto ?"
'I have had that question often
and as often have I refused to answer,
but by giving my story publicity it
may help me along, and I will tell it
to you. I am saving my money to
find my daughter."
"Where is she?"
"I have asked that question thous
ands of times. I feel assured that
she isn't dead. I have searched the
world over for her once, and will
search it over again. I will find her
yet. To make my story brief as pos
sible, twenty years ago I was living
in London, England, with my little
girl who was then 5 years of age.
Her mother died about a year before.
I was a bank clerk getting a very
good salary, and was laying by a lit
tle for a rainy day. I had a brother
in India immensely wealthy. He had
promised to make my daughter his
heiress when he died, and he kept
word. I was ignored in the will, and
such were its provisions that another
person than myself was appointed to
take care of her property until she
became of age. I did not care much.
I was making enough to support us:
"Well the whole thing in a nutshell
is that my daughter was stolen and
from that day to this I have been
searching for her. II expended my
savings in searching Europe. I went
back to London, and worked until I
had enough to search Asia, Africa and
and Australia, and did so.
"I returned to Europe. While in 0
Milan, Italy, I went broke. Being a a
good linguist and having noticed an c
old man writting letters for the peas- n
ants, I set up in business for myself l(
and made money enough to come to a
America. Since in this country I have A
supported myself in the business l am R
in now. By rigid economy I manage p
every two or three years to continue Si
my search. I have been back to Eu- it
rope five times since I caine to Amer- n
ica and will go back this month. ti
"Have you ever got any trace of a.
your child?" Z
'Never. But I shall never give up d
the search. Something tells me she
is yet alive. I don't know why she n
was stolen. Her imoney is untouched.
There is upwards of 82,000,000 to her g
credit in the Lank of England. No tt
one can can touch it. and if she is not ri
found I suppose it will go to the
crown.-Rocky Mountain News. e:
CURED1 OF h\0 KJITG DOWN."c
_____<
New York Herald: A Sixth avenue
car was dodging falling spikes and oil
drippings from the "L" road above
on an uptown trip. A weary load of
uncomfortable passengers was inside.
Into the car at Varick street came a
youth with light blue eyes and a hale
of mildness and trustfullness all
around him. He had a Rrooklyn (E.
D.) air about him that would seem to
be easily imposed upon. The conduc
tor had not these characteristics, for
the ways of the "knocker down"
were not unknown to his culluloid
soul. The youth found; two or three
square inches of unoccupied space in
which to stow himself, and while he
stood by the side of a Herald reporter
handed a dime to the conductor, who
was edging his way through the
crowd and playing a fitful melody
with the register bell. He briskly
poketed the dime and passed on, ap
parently so absorbed with the multi
tude of his cares that he forgot to
hand back the change.
The youth thought nothing of this
at first, but presently he began to
yearn for either his five cents or a
"thank you." As bloc ock
was left in the w
that he had beenim eni
the Long Island
and he set about '
The ca had thine
and as he spread
corner, he took out a
pencil. He made a
GREAT FALLS TRIBUNE.
ADVERTISING RATES.
1week... $2.13$ 3.I 4. $ 6.i$ 9.1$ 12.
1 month. 5. 6. 7. 10' 15. 2L
3 months 7. 8. 10. 12. 80. 55
6 months 9. 10.1 15.1 30. j 55. 110.
1 year,... 12. 15. ! 25. 50. 100. 200.
Business notices in reading matter, 25 cents
per line.
Business notices 15 cents per line for first in
sortion, and 10 cents per line for each subsequent
insertion of same matter.
CATARACT ROLLER MlLLE
FULL ROLLER PROCESS FULL ROLLER PROCESS
FULL ROLLER PRFCESS FULL ROLLER PROCESS
FULL ROLLER
FULL ROLLER PROCESS FULL ROLLER PROCESS
FULL ROLLER PROCESS FULL ROLLER PROCESS
To be Completed With Latest Improved Ma
chinery and Ready to Run on the Coming Crop.
AM. HOLTER& BRO.,
REAT ALLS LANING ILL.
Sash, Door and Blind Factory.
OO1 SIDING JL{\BER LAW AND S{IJ. FLOORING188S
Hardware & Building Material.
Chas. Wegner, - - - Agent.
Lumber Yard at Sun River Crossing Lumber Yard at Johnstown,
THOMAS ROSE, AGENT. ED DAvIS, AGENT
GROCERIES. HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES I Il HARDWARE
GROCERIES ILJJHARDWARE
GROCERIES L I JijmyHARDWARE
GROCERIES - DEALERS IN HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES Grcr 1, Hardware & enlleraIl erhandise HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES SasS, foors, Nails & Beildiog Material HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
GROCERIES Great Falls, - - Montana HARDWARE
GROCERIES HARDWARE
-GENERAL-- MERCHANDISE~
object of it, and attracted everybody';
attention, that of the conductor in
cluded. He took out his watch an(
noted down the time. Then came
long gaze at the number of the car
and that went down on the book
Another long gaze at the conductor
who was becoming interested in the
proceedings, and the youth made n(
secret of the fa t his number was be
inggplaced upon the paper. The streel
name upon a lamp post was copied
the book closed with a slap, and
along with the pencil, was put away
Then he touched the arm of the con
ductor and said:
"Are you about ready to give mi
my change?"
"Oh yes, yes. How much did you
give me?" The red flag of guilt flut
tered in an unmistakable way from the
ramparts of his face.
"I gave you a silver dollar." The
expression of guilelessness which ac
companied this assertion would have
done a Young Men's Christian associ
ation bookkeeper in a savings bank
very proud. The conductor did not
say anything, but he thought faster
than Snowden can skate. He counted
out the 95 cents in the youth's hand,
and wondering what right a fellow
had to look like a flat unless he was
one.
The youth had gone as far as he
wanted to, and when he stepped off
the car there was an effervescent grin
on his placid and mild features.
Then the conductor went to the
front door and talked to the driver in
a confidential style which, in all well
conducted family papers is represent
ed by a series of dashes.-New York
Herald.
RIEL'S DEFENSE.
A Winnipeg dispatch,July 12, says:
Lemieux, Fitzpatrick and Green
shield, Riel's counsel, are here. They
will plead justification in Riel's be
half, as well as on that of the other
prisoners. They will seek to estab
lish that the half-breeds had substan
tial grievances; that they petittioned
the dominion government time and
again to have them removed, and that
rebellion was their only resource and
they were forced to adopt it. They
will use Hon. Edward Blake's recent
speech in the house of commons on
the half-breed troubles to establish
their plea,
Subscribe for the Tamus.
HOW BRONCHO RIDING WORKS.
Santa Fe (N. Mlex.) Democrat: A
broncho is a horse. He has four legs
like the saw horse, but is decidedly
more skittish. The bronchois of gen
tle deportment and modest mein, but
there isn't a real safe place about him.
There is nothing mean about the
broncho, though; he is perfectly reas
onable and acts on principle. All he
asks is to be let alone, but he does
ask this and insists on it. He is firm
in this matter, and no kind of argu
ment can shake his determination.
There is a broncho that lives out some
miles from this city. We know him
right well. One day a man roped him
in and tried to put a saddle on him.
The broncho looked sadly at him,
shook his head and begged the fellow
as plain as could be to go away and
not try to interfere with a broncho
who was simply engaged in the pur
suit of his own happiness; but the
man came on with the saddle and con
tinued to aggress. Then the broncho
reached out with his right hind foot
and expostulated with the man so that
he died. When thoroughly aroused
the broncho is quite fatal, and if you
can got close enough to examine his
cranial structure you will find a cavity
just above the eye where the bump of
remorse should be.
The broncho is what the cowboys
call "high strung." If you want to
know just how high he is strung, climb
up onto his apex. We rode a broncho
once. We didn't tra ei far, but the
ride was mighty exhilarating while it
lasted. We got on with great pomp
and a derrick, but we didn't put on
any unnecessary style when we went
to get off. The beast evinced consid
erable surprise when we took up our
location upon his dorsal fin. He seem
ed to think a moment, and then he
gathered up his loins acid delivered a
volley of heels and hardware, straight
out from the shoulder. The recoil
was fearful. We saw that our seat
was going to be contested, and we be
gan to make a motion to dismount,
but the beast had got under way by
this time, so we breathed a silent
hymn and tightened our grip. He
now went off into a spasm of tall
stiff-legged bucks. He pitched us so
high that every~time we started down
we would meethiicomnmgonanother
trip. Finally le gave us one grand
farewell boost and weelove the armea
menu and splituptbrough the bushe l
etereal iintiloqrts ache from the
1
lowness of the temperature, and we
could distinctly hear the music of the
spheres. Then we came down and
fell in a little heap about one hundred
yards from the starting point. A kind
Samaritan gathered up our remains
in a cigar box, and carried us to the
hospital. As they looked pityingly at
us the attending surgeons marveled
as to the nature of our mishap. One
said it was a cyclone, another said it
was a railroad smash-up; but we
thought of the calico-bided pony that
was grazing peacefully in the dewy
meadow and held our peace.
SPECIAL PER MISSION ASKED.
A Washington dispatch, July 10,
says: P. H. Kelly received a telegram
to-day from General Manager Oakes,
of the Northern Pacific, stating that
the steamer Isabella, from China,
would arrive in Tacoma about the 20th
inst., and asking that Mr. Kelly ap
ply to the secretary of the treasury
for permission to have a cargo of teas,
on board the Isabella, shipped over
the Northern Pacific in bond. As the
road is not a bonded route, special
permission must be sought, and if it
is secured, quite an important step
will have been taken toward advanc
ing the prospects of the route. The
railroad company offer to give the
bonds sufficient to have the teas
brought to St. Paul, inspected there
and duties paid on them at that point.
Hitherto imported teas for St. Paul
have had to be taken over the Union
Pacific.
A BIG BUNCH OF CATTLE. -
The largest cattle deal of the year,
says a Cheyenne, Wyoming dispatch,
of July 12, was consummated Friday.
The Ogalalla Cattle company, em
bracing A. H. Swan of Cheyenne,
Wm. A. Paxton of Omaha, and J. H.
Bosler of Carlisle, Pa., bought 27,000
head of cattle, with three ranches,
from Dennis Sheedy of Colorado. The
cattle range is on the north side of
the North Platte river, in Nebraska
and Wyoming. The amount involved
is $350,000.
Goldsmith Maid, at the height of
her glory, for a joke, was taken from
her quarters through a back street,
[ed to public place and put up at anu
hion, the spectators bidding in god:
waith nmttl the price was r '
8 when some one connected wil
with the stable bid l he aner
fell ashew led away