The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1914-03-23

Medora, n. D., March 21.-By J.
W. Foley: Bill Jones,
Foul Mouth was another
old Bismarcker. Jones came
from County Gavin, Ireland, landing
in New York in the early seventies.
He Joined the army n was assigned
to duty at Fort Pembina, from Where
he deserted and changed his name
from Patrick McCue to William Jones.
He was not a student Of ethnology or
he would not have taken a Welsh
name. He often told me Of his trip
up the Red from Pembina; of passing
the place where Fargo is now located,
and his return dow stream until he
met the grading crew Of the Northern
Pacific, and working with the graders
until Bismarck was reached. He re-
manned around Bismarck until the
road started west, when he, too, start
ed, going west as far as Billings,
Mont, where he claimed to have been
in the saloon business for g. time;
later coming to Medora. He remained
in this county about twenty years.
serving two terms as sheriff, after the
county was organized. Bill was a man
Of very limited educationy but had a
fund Of Irish wit, and was a character
in his way. He at times wanted to
be bad, out he was at heart a very
generous man. Once on his way to
Dickinson he was much annoyed by
our old-time pests, the "newsboys."
Bill always travelled, as he worked, in
rather dirty clothes, and the newsy
thought he saw easy picking. He
curios out of the a window. A let
ter from Montana a few years since
informed me that his frozen body had
been found in the mountains near the
Yellowstone park.
Sam Whitney was another old Bis
marcker. n a most remarkable man.
While he had received very little edu-
cation in his early life, nature appeal
ed to have supplied the deficiency.
He could start business of any kind,
with OIL without money, from manag-
ing a butcher shop to running an OPP
erahouse, and, strange to say, would
always make a success. He always
looked upon the bright side of life. He
was a most interesting story teller.
When telling of his travels and adven-
lures he never did SO in a braggadocio
way; in fact it, was a difficult matter
to get. him talking of himself, but
when once started he was worth list
ening to. lie once told me of running
away from home when a very young
man. and how a shipping agent had
shipped him as an able anna AS
an able seaman ne mad to take his trick
steering the ship. When it came his
turn the mate told him to keep her
full and by. Not knowing the mean
ing of this nautical term he came near
sinking the ship. He made the voyage
around the Horn to California, where
he left the ship for the gold fields.
Returning east, he served during the
civil war. After the war, with his
family, he drifted west, coming to Bis
marck in the early days of that. city,
where he opened an ~operahouse, which
he ran for many years, afterwards
keeping a hotel in Dickinson and Me-
dora. Leaving Medora in 1888, he re-
turned to Bismarck, where he was in
the hotel business for a time, and from
there he moved to the Pacific coast,
and from there he went to Maine, then
back to the Pacific coast, where he re-
Gently died. .
What old resident or railroad man
but knew "Old Mack who for years
kept a pig on the west side, and the
only one in the county? Mack always
kept Budweiser and kept it cold,
though he was never known to put UP
or purchase ice. In 1891 there was to
be held here a term Of court, the sa-
loon on the east side was kept by a
man named BiXby, who was a "iok-
err" A few days before the opening of
court Mack was in Bixby's saloon
when Bixby asked him if he had re-
ceived 'one of these letters from the
judge?' Mack asked: What letters %