The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-01-04
iii DAYS GOSSIP.


THE DAYS GOSSIP.
Harry Devoe. Of Livingston, who was In
Helena = few days ago. IL an old Indinn
fighter. He served nineteen ysass In the
regular army. 1.-THE last time ] was in All
Indian encounter, said he in talking to a
party Of friends, '.was In 187B. We ran
across the same band that massncred Cen
eral Custer, and ] sometimes shuddeF at the
fate We would have met had not our officer
in command ordered a retreat. We were
down In . ravine at the mercy Of tho reds,
who were above. aud they fred . vOIley
down upon US. About Ave Of our men we're
killed and the entire band wonld have been
slaughtered had we not beat a re-
treat. Once on a level We opened
battle and kept up firing all day
long, but the Sioux got away from us. To
show You how poorly they regarded the
workmanship OF the white soldiers, !
think the best illustration IN that several
Sioux bucks used to make money by put
ting themselves as targets at two dollars q
shot and they would not be over two hun
dred yards away. No, they would not
stand still. They would jump and move
around in n circle, and in every conceivable
way. / never knew Of one being killed in
this manner.
In recent years, however, the human tar
get business was tried by a Sioux. He was
killed aad that stopped the sport. Thu
regular soldiers have made wonderful
progress in the art Of Workmanship vita
rifles. They have regular practice, aud the
plan Of offering medals and other prizes for
the best score at the end Of a month or
year, has caused much interest in rifle
shooting.
"There is a we'll organized movement on
foot to start q party from Marysviile next
spring in search OF the Lost Cabin mine re-
ported to have been found OH the Big
California argonaut, was n of a party
when this subject was discussed. "Oh,
bosh" said George, people have been look
ing for lost cabin mines for more than fifty
years. know II man who has done nothing
else for forty years. How does he exist?
Why. that is the easiest thing in the world.
Let a man get up any scheme hat 10 half
way plausible, and he will have no trouble
in interesting people. There are many men
interested in a fairy tale. They give a man
u stake, but warn him not to tell who staked
him. OF course if the thing proves a fizzle
nobody but himself is the wiser. Yes, ]
worked in the diggings in California. In
'53--I think there was more gold taken
out that year than any other-my
partner and l tool out $500 in three
days. ! remember that close by, in some
black looking soil, We found color, A pan
of it showed about five cents. A negro
along and was looking for work.
There's a claim up there, and you
can have it if you want to work it, said my
partner, and I stood in with him. We had
no use for such cheap stuff when were tax
ing out about 800 apiece each day.
m
The colored fellow and his partner went
to work and after six days work they had
stored in a lot of provisions and had 5000
worth of dust on deposit with a one-horse
merchant down the creek, who sold bacon,
overalls, shovels, pick-handIes and all that
kind of truck"
"There was only n law in those days.
A man could leave his claim for weeks and
it would be just as he left it when he re-
turned. Why. miners who might be out
prospecting would come along and if they
wanted something to eat at a cabin they
CHANGED to strike, they never stood upon
ceremony. II no one was at home they
would walk right in and cook their meal.
Sometimes a fellow would leave notice. If
no paper or pencil was handy a piece of
charcoal would answer the purpose and
when the owner of the cabin returned he
found some notice like this: Stopped and
had a feed. Good luck to you.' There
may have been a painful of nuggets on the
table the stranger dined from but they were
never touched"
"Why, remembered one diggings where
from 15O to 200 men were at work. At din
ner time Vol might see over one hundred
pans scattered along the bank and the men
would all leave for their cabins half n mile
away. The thought that any body might
steal the gold never occurred to them.
This craze for gold is a curious thing when
you come to think abou it. In those days
just let a fellow come to camp and
tell of some new diggings and in
an hour the whole camp would be
ready to start. They'd leave places
where they were taking out $40 or $50 a
day for some point where the vivid imagi-
nation of Il prospector saw gold that only
required scooping out. After all, mining
is the best business in the world and I wish
] had it all to go over again. I'd do moth
ing else" And then the speaker turned
around to engage in a conversation about
horses, a topic upon which he had rather
talk than eat. There are few horses that
have made any showing on the turf during
the past half century whose pedigree and
performance George is not accurately ia
miliar with.
A recent issue of the Cincinnati Com
mercial Gazette contains the following
New York correspondence:
At the Fifth Avenue hotel to-day a party
Of gentlemen were talking about their expe-
riences with confidence men, when Colonel
G.. A. Broadwater, the Montapa millionaire.
remarked, with a laugh. that he had tried
for years to meet one, and that when he
thought he had succeeded found he WAS
fooled. He told his experience, which was
ludicrous. He looks enough like James G..
Bresliu, of the Gilsey House, to be Breslin's
brother. When he lets his goatee grow to
the same length al Bresiin's their facial