The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1889-08-16
Western Character Sketches by Mr.. lsooss.


Civil Service Commissioner Roosevelt
never tires of telling stories of his ranch
lifo in Dakota, and he would rather receive
praise for his dexterity in thro wing u lariat
and riding a brOncho than for his IL. ility
to search out the cvasions of the civil SER
vice law. I!e enjoys talking about / is life
on the plains, aud when his attention was
called to the tragic death of Cattle Kate"
in Wyoming, he said: Il heard II great
deal about her while l Was in Dakota, and
I saw her once in Montana. She seemed
like n pleasant sort of woman. but it was
be ore she became notorious for those acts
OF recklessness of which the papers speak.
! was. however, very careful in talking to
her, for her reputation as n dead shot was
then we'll established. l never called her
KATIE not /. l addressed her most re-
specially MS madam There was about
forty miles from Di kinson, N. d., a
woman who had the reputation
of being quite q cattle queen and who was
as we'll known in II section as Cattle
Kate. shall not mention her name, for
that S,igss:t leave a vacancy i'll this great
-fefOrmatOry commission. / went out
there one day TO have her make me q buck
skin shirt. She was an artist in this
particular. She had IL husband, smaller
b herself, w.lo was subject to her COM
mands and III. ekly oh yed them. There
was n boy called the kid who worked ON
the place. This completed the household.
] stayed to dinner, and as l observed what
ali elegant meal she was preparing began
to think That she had been IL much abuse 1
woman, and was really admiring her when
she stumbled over my feet. Take them
Id feet out of the W " she remarked,
aud 4 nd without a word. A month later
/ went to get my shirt and found a fellow
known us 'Crowfoot joe established as
husband, while the small man AMI Kid
had disappeared. / did not ask The
woman anything about the chang, in
her domestic affairs. bnt quietly from
Joe 1 learned that a short time be-
foae q party of freighters had been
passing by the ranch, and while camping,
tkele the lid stole from them a jug Of
whisky. He crank half of it, which shows
he would clean out the old man. The old
man shot him through the body, severely
wounding him. This victory. coupled with
the fa t that lie emptie 1 the balance of the
jug, gave him such confidence in himself
that he thought he could boss the ranch.
aud vent i'll with the intention of doing so.
He no more than got inside Eef. re he
woman struck him with u stove iron,
knocking him sensele S. She then threw
him through the window, breaking his arm.
All this occurred while the freighters were
looking on enjoying the fray, but as the
woman came out of tho door muttcring
something about the unhealthy atmos-
phere they & thered up the wounded boy
aud the man with the broken arm and
started for Dickinson. Afterward / deliv-
cred a Fourth of July Grafton Mt Dickinson,
and the ranch woman was one of nv most
attentive auditors. she npplauded every
remark 1 made about reform and the adj
vancement of civilization. and was appar-
emily as sincere as any one there"