The Anaconda standard., 1896-05-31
FRED'S DOUBLE LIFE
The Strange Career of Girl Who
Wore Mems Clothing.
HER LOVE OF ADVENTURE
Hugh Jackson. of the Salvation
Army In Missouia, has Known
the Girl for Four Years
He's Greatly Surprised.

tale of the confession of the boy, Fred
Rollins. that he was not a boy but
woman. The narrative contained the
statement that Rollins had been In
Missoula for a time. Nobody in this
city seemed to know him and there
has been considerable speculation as to
who he was and what he did while he
was here. The matter was explained to
a Standard reporter last evening by
Hugh Jackson, who has charge of the
rescue work of the Salvation army
in this city. Mr. Jackson's story is a
strange one. He had known Rollins
for four years and had been his inti-
mate friend for three years of that
time. He had Travelled with the sup
posed boy, had boarded with him and
had been his bed fellow and in all these
years he had never suspected that his
chum was a woman. When he found
1t out he was amazed and he was not
willing to believe the girl when she
told him that his boy friend was not
a boy at all The story as Mr.. Jack
son told IL to the reporter is about as
follows:
II first met Fred in Helena four years
ago. We went from there to Great
Falls and were there together till Fred
took to drinking again and he was not
able to get anything to do. l cannot
get out of the habit of calling him
Fred, as that is the name by which
knew him all the years that we were
together. When i think of him IL is
as a boy and not as a girl. He was
always as boyish in his habits as any
OF US and went everywhere that a
young man who is wild will go. He has
seen all sides of life and never saw
anyone more at home in bad places
than he was. He could drink more
whiskey than anyone that / ever saw
and could keep 1t up longer. 1t was
this terrible appetite that led him
astray so often. He Cor she would be
more proper now would brace up for
a time and would try to stop drinking,
hut in all cases she would slip back
into the old rut and would drink as
hard as ever. She learned to chew and
to smoke and would always hold up
her end in the sprees that she went
on with the boys But never did she
do anything that would lead anyone to
think that she was other than the boy
that she claimed to be and that every
body thought she was.
I'VE came overland from Great Falls
and worked at several places on the
way. At a ranch near Ovando we
worked during the haying season and
she did as hard work as any of the
men. I, being a cook, found work in
the kitchen, but Fred went to work in
the field. She drove a team and did
II WELL all the men said. She was
called the kid" there. as she was the
youngest In the crew She looked like
a lad of about is. While at this ranch
she chummed a good deal with the
daughter OF the ranchman, and the
boys used to twit her about II. Fred
has the inside track they would say
and the supposed boy would take their
sport In good part. When the haytng
was over we came on to Missoula and
/ stayed here. Fred went on to Horse
n - x~s.w4lr h.
was digging wells, / think, most OF
the time and had all the work that she
could do in this line. 1t was here that
she came near TO being detected
through an illness that all women are
subject to. Some evidences of this ILL
ness aroused the suspicion of the peo-
pie where she was at work and the
man of the place questioned her. She
succeeded in allaying his suspicious.
but the risk was too great and as soon
as possible after that she came to Mis-
soula. Afterward. when l had learned
her secret from her own lips, a promi-
nent man of the Plains came to me
and asked me IL knew anything about
the matter. / was pledged to secrecy
and told him that l did not. l would
not say anything about IL now IL she
had not made IL public herself
when she came to MisSoula / did
not see her for some days. as she took
a room at the Montana and proceeded
20 go on one OF her whiskey sprees. II
was three weeks ago tonight that /
saw her. She came to the Salvation
army barracks and spoke to me. She
surprised me as l thought that she was
in Horse Plains and had no thought of
seeing here here. l saw that she was
in a sorry plight. and / asked her II
she had broken away again. She said
that she had and that she had been
drunk for four or five days. She said
that she had had nothing to eat that
day and / gave her some supper. She
said that she had her room at the Mon
tana paid for for that night, but that
she would accept my invitation TO stay
with me after that. The next morning
she came to my house and had break
fast. After that she went with me to
the army barracks and there during
our meeting she promised to reform
and asked that we pray for her. We
were glad and / was especially pleased.
as / was fond of the Lad. as / thought
her to be, and We went home to dinner
very happy My wife was not at home
that afternoon and / was cooking din
ner myself. While / was doing this
Fred said: Jackson. ! want to make
a confession TO you. It's no use for me
10 try TO reform unless l do VIII you
promise not to tell IT.?
II said that I would keep the secret
II II was all right, and then she said:
i am no man..
"I know that / replied. If you
were you would not fall back to your
old ways so often after you have prom
ised your friends TO do better
That is not what / mean she con-
tinued. i mean that i am a woman
IF there had been a hole in the fioor.
/ would have fallen through II. l could
not believe IL at all ! had been with
Fred for four years almost all the time
and had seen him in all sorts of places
and doing as the boys did and / could
not believe that he was not boy. /
asked him IL he meant that he was a
woman, and then repeated the ques-