Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1892-07-02
HOW BOB FORD WAS BURIED
The Man who Faisd Jessie James
"PIsnted" at Creole.

Ihe Man Who fhi3d Jessie James
"Pisnted" at Creede.
"Who de devils yer PLANTING"
The speaker was a small boy. says
the Creole Chronicles. driving before
him two burros and dragging behind
him q pair Of tattered and ragged
trousers which he had picked up on
the mesa.
"We're plantin' Bob Ford" said the
man On horseback, and then began to
chant under lis breath the poem Of
DANNY Deevcr," which somehow
seemed TO harmonic witt the sur
~roundings. At the tabernacle there
was an enormous crowd which COM
pletcly surrounded the little church.
Charity covereth a multitude of SINS"
were the last words that Ford wrote
before he turned TO face the fatal shot
They headed a subscription taken to
bury Nellie Russell. Charity
the first words the reporter heard
when he worked his way into the
tabernacle. Every seat was taken 1t
was a curious assemblage-a mixture
of the godly and the ungodly-and
they met in this common place and
prayed that the charity which covereth
sin might be meted out to them when
they, too, should go over the crest of
the divide. Before us as we rode
stretched the winding trail over the
mountains and below lay the black
and CHASTITY ruins of the town. just
ahead, slying brown in the glare
of the sunlight, were the mounds
which lie above the bodies OF Joe Sim
mons and Billy Wall and Jessie Lester
and the others who have found a rest
ing place at the end Of q life hat was
none too bright. A little white fence
around n baby's grave glared in start
ling contrast to the neutral color
AS the horses toiled up the Hill they
stopped at times to rest, and the
mourners braced the wheels with their
feet. lest their carriages run backward.
So the end came and atlast we reached
the grave. Around it were already
gathered the people who had walked
up ahead. The pine box stood upon
its rests over a yawning hole. In u
minute the bearers had taken the wal
nut casket from the wagon and placed
IL in the outer covering, and as the UNI
dertaker screwed down the cover the
woman who stood by Bob through
thick and thin gave a pitiful little
moa Then the box grated down the
sides of the grave, and the voice of the
minister rose up in the great silence,
reading from the verse which says
but now is Christ risen from the
dead"
From their wagons coming down the
hill had come the miners in thor shirt
sleeves and overalls, and they stood
with uncovered heads and listened to
the first prayer they had heard in
many days. So we buried him there
on the mesa and we all came down to
the town aid each called for his fa-
vorite drink. Within fifteen minutes
after the clods had fallen into the
grave, the roulette wheel and the
bank which had for the time been de-
serted, were again in operation.
Yes, that came king, seven, you
lose" and then turning to the lookout:
This Teller gave us a good talk, didn't
he? God Almighty, but this packs
full of s~evens"
And from the other side of the
room:
"Twenty-one, black, high, odd" in
a monotonous ~chant-and to a player:
Yes, I'd like to have the opal Bob
wore"
So the day went by. And the tragedy
was ended.