The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-01-15
bill SEWALL" TELLS HOW
HE TOUGHENED ROOSEVELT
The Maine Woodsman Took the President as (
Stripping and Taught Him Woodcraft-
Their Adventures in North Dakota.

brought the duck ashore. had to scrape
him with stick SOS he could Dress
Roosevelt saw his first caribou while at
iWestbrook, but was so surprised at the
vision of the t1eeting animal that he gaZed
at it in wonder, with bullying eyes, and
made no attempt to shoot. He fired at
many a deer but his first success as a
hunter Of big game was yet to come.
While coming out of the woods, Roose-
welt found an injured partridge. He would
not Kill it, but carefully nursed it on the
way home. carrying it in his arms dur |
ing the day and at night tying 1t to his
wrist to prevent escape Manfully he
stuck to his self-appointed task, taking
as tender an interest in the wounded,
helpless bird as If its life was a precious
as his own. and succeeded in partly tam
ing it before the party got back to Island
Falls.
At the end Of three weeks that partridge
was SO tame that 1t would sit for hours
perched on the edge Of big chair that
Roosevelt loved to loll in on the Sewall
piazza. "Bill" Sewall says that. while
Roosevelt was keen hunter, there was no
cruelty in his makeup and that for the
animals he shot there was always thrill
of sympathy. Hes got as much heart
as head. but doesn't like to wear it out
side his coat" says the presidents back
woods friend.
vi Tue lOllOWluS fGUFudry dt I1dy
Brook. near West Patten. Theodore
Roosevelt killed his first deer. 1t was a
beautiful doe and fell almost in It's tracks
with bullet hole clean through the heart.
I'VE had been at Mattawamkeg lake,
camping out" Sewell told the reporter
land I had promised Theodore that he
| should have some big game. Will Dow
| had been keeping him on his rifle practice
| and Theodore had developed into a re-
markable shot-remarkably good-and re-
| markedly poor. When we got up on the
| high ridge near Hay Brook. Dow and I
| went down into the swamp and left Theo-
| dore In an open spot above. told him to
| keep both eyes open and his gun cooked.
! Pretty soon we started a couple of deer
and they made straight for the ridge. A
| moment later we heard one shot and then
| shout"
Roosevelt had bagged his first deer.
The animal was dressed, taken back to
| MattaWamkeag lake. and the head was
| mounted and Is now in the presidents
collection.
! When Roosevelt went to Europe, shortly
after his graduation and marriage, he
| often wrote to the man at Island Falls
who was carefully watching his career.
Proud, indeed, of every indication of pa
! triotism and honesty Of purpose and deep
regard for American institutions, his
| charge showed, Sewall feelingly points to
| a passage in one Of the letters he re-
ceived from across the water, in which
| Roosevelt, tired of sightseeing, writes
| home:
"Do you know, Bill, that the more 1 see
| Of foreign countries, the more glad I am
| to know that I am free born American
| citizen, having to acknowledge no man
! my superior except by his merit, or any
| my inferior save by his demerit."
| When the great sorrow fell upon Roose
velt's life he turned at once to his friend
| Bill. "Come at once to New York and
| see me-" he wrote, and Sewall went.
| SeWall was received in the New York
/ house with as much consideration as
I though he had been an ambassador from
| the court of St. James. He was the king
| pin around which the events of the busy
:, week OF consultation and sightseeing cen
| tered. =
II had grand time in grand house in
a grand city, he said, crossing his knees
and gazing retrospectively into bunch of
Egreen twigs that smouldered on the hearth,
for the afternoon was chilly. Theodore
showed me the town from the park to
Harlem and down to the Battery. We
| went seeing grand tony things, and then
i did what they call stunning. 1t was an
eye-opener for me, the way them New
| Workers live.
while up In New York we laid our
plans for the trip west. Theodore was
feeling bad, and wanted to get away from
New York. I came back here and waited
until he was ready, meanwhile selling my
saWmill. Pretty soon the letter came, and
Will Dow and l started for New York and
met Theodore.
1--WE went out to Medora, 8. D., early in
July, 1884, and settled on Theodore's ranch,
called Elkhorn, about thirty miles below
Medora. We had about 1000 head Of cat
tie.
Where we were was right in the mid
die Of the Bad Lands. and the bad men
too, and of thrilling experiences we had
plenty. The Marquis de Mores, claimed
that he owned the land on which Elkhorn
ranch was located and ordered us to get
off, Now the marquis had a reputation
for being quick shooter and having a
gang Of the toughest rustlers that Dakota
held, and it looked like trouble.
Theodore took the letter the marquis
had sent, read 1t over carefully and then
wrote back: you can't hold land with
nothing but dead sheep. We are here to
stay
"a letter came back hot foot. There's a
way for gentlemen to settle disputes like
this he wrote. Theodore waited day
slept on the challenge and came to me in
the morning.
"'Bin, he said, 1t looks like duel ]
| amt going to be bullied by that French
man. so he whipped letter back. He
said he was ready at any time or place and
the weapons would be Winchesters at ten
paces each man to shoot as long as he
was able. When the letter was on it's way
} Theodore says: Bill, you will be my sec
ond in this affair But didn't have to
play that part. 800 .','
, 'The next day note of apology came
over to our ranch and the duel was off
. The marquis liked to fight, but Winches-
, tiers at ten PAGES was too much for him
, We had peace after that, as far as he was
concerned.
Jim Paddock, head ranchman for the
marquis, said one day in Medora that he
was going to shoot Theodore on sight.
, heard this anfYtold him and he went over
to Paddock's Shack like shot. .-.
y paddock was one Of the most surprised
men in the west. He had record of thir-
= teen men and his word came pretty neal
. being law. Heard you wanted to shoot
9 me- Theodore said. Well, I'm here
. paddock took it all back and told him
= that he liked his grit better than any.
thing else in the world. There wasn't any
l. thing he wouldn't do for Theodore after
~ that" =.: .1'*@ =
= Sewall Is the man who built the boat iI
v which he, Dow and Roosevelt chased two
thieves, Tom and Pete, a "greaser," fol
several hundred miles down the Little
o Missouri river after these 'tprofessiona
y bad men, had stolen the only boat a
Elkhorn and a lot Of provisions. In hi
book on hunting in the west Roosevelt
, Erelates this adventure in detail.
+ The thieves were captured and Roose
v welt personally handed them over to thu
a sheriff after three weeks chase, during
which time they were on half -rations fo
3, fOur and five davS at a time