Pierre weekly free press. (Pierre, S.D.) 1889-19??, 1892-05-19
Realistic Story of Fort Fetter.
mans Most Gruesome
Graveyard.
HE Ghastly Contribution of "Llm.
Der Jim" to lis Pop.
ulatiOn.
How Red. Bearded Man Was
Killed by "Eat.'em- Up'
Blaisdell.

which overlooks q beautiful basin and
the North Plstteriver. The buildings
OF the fort are crumbling. sagebrush
has sprung up in the walks, and the
cactus in the parade ground is now
green and rank, says the Chicago
Herald. Fetterman is an abandoned
post. The soldiers moved away from
there years ago. Only one man lives
at the placenow. He lsa stoutiellow,
with g face as red as one OF the spring
sunsets OF the country and as un,
kempt as the hair OF q town lout.
He has few visitors. The days
come and the days go without
bringing to this man q single
thing to break the monotony OF his
life. Years ago the soldiers returned
to the post and removed from the
cemetery the dead bodies OF the,rcom-
rades. Some of the brave fellows were
killed in fights with Indians. Others
had taken their own lives, while 9th.
ers had died from natural causes. The
bodies that remained in the quiet
graveyard were those OF civilians.
They died as many of the soldiers had
done, but there WAS nobody to take
them away, and SO they were left to
| lie in the shadow OF the ruins Of the
post and where the cayotes run at
night. The headstones at these graves
are erimly humorous. They are Of
wood, with the names o. the occu.
| pants OF the tombs carved upon their
surface. The letters are not regular.
| They do not belong to the same font.
Here is an italic II and q Roman G.,
and so close are they together that the
name Is as Irregular as was the life OF
the man whose memory they were
made to perpetuate.
Oyer IN one corner OF the graveyard
is su;'Gen grave where q curlew WAS
! thrus5ing its slender bill. The head
board read: "Pete Stevenson, Killed
by Timber JIM" To the right, and
where the cactus grows the thickest,
| ls another board with this inscription,
Chill Apple, Suicided by Six SHOOT.
er, Climber JIM" whoever he may
have been, may not have started this
frontier graveyard, but he had much
TO do With the prosperity OF the civil
liam corner OF the inclosure. For here
and there WAS 81 headstone with the
name or one OF his victims, and al
ways ending in the same grim way,
"Killed by Lumber Jim There were
no dates nor days carved upon the
| boards. That would have taken too
much time. And VINO would care any
how whether Bill Bates died on Thurs
day, March 21, 1887, or on Friday,
| March % 1892
| One old story STARTED flv,n Oils
graveyard. Bill Barlow, who was II
great man about Fetterman when the
! post amounted to something,
was striking across the coun-
try late one night when, ex-
, hausted from his long ride. he drew rein
on his bronco and alighted. The night
was go dark that Barlow, familiar as
he was with every basin and draw OF the
| country, drew up in the middle OF the
graveyard and picketed his horse
| Morning WAS breaking when Barlow
aw oke. he looked about him, and
in the dim light saw the grave stones
scattered here and there. Stsrtled at
what he beheld, but suddenly realizing
that he was perhaps the most fortu.
nate OF all men, he cried out:
"Hhe resurrection, begosh, and Pm
| the first on deck"
The story was told throughout Wy
oming and eventually found its way
III the East. Barlow is still alive. He
Is a fat man with q good nature, and
when the nights are long he plays the
village piano, and sings for the big.
HATED men who sit about the store.
When the Crows and the Sioux were
much larger tribes than they are at
present they were continually ct war
with each other. Their old battlefelds
are still to be seen in Montana and
Wyoming. At one place along Powder
river, not far from Fort Mckinney,
there is q horseshoe. shaped piece OF
ground which is now ankle high with
soft, green grass. Powder river hugs
| the crescent like q snake. On the left
! bank OF the stream there are scores OF
cliffs that look like the work Of man,
SO wonderfully are the stones piled
upon one another. 1t WAS on this
horseshoe that a terrible battle was
i fought many years ago by the savage
Crows and the still M ore savage Sioux,
for the crevices IN the cliff are filled
With the bones OF at least thousand
| ChulAS So WAltc UudU lucy
look like chalk are as numerous on the
lodges as the crocuses in the grass be-
low. After the battle had been fought
the tribes returned to the ground to
bury their dead. as ls their custom.
The strange cliffs formed peculiarly
suitable sepulchre, for the tall heaps
OF stones stand like monuments over
the crumbling bones OF the fallen war.
riors.
EAT EN- Up" Blaisdell, who came
to Montana from the Panhandle three
years ago, killed a man on Tongue
river, below Miles City, three weeks
ago under peculiar circumstances. Lit
tie is known about STAT EN- Ups"
early lite. He does not know where
he was born. He dritted to Texas in
the early '7Os, then attached himself
to q cattle outfit, and finally found
himself roping steers in the Pan.
handle. While engaged in this work
he took q notion to make lariat
from the whiskers of the men in the