The Ronan pioneer., 1917-05-04

| Iu6 udm6S Ol ulduy Udu mGu, WHO
feared neither God, man, nor the
devil, and whose record is written in
the blood of their victims. Most
Montanans are familiar with the his
tories of the badmen of the early
mining days, Plummer, Ives and
their contemporaries, and of the gun
fighters and outlaws who came in
later years, including the notorious
"Kid' Curry and his gang of train
robbers, but how many know the
name or the story of Montana's first
desperado?
His name was Alexander Harvey,
and he came to Montana as an en-
ploye of the American Fur company
about 1885, locating at Fort Union,
where he established reputation as
bully and desperate character.
About this time the western branch
of the American Fur company in
Guiding Fort Union, Fort Mckenzie
and the other Missouri river out
posts, passed into the hands of
Pratte, Chouteau & Co., and the man
in charge of the trading was Major
Alexander Culbertson, who held the
confidence of the Blackfeet Indians,
with whom most of the trading for
furs was done.
| Major CulbertSOn overlooked the
worst side of Harvey's character be-
cause of his fearlessness, and in Jan
uary, 1910, he left Harvey in charge
of Fort Mckenzie while he proceed
ed to Fort Union, at the mouth of
the Yellowstone river, with 100
horses to trade. He had underesti-
mated the demand, however, so he
sent a man whose name was Sando-
val with a party of eight back to
Fort Mckenzie, located near where
the Marias river empties into the
Missouri, with instructions to Har-
horses possible. In March Sandoval
returned to Fort Mckenzie with SO
horses and news of a murder at Fort
Union by Harvey. The latter picked
quarrel with an unoffensive en-
ploye of the company, Potts, and
catching the latter unarmed, forced
him to kneel before him and then
shot him dead. Harvey stated that
Potts had been killed by a Blackfeet
Indian, and no one appeared to have
the courage to contradict him.
Murder of Sandoval.
In May, Harvey arrived at Fort
Union in charge of the years accu-
mutation of furs. Sandoval had
with him. He and Harvey got into
a quarrel in the company's store.
Harvey was standing behind the
counter and Sandoval on the opposite
side, when, as the latter turned his
face toward Harvey, Harvey drew a
pistol from his belt and shot Sando-
val in the center of the forehead.
Sandoval fingered "a hours, and
died. His descendants, Oliver and
Richard Sandoval Cor Sanderville, as
they spell the name), are now living
on the Blackfeet reservation, where
they are respected citizens.
The murderer went unpublished.
He returned unmolested with the
years supplies to Fort Mckenzie.
Culbertson remained at Fort Union
till November, and when he reached
Mckenzie, found that Harvey had
committed at least one more cold
blooded murder.
In 1841 Major Culbertson, because
he was a man of fine ability,
through whose good sense and fair
dealing the trade of the Indians had
grown and prospered, was now or
dered to Fort Laramie to revive it's
declining fortunes. He protested in
vain. His place at Fort Mckenzie
was taken was an INSCRIPTIONS cut
throat, F. A. Chardon, to whom Har-
vey was dictator. Their murderous
policy almost wrecked the fur trade
of Pratte, Chouteau & Co., which had
been SO carefully built up.
Whites Are Worsted.
In January, 1912, war party of
Blackfeet, who were friendly to the
whites, passing by Fort Mckenzie re-
quested admission, but were refused
by Harvey and Chardon, and the gates
closed against them. Incensed at
this treatment they killed a pig be-
longing to the fort. Harvey counsel
ed retaliation for the act, and Char
don and Harvey, with half dozen
men set out in pursuit of the Indians,
who, discovering that they were fol-
lowed, waited in ambush in the Te-
ton valley. AS the party approached,
Reese, negro, who had been put in
advance, crept to the brow of the
bluffs to reconnoitre and received
shot in the forehead, which was
instantly fatal. Harvey and Char
don, the latter an arrant coward. re-
turned to the fort with Reese's body,
vowing a bloody revenge. Major
Culbertson's policy of goodwill to-
ward the Indians had taken root so
deeply in the popular sentiment that
Chardon and Harvey feared to make
their murderous designs generally
known, and therefore admitted only
some half dozen into their plans.
The cannon commanding the ap-
proach of the main gate was secretly
loaded, being charged with about
$50 half-ounce lead bullets. Instead
of the match ordinarily employed to
fire the cannon, and which might at
the decisive moment attract atten-