mosby captain when custer county was charnel...
TRANSCRIPT
THE SANDERS COUNTY LEDGER.
MOSBY CAPTAIN CHINOOK BOY AWARDED WHEN CUSTER COUNTY WAS CHARNEL HOUSECOMMISSION IN ARMYIS IN MONTANA A OF BUFFALO; 2O9OOO AILED ONE W111TER
. ANCIENT GUERLLLA ENEMIES
FORGIVEN, NOW EMPLOYE
OF UNCLE SAM.
Confederates of Helena Have a Love
Feast When Old Time Warrior Ar-
rive, There; Was Second In Com-
mand to Mosby; Grant Gave Mosby
Position.
Col. W. II. Chapman, aged 77, ofRichmond, Virginia, but now an offi-cial of the revenue service and as-signed to the district of which Mon-tana is a part, arrived in Helena theother day, to confer with RevenueCollector Whaley, and every Yankeemillionaire in the town immediatelyrealized that he must pay the govern-ment all the income tax that wascoming to it.
Fifty years ago Col. Chapman wasa rebel. He was even more than anordinary rebel. He was second incommand to the famous guerillachieftain, Col. John Singleton Mosby,rebel• raider of the civil war, whomfederal generals threatened to hangwhen they caught him. He livedthrough the war because he was notcaptured.
In company with Captain ShirleyS. Ashby of Helena, former Confed-erate officer, Colonel Chapman,whose command operated near Ash-by's in the war, talked over interest-ing phases of what heretofore hasbeen the greatest war in which theUnited States was engaged. The Plac-er hotel lobby was temporarily madethe scene of encounters of the sixties.
In Favor With Grant.
Although Mosby's command bar-reseed Grant during the war andwere his enemies, after the great gen-eral became president he called Mos-by as consul at Hong Kong, intro-duced reforms in the consular serv-ice, and remained there until Cleve-land's administration, when he wasremoved.. In 1873 Colonel Chapman was giv-en a position in the railway mail serv-ice, and in 1878 entered the revenuedepartment, where he has been eversince. Mosby died last December.
Not a Real Guerilla.
"Mosby was not really a guerillaof the bad type," states Mr. Chap-man. "His command was sanctionedby the Confederate government, thehorses and cattle and arms, capturedon his raids were turned over to theConfederates, and he operated onlyagainst the union soldiers."Hie treatment of prisoners was
good. Major Meyers, whom he cap-tured in the war, now employs two ofhis grandsons in his business in NewYork."
Mosby's men, when captured, weregenerally hung, but this ceased, Col-onel Chapman states, when orderswere sent to the union officers thatMosby would hang his captives ifthe practice continued. The mannerin which.Mosby operated made it pos-sible to capture about sixty men tothe capture of one of Mosby's men bythe union troops.
Was in Command.
Colonel Chapman, so veterans ofthe war and history state, was Mos-by's right-hand man, and led manyof the raids himself. He was in com-mand of all of Mosby's troops whenthe colenel went to Richmond duringthe war.Chapman was a student at the
University of Virginia, preparing formedicine, when the war broke out.He was in a volunteer company ofstudents, whom the Confederacy re-fused to accept as a body, but sentthem to their homes to recruit com-panies. Before entering Mosby'scommand he was in charge of a bat-tery of artillery, and fought in theearly battles.
Side by Side With Baron.
For a time Baron Robert von Mae-sow, a member of the Prussian no-bnity, fought side by side with Chap-man. Hs was wounded on GeorgeWashington's birthday, February 22,1864, three days before ColonelChapman's war romance reached thehappy culmination of marriage.Since that time the baron has re-turned to his home land and foughtIn the Auetro-Prussian war and theFranco-Prussian war, but no wordhas been heard of him since Febru-ary 25, 1915, when he cabled con-gratulations to Mr. and Mrs. Chap-man on their golden wedding anni-versary.
Mosby's command In the civil warwas a unique one, being composed ofdaredevil young men of all the statesof the union, operating on their ownaccord and constantly harassing therear of the federal troops. ColonelChapman tells fascinating tales ofthe war days. He ha.: returned tohis quarters in Salt Lake City.
Cheer Up.
I like the man, who, when aroundHis home is not a pest;
Who never with a grouch is found.Who'll make and take a jest.
Who pats the dog and strokes the cat.Who radiates good cheer;
- And who will quickly go to batWhen "Play Ball" strikes his ear.
Joseph A. Miller, a graduate of the
Chinook high school, heti been com-
missioned as a captain in the, newarmy which tne United States is rais-ing to send abroad to fight forFrance.
Captain Miller comes of good Ger-man stock. His father was a captainof Hussars in Bismarck's army, and
Joseph A. Miller of Chinook, WhoHas Been Appointed to a CaptaincyIn the Regulars.
fought through the war with Francein 1870. He rode into Paris at thehead of his troop when the Frenchcapital fell into the hands of the Ger-mans. After the war the family re-moved to America.Young Miller grew to manhood in
Chinook. After he had finished highschool he attended the Simpson, Ia.,military school, graduating a shorttime ago.' When the existence of a state ofwar with Germany was declared bycongress Captain Miller offered hisservices to the government. Hepassed the examination so creditablythat he was awarded his commission,and left Chinook last week for FortSnelling, where he will become a partof the regular military establishment.
Farmers and Compensation.
Montana farmers can enroll underthe provisions of the compensationact, Attorney General S. C. Ford hasadvised the state industrial accidentboard."In view of the provisions of lose
27 of section 40 (a) of our act," hesays, "that any employer and his em-ployee, engaged in any non-hazard-ous work by their joint election, filedwith and approved by the board mayaccept thee provisions of compensa-tion Plan No. it would ap-pear to me that any farmer in thestate of Montana may come withinthe provisions of our workmen's com-pensation act by filing with the in-dustrial accident board the Joint elec-tion of such farmer and his employesto be bound by and subject to theprovisions of the act."
THE LIBERTY HOBOSThe sale of these bonds will undoubt-
edly absorb a very large percentage ofthe money available for investment Inthe United States. It will perhaps taxthe credit of the nation somewhat toraise the funds necessary to carry onthis enormous war and will perhapshave the effect of at least temporarilycrippling and delaying the developmentand operation of the Federal FarmLoan System.THE RANKING CORPORATION OF
MONTANA, Helena, Montana, with alarge and complete organization andwith unlimityd capital Is In position torender financial assistance to the farm.era of Montana who may need or wantto borrow money on their farms forfurther improving and developing andto enable them to assiat in the produc-tion of crops to feed the warring na-tions.Write them for information or see
their Medi agent In your home town.
•••••N•NNN•4N•'••••••••••••41••••••
Mr. FarmerThe government is asking the farmers to cultivate every tillable
acre they possibly can. It is to your interest to comply with the
government's request. With the present price of grain, if you get a
crop you will reap a handsome income, but how about a failure?
The Bankers' Insurance Company of Helena solves the problem.
We insure against drought, rust, hail, wind, insects, etc. We in real-
ity insure you against crop failure.
See your local banker or write direct to us at Helena. Fifteen
hundred banks handle our agency.
Colonel Sam Gordon of Miles cityhas written of the organized slaugh-ter of the buffalo in eastern Montana.For several seasons the buffalo werekilled for their robes, the hunters re-ceiving about ;2 per head for eachkilling and the tanned robe bringingfrom $10 to $16 in the eastern mar-kets. Col Gordon's estimate is thatsystematized killing was responsiblefor the slaughter of 250,000 head ofbuffalo during the winter of 1880-1alone.
"The Indians hunted the buffalo,"writes col. Gordon, "and so did thosewhites who shot and killed for thechase, but the cowardly and inhumanwork that exterminated the monarchof the prairies was 'in no sense hunt-ing."The secret of tanning and dress-
ing the buffalo hide has never beenacquired by the white man, but thebelief that it had been discovered isresponsible for a great slaughter ofthe buffalo that cuinrinated aboutthis time. A concern somewhere inMichigan had experimented in thisline and had succeeded in producinga robe that was fairly pliable. Buf-
falo coats and robes were in demand.An average 'Indian tan' robe wasworth, in the states, from $10 to $15.Agents were sent out to the frontierto employ good shots to kill buffalo,and as a starter, they were paid $2a b
ed that a good, n the p
soon
dertteirloiep.
shot, If favorably located, could killalmost at will as the poor beastswere stupid things, and if the enemywas concealed and to the leeward,they were practically at his mercy.The only limit to making good scoresin the beginning of the industry wasthe resistence offered by the buf-falo's thick hide and hair and heavyskull. The heaviest calibre of riflesthen to boiled were often found in-adequate to the task of dealing outcertain death, but inventive geniusand skilled labor came to the rescueand perfected an extra heavy Sharp'stale, against which nature's armorwas powerless to protect and thedoom of the buffalo was written,signed and sealed.
Systematized Killing.
"By the time the business had be-come systematized and the labors of
55 IMI1ILLON13USHIELS WHEAT1IN I3. C. WRITE'S PREDEICTDON
B. C. White.
B. C. White, of the state council of defense, says that with fairlygood weather, Montana farmers will contribute 55,000,000 bushels ofwheat to the world's flour shortage, besides a world of other grains,this year. Mr. White says that potatoes are being planted to the limitof seed, and that the potato crop should be the greatest the state hasever grown. Mr. White has thrown his splendid energies into thework of organizing the farmers to meet the nation's need. He hasbeen traveling about the state, speaking at farmers' meetings, andsays he is proud of the patriotic manner in which the Montana farmerhas responded to the call of the government to grow all the foodstuffpossible.
"From Plentywood to Alzeda, from Troy to Monida, come thebest of reports of work well done, of excellent crop prospects. Ninetyper cent of the old ground is in seed, while a tremendous area of newground has been broken. It is hard for anyone to estimate the in-creased acreage, but I would place it at 30 per cent.
"The best way of arriving at an estimate of the increased acreage,and the only way, is to get some idea of the new tractors that havegone into commission this year. In every district that I have come incontact with, power planting machines have increased fully 100 percent. This means a tremendous augmentation of acreage possibilities.
"The farmer is workinng as he never worked before. I know ofany number of case's where farmers with tractors, unable to get help,worked on an average of 20 hours a day during the seeding season. Icall that real patriotism.
"The faculty of the Bozeman Agricultural college and experts con-nected with the experiment station are doing a splendid work. Theyhave prepared columns of useful information and their constructivestories, published broadcast, are being closely read and followed. Thefarmers of this state are following scientific methods advocated by thecollege leaders, and the result, with fair weather conditions, willastound even the most sanguine boosters of Montana's agricultural pos-sibilities.
"Supplementing the work of the college, the county agents, oragriculturists, are doing everything in their power to aid the farmer.Twenty-seven counties in Montana now employ county agents. Theresult of this employment will be so apparent next fall in increased pro.-duction that every county in the state, even including Silver Bow,which has the smallest agricultval area of any county in Montana, willhave a county agriculturist on its pay roll after this year. Theseagents not only teach the farmers improved methods, but they see thatthe farmer has seed, and where it is possible, credit, where needed.
"In some counties the farmers' organizations have named farmercommitteemen to look after production.
"The farmers of Sanders county are raising a fund with which tobuy Liberty bonds, and thee bonds will be offered as premiums foragricultural exhibits at the Sanders county fair. I would like to seeevery county fair organization in the 'state follow Sanders in thisparticular. It warms the cockles of my heart to have the farmers ofmy state set the farmers of the nation, I will not limit it to the state,such a patriotic example. I would like to have every farmer who readsthis write to his farmer friends in the eastern states of the Montanaidea—the offering of Liberty bonds as prizes for agricultural exhibits.
If the sun shines and the rains some at the right time we aregoing to grow a crop in 'Montana this year that will break all previousrecords; we will have a production that-will make the nation cognizautof this wonderplace of the viiest. 1 am very optimistic and hopeful asto what we will be able to do, and I believe, the total of our crop willbe of such proportions this fall as to attract the attention of the nationin her need."
the chase divided, so that the firstclass hunter carried a half-dozen'skinners' in his outfit and establish-ed a permanent camp somewhere inthe vicinity of the ranging buffaloherds. The camp was generally a'dugout' in the side of a 'cutbank,'obscured from view as much as pos-sible and near some known feedingground.
Located at favorable points wereplaces of concealment, natural if pos-sible, if not, then made to look asnatural as could be, so as not to ex-cite the suspicion of the herd. Ac-cording to the direction of the wind,the hunter, would select one of theseshelters before dawn, and rf undis-covered, be ready to do businesswhen the bufailoea.had roused andwere at their morning grazing."Poor brutes. The heavy rifle
made but little noise and was deadlyIn its effect, and when a peacefulruminator would suddenly drop in aheap, from no apparent cause, hisnear neighbors would look at theprone carcass curiously, sniff appre-hensively once or twice, and seeingnothing to exite fear, foolishly fall tograzing again, only to meet the samefate as soon as their movements gavethem proper exposure.
"Twenty-five, thirty, sixty a daywere the scores. Perhaps somechampion made a record-breaking'century.' It was only a question ofpersistence in the man with the gunand the duration of daylight, for theignorant brutes refused absolutely tostampede and generally stayed in onelocality until the last survivor haddropped. The day's killing was regu-lated by the number of skinners thehunters had in his train. No morewere killed than could be skinnedwhile warm, for the killing was alldone in winter and skinning was im-possible once a carcase became froz-en. The skinners were supposed tosalt, roll and pile the hides safe trotssoaking by melted snows and easy ofaccess for the teams that were to besent out for them in the spring. Somedid these things; and many did not.As a general thing, there was a reck-lessness about the whole procedurethat was a natural sequence of theloose business methods displayed bythe principals; the men who put theirmoney into the business.
The Hunter's Equipment."And here was a feature of it that
Is well-nigh inconceivable. The hunt-er was—nine times out of ten—anImprovident, unreliable "cuss" whoseonly recommendation was his abilityta-shoot. Such men never had a centto equip themselves with, but foundno difficulty in getting "staked" toa team, wagon and harness, gun andammunition, a camp outfit and grubfor the party, an investment of from;800 to $1,000, in addition to whichthe principal agreed to pay the hunt-er the going price for the hides, piledwhere killed, to be gathered by himin the spring, and as an additionalevidence of the lunacy that afilLtedotherwise intelligent business men atthis time, they did not hesitate tomake cash advances during the win-ter on this supposititious killing. Itwas not at all unusual for the hunterto show up in town once or twice dur-ing the winter for a season of recre-ation, on which occasions he wouldstrike his backer for a "few hun-dred" to enable him to do the squarething by the boys, and the chumpswould meekly dig up, blindly accept-ing the report of operations, on thestrength of which the advance wasasked. In one sense, it was a caseof "have to," as, if refused, the hunt-er was liable to quit and hen theprincipal would have the camp ofskinners on his hands with no com-pensating income. The windup ofsuch loosely managed affairs maywell be imagined. In the spring itwas generally found that the killinghad been largely overstated; that thehides had been poorly handled andleft to rot in pools of snow and wa-ter and those that were recoveredand brought in, when shipped to east-ern tanners, were in such bad condi-tion that they rarely repaid thefreight from Miles City eastward,leaving the bulk of the original investment a permanent debit to ex-perience.
Winter of Slaughter.
In the spring anti summer of 1882there was shipped out of Custer coun-ty, Montana, by boat and rail, about180,000 buffalo hides, and when itis estimated that, owing to carelesshandling, this number did not repre-sent more than 75 per cent of thekilling of the previous winter, andwhen It is further coffsidered thatthis work of extermination had beengoing on in a smaller way for sometwo or three years and continued in asmaller way for another year or two.It may be granted that this localitydid its full share in the extermina-tion of this noble animal. The win-ter of 1880-81 was the record break-er in buffalo killing, owing,-no doubt,to the very deep snows of that win-ter, making it almost impossible forthe herds to move. It was estimatedthat fully 250,000 were killed thatwinter in what was then Custer coun-ty. The humanitarian will deplorethis chapter in our history; the fatal-ist will argue that in the developmentof the west the buffalo was fast be-coming an obstacle and his removal
WHEN HARLEM WASREADY TO FIGHT
CITIZENS ARMED WHEN REPORTCAME OF BELLIGERENT BUL-
GARS AND AUSTRIANS.
Chiefs of Police and Sheriffs Alongthe High Line Get Ready for Ac-tion; Greeks on a Holiday Occasionfor Warlike Rumor; One Greek Ar-rested.
Harlem was in the state of warfor a few hours one day recently. Itwas reported, and generally believedthat Austrian and Bulgarian railroadlaborers, in camp in force at Mata-dore, had armed themselves, run upthe German and Austrian flags andproposed to raise internal trouble.
It seems that the railroad laborershad been employed at Wagner, andwere being moved in their care toHavre. They had been sent out onenight when the train crew tied upon account of the 16-hour law. Thetrainmen had some trouble with themand reported their attitude to the au-thorities.
Chiefs of police and sheriffs werenotified at various towns along thehigh line of the impending trouble.Sheriffs arranged for posses offighting men, and the Zortman con-tingent of gun fighters was heavilydrawn upon. The officers plannedto concentrate their forces in Harlem,rush the work train of belligerentsInto the Harlem yards, surround itand capture them before they coulddo any harm.
Scouts Sent Out.Finally ,the officers decided to
send an automobile load of nervymen out to reconnoitre. They droveinto the camp at Matadore, and foundthe flags of Greece and Uncle Samwaiving peacefully side by side, and100 loyal Greeks in camp, who hadbeen celebrating some national holi-day, and had raised their flag along-side of the stars and stripes on thestrength of the fact that their coun-try is now an ally of the UnitedStates. The ofitcers al:toyed theirguns a little deeper into their pock-ets and rode back to Harlem in dis-gust, Arriving at Harlem the armeddefenders of the place were dis-banded.
Before arriving at the Greek campthe officers encountered a Greek,armed with a shot gun, who washunting ducks. He was placed indetention as a possible belligerent.About the same time the game war-den clime along, and before he couldbe released, arrested him for huntingwithout a license. The officers ofthe expeditionary force felt so badlyabout the arrest, that they "chippedin" and paid his fine, and the northcountry war was over.
HELENA SALOON KEEPERMADE TO KISS THE FLAG"Buttermilk" John Piitz, propri-
etor of a Helena saloon, twice kissedthe flag of the United States one dayrecentlY. He did it once in his saloonand once in the mud in the middle ofthe street. The act was committed inthe presence of 25 employes of theNorthern Pacific railroad, some ofthem high officials,about the yards,and other Helena citizens.
Pittz kissed the flag and at thesame time retracted derogatory re-marks made to Mr. Thomas, a civilwar veteran, reflecting on the integri-ty of the United States army, and themen of whom it is composed, becauseThomas said that his son had gone tothe colors.The case wag investigated by Po-
liceman Morgan who could not findPuts, as he had closed his saloon im-mediately after the incident and hasleft the 'vicinity.
was provided for. Whatever may bethe conclusioe, there is no room todoubt the dependent fact. With theexception of two or three sickly, cap-tive herds of less than a hundredhead each, the buffalo is extinct."
ELK RUN HEREFORDSYOUNG BULLS FOR SALE FROM THAL
FAMOUS VELIE HEREFORD HERD.
If you seed a young bail to head yourherd or for range purpose. write fa in-
formation to
ELK RUN IRANCHDUNCAN MeDONA&D, Mgr.,
Highway& Meataaa
Or to Shirley S. Feed, Grant Falls, peat.
EREFORD HEIFERSor say Mad of
RANGE CATTLE FOR SALEWe are making a specialty of suaging
unr customers with HEREFORD (719HEIFERS. Also sell on time to national-ole parties that can fnrolah satisfactorystatement. Write for any informationwhich will be gladly furnished.
KING CATTLE COMPANY,Main Office and Headquarters:
South Pt. Paul. Idiaa.
CHOICE LOT OF
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Prices on Application.
C. E. Polar, Hawaii John Evans. Cando.
an be seen at N. S. Ranch, 7 miles fromCascade.
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