The Dickinson press., 1913-05-17
Bear STORY
BY RANDALL |
Has Banker Richards and aesa'1lii'I
sioner Banks up . Tres. Long
X Outfit Figures in Tale.

The Williston Herald last week print
ed a couple Of we'll written snake stor-
les in which {. B. Randall. chairman
of our county board of commissioners.
figures as the leading man. The tale
reminds US that Frank Banks, now a
member of the Williams county board.
has not always lived the dull, monot-
onous life Of urban dwellers. Just to
remind Frank and a number of his old
time friends who are enduring the hard
ships of civilization in Williston, Dick
inson and elsewhere. we tell this tale
as twas told to us:
Franks adventure began on the Lit
tie Missouri river bottoms near the old
Long X ranch. and ended. up cotton
wood tree. The time was some Is years
ago, when silvertip grizzlies prowled
through the Bad Lands portion of what
is now Mckenzie county. Frank was
employed at the Long x ranch, as was
also Willis Richards, now president Of
the Merchants National bank of Dick
inson. Accompanied by the ranch
dog, they walked from the ranch house
to the river bottoms for the purpose Of
locating q Grove of timber suitable for
corral poles. mM
After finally locating particularly
fine patch of timber. Frank and Willis
lolled in the shade of the cottonwoods
near dense growth of diamond will
lows. The conversation had drifted
$pnrn 0npro1 rn0ne n drsz01vy hAnPa
Frank had concluded a lengthy dis
course on bears with the remark that he
intended to take his jackknife and trim
his trail. and his companion had just
murmured wish that one might appear
for purposes of demonstration, when
they heard something unseen come tear
ing, rushing. crashing through the
dense growth, directly towards them.
In order TO give Frank plenty of room
for his manicuring stunt, Willis lost
no time in going up nearby cotton-.
wood tree. After vainly pleading with
Willis to wait until he could get his
boots off, not being able to climb With
them on. Frank succeeded in getting up
the tree also.
They had barely got comfortably set
tied in the tree when the ranch dog
struggled out of the thicket into the
open, dragging through the dense under
brush long diamond willow, one end
of which had in some manner become
fast in the dogs collar, and he fought
his way through the underbrush in a
vain effort to get rid of it. Willis
never told us whether Frank trimmed
the dogs toenails.
/: Another tale has to do with second
adventure. staged one winters day,
not long after the above event. on the
Fort Berthold Indian reservation.
Crow Fly High. chief of the G1os
Ventre, who, by the way, has for
number of years been good Indian,
had ordered the Long X outfit to keep
its cattle off the reservation.
Frank, with the assistance of Jay
Grantier, with small success be it said,
was doing his best to make the cattle
Craze on Uncle Sans domain. There
was blanket of good tracking snow
covering the prairie on that particular
day. The. ground was frozen and slip
perry. Jay was riding sharp shod
horse. while Frank. with a six shooter
hanging low down on his right hip, was
sitting in the middle of barefooted
one. Incidentally Jay had left his
six-sho0ter at the ranch.
After riding over the reservation for
several hours, it so happened that they
had to cross their trail made earlier in
the day, in order to complete the circle.
Upon arriving at the trail they made
discovery which caused them to change
their minds about riding any farther in
that direction. They discovered that
a number of Indians were trailing
them. They Immediately headed their
horses for the home ranch. Jay having
sharp shod horse. was of course in the
lead. In answer to Franks earnest
pleadings to stay with him. Jay yelled
back that he would gladly do so, but he
had no six shooter.
'I'll trade you my sixshooter for your
shOd horse. proposed Frank. Jay
could not see it that way, however
He would not even consider the pro-
position.
BeIfieId People Happy