Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1886-06-17
A VERY WICKED CITY
A Montana Town That Has DistanGed All Com
petit0rS.


A Montana Town That Has DiStanGnd All Com
petitorS.
New York World
Butte City, Montana, is conceded nov
to be the wickedest city in the world
writes Eli Perkins in The World. It Sc
far surpasses Dodge City, Cheyenne, an6
Leadville in pure and unalloyed wicked
ness that it Is a shame to mention them
IN connection with Butte City. Butte
acknowledges no rival but Miles City-s
cow-town over the mountains on the
Northern Pacific. Miles City tries hare
to be the wickedest city, but, being sim
pie cow-tOwn. it can not compete Will
Butte City, which has both mines and cat
tie ranges. Helena, Montana, situated
between Butte and Miles. is proud of it
wickedness, too. 1t has its myriads O.
gambling saloons, where the Chiname1
and cowboys buck the tiger at the same
table. 1t has its concert saloons. it.
Frenck demi-mOnde quarter, its African
demi-mOndi street, and its Chinese baC
houses, with their burning candles IL
front, but Heleda has to acknowledge
the supremacy of wickedness to Butte
City.
l have seen the wickedest city move
"GSI IIdIly tIIuSSs L nave seen AD1ene
Kan, with its cowboy dance-houses and
gambling palaces. move up to Cheyenne
Cheyenne was proud, in 1874, to be called
the wicked city, but good people came in
there and the Y. NJ. C. A. broke them up
l remember how they had the woman
suffrage there in 1875, and ninety wicked
women came out in a body, took the polls
and elected the barkeepers and gamblers
to the highest offices. But alas! Cheyenne
degenerated into an ordinary Chris
tian town. WickedDess then went
over to Dodge City. Dodge City
then had but one long street
every house a saloon. Bullets whistle6
down it and dead men were hauled out OF
it from morning till night. She flung the
DEVILS red-fag at all Kansas. She defeC
the Y. M. G. A. and the prohibitiOnist, but
finally the dreadful Y NJ. c. A. came ur
and camped on her bloody street, her dev
il-destrOying prOhibitiOnist cleaned out
her saloons, and her gamblers and demi
monde for Butte City. Poor Dodge City
The mines about Butte are very rich
The Anaconda mines have no rival. Money
is cheap and flies like chaff in the wind
The bOOtblack will not look at your boots
for less than % cents, and the newsbOy
sells the Onesheet Miner for 10 cents. Mr.
Zingerfest, the editor of the Miner, ad
mitted to me that he was a christian and
member of the Methodist church in Ober.
in, o., but ''Oh," he said 'dOn't mention
it in Butte. If you do no one will read
my paper 1t was a case where an editor
had to pray in his closet and then go out
and play roulette to gain the respect OF
his subscribers. A sad, sad case.
At night Butte assumes its most scarlet
hue. The town is red all the time but al
night the electric lights reflect through
stained glass thousand cardinal anc
amethyst strays. The houses of the
demi-mOnde are now all open. II anC
out surge the people, chatting the low
necked, shOrt-sleved, scantily dressed den
liens. Whole streets are given up tt
these sirens, who sit at the windows dressed
in drawing decollete. When yoJ
come to the gambling saloons the from
seem to be removed and the dozens of rou
lette tables seem to be even with the street
There they sit, women, cinnamon, COW.
boys, miners, and christians in disguise
The clergyman does not play, but come in
to show his democracy to the boys and
receive a donation from the man who
breaks the bank, and suddenly becomes
generous.
The Butte concert saloons are usually
underground. The saloon is square,
with a row of private boxes all around
the top The orchestra is occupied by
cowboys and miners, who guzzle beer at
25 cents per glass with fabby barmaids
The boxes are occupied by bank presi
dents, merchants, and wealthy citizens
who sit behind lace curtains and drink
Missouri cider-champagne at S. a bottle
with sprig htly girls in gauze dresses or
tights. The gambling tables and the
broken voiced singers make a pandemOn-
ium of the place. The weird electric
lights make the room look like hades IL
Illuminated. At IL o'clock the singing is
now and then disturbed by pistol shots
from the cowboys, who shoot down into
the ground, unless they have an especial
dislike to the singer; then the ball whisps
through the curtain. Sometimes the
cowboys chaff the merchants behind the
curtains in the boxes, and make them
order whiskey for the orchestra. Every
body calls everybody else by his first
name, and there is perfect democracy
throughout the saloon, There is no con
cealment of wickedness, but each one
does all he can to make the concert saloon
the wickedest place i'll the wickedest city
in the world. The next morning every
thing is forgotten, and the merchants
are in their stOresi the miners in their
mines, and the pistoled cowboy punch
ing his cattle ten miles away.