The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-09-28


TWAS in this hour of hope that the
old board of trade was placed on
| foundation. The raven Of doubt was
! banished; the croaker was an unclean
! thing; one double Eagle wings We soar
| ed TO heights sublime. We adooted the
/ German proverb: There is no fish SO
! small but it expects to become whale
! The man with money, time. brain, voice,
| was expected to devote a portion to the
upbuilding OF Wichita He who hung
1 back and held his purse was voted
| Wichita curse. The stingy man was
marked man, and was pointed out as
| negative lesson to every new cover.
KNEW HIM AT EMPORIA
Mr. R. p. Murdoch being asked what
he remembered about Mr.. Griffenstein,
said: 1.-THE first time 1 saw him was in
1866 when he came to Emporia to trade.
He was then an Indian trader, trading
with the Indians that inhabited this val
ley and the country southwest of here
He had a half-dozen four-mule team
wagons loaded with buffalo robes. He
wore a blue wool shirt unbuttoned at the
throat; buckskin pants and moccaslns;
light colored broad-brimed wool hat
These four articles consisted his ward
robe.
81 was clerking in the store in which he
traded-P CT. Hallerg. He would deposit
his robes on a valuation base of $3.50
each and four or five hundred at a time
and traded out per cent of their value
in blankets, tobacco, bead trinkets, cali
co. sugar, etc. He was my customer and
I transacted all the business with him
'sHe would be in town a week al a time
and while in the store he would sit on the
counter (tailor fashion,, and l always
placed beside him a box full of smoking
tobacco and matches. He did not care to
smoke cigars He took nor gave any re-
CENTS. notes or memoranda of any kind,
his word was unifnpeachable and he con-
sfdered others the same. He would say
! that in the lot of robes there were so
! many Commanche,s so many Chyenne;
certain number Of them were first class
| and so many were fair, giving the grade;
the tribe by which they were tanned or
captured. knew to a certainty that
when the bales were opened that they
would be even better than he represented
| them to be.
| L
| live and renewed my acquaintance with
him. He was mayor then of the town.
| I have made many business friends our
! ing my twenty-seven years OF business
life in Wichita that 1 value very highly
hut among them all William Grinerstein
has not been excelled, with the guam
cations that go to make man and an
honorable fellow citizen, Peace to his
ashes.
J. R. MEAD's RECOLLECTIONs.
Mr.. ]. r. Mead, who probably knew
more of Mr.. Greiffenstein's early HE tnan
anv one else, furnishes the following;
with the death of William Greiffenstein
there passes away one of the few remain
ing men who were conspicuous on the
plains before there was settler IN what
| is now Sedgwick county. There are but
| two remaining in the county who were
here long before the white man came,
who lived among the Indians and bufalo,
etrong. self-reliant men who could take
! care of themselves in peace or war. In
| those DAYS Greiffenstein was known only
as "Dutch Bill" as VIM. Mathewson was
known by no other name than Buffalo
Bill"
I first met Mr. Greiffenstein in the Sa-
line and Smoky Hill country, in 1s6o-61.
He then had a light wagon, team Of
ponies and with a partner named Hor-
neck was trading further west with the
Chevennes. His home was with the In
dams down at St. Mary's mission, on the
Kaw. His eyes were very much infamed
from granulated lids. full of dust from
constant travel and camping and smoke
aff he ~
the last man on earth one would suppose
would ever attain fame or fortune. About
that time he established a ranch on Wal
nut creek on the Upper Arkansas. which
tor a while was quite a success Once
while coming into Sallna from his ranch
he was held I'D by band OF guerrillas.
who left him on foot about forty miles
from any place. The same party had
just cleaned out the town OF salina Of
horses and guns. The vI.ter was also
IN x
About that me ioo rany OF our hunt
ers we're losing their scalps in that coun-
try. So pulled out" for more peace
ful country and located at the big spring
where Towanda now Is. I heard nothing
more OF Dutch BIZ until one day along
he came with two pony teams, few
J loose ponies saddles camp N8--sta&c s-4s4
a Cheyenne wife. Jenny" 4 most admir-
able woman he told tale OF woe; how
he had been cleaned out b. hostile Ind
ans, and wanted ~ 10 oueft him Tor a
trading trip 10 the Cheyennes, which I
did He met With remarkable success,
with Jenny's invaluable assistance, ard
BY the middle % winter was N longer
afoo,- but had horses and wagons. goods
and money and his much better half.
/ Jennie And 50 FOR years ne ami I ard
Mafhevson ard Greeuway and Chisholm
hunted and traded and we're happy over
al The plains Of Kansas and Indian Ter
zitory. down 70 Texas. ard 10 enc ever
went from our camps huagry. We al
had an z8rautaEe q I'll. whose eyes
We.e 50 Bad he eoal6 BoE shoot a buffalo
twenty steps nor travel alone. ard yst
Re ragged seeETe'y over 81 The pains.
/ and every Indian OF stray white sazz
vas unade welcome a. his camp
Bat alas. IL size IS ske years rcIle5 -