St. Paul daily globe., 1889-08-07
YARNS OF MONTANA.

A couple of well-known Montana
business men were seated in the lobby
of the Merchants yesterday afternoon
telling stories about the days of '49,"
and of celebrated Montana men-cele-
brated in their own peculiar way. Il
was at Butte the other day." sad one,
and noticed a palatial-loOklng business
place on the Main street, with big, Wlde
doors and heavy plate glass WINDOWS;
] stepped across to see what IL was, ana
found it to be Ouble-Jolnted gamDllhg
house. rum NJ six faro tables and two
bars. Who 40 YOU think was running
if? No one but Dutch Henry Old
sDutch Henry has been making money
hand over fist ever since | knew him.
Why. he came out to that country With
out bottom to his trousers, and now
he is worth several hundred thousand.
Realways plays lucky game, and, from
what | know of him, a square one.
TO tell the honest truth, believe that
Butte is about the only town IN Mon
tana that is alive at the present time: L
don't live there, but | say so, just the
same. There is great deal more
money at Helena, but business seems
dull"
Talking about dull times, though"
said the other, as he eXpectorated on
one of the iron columns, you want to
go down to Billings, Miles City and
Glendve. They are no more like tney
used to be than the sky Is like the
earth. L lived at Miles City during It's
palmiest days, eight years ago, Wheh IL
bore the reputation OF beng the tough
est place on earth. About four years
ago the place began to get dull, ana L
moved to BoZeman."
Il don't think BoZeman has got any
the best of Miles City,even now," broke
in his companion with twinkle IN his
eye.
"Never you mind that. j am not
talking about Bozeman, but about Miles
CITY," responded the other, fully appre-
ciating his companions sarcasm. III
never forget the time we had in Miles
with man called Montana Kelly. He
was a sort of scout, Indian Interpreter
and souaw-man, who claimed he had
killed his dozen of reds, but who, in
reality. was too big dutfer to Kill any
thing. A lodge of the Ancient Order
of Red Mem was started III the town,
and, of course, Kelly wanted to JOIN.
But the boys did not want him in any
thing, so they put up job on him, the
result of which came very near being
serious.
I + I
"They took him out in the woods,
north of where the Macqueen house
now stands, and proceeded to initiate
him into the order. They stripped OFF
all his clothes and daubed red paint all
over his body, and in his hair. Then
they stuck feathers in his hair and told
him to run. A lot of the boys dressed
ND as Indians-althoug at that time
there were plenty of the originals-in-
tercepted Kelly as he came rushing
through the woods and WhOOped and
yelled until it sounded as though the
whole Crow nation was on the war path.
Poor Kelly became so frightened that
he remained out in the woods all night,
not daring to stir for fear of being
murdered, as he supposed, by In
dians. 1t was in the fall of
the year and the nights were cold, and
Kelly not having any other covering
than a coat of red paint, nearly died be-
fore morning. Some of the boys went
out and found him in the morning, and
gave him some clothes. Kelly never
tumbled to the racket, and after he had
recovered boasted of being full-fledged
Red Man."
eyes, | remember about Kelly" re-
marked the other after the man from
Bozeman had finished his yarn, and sat
gazing meditatiYely into space. "There
is another great man in Montana not
unknown to fame. 1t is Edward IL.
Allison, who was looked upon as
the biggest liar and the best
scout that the territory ever
knew. Allison was quite man in his
time and did some valuable work dur
ing the Indian war. He is the one who
practically captured Sitting Bull and
Gall, as it was through his negotiations
that the two surrendered at Standing
Rock agency. He had no principle,
however, and would drink whisky and
meddle with squaws. The 'SoOs'
thought he was great man, and he
spoke the language like a native.
haven't heard anything about him
lately, but l suppose he is around in
some of the Montana towns. The last
saw of him was at Glendive. He was
as full as goat and told me he was
writing a play. He tried to read some
of his stuff to me, but thank God es-
caDed."