The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1894-05-31
DUEIS TO DEATH.
FOUGHT BY DEsPERABOEs IN FORT BEN
TOYS p.yS

TONS DAYS.
In 1878 Fort Benton, Mont. was a
nervous, sleepless, busy town. 1t was
playing in the limit Il was the entire
pot for ali the goods that came into
/ and went from an unsettled territory.
! 1t was at the head Of navigation on
the Missouri river, and it still holds
| that geographical distinction. unim
4 pOrtant now because there is no more
! business for nayigators. From its
( hills We're dusty trails marked with
flying coaches and the canvas covered
wagons Ofthe slow moving bull trains.
Its levees were piled high with goods
for waiting steamers beneath; its
| streets We're lined with miners. ad
yenturers, gamblers. traders and that
restless society that seeks new climes
for reasons best known to itself And
so 1t was until the iron march of the
locomotive crossed the valleys and
tunneled the hills and left new cen
ter5 of commerce in its wake.
Now Fort Benton is but grim and
hopeless shadow of its former glory.
Sandbars removed by the government
at the cost of millions again stretch
their muddy lines to the sunshine.
The reign of that autocrat, the river
pilot, is lost in the love of the old
timers. A steamboat is as rare
sight as one of the dark and billowy
herds of buffalo that quenched their
thirst at the river banks.
They the Jew who are left where
hundreds worked will tell you that
some day the people, like the lost
tribes of Israel, will return to Fort
Benton. You will not believe it. You
will see only pitiful evidence of decay.
Along the leyee Is Front street, once
real thoroughfare Of trade. and now
a grass grown lane. At one end Is the
old Overland hotel, atwo-story struct-
ure Of logs split and whitewashed to
give color and finish to the interior,
and rough hewn without to tell the
ture III the Overland's best days. 1t
was famous inn, and its dust worn
walls were the background for start
ling scenes. In the barrCOm. an apart
ment that combined the hotel office,
reading room and wash room, took
place many gun fights between the
best known desperadoes of the coun-
try, political speeches from early poll
tlclans and such gambling as would
make the games nowadays seem as
dull as jack straws OF dominoes.
1t was Ill this historic room of the
Overland that two famous duels were
started III one day between four men
as nervy and determined as ever drew
guns on the frontier They We're
George Ross, Little Edward Erwin
John L. Rogers. better known as
Aces up and a half breed Mexican
monte dealer, Manuel, or The Cali
fornia Greaser." All were gamblers
and thoroughbred fighters of a class
now, fast disappearing. Ross had
come from Colorado few years before
with Il well grounded reputation as a
bad man. He was known to have
turned several graveyards into bust
ness centers, and was the friend of un-
dertakers and sections. Erwin was a
man of the same class of quieter dis
position, and quite as desperate. He
was of slight build, extremely nerv-
ous, and as quick and active as a
mountain lion. Rogers and The Cali
fOrnla greasero We're representatives
of two types of fighters, common
enough in the West but distinct from
each other. The former was a buster
ing bully. who claimed TO have killed
many men that never existed: the
"greaser' was cowardly. treacher
Gus fellow, who would fight, but like
most Spanish-American desperadoes
preferred to kill his men from behind
in the seclusion of a dark alley.
Ross and Little" Edgar We're fine
examples of men afflicted with a
mania for gun fighting, a mania which
no student Of mental disorders seems
capable of analyzing. They fought
for the fun of it. or for that underlined
love of excitement which impels men
to fight without such causes as sensi-
bic men would deem sufficient. They
were close friends until that fatal day
in the Overland's bar room. because
they had been associated for years as
partners in faro games from Arkansas
to the Pacific coast. They were more
over, men of keen conception and well
versed in that knowledge of human
ity which successful gamblers must
acquire They had little in common
with other gamblers or frontier sports,
aside from the exchange of faro chips
for gold dust. They We're sometimes
accused of establishing a gambling
aristocracy. but they were always re
spected. Each had almost superhu-
man quickness with a gun. 1t was
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