Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1909-06-02

slsMAnck DAILY TRl1uNE, VI
waved a. lantern; that Was ! signal.
Instantly the captain and the soldiers
on the boat ran UP into the. pilot
house. His duty was to see that the
pilot stood by bis post. The signal
was given and the boat started down
the river. s
"The wheels had hardly. turned
when it seemed as II q volcano broke
loose on shore and bullets whizzed
through every part of the boat. The
captain of the soldiers started to
leave the pilot house when Joe pulled
out his gun, and pointing it at his
head said: %~.5.
The commander sent you up
here to see that stayed on the job
and now, damn you, If you start to
leave again I'll shoot you'll
That's why we thought it a little
funny for Joe to be acting the way
he did in the pilot house Of the Ben
ton. Captain Rhea got very mad and
so did Joe, and the captain told him
to get out Of the pilot house, and he
took tae wheel himself. He couldn't
put Joe off out there in the wilder
ness, but notified him that he would
have to leave the boat at Sioux City.
"Joe went down in the cabin and
met three miners returning to the
states. He seemed to know all about
them, and inside of five minutes after
he had been dismissed from his job
he formed one of tie quartet at the
poker game in the forward part of
the cabin. That was game!
"When Joe went into It 1t was
with the distinct understanding that
he should be permitted to retire from
the game when the boat whtstled for
Sioux City. The Others agreed to
this. Each man laid his revolver on
the table just to the right Of him
and they went at it.
'sDay and night they sat about that
table pied with money and chips.
When l went to bed at night they
were there and when got up In the
morning they were there. I don't
know whether they stopped to eat or
not, but 1 suppose they had some
thing brought to them. They were
all flush with money and they were
all experts at poker. "-'F
1, "They were the quietest men on
the boat, those poker players. 1t
seemed that Joe had made up his
mind to quit the river, ana he was
playing the game of his life at last
when the long whistle was sounded
for Sioux City Joe got up from the
table. <'..< -:
I"'Gentlemen,' he said, here's
where I drop out ...,s:..@.n .-
although he had $780, 900 Of his OPP
ponents' money stacked up In front
Of him and about his clothes not a
word of protest was uttered, for the
Fold-time river gambler, no matter
what his other failings were, was
man of his word. If Joe hadn't made
the agreement at the start he would
have been called welcher for pull
ing out when he was 50 far ahead OF
the game. ssS -.
~, .tWhen: We were about tia mouth
|of MIX river, III Montana, Captain
ERhea observed a,fine stretch az tim
her and ordered the boat Popped
while crew went to work getting
weed for the furnaces. heinten-,
ton was to get enough wood thesesto
run the boat to Sioux City wttA0utt
further stopping u
Knowing that It would take nc
least two days to do that the en-.
gineers put out their fres and went
to work cleaning the boilers. The
crew and the officers went: ashore TO-
stretch themselves and to help
getting up the wood. Presently we
heard the widest hullabaloo that
ever greeted mortal ears. i didn't
know, @what.rit% WAS, butvsome~ Of the
Old-timers die.
"'The 1ndians!' they yelled. Run
we lost no 1times ID obeying the
order. Everybody scampered upell
NELL back to the boat, and one Of the
officefs was cool headed enough TO
seize an axe and cut the hawsers
which fastened us to the shore. Then
an anchor was thrown out in MIDI
stream, viii n ,,i$s %
There wasn't an, ounce of steam in
the boilers and all we could hope Tor
was tofdrfft out In the current The
Indians were a fantastic lot and their
intentions to kill and scalp us were
good. The old chieftain, brandishing
a rife and tomahawk, started to
ride up the gangplank when the en- en-
gineer, who had run for his rife the
first thing, ran. out and shot him
through the heart. He gave blood.
curdling yell and fell of his horse
to the shore. Before any more could
get up to the plank we had run It In
and the boat drifted some Is feet
from the shore and lay there while
the Indians fred into us with their
old flintlock guns. szF
''By that time the boats people
had somewhat got over their fright
and began replying. The Indians
didn't light much in the open when
they saw that we had guns, but shot,
from behind trees. Our people stood
behind the smokestaekse and other
projections on the boat don't;
think anybody was hit hard enough
to hurt, although the exchange Of
shots lasted for several hours. The,
old Benton was riddled With sbdlletS
wuhenS fl got ont Of the fight 8SF