The Saint Paul globe., 1900-02-18
WheTe Is the Wild
and WOOlly West?

Where Is the wild and woolly West
now? What has become of those noted
personages in yellow-back literature
known as Alkan Ike, Broncho Bill. Sour
Dough Tim and Liver Eating Johnson?
Do they still exist on the plains of Mon
tana, or are they only known now by
their caricatures in the Eastern comic
weeklies. where they figure with tiresome
reiteration? About two years ago spent
a day in the Montana cattle town of
Glendive, which has population of 1900
souls, who all live on the trade Of the
open ranges. save for Httle business
which comes from the headquarters OF
railway division. The county of Dawson,
of which Glendive is the capital, is
little larger than the, state Of Connecticut,
and is covered with horse and sheep
ranches. The court was in session the
time l was there and 1 visited the court
room In the morning. thinking some inter-
esting criminal might be up for hear
ing The smooth-faced judge, in his black
frock-coat, looked like a New England
parson. The hard wooden chairs within
the bar were occupied by half a dozen at
torieys. After the civil docket was fin
ished the judge remarked that as there
was no criminal business It would not be
necessary to call jury. l turned in as
tonishment to the sheriff who said. with
out evident pride: "Oh, this is a very
orderly community that you are in at the
present. This IS the second term of court
this year al which there has not been a
single criminal case to try
The truth of ha natter fc that aat-
erners have an erroneous impression
about the vast plains country that
stretches eastward from the flanks of
the Rockies to the wheat fields of the
Dakotas. 1t is a region where crimes are
far less numerous in proportion to popu-
lation than they are in the densely set
tied regions of the Eastern and Middle
states, or in the states of the Middle
West Criminals are not bred in the open
country, where hardy men ride all day
in the pure air, looking after stray cat
tie, and sleep wherever night overtakes
them, with their saddles for pillows.
Cities breed criminals. The life on the
streets Of d metropolis, teeming with vice
and corruption, makes bad men, not the
rude, manly life Of the rangers
The cowboys faults are chiefly during
the time when he gets his pay and rides
into the nearest town to see people
and find some variation In his lonely
life. His worst offense Is the assimila-
ton Of superabundance of alcoholic
stimulants. but he usually sobers up in a
day or two and goes back to his range
work, as earnest and Industrious young
citizen as can be found ON the farms of
Virginia. In his saddle bags on his re-
turn across the vast brown plains will
generally be found a good stock Of c-
garette papers and tobacco and two or
three novels-not often a flask of whisky.
II the sombreroed ruffians, with pistols
and knives In their boots and cartridge
belts around their waists. are not in the
cattle country. where then are they to be
found? Where are those Alkali Ikes.
Lariat Bills ct al, who fire at the de-
canters in bar rooms and at the silk hats
of tenderfoot strangers-the villainous
desperadoes whose lynching bees and
other narrowing anecdotes make up con-
siderable of the stock In trade of our
Eastern comic illustrators? l do NOT
know For many years have wandered
through the great Northwest on horse
back, stage coach and in canoes. as well
as In the palatial Pullman sleeper of the
great transcontinental lines, and have
never discovered any of the fierce. be-
whiskered dime novel heroes During
all my travels In the Dakotas, Montana.
Idaho, Washington, Oregon and British
Columbia 1 have never seen man hurt
or witnessed any sort of row, and I
would feel much safer to strike across
mountains or plains alone on broncho
and unarmed than / would to walk UP
Clark street at night In Chicago.
Victor H. Smalley.