The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1876-05-04
Buf'ler Ben.

He Was up in a saloon ON West Van
-Bsren street. He was 9 gaunt yaap 9 mar.
Nhose face hadn't been WashcdSfo twd
Months, and who woref his hat aong be-
Mnd. He was attired in Ia such hat;
bSckskin breeches, a redS flanpel shirt
lben at the neck, and p rough pat. He
md four revolvers anda, big k18e in lid
Defe When four dry goSSds -casis
in in group and ordered some beer,
the first dry-goods clerks said to the bar
keeper:
"say, John, who's that cuss over yop-
der?" {.
THAT" said the saloon keeper, drop
ping his voice to an awe-struck whisper,
- That IL Buff Her Ben 1tl,e 4 Wiih Psapper
Of the Great Plains. Ask him to drink.
Perhaps he will."cr Y ~Trfa
The first ry-goods clerk did so, and the
Wild Trapper replied:
Wall, stranger, SEEM Is it's you,
vii Just take some ire-water. As heerd
Old Red Tail say to Spotted Cloud, It's
: a.mghtlys long time between drinks
Here's TO- US ~ and be engulfed asdose of
WHISKY ~ b. 'a2s- -
You are" said the first dry goods
clerk, aconnected with the, trapper bust
lin the scalp and grizzly line," said
the seconddry- goods clerk:
loH" miniscences ora personal
character, l doubt not, would be exciting
~ Interesting, !" said the third dry; goods
yvth: is stranger than flctfon.s Take
somethhg p, said the fourth dry goods
Wall; no." said the trapper, IL never
drink wheqI'm off the war-trail. 1t
kinder makes me ugly, yer see, and Pm
apt to dror my cutlery: I killed seven
men up tQSt:1o, Mezzouri, onst, seven
men that kwas talking to as friendly as
mout be Dyou, but sorter got riled -
wall, gimme some more whisky"
I" Your hand, I. said one of the dry goods
clerks, has often been stained with hui
man bIood?' ;,y
Stranger, she hev. The fust time you
come up and see Sme at my wickiup in
Mohtaa1a- second lodge on the right be-
yond the Yellowstone River, and be sure
you turn to the left up by the big boulders
800. miles this side-ask any 1njin, and
tell him yer want to see BUTLER Ben, and
ct he don't scalp yer he'll show yer the
road plum straight. I'll show yer old
Bulps-Eye, my rifle. She's old Kaintuck
stock likewise the barely and is sixteen
feet long, and whenever I wipe out a
white man make notch on the barrel,
and there's notches all the way up one
sHic and 9ine feet down the other. went
up TO see your gfaveyardsiat Cavalry and
Greeceland. They're a good deal like my
private graveyards, more posies and stat
utes, and so On, though they ainstso spa
clous. Now, jist about three months ago
l turned loose in a bar-rOom down to
Lafayette, Arkansaw, and the Coroner was
kept busy for three days after attending to
sever fhqtiests. And this was Just Because
a durA skunk stood up at the bar and i'm
proved his mind with my conversation.
and never asked me if l would take
There one Of the dry goods clerks caught
BUTLER Ben's eye, and he stammered out
an invitation to fill her up again. Mr..
Butt1lere Ben irrigated himself, and in
reply tod question concerning his solution
ofthe Indian question, said): j:
lnjins! Wall, no; never keep count
of the reds wipe out. l used to when
was young and sort of vain, but grew
outn it. 1t.leoked too much like vanity.
l suppose I've not taken the trouble to lit
the har Of the last $50 or 200 Indians I've
killed. Before: that / was kinder particu.
lar that Hay, and took SO many scalps that
l bustathe Frisco chignon market, and
seventeen, dealers in false hair went into
bankruptcy. 1njins is poor trash Gimme
whole tribe OF 'em and III wipe 'em out
as fast ash can load my revolver and put
it to my shoulders
(Here he paused again and was prompt
ly refreshed. Then he continued):
II tell you, boys, if you want to see the
choicest country on the footstooI, Jest you
go to- them ar Black Hills. The only
thing agin the country is the buffaloes.
They hatch there, and when they take to
flight it's awful to see them i'm. ciauds so
thick YOU cant see the sun, and when
they light they chaw up garden sass and
sour apple-trees, and corn, and railroad
ties, and potatoes, and telegraph poles.
But thar's gold in the Black Hills. I've
seen II myself. When you get down to
the bedrock you strike $50 and $50
pieces, and you wash out eagles and
dollars in the streams, and up in the
roots of the grass you find small scrip and
nickels. No nuggets as l know on,
though | did hear at Shyan of one worth
$165 goo. -
Thus, with anecdote and information,
BUTLER Ben whiled away the time When
the four drygoods clerks had settled for
the drinks, their bill amounting to $685.,
he babe them an atfec,ionate farewell, and
made them promise to call at his tepec if
ever they were up in Montana When
they had gone out. the bar keeper paid
him his twenty per cent. commission on
the drinks sold through his instrumental
ty, and told him to recollect next time that
it was grasshoppers that flew, not