The Bad Lands cow boy. [volume] (Little Missouri, Dakota [i.e. N.D.]) 1884-1886, 1884-07-17
rISA r.stf. ~ NJ Z. (. az = 8. ~!
Vale. Bramble!

II
money from here, Their etfand was
proftless as no one would even enter
into negotiations with them and theyt
left town on freight train swearing
that they Wonld never come here again,
that they were sorry for even the i
amount they had laid out for dinner and
they afterwards declared to- Boil. Roberts
that: the Marquis and the whole --;-;
French army couldn't drag them to Me-
dora. Bob. earnestly assured them
that from the looks Of things, no one
seemed particularly stuck On their COM
ing. u. .y;3
1t must be that the Dickinson offer
was finally accepted, as Bramble went
to the Hills and began taking contracts
with the merchants there for their
freight via Dickinson. .:s, =
Meantime, however, the Kyes end OF
the combination thought he saw q bet
ter thing In getting large bonus Of
land in Belfeld, starting q boom and
unloading Son tenderfeet. This: plan
worked to perfection as far as the bonns
Of land is concerned as, by the terms Of
the contract, the firmsof Kyes & Bram-
BILE received a large slice Of the Belield
townsite and adjacent country. This
put another phase on the matter and
Bramble Immediately began making
contracts via BeIheld pronouneing it
far superior to the Dickinson route.
Meantime, considerable work / had
been done quietly for our route and
when the Marquis and Joe Pennell went
to the Hills it was agreed by the majori-
ty OF the merchants to ship via Medora.
Here, however, the mistake Was made Of
appointing Bramble forWarder, notwitll-
standing the fact that he had said and
done all he could against US. ss 81
Matters went along we'll enough for
awhile, when complaints began coming.
in from the Black Hills merc chants. One
of these showed clearly the animus Of
Bramble toward onr route. The regular
charge is ten cents$a hundred for for
warding and Bramble had agreed tothe
rate by accepting his position. without
any notice Wlaterer, he began charging
4 fifteen cents, an advance which made
considerable difference in large CON
tsignment. The merchants in at least
one instance refused to pay the advance
draft, This brought matters to such a
crisis as Bramblo thought was favorable
land he went to Deadwood, leaving orders
to reduce freighters rates to a dollar and
fifty, thus causing all the freighters to
strike and forwarding his own ends BY
thus trying to ALLEVIATE the traffic Of the
Hills merchants. Just before leaving,
Bramble remarked that there seemed to
be some dissatisfaction in the Hills and
| that he intended to arrange matters sat
isfactorily, leaving and meaning to
leave the impression with society
brother, that he intended to work for the
best interests Of our ronte. "
| For the reason that the. Belfield con
tract was still in force, or that Bramble
was intending all the time to sell out
the N. P. route to Fred Evans, the latter
being probably the case, negotiations
had all the time been kept up in favor Of
some other route than that via Medora,
as is shown by telegram Of Bramble's
| In reference to shipping the machinery
for the Homestake 2OO-sta1np mill,
amounting to about 1000 600 pounds.
In this telegram he guarantees that he
can quote low enough rates to secure she
contract but that under no circumstan-
ces will he ship via Medora. Immediate
i ly after sending this telegram he went
to st. Paul, met Fred Evans and it is
reasonable to suppose, there concluded a
| deal with him as it was soon announced
i that Fred Evans had secured the con
| tract. From this, the assumption was
plain that Bramble had sold out the Ne
j dora route and nearly as plain that he
even went back on Belfield. sss Il =.
This brings matters up to about the
date when Bramble went to Deadwood
five OF: six weeks ago, leaving with the
promise we have mentioned above, Of
/ working for the Medora route. AS his
actions afterward showed, he intended
all the time to betray our route and on
account Of the lack Of explanation oi
several delays at this end Of the line and
the seeds Of discomfort he had sown in
the Hills, there was q promising field
for his traitorous operations.
\ Bramble thus had things all his own
way In the Hills and. for three weeks
u worked like q beaver convincing mer.
chants that the Bottled route was The
best one and inducing many to sign con.
tracts via that point. s5s3ss3,
This was the state Of affairs when the
Ieditor Of the Cow Boy arrived III Dead.
wood. Relying on the promise Bramble
had made, We were greatly surprised ia
find that he had been industriously en-.
gagged in giving the Medora route .
black eye since his arrival. Naturally
we inquired the points he had made
against our route and found them in al.
most every instance to be unqualified
lies. III the first place, he pronounced
tho route practicable, D very fayorits
expression Of his, By the way. In oppo
sition 70 this We quoted The expression.
!. of Messrs. John Seehlsr. j. Juslfs, Rassis
/ Deffebach. Billy Brewer, &. n. Palmer
Dr. Lonthan, vi. Spear and mnny others