The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1886-10-29
BISHOP TUTTLE'S GRIT.
A STIRRING STORY OF THE MON
TANA OF TWENTY YEARS AGO.

road had crossed the Rocky mountains, Bish-
/ op Tuttle was sent a missionary to the
northwestern territories. The good bishop
might well have been appalled, at the first
view of his diocese. 1t was an empire in ex-
tent, but it barely afforded him single con
gregation. Afterward, when he had planted
the church in n few of the chief centers OF
population, he had congregations 1000
miles apart, requiring weeks of painful and
dangerous travel to reach them, for the hos
tile savages held sway on the plains, while
bandits more daring than the savages and no
less bloodthirsty infested every mountain pass
through which the lines of travel led.
But never was a man better fitted by ma
ture and grace for his high mission. OF heroic
stature, in every physical sense man among
men, he had a heart for every fate and
courage and resolution equal TO any demand.
His hand, strong as a giants, was soft and
white woman'S, and more than once no
had made some insolent and sacrilegous brute
feel its might, but far oftener it has wrought
sweet charity and tenderly nursed the sick
and brought comfort to the dying, TO rough
men III lonely cabins i'll the wild mountain
gorges, bereft OF woman's care. He entered
into the lives of the people and made, at
least, their troubles his own, and when the
rude mountaineeTs, as they presently did,
came to know this strong, brave and gentle
man, his fame went through the mountains
and he became the beloved bishop.
The city of Helena, if it could be called
city, with its rabble of houses, huts novels
and tents crowding gulch between two high
shoulders of a giant peak and climbing up the
steep slopes to perch on rocky lodges and
platforms, was the metropolis of the northern
mountains. One winter morning, soon after
midnight, fire broke out among some shantses
in the upper end of the gulch. The noun
tains were white with snow; small rivulet
which meandered among the rocks was locked
in ice, while a biting blast blew down from
the mountains, and, sweeping through the
gorge, soon famed the fire into n conflagra-
ton. Men rushed TO the scene with buckets
and blankets. There was no fire brigade and
no other apparatus for fighting the flames.
Everything was confusion, and the raving of
the gale the roar OF the fire and the shout
ings OF men supplemented the frantic cxer-
tons of the people to save their property,
and, IN many cases, to escape with their
lives from the fiery furnaces into which the
narrow canyon that held the fate,l town had
been converted
Finally, when many residences, hotels and
shops of all sorts had been swept away and
the fire had invaded that quarter where were
situated the large warehouses in which were
stored the chief stocks of provisions and neceS-
sarieS the bulk, indeed, of the supply for the
entire territory, the situation seemed des-
perate enough. The people realized that here
was the last hope, and here the last rally for
deliverance was to he made \ thousand
miles OF plain and mountain, buried deep in
snow, lay between the people of that burning
town and any other source whence the neces-
saries of life could be drawn In one moment
these people We're confronted with the present
horrors of contlagration, To be inevitably sue
ceeded 10y starvation, amid the rigoTS of a
northern winter.
When it had been realized that to save the
town was impossible, every energy was bent
to the work of saving the magazines of pro
visions, and few leading spirits had organ
lied defense and had gathered the populace
for the last struggle, The plan of operations
was simple enough. 1t was to cover the
precious houses with blankets and keep them
wet. \ few daring men were to maintain
themselves ON the housetopS, while the others
Were TO pass up increasingly water in buckets,
masses Of Ice cut from the streams, and huge
balls Of snow. The men on the roof must
brave iiT0, smoke and the freezing wind. To
faltor was defeat: to retreat was ruin. There
was 10 taltcring in that desperate struggle,
and finally the battle was won
Morning had come, and with it the sun,
which, u rose over a shoulder of the
mountain. -iiled the forms of three men
who stood high on the parapet of the build
ing where the fire had been stopped. They
were the chiefs, sclf-chuseu, u lead in the
conflict, hat acknowledged and obeyed by the
populaCc, who instinctivcly recognized their
supremacy. These three men, with their
visageS grimod and black with smoke, their
hair and boards singed, their hands torn and
bloody. their hats blown away by the wind
and their clothing ragged and awry, and
with the fire of battle in their eyes, and grim
and stern lines of resolution their faces,
were terrible, almost ferocious. They looked
abroad at the smoking ruins then at the
houseless people below; then they turned and
saluted each other, the two at the extremes
regarding their companion in the center as
if in some sort he was their superior. II
was at this moment that the rising sun
shone upon the trio, gliding and clarifying
them, while the multitude below gave
great shout, recognizing, as it were. their de
livererS.
Who Were these men. They were well
known in the mountains If not Immediately
recognized IN the Disagreement of battle.
The one on the right was Bitter Root Bill"
otherwise William Bunkerly, a noted des-
perado, who got his cognomen from daring |
adventure with the Indians in the Bitter Root !
mountains. The man on the left was Gentle T,
man joe leading gambler. His real name /
was Joseph Floweree, said to be from an /
aristocratic Virginia family. He was n hand /
some fellow of -, well educated and so well /
At AtAa NItAi NAltiI
public appreciation had crystalized into a |
title. The figure in the center, taller, more .
erect and heroic looking than the others, who 4
had greeted him as their chief, was no less I
than Bishop Tuttle. In the desperate turmoil /
these three men hal gravitated to each other 4
and had risen to leadership.
The good bishop was soon at the height of /
popularity. The mountaineers had tested .
his manhood and they were ready to love
and trust him for the friend and counselor he .
proved to be- and the popular verdict was 4
solennly announced by Mr.. William Bun
kerry when he declared:
Hes full ieweled and eighteen karats DE. /
He's better gentleman than Joe F1oweree; \
he's the biggest and best bishop that ever
wore a black gown. and he's the whitest man !
in these mountains He's a fire fighter from
WAY hac.. ana Whenever he chooses TO 20 on |