The Dickinson press., 1900-09-22
His Old Friends.
Interesting Incidents Recalled of
RooseueRs RougAing in
WeSte7n North Dakota.
Dickinson BandmQster Buisc1
Pitched on georgia Cump
Meeting" Selection.

Writing from Dickinson and Medora,
Sunday, Sept. l6, a Chicago Record cor
respondent says:
Theodore Roosevelt, sitting upon a
broncho. born and busted" in the valley
of the Little Missouri, looking down up
on the tiny town of Medora and sur
rounded by a few old friends of his COW
punching days, today said: Here the
romance Of my life began"
Governor" suggested "Joe" Ferris,
who led Teddy to his first Buffalo pull,
Governor, | don't believe you'd ever
done so we'll if you hadn't bucked up
agin the real thing with us first"
"That's exactly right" Joe, replied
Roosevelt. 81 had studied a lot about
men and things before saw you fellows,
but it was only when l came out here
that ! began to know anything or to
measure men right"
He galloped with his old mates over
the grass land upon the mesa, 200 feet
sheer above the valley. He counted the
towering buttes to the south and west
that mark the march of Custer when he
finished his last campaign against the
army of the Sioux.
From where he rode he could see the
~rcd-walled mesas that rose above his own
ranches Of Maltese Cross and Elk Horn,
Thirty miles apart, across the valley, and
to his companions he pointed out the dis
tant peaks and gorges where sixteen
years ago they stalked elk together and
shot mountain sheep from high places on
the rocks.
Suppress the band or make it play
sacred music" that was the order tele.
graphcd ahead when Gov. Roosevelt
found that his Sunday morning stops
were being celebrated by such tunes as
"Hot Time in the Old Town and "Come
Kiss Your Honey Boy" The bandmas.
ter at Dickinson, Roosevelt's old ship.
ping point, searched his meager roper.
toire for something suitable for Sabbath
concert, and pitched en- Georgia Camp
Meetin'," because he had not anything
else with even a suggestion of the de.
sired religious solemnity.
The rough rider has been puzzled for
week over the question whether to STOP
tor a handshake to-day with his neigh
bors of this cattle region and run tn.
risk of raising a protest about Sabbath
breaking or to lock himself up in his car
run past the scene of what he calls hi!
happiest days and incur the suspicion O
his former comrades that he had "passec
them up"
He decided in favor of his comrades o
the days when he was a deputy undel
Sheriff "Hell-Roaring Bill Jones'"
At Mandan "Joe" Ferris, Roosevelt!
partner in the Little Missouri region o
the Bad Lands fifteen years ago, cam
aboard. The governor at once had an
other place set at the breakfast table
and from there to Medora, the new nam
for Little Missouri, the talk was all of tn
rough-riding, cow-punching, gun-play in
cidents in which they both figured ant
which are part of the local history o
strenuous days that are no more.
They recalled the boom days of Me
dora, when the Marquis de Mores Law
ished his wealth upon a fantastic dream
of outdoing Chicago and Kansas Cit,
with the vast abattoirs he built there TO
slaughtering cattle, and told stories tina
set the table in a roar and brought tn
tears to "Joe" Ferris eyes. The governo
could hardly wait for the train to stop a
Medora.
He was off and in the hands of hi
friends before the conductor alighted an
the way the dozen weather-beaten-look
ing men upon the platform seized hin
patted him and said, "Golly, we're gls'
to see you again." made his face light u
with pleasure that he has not shown a
any of the applause showered upon hir
before. Less than a dozen women wit
their children came to greet him and i
a few minutes he had shaken hands wit
the whole population. Some of ther
had been here when he first saw tn
serrated buttes of the Dakotas, other
were children and grandchildren of tn
pioneers who taught him the tricks an
the glory of the life they read.
!. Old Mrs. Roberts, the first whit
woman to settle in the valley of the Ii
tie Missouri, was there, and as she clun
to his hand said: "God bless 70,
You're just the same as when you lc
us" Old George Myers was there, to-
and Roosevelt had no sooner spied hil
than he told the story Of ho,u Muerc e.