The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-20
JUDGE JACK sTILwEL1.
The Contemporary of General Custer
and Buffalo Bill" Said to be Dying.
Chicago Inter OCEAN,

anu ouud1o Bill SAID 10 De Dying.
Chicago Inter OCEAN,
George tlestein. who gave TO Pres
ident Rockwell the handsome saddler
which the president named Bleisteiu.
arrived in New York the other day
from the Big Horn basin. Wyoming,
bringing the news that Judge Jack
Stilwell is dying there. in the shadow
of Eagle mountain.
The old scout is in the grip of
| Brights disease. and can live but
few weeks longer. He has moved from
! his ranch to the town, to be nearer
medical treatment.
Giles StilweIl, who has been known
all his life as Jack was the friend
and contemporary Of General CustSr.
/ wild BILL Texas Jack Buffalo
BIZ and the Indian fighters scouts
| and frontiersmen of that day. When
I he retired from the army, from cattle
raising and ranching, he studied law
and was admitted to the bar. His
arguments before the courts of Art
zona, Texas, Wyoming and Oklahoma
| are remembered for wit as we'll as a
| comprehension of the law. He has al
ways had the rare art of telling q
story well, which is half the work be-
| fore a western jury.
| Judge Stilwel is now very fat. His
| long. curly hair is white and his hands
are chubby as a child's- He rolls his
| own cigarettes, and, sitting cross
| legged in congenial company, will
1 smoke half a hundred of them while
| he spins off a score of anecdotes Of the
early west Today one would not rec
/ ogniZe Judge Stilwell from the de-
scription of him contained IN General
| Clusters book. General Custer wrote:
"A mere beardless boy of perhaps
/ 10 years. possessing a trim, 1.-THE figure,
which was set off to great advantage
| by Jaunty suit - buckskin, which
he wore cut and fTinged according to
| the true style of the frontiersman. A
! capital shot, whether afoot or on horse
back, and q perfect horseman, this
| beardless boy on more than one occa-
( sion proved himself a dangerous foe
| to the willy red man
Stilwell's most notable achievement
| took place while he was a scout under
General Forsyth A little body OF
scouts and soldiers was hemmed in by
a thousand Sioux and Cheyennes on a
sand island in the Arickaree fork of
! the Republican river in the summer of
/ 1858 The Indians killed all the R~rses
the soldiers had. General Forsyth was
shot twice. The soldiers dug holes III
| the sand to escape the Indian sharp.
shooters. The Indians ganoped over
them StilwelTs recollection OF the
charge is that the Indian ponies looked
like flock OS pigeons as they passed
over him.
General Forsyth found he couldn't
hold out much longer against the In
dams, and as a desperate measure de-
eided to try to get a message through
/ TO Fort Wallace He picked out Still
well and a Frenchman named Trudeau
for messengers. Trudeau was about
/ 50 years old naturally brave and gem
| orally recklessly drunk They dis
guised themselves as Indians, and at
1 nightfalI slipped into the river As
Stilwell went his comrades. who
| didn't expect TO see him again, said,
Jack. this is seIl-out''
Wen. if it is. L will come pretty
| high said StilwelI.
''Trudeau, he bring good price, too, %
said the Frenchman.
The yforded the river and got in the
high grass on the opposite bank. The
1 country was alive with Indians. They
lay all day in a washout within sound
of the cries of the Indians, and trav-
eied slowly that night. About day
break an Indian rode in sight They
Saw but one place to hide That was
inside the carcass of a buffalo, which
had been killed some time before. Into
IT they crawled and lay there all the
4 hot day, although the stencil of the
carcass made them i'll.
The next night they made the old
Denver stage road They met a Mex
lean driving along. and asked him to
turn back and take them to Fort Wal
lace He refused, but when two rifles
were jabbed into his ribs he consented
They got to Fort Wallace four days
after leaving the island. and Colonel
Carpenter took his regiment to the re-
lief Of General Forsyth
one OF StilweiFs favorite stories
about Wild Bill has its scene in a
kansas town. Wild Bill loved to gam
pie There was d big saloon in this
place, fitted out with pool tables and
tables for cards and faro. Bill lost his
months wages at faro and discovered
toward the last that the dealer was
cheating him. He reached over the
table. Knocked the dealer TO the floor
and. opening the drawer. counted out
the amount he had lost He put that
In his pocket and returned the rest tc
the drawer.
Meanwhile the dealer had crawled out
! | from beneath the table and gave the
signal which summoned all the bad mer
who hung out at the saloon They
came toward Bill armed with billiard
/ cues and revolvers. Bill backed III
against the wall Che was always afraid
OF being shot from behind) and drew
MS guns As he went for them some
one IN the crowd recognized him.
Ny God, boys, it's Wild Bill" he
yelled.
There wasn't an unbroken window
IN that place in one minute" said Judge
Stilwel, in telling the story. The bac
men had just dived through them il
their haste to get out"
Stilwell saw Wild Bill assassinateC
: and comforted Texas Jack in his las
hours when he was dying Of consump-
ton he saw the rush into Oklahoma
when the territory was opened nv tFt
government. and has shared in man,
, other stirring scenes of the west. IL
: Is credited with killing seven or efzh
men VINO were sagreeabIy eager il
their search for trouble but as a dis
tinguished KentUckian, nov resident il
Wyoming. once said: 'StHweII neve1
killed a gentleman, for no gentlema
could quarrel with such a big-heartec
other gentleman"
The Wisdom of Jane.
cleveland Plain Deslerl
! 4 don't think that hammock of o,,r