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

leach They also had two small NOR
tars.
Their first job was to take Fort
/ Whoop-up, built and conducted by
Johnny Healy and Al Hamilton, two
noted Montana frontiersmen. Fort
Whoop-up was strongly fortified and
protected by canyon, and word had
been spread abroad that the Ameri-
cans would mot surrender the place.
without d fight Ito ~the last ditch.
When the police reached there, how.
ever ssHealy ana Hamilton had de-.
cideds MOTTO risk trouble, but had
buried their bigh#ore of whiskey in
the ground jim the center of the fort
and opened the doors to the scarlet
coated horsemeT who wore the
queens insigniason their buttons.
Captain Healy then tried to sell
the post to the police for their use,
but his price of $4,000 was too
high, and Colonel Macleod, COM
handing the police, determined to
find another suitable site. The po-
lice therefore rode on another 80
miles and built Fort Macleod out of
cottonwood poles stuck upright in the
ground. Their buildings we're of
logs with dirt roofs and the estab-
lishment was a ragged, crude look
ing outpost of the law.
When the Police Mutinied
The Mounted Police had a terribly
hard time the first winter. Their
uniforms wore out and their food ran |
short Finally 81 men mutinied and |
taking their rifles, started out on
foot through. the deep snow for the
American line. Their leader was an |
old British soldier, George Frazier, |
who had served through the Crimean
war in one of the English fusilier
regiments, and went by the nickname
of 1.-THE Old Fusilier." For several |
days they plowed through the snow,
weak and hungry, forced to eat raw
buffalo meat to keep body and soul
together Many of them fell in their
tracks, but Frazier would beat and
club them up and on again. Shortly
after they left Fort Macleod, their
absence was discovered and an equal
number of mounted police under the
command of Captain Crozier fol-
owed them, finally overtaking the
ieserters at Belly Butte, some dis
ance south of Macleod on the Fort
Shaw trail
Crozier, when he came in sight of + :
he struggling party of desperate
men, did not know what to do. The !
Ieserters entrenched themselves on
hill in the snow and defied the Of
icer to arrest them and take them :.
ack. He feared that if he tried to !.
se force that some of the men un- |.
er him might desert, also. Finally,
e turned around and led his men
ack to Fort Macleod.
Captured in Montana
The deserters, forced on by Fraz- f,
gency on the American side of the "
ne, near where the town of Cho- t;
eau, IN Teton county stands today, ii
nd there they were surrounded by Il
troop of United States cavalrymen ts
ON the agency and forced to sur
snder their arms. There the desert IL
IS were able to get food. and they ii
few remaining in Montana. p1
The same winter there was a mu- r
ny at Fort Calgary, the second post n;
} be constructed, which was located BIZ
I the site of the present city of Cal in
ary. A Frenchman, Captain Bris-
sau, Fas<in commSnd, apd he took 81
ITO shimaelf halfbreed woman, pr
ter the manner of the frontier. The tr
6uffted 1blice, consisting of troop fe
did Aots5bj eetsto Ahis but they did R
tier a strong protest against Cap
in Brisbeau appropriating the troop ar
okstove for his own housekeeping ii,