The Dickinson press., 1900-08-25

luck would have il, we stumbled on to
them after a short tramp, and brought
them back, made them secure and then
rolled up in our blankets and slept like
babies. In the morning we breakfasted
on the rest of those biscuits and toward
night VIC found the camping outfit and
got a good square meal.
"What took. the boys mostly with
Roosevelt was the easy way he had of
getting in with them. There is always a
sort Of opposilion or resistance or cool
ness, whatever o call it, among all
kinds OF men when 4 stranger comes
among them, and cattlemcn are about as
sensitive to int:uders as anybody else;
but somehow or other Roosevelt could
adapt himself to all kinds of circum-
stances, and made himself one of them
without any fuss OF friction or without
asking or getting any instructions. He
just did it naturally. He just naturally
fitted in with everybody. no matter what
was going on, whether it was a roundup
or a dance. He was always welcome and
had a good time.
"No, MIR. Roosevelt never killed his
man; that is a mistake, a newspaper
yarn, like one | read the other day about
the cowboys fooling him by shifting his
saddle with the pommcl to the tail OF the
pony. Nobody cver fooled Theodore
Roosevelt about a horse. He arrested
some thieves here once He followed
them down the river and campcd for
three or four days beforeh caught them,
and then he marched through the snow
for three or four days more until he
landed them in the Jail at Dickinson, and
he may have drawn his gun when it was
necessary, but he never shot any one. A
drunken tough ono fired at him in a
barroom here, but Roosevelt took no
notice of it, and acted as if the shot was
meant for somebody else. He had a
good deal of tact in getting along with
such critters.
"Yes," continued Mr.. Ferris, there
was a little incident, as you suggest. One
of those drunken desperadoes that dis
grace every new cattle ground, a bad
man from Bitter creek, did try it on him
one night, but | don't remember the cir
cumstances, l wasn't present at the time
and heard two or three versions of it
aftcrward. AS heal as l can remember,
this tough thought he would make some
trouble for Roosevelt by insisting upon
his taking a drink with him at the bar.
He knew that Roosevelt didn't like
whisky and never drank in such places,
and concluded to make him do it. But
he didn't know his man. So when he or
dered the %barkeeper to set out the drinks
for the crowd and invited everybody in
the room to join him Roosevelt was the
first n to step forward, and took the
tough SO by surprise that the fellow was
actually ratified. Roosevelt offered TO
shake hands with him and said: Il don't
know you, stranger, but you seem to be a
good fellow, and think we might be
friends. l never drink at a bar, and
don't like whisky, but I'll join in this
time solely out of respect and admiration
for you The bystanders saw the sar-
casm and got the laugh on the tough,
but he was one of the best friends Roose-
welt had here afterward.
"When the war with Spain broke OUT
continued Mr.. Ferris, %"Sylvanus under.
took to raise a company for the rough
riders and every cowboy in this part Of
the country enlisted"
"Yes," said Sylvanus, II got letters
and kilograms from people 500 miles
away, who used to live here and knew
Roosevelt and wanted me to put their
names down, but when they found that
they could not go with Roosevelt they
wouldn't go with any one else, and the
company disbanded. Yes, they would
follow him anywhere, for they know the
man."
SLOW about the election up here!"
swell, every cowboy in this part of the
country will vote for Roosevelt, and SC
will every man that knows him. If any
votes are cast against Theodore Roose
welt in this section of Dakota or across
the line in Montana" said Joe Ferris
"they will be cast by strangers, by mer
who have come into the country since he
left"