The Philipsburg mail. [volume] (Philipsburg, Mont.) 1887-current, 1891-01-08
Montana, and despite a varied an

future, have assaulted the truth upon
every conceivable occasion ia the most
reprehenslblem manner aginable, never
befors have l been confronted ia cold
type with grander aggregation of
id lies, than the assortment spread out
before me in exhibit a
OF course the Tribune, as q newspaper,
is not 10 blame lc the mat ter Indeed ii
is fair to assume that. editorially. the
management looked upon the scheme as
highly complimentary allusion to the
indonitable energy and perseverance OF
typical western man, who, by a fortu-
nate combination Of circumstances. was
suddenly boosted from an ..'extreme Of
ossolute, grovelling poverty" to ansthsr
Of ''extraerdinary atfiuence
Now. this view of the affair is all right.
Of course, but what makes the publication
So excessively exasperatlng, to one fani:-
lar with the honorable aatecsdents of tlie
famous banker is the reckless abandua
with which the entire subject is treated
by the verdant scribbler who so fearless
accepted 'eum graao sails the lille yapor-
lags of the aforesaid Long with reference
to the antecedehts OF one " hose name is a
household word wherever IS per cent.
per anuun is revered and esteemed.
Exhibit''A, from impartial standpoint
NAY be considered willful and malicious
pervsrsion Of fact, without one stray ray
Of truth to dlspel the murky shadows OF
fiction that so completely envelope the
Tribuns's story of the life of Thomas
Cruise. 1t is consolidation Of msreprs-
sen.atien that if properly presented to
one Of Hugh Kirkendall's pack mules
would make that rsticeat and morose
animal shake his ears Off with laughter.
The assertion Of Mr.. Long that six
years ago Thomas Cruise was only aa ordi-
nary day laborer." is falsehood OF such
phenomlnal magnitude as to make it
questionable if parallel can b offered -
for comparison. In defense OF my posi-
tion 1t may be here asserted, without fear
Of successful contradiction, that Thomas
Cruise earned the dignihed and honorable
prefix of "Mr" some eight years ago upon
an occasion when he had satisfactorily
demonstrated his ability to check against
81, 100000 Of his own money.
While deploring the occasion which
| calls still further into question the ve-
raclty of Long, (sss exhibit a. still the
| assertion that Mr.. Cruise was ever denied
| credit ''for 50 lbs. of flour" evidences a
| versatility Of imagination aot worthy Of
the genius who founded the city of
destiny" and who, amid the saudy sage
brush regions Of Idaho, erected a metro
polls whore for uncounted centuries the
jack-rabbit has held undisputed sway
ThenasCruss has never seen day in Al on
| tana that did not usher in with it's re-
| fulgent rays, all Of the credit he needed
to sustain life. To the uainfsrmea reader
exhibit A quito naturally conveys the III
formation that at some time in his i'm
psverished past Mr.. Cruise had done ''odd
jobs" for living. In fact, il is no strain
| upon the Imagination to depict the
Helena banker running single stroke
back-saw, or bsipg almlably engaged in
swabbing out some saloon. Mr.. Long
stitfens his line of defense somewhat here
after charging Mr.. Cruise with general
usefulness. by assuring the reader that
Thomas would do "anything SO long as
he could turn an honest dollar
While Long does not come out and
boldly charge Mir. Cruise with going
through his money against bank. be cer-
| tainly leaves that impression to be con
vsyed by inference; otherwise why should
Cruise be refused credi. ''for 80 lbs. of
-four
Under Longs version Of Mr. Crlse's
financial status that gentlelnan's eleya-
ton might be approximately measured
as follows: 1884 straight whisky and
creek water. 180O--Pommery See and
Cliquot.
Laying entirely out of further con
sideratisn the "odd jobs allegation, I
hurl after it the assertion that Long is
carbonate-colored liar, with hHe SO
pronounced as ts werthily entitle hiN 10
niche in the new Anaconda stack.
conclude with the observation that
the only "odd job" Cruise was ever iden.
titled with was washing his own dishes,
clothing, and getting in fire wood. As
he never was accused OF being very par
ticular about what he eat or wore. I take
it that the wood problem entered more
largely as a disturbing element ia his
daily life than the trit1ing annoyance Of
eating off Of dirty plate. or wearing one
shirt ell of the summer.
The statement that "Mr. Cruise one day
took tramp into the mountains whilo
prospecting for the Drum Lupalaon,"
does not necessarily carry with it the
stigma of impecunioslty. Ia the earlier
history Of Montana ia going from oas
place to another, men were largely gov
erned in their preparations by the nature
Of the locality they proposed to visit.
Thus, If snow fell deep and horse feed
was scarce, the prespector preferred to
walk, and vice versa
A memory recalls a wlktry night in
the Deer Lodge valley long years age.
On the trail from Bear, Near where the
mouth Of Gold creek enters the Hellgsts
river, stood log building we'll filed with
merchandise, and miscellaneous assert
ment Of goods used In Indian traffic 1t
was known as the "Conaolly store"
Snow covered the ground and a cold |
north wind whistled and shrleksd around |
the lonesome building. Out Of the fall !
lEg flakes appeared tive men, and as they |!
stoed in front of the door shaking the
snow from their clothing It WAS evident |
that they had made up their minds to
make camp All Of their possessions |
were tied upon small hand alsd, and |
while the smaller OF the pair was busily |
brushing the pack clear, the larger and |
elder man crawled cut of an army blau-
ket, through hole he had cut ia the
center of it, and walking in the store
stood by the fire.
1T is pretty cold out side observed
the clerk
YES" was the laconic reply.
Take drink and the clerk pointed
to barrel of whisky that, fer convent
ence sake, was headed up in the corner.
Reckoning to his cemrade,the tall man
took a cup and drew from the barrel a
large drink which the snail man quickly
threw out of sight. Filling 1t again the
tail man swallowed it down, and with a
z - L. 4