Fergus County argus. [volume] (Lewistown, Mont.) 1886-1946, 1891-12-10
BILL NYE AS A ~. p"
How the Only Bill 0ficiated at Frontier
Marriage Ceremony.

Edgar Wilson Nye, otherwise Bill
Nye, is writing a series OF autobiogra-
phies for the Century. From the first
paper, in the November number, we
quote as follows: 81 forgot to say
that the Office was not salaried one,
but solely dependent upon fees, the
county furnishing only the copy of the
revised statues and a wool sack, slight
ly and prematurely bald. So while
was called Judge Nye and frequently
mentioned in the papers with great
consideration, was out of coal about
half the time, and once could not mail
my letters tor three weeks because 1
did not have the necessary postage.
Friends in the eastern states may pos
sibly recall the time when my CORES
pondence, from some unknown cause,
seemed to flag. That was the time.
Of course / could have borrowed the
money, but l had, and still have, a
foolish horror of borrowing money.
l did not mind running an account,
but hated to borrow.
1.-The first business that had was
marriage ceremony. j met the groom
on the street. He asked me if l could
marry people. said that 1 could to
a limited extent. He said that he
wanted % get married. / asked him
to secure the victim, and | would get
the other ingredients. Hethen wished
TO know where my office was. 1t oc-
cured to me at that moment that
there Z was no fire in the stove; also, no
coal; also, that the west half of the
stove had fallen in during the night.
So said that | would marry them at
their home. He maintained that his
home was over eighty miles away, and
that it would consume too much time
to get there.
"'Where are you stopping at2'
inquired-using the Pike county style
of syntax in order to show that was
one OF the people.
"'Well, we met here squire. She
come in on the Last Chance stage, and
Pm camped up in Gov'ment canyon,
not far from Soldier creek. Wecan go
out there, i reckon.
81 did not mind the ride, so locked
my office, secured q book OF forms and
meeting the young people at the livery
stable, went out with them and mar
ried them in rambling, desultory
sort OF way.
"The bride was peri from Owl
creek, wearing moccasins of the plio-
Gene age. The rich Castiian blood of
the cave dwellers mantled in her cheek
along with the navy-blue blood ofCon-
necticut on her fathers side. Her hair
was like the wing OF a raven, and she
wore a tiara of clam shells about her
beetling brow. Her bracelet was
costly string OF front teeth selected
from the early settlers at the foot OF
Independence mountain. With the
shrewdness of a Yankee and the hau-
teur of savage she combined the gro
tesque grammar of Pike county and
the charming naivete of the COW
puncher. She was called Beautiful
Snow, but | think it was mostly in
spirit of banter. She was also no
longer young. 1 asked her, with an
air of bandinage, if she remembered
Pizarro, but she replied that she was
away from home when he came
through. The cave dwellers were a
serious people. Their plumbing was
very poor indeed; so also were their
Jokes. Her features were rather classic
however, and-I was about to say
clean-cut, but on mature thought l
will not say that. Her nose was
bright and piercing. 1t resembled the
breast bone OF a sandhill crane.
"The groom was a man OF great
courage and held human life at very
low figure. That is why he married
Beautiful Snow without any fiinching;
also why l have refrained from mem
tioning his name; also why l kissed
tho bri6a I did NOT yearp N kiss her
There were others who had claims on
me, but l did not wish to give needless
pain to the groom, ahd so Ibid it. He
had no money, but said that he had a
saddle which, if could use, was well
come to. / did not have anything to
put the saddle on at home, but rather
than to return empty-handed l took
it,"