The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1882-04-12
Our AsstnabOIne Letter.
Fort AssINABoINE, April 9Th, l

Fort Ass1NABoNE, April 9Th, 1882.
Editors of the River Press:
In reply to an article published in the Ben
ton Record | would state that the discharged
Ouar,ermaster employee who waltzed away
with government property in the dead Of the
night, as that paper stated. is Mr.. John Tim
norman That gentleman has been in the
employ of Captain Lloyd for the last three
years and, it i~s-.safe to say, stands above re-
proach to-day. John left the employ of
Captain Lloyd on April 1st for the purpose
Of settling at Barker, and as he had bought a
good deal of government property at public
sales, he bought two horses and as he could
not get a wagon very handy here, he applied
to Captain Lloyd for the loan of one to take
him as far as Benton. Captain Lloyd after
consulting the commanding officer granted
the request, and | must say that | am proud
to belong to a country where an officer Is per-
mitted to show a favor of this kind to a
worthy and deserving man. These few re-
marks I think will explain the wagon, and
now | will get at the balance of the govern
ment property. After having laid out the
property SO that every person at the post
might look at it for two or three ours, an
investigation was ordered by the command:
ing officer, Captains Lloyd and Bates were
detailed for that purpose. Men of all grades
give in their evidence; first, Sergean's came
forward with books and proved by the date
articles which were sold to Zimmerman, bills
of sales were produced, in fact, Zimmerman
proved where and when he had received
every article in his possession and the court
naturally discharged him. / understand that
an apology was even made to him for detain-
ing him and for having doubted his integrity.
In regard to the other article, I would state
that the writer is not posted or else he has
told a deliberate falsehood, when he spoke
of our guard house being full. I think he
must have been in a trance produced by an
overdose of spiritus fermenti for the guard
house has never been full since the post was
built, and the chances are it will never be
for | have never seen a finer set of boys in
my life then there is at this post. When be
q thot oG1 0lOAA Ao0 EOI1C tlIl QSV
received Instructions to report all gambling
to the commanding officer the gentleman for
got that the sword Of Damocles is held con-
startly suspended over gamblers, and that it
is welded with a vengeance when ever it is
known to the officers that gambling is going
on, and when he speaks of Quartermaster's
clerks as having been arrested and several
faro lay outs confiscated he is a knave and
deserves the contempt of every respectable
man at the post for we have only one Quar-
termaster clerk here and when he connects
that gentleman's name with faro lay outs he
must be a stranger around here. have him
put up for a half breed and if he will favor me
with his name | shall do my utmost to get him
to a place of safety; and when he remarked
that counter charges came from the arrested
party he throws the post in a CONFUSION of
laughter over his idiotic remarks for he for
gets that after Glenn admitted of having
taken brides it becomes the duty or our ex-
officio to prosecute him. | may furthermore
remark that up to date no person is in trouble
over this affair, for the matter was thor
oughly investigated and as far as I know it is
settled. Before closing | would recommend
tc the writer to confne himself hereafter to
facts and not lavish IL his mighty genius
upon subjects which he can not comprehend.
AGRICoLA.