The circle banner. [volume] (Circle, Mont.) 1914-1939, 1920-04-09

lices disnounted,i brushed by the
rigid figure of the Indian and leapet
through the lodge entrance. With
kick he dislodged one of the lodge
I'poles then another and another I'm.
down on the squaws of Pie-A-Pot.
The audacity of Steele's act in
thus manhandling the head chief OF
the tribe overawed the Crees, AID
they at once struck their camp and
departed.
Of the many International. cases
FhaTdled by the mounted police one
ofNhe most famous was that of Sit
ting Bull Eho, after wiping out Gen
eral Custer band in 1876, sought to
use the Canadian border. territory as
azbase ofafurfher operations against
the Americans. With mere hand
full of men the mounted police were
able to control the Indians.
The remarkable endurance of the
members of the force has been fire.
quently mentioned. in the press. The
death of the Fitzgerald patrol on
the Fort McPherson-Dawson trail in
1901, when Inspector Fitzgerald
with Constables Kinney, Taylor and
ex-Constable Carter died on duty,
was notable instance. The bodies
of the four men who had persisted on
the long trail we're afterward found.
The men had struggled on to the
last, killing their dogs and even
eating part of the harness. Fitz-
gerald, the last to survive, was found
dead with his diary .apd a, mail bag
under his body.
The Bathurst Inlet ipatreF made a
two and one-half year journey into
the Arctic circle, covering 5000
miles on sledges and on shpwshoes
to arrest two Eskimos for the kill
ing of Radford and Street, two'I
white men slain in 1912. They
found the Eskimos and brought them
20 court.
The Northwest Mounted Police
we're organized as result of the in |
yasion of the Canadian northwest by |
American fur traders from Fort Ben |
on, who built trading posts, some |
If them fortified and armed with |
at various points between |
he Montana line and where the city
# Calgary stands today. The most
amous of these posts were Forts
Standoff, Kipp and Kan
use. When the mounted police came
nd forced the surrender of Fort
Vhoop-up on St. Mary's river, they !,
1ade it impossible for the American
raiders to use whiskey in their deal
1gs with the Indians, and so the
orts built by the Americans were
lostly abandoned.
Made Up of Adventurous Spirits {
The police were organized and sent /,
est because of demands made by the
lightly Hudson Bay company on the
government for protection
gainst the inroads on their fur trad l
lg business made by the Americans. a
he first draft of Mounted Police /
as largely made up of youngsters t
18th taste for adventure and of sol a
lers of fortune from all corners of a
lie British empire, and they were a If
hard. fighting, devil r
e-care' outfit who were just suited e
thorough, open country that they s
me to patrol. Assembled and en-
lied at Ottawa, they were sent to t.
uluth and thence to Moorehead, t.
innesota, under special arrange o
ent with the United States govern g
ent, but withathe stipulation thak#3b
eyxshould box up theirearrns and u
Informs until they crossed the Cana a
ap1 linz The crossing into Canada n
as~4nadb at Penn bTAa, where tray eFr n
we'd, three troops strong, with their e.
rises, small arms, sabres and two t.
pound cannon, drawn by six horses CT