Omaha daily bee., 1889-07-21
GORDON'S BLACK HILLS PARTY,

- 49, 'NAH ~ '''s
GORDON'S BLACK HILLS PARTY,
it will be remembered by old settlers,
silently stole into the Black Hills to do
prospecting and report what kind Of n
country was in store for he waiting
thousands. In February, 1875, Gordon and
Witcher reached Niobrara just as my lit
tie "grasshOppered sheet" was getting
ready for the press. Having reached
Niobrara in the evening, they remained
all night, and | had the satisfaction, if
nothing more, of getting the first relia-
BILE news from the great gold fields, and
it was not until two days after that the
daily press knew of it. In those days
such news was as good as finding Stan
ley, for the country west of
us was unsettled and no com
municatlon whatever was possible until
Nlobrara or Fort Randall were reached.
The following May | furnished a friend
with n pony to make the hazardous trip
to the Hills with
Ill FIRST ADVENTURES,
the result Of which is in the following
telegram.
FORT RANDALL, Oak, May Is, 1875.
Ed A. Fry, Niobrara, NeD.: Place,
your pony "Puss'' and myself are in
the hands of the military, and have
concluded to postpone our trip to the
Black Hills. Will probably see you
next week. ED BUSHNELL.
The old Texas cattle trail came to
the Missouri river at this place. From
5 1000 to 20. 900 cattle were crossed here
every summer for the military posts and
Indian agencies above. An outfit
stopped here several days and
PROPOSED A BALL,
and requested the customary report.
The "all-around" editor, reporter and
devil slicked himself up and made
matters as agreeable MS possible. The
scarcity Of women in that early time
killed false pride if there was fun in
sight, and the ball came off according
to arrangements. | gave the affair a
good send-off, having borrowed an
ancient fashion magazine and put the
women IN a very fashionable light, l.
presume; while each cowboy was
dressed in vario is shades of imaginary
style from n full dress to a linen duster.
On their return they met another out
fit, and the glowing account OF the ball
induced them also TO work up one. The
women were
MAD AT TIE EDITo
for giving publicity to their names and
refused to GO. One of the cowboys,
whose man-killiug reputation vas no.
t~orious, found me at my desk as he en-
tered the Office.
Are you the editor?" he asked.
I goo~d-naturedly replied that ] was,
to which he said:
down yonder won't 90 to our ball be-
cause you put their names in yer
paper
lis that SOP" [ replied; ''you wouldn't
mind if 1 put your name m the paper
| and dressed you in broadcloth, would
you?"
ooh, no, by -, that's good; but l
want you to apologize to them wimmin."
"Why, certainly, anything for accom-
modatlon," l replied, and took his arm
| and we chatted pleasantly to the place
appointed. Here three or four irato
| woman stood waiting for us. AS we en-
| tered the cowboy said:
SNOW, YOUNG TELLER, APOLOGIZE"
I did so with the best grace ] knew
| how, and after / had made my deep bow
with: Ladies, / apologize" l turned
| to the fellow and asked, "How's that?"
"By-- that's good, -" and he jumped
| upon his horse, fired the contents Of
his revolver into the air and rode off.
AS "civilization" increased | got my
| self in hot water. Not being u Sullivan
/ was usually overpowered by my ad-
versaries. 1t was no thing
for me to get pommelled for refusing to
take back my assertions or charges; and
as for being hung or burned in effigy, it
seemed to be a pleasant pastime for VIC
torious politicians.
In 1879 Niobrara had grown sufii-
GENTLY to think that
TWO NEWSPAPERS WERE NECESSARY,
and two travelling ''prints" put up a
sign, and Hon. A. j.. Towle, our last
representative, backed them, with Mr..
| Miner w. Bruce, THE BEES Alaska
| correspondent, as editor. Everything
| went along apparently in good trim until
| fail, when politics rather divided opin-
ions with the company, and somebody
got away with the newspaper heading,
and the two printers stole the press and
type and removed them to another
building. Towle was watching the
printing outfit q block of during the
issue of replevin papers, but when the
sheriff went for the material there was
none to be found. m of the printers
had remained in front of the Office at
tracing Towle's attention, while the
other printer was loading the outfit into
a wagon from the back door. The ar
rangement had been well planned, and
a boat was in readiness at the river
bank to take OF the material. 1t was
thought by Bruce that they were going
to sail down the rlyer, and he hitched a
team intending TO head them OF at
Yankton, but they only crossed into
Dakota, where they planted the print
ing office beside some cord-wood and
got out the current issue on time,
REvoLYEEs o cory HOLDERS
and a canvas Shooting for aroof. The
printers who held down this institution
are Tom Smith, Of tho Ainsworth Star,
and Burley Hill. of the Chadron Demo
crat.
At e cemetery meeting the secretary
of the association presumed TO address
me as @ L jumped for
a seal lying on the table and brought
it down well-aimed, 10 his head,