The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-07-18
VENERABLE PIONEER
Bishop Tuttle Talks of the Mon
tana of 80 Years Ago.
MANY ODD EXPERIENCES
A Tribute to the Old Stage Driver-Old
Days in Virginia City-The Brav-
cry and Generosity of the
Old Pioneers.

1
went to the Auditorium last night to
hear the venerable pioneer relate some
or his experiences in Montana 32 years
| ago w. A. Clark called the meeting to
order and introduced Col. w. f. Sand
ers, who, after making a few appropri-
ate remarks. in turn introduced Bishop
futile, who was received with applause.
Seated on the stage with the bish,,p
We're these old-timers: Col. w. Il.
Sanders. w. A. Clark, G. w. Stapleton,
Judge H. N. Blake, J. H. Curtis, ]. H.
Lynch. j. Fl. Leyson, A. H. Barrett, Pat
| Conlon, c. H. Moore, Charles Curtis,
Father Venneman, George w. Irwin,
Lee Mantle, John Mcguire, John Cap
| lice and D. W. Tilton.
Colonel Sanders spoke of the kind ma
ture of Bishop futile and of the good
| he brought with him to the frontier
| towns of Montana years ago; how, af
| ter the people had become attached to
him, he was called away to another
| state
The bishop, after few felicitous pre-
| fatory remarks, said:
Il was called bishop of Montana for
| IL years and l feel proud of it. ] left
here and went to Utah in 1881 and Bish-
| op Brewer came here. Later / went 20
| Missouri. 1 found them good, generous
people, and there are some of them
| here, 1 see. o gradually shrank from
| diocese embracing Utah, Idaho and
Montana to Utah and Idaho and then TO
| Titan and last to one-half of Missouri.
| Montana is a large state, next to Cali
fornia. which is next to Texas, the
| largest in the United States. You have
a wonderful state. full of wonderful re-
sources In size you are next to Cali
fornia, which is next to Texas. Speak.
| ing of Texas, take every human being
on the globe, divide them into families
of five members, give each half of an
| acre of land in Texas and there would
| remain unclaimed. crying for some one
to come and cultivate 40, 900, 600 half
acres. You have beyond what Texas
| has in your resources of mother earth
| You have all the building stone you
want. Beyond this, of what you ought
to be proud, are your sturdy pioneers.
| Men constitute a State-high- minded
men, men who do their duty, men who
know their rights and knowing, perform
| them. l look for grand developments
of the future. God bless this state.
Now We'll go back to the territory.
| Here l am at home. / came to Mon
tana in July, 1867, by the way Of Stink
| ing Water valley. / entered the state
on the 18th of July in a snow storm
think of it, what is this date? CAP
| plause). Many of our good Catholic
| brethren came here years ago and
| spread their influences among the In
| dams. When / came here a parson was
| looked upon as an odd mixture"
Here the bishop told a story. He
stopped at house in Virginia City. A
| little boy of the family stepped up to
| him and asked:
Are you the bishop man has been ex-
pecting?''
| Yes, I'm a bishop"
well, l expected to see the elephants
| and the lions and the monkeys and the
| rest of them. Why, you're man.
| The bishop told of the many odd ex-
| periences he had and said that it was
not long before he was a popular man
| in that camp. Continuing, he said:
There were some wicked men there,
| to be sure, but they respected women
| and preachers, and would assist a
preacher in every way but being good.
| They used to say, oh, We'll leave this
| territory as soon as we make a stake.
Wen go back to Gods country Now
| they all look at this grand and great
state as Gods country. We remember
| that in those days there were few good
women and children in Montana. They
were not here-had not come West.
We missed their influence. We lived in
| our cabins with our cats and dogs. l
| had a white cat baby.
I'VE had stage coaches to travel in
| and used to pay 50 for bacon and beans
| The stage drivers of the early days
| were the most faithful men in the world.
| They carried the United States mail
| and they did their duty in getting mail
and passengers through to their des-
tination Their difficulties were mani
fold. We held up our hands in admira-
ton for those old stage drivers. Where,
l wonder, are those good, faithful men?
l say the tribute of one mans gratitude
goes to the old stage driver of Mon
tana."
This suggested another story Ret
Wiler was a stage driver on the road
from Bannack to Virginia. Years later
the bishop met the driver in an Idaho
mining camp. He asked the bishop if
he were going to preach there and be-
ing told that that was the plan, the
driver said:
"All right, bishop, I'm going to hear
you, and. more than that, I'm going to
close the saloon at o'clock and take
the boys up to church"
He met another stage driver in an
other town. This one wanted to hear
the bishop, but it happened that the
date of a circus clashed with that of
the sermon.
Say, bishop" the driver argued,
there is a circus in town to-day and
I've got to see it. I can't go to church
to-day, but / want you to put this in
the hat when you see it passed around"
There was a twenty in the envelope
the driver handed to the preacher.
The next idea that thrust itself upon
the speakers mind was that of early
day matrimony. The bishop said that
he had married 20 couples in Montana,
among them Mr.. and Mrs. D. W. Tilton,
Mr.. and Mrs. j. H. Ming and Mr. and
Mrs. Harry Cullen. The largest fee ne
ever received for performing mar
riage ceremony was rendered him in
Montana. He told the story of the mar
riage of a stage driver and the keeper
of stage eating station. He was rid
ing in a coach driven by Dave Aller-
dice. He came to a steep hill and
jumped out of the coach so as to ease
up on the horses. He walked on up to
the top of the hill and waited for the
stage. Presently man came up to him
and said:
Come back; there's a couple down
mere that wants you to marry EN-"
The preacher returned to the station
and there officiated at the marriage of