The Opelousas courier., 1902-02-08
AIDING Till RUSTLERS.
An Episode in the Cattle History of Montana.

SOLuS Oh the COWBOYS In n posse
! began to get more than they had bar.
gained for. and wanted 10 quit the
business, but "Flopping BIN pointed
out to them that they would 3 hanged
by the civil law if their shan in the
impromptu hanging was knoSsp, and
that, together with other cogsh rea.
sons, prompted them to remain
The next lunch Of rustteTs as 10
Gated along the Missouri. They kassed
as w~oodchoppers, and a large number
Of them had Q rendezvous at Neng
Johns Bottom on the Missouri, a shoFV
ways below the mouth of the Mussel-
she'll "Flopping Bills" posse came
upon the camp early n morning, and
was discovered by the horse herder,
whom they promptly shot, and charged
upon the camp. There was a block
house with a stable attached, belong
ing to the rustlers, but most of them
were sleeping in tents, and when the
shooting began one of them was slot
while getting to the blockhouse. Once
there they oefied the posse, and it was
only by strategy that they were dis
lodged. While the posse kept up a hail
Of bullets against me house, n Of
the cowboys sneaked up through the
| grass and set fire to the stable, and it
many rustlers were killed will never
be known, but there were at least IL
in the house and six were taken pris-
oners, while one escaped.
The n who got away vas Dixey
Burroughs, a half-breed, and we'll
known in northern Montana. Bur-
roughs managed to get away from the
house, and was stopped by n of the
outer guards, but dropped behind a log
and at the fourth shot managed to get
his man. and escaped. Who the cow-
boy was that was shot has never been
divulged. He was buried where he
fell and a hint given that nothing was
to be said about it.
That night "Flopping Bill" went
away and during the night a number
of men rode up to the camp of the
cowboys, and after a sham bat
tie, took the six prisoners, and in the
morning their bodies were decorating
the cottonwoods, on the east end Of
Long Johns Bottom. "Flopping Bilr'
came back and said the men who had
taken the prisoners were a posse from
Miles City-and nobody inquired fur
ther.
When Dixey Burroughs escaped he
crossed the Missouri on a raft, and met
old a James and his two sons, Dick
and Jim, together with two others.
This part of the gang had not been
home when the cowboys called, and
when Dixey told his story they saw
that there was death in the air, and
down the river on a raft. They
that they would be shown no mercy,
and so when near Poplar, they surren-
dered to a sergeant and a detail of
seven United States soldiers, and asked
be taken to Fort Maginnis for trial.
The sergeant and his detail started
with the prisoners for Maginnis, and
the third morning they awoke
to find themselves in the hands Of a
dozen masked e
Hitch up your outfit and drive
on" said the leader of the
party, "and we will not injure you at
all; refuse and we VIII kill you all.
The prisoners are ours"
The sergeant, whose name is not re- |
called-the whole affair appears in the |
records Of the post during this year |
up and drove on as requested. |
and the dozen masked men were left
The prisoners were never |
seen again, except that q couple Of
years ago an old-timer told a story of
meeting Dixey Burroughs over the
Canadian line, and he said he had |
been spared his life by promising to
the country.
After this the hangfngs were desul- |
.ory, but the aggregate for the two
months Of September and October ia
believed to have amounted to about
thirty. The cowboys would be riding
he roundup, and some night word
would go around and in the mornings
20 of them would be gone for a day or
! week, and no questions asked.
That winter, it is related, a crowd of
men rode up to the place where the
vigflante crew were quatered.
Ind served notice that every n OF
hem must leave The country or die,
rhe majority Of them left, and have
net death in n way or another, but
here are still two or three of the
remaining in northern Montana,
'ut they do not boast of having be-
onged to "F1opping Bills avengers" in
85. "Flopping Bill" also found it adj
,isable to leave the country many
ago, and less than two months
go his death was recorded in old Mis-
Bill was a Missourian and
lad ridden with Quantrel1.
The 1885 episode of the rope and gun
as not been written about very much,
ut the advertising it got was such as
o discourage "rustling'' In northern
fontana for many years. SO that it IS
My reviVing the business-the real
ld-timer of the bad lands would not /
AXE any ones stock as a gift-but
Flopping Bill" the man of nerve,
Without human feeling, has gone over
he divide, and perhaps the stock in
pectors may be given more work in
Standard.
4
Pictorial Distortions. I
so you are not In favor of sup