The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-06-17
~CATAMOUNT BILL.

Ne Notched His Revolver and Was n Ter
ror with His Mouth.
Norden CNeb.) Cor. Omaha Bee.
The discovery near III mouth OF the
Plum, OIL the Niobrara river, OF a skull,
thigh bone and n rusty, water-stained, old
style Colts revolver. with - notches filed
on the barrel, probably reveals the final
resting place of William Stebbins, better
known to old-timers as 'Catamount
BILL the singh pressure liar Of the
Northwest"
From Pap Woodson, a veteran On
the frontier, YOU correspondent CLEANED
a few facts concerning the checkered
career of 'Catamount b." ETC., on the
''creek," as the Niobrara was called in
those days.
at is about twenty years since / first be-
came acquainted with ,Gatamount,,n re.
a pound of ''long green" to the opposite
side of his mouth. "He struck our camp.
near Tunnel Rock, on one of the meanest
nights il has ever been my luck to be out
in. Ii was early in the spring and i had
been raining all day. Myself and two
pards were inched to the campfire try
ing to keep warm when suddenly n Of
the gaukiest looking specimens OF hui
manity that ever wore legs stepped into
the flare of the campfire. There was a
general movement OH our part IOT WeaD-
ans, but the stranger unbuckled a smile
that made one of our bronchos, who hap
pened to catch n glimpse of it, break his
picket rope, and said. Don't be alarmed,
gentlemen, I'm harmless; also id
hungry" We turned him loose on the
grub box and he eat like a bound boy at a
husking bee. After lowering our provis-
n toa frightful extent he lit his pipe and
joined our circle around the fire. i sized
him up to be about thirty years old. He
was tall, thin and had hair the color of a
sage hen, that struggled dow over his
shoulders three or four inches. His face
was freckled, and his eyes "a notified
gray, and they bulged out like an owls.
He had a nose like a hawk and a mouth
that seemed To reach from ear to ear.
When he laughed il gave n person an
uncomfortable impression that unless he
hobbled his jaws he was I'm danger of un-
coupling his head. He wore a pair of
skin pants that had evidently been picked
before they were ripe, n they lacked
three inches of making connections with
the moccasins on his feet. A long-tailed
coat covered his bony frame and a small
coonskin cap was perched on the side OF
his head in a rakish manner Thrust In
a rawhide belt was the afterward famous
'notched' revolver. He was about the
~strangest looking duck that had ever
struck the creek.
'Catamount," continued Pap, .'stayed
with us for some time, and then pulled
his freight up the creek. We liked the
whelp, but he kept his tongue n wagging
30 internal much that We were afraid he
would O all the game i'm the vicinity,
and he was sucn a spontaneous, vivid n
entertaining liar that we really hated to
see him go. When he struck our camp
he had seven notches filed on the barrel
OF his revolver. He returned in IA few
weeks and proudly exhibited five addi-
tional notches. And then we discovered
H., $50. L,l 1900. ..,,s.t... an xIass....
ing angel According to his
story. each notch i'm lbs trristy gun repre-
scented the death wall of a Sioux warrior.
He gave il out that he was n bold,
bad man from beyond way back and
claimed that he was foaled at the head
quarters of Bitter Creek and claimed that
he had crimsoned both banks of that
stream to its mouth with the life blood of
many, many braves of the great Sioux
nation. IL anybody doubted his CORY tale
he would show them the notches. Cat
got kinder fuzz-like one day by a side re-
mark that Jone Ecker dove-tailed into one
of his oratorical efforts. Jone observed
that all Cat needed to wipe out the bal
ance of the Sioux tribe was a long breath
and a new file.
Game was abundant that season."
said Pap, 'an we had our hands full.
Cat was with us part of the time ana
lone a little work, but seemed to prefer
roaming around. According to his story
he planted an Indian about every week
and had the notches to show for Il!
'The last / saw of Catamount," rom
tinued Pap, with a far-away look in his
eyes, .'was late in the fall. We were get
ting about ready to load our traps and
plumber and leave for winter quarters
when he made us one of his periodical
visits. He seemed d~own-hearted and said
he was not feeling well. and that he was
thinking some of going back to his old
home near Chicago, but hated to return
without the pile that he came west to
make. He left our camp at Tunnel Rock
i'm a few days and started down the river
i'm a canoe. III these are his bones, of
which l have no doubt. he made n short
trip. How he met his death ! cannot inn
agine. Probably was taken sick and died
here all alone. Poor Cat, peace To his
ashes. and here's luck"