The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1921-04-22
20 YEARS OLD AND
HUNTING FOR JOB
MONTANA WOMAN OF MANY AID
VENTURES LOOKS FOR NEW
FIELDS TO CONQUER

Wors ACCOsup80SoO VT0mO0t On
His Trip Across the Continent;
Knew Grant and Lee When They
Were Lieutenants.
Penniless, but happy. Mrs. Eli.
zabeth ]. Doyle, who is only 90
years old, sat up all one night 70.
comfy ct the Billings depot await. 4
ing . train to take her and her
youngest son to Frannie, Wyom.
ing, where they expect to find new
fields to conquer. They had just
left the Flathead country impover.
ished, but were In NO wise disheart.
ened.
Faith is a beautiful thing" said
Mrs. Doyle to Adjutant Guy Case,
of the Salvation Army, who provided
transportation from Billings. 1T is
life. and have it,
The son. John. is Mrs. Doyle's
baby" He is SO, though he admits
only 40, and is a section hand. Rail-
road work was scarce in the country
up around Coram, where he and his
mother spent the winter. Hence the
trip, on faith, to Frannie, where John
thinks he has friend who will pro-
vide employment.
Settle in Last Chance Gulch
Mrs. Doyle says she is one of the
original settlers Of Last Chance, now
the city Of Helena. Long before that
she was an army cook. In that ca
pactty she accompanied the United
States forces to Mexico. Then she
went with Fremont, the pathfinder,
to California, just after It had been
coded by Mexico. Subsequently she
was transferred to Wyoming and
thence came north to Montana.
Born on the banks Of the Illinois
river, near Beardstown, in December,
1880, she Joined the army when she
was Is, at the outbreak Of the Mexi-
can war. In those days women did
the cooking for the troops, she said,
and she had an abiding contempt for
the present system, which requires
men cooks, and limits the service of
women to the hospitals.
mo man can cook as we'll as a wo-
man." she declared. "Ask any SOL
der who returned from the war in
Europe. Wasn't the dining room
table loaded with things cooked by
mother, the first thing they made
for when they got home?"
Tells of Early Life
Sitting in a rocker in the women's
waiting room at the station, Mrs.
Doyle rambled through various rem
tniscences of her life. Her memory
is given. apparently, to little impish
tricks. But she is as alert and pert
and undaunted as q girl.
Grant and Lee and Mcclellan
were lieutenants when I Joined the
army" she said, and then left infer
ence that she was so good q cook
that she was attached to the officers
mess.
after the war;" she continued, II
was transferred to New Orleans on
recruiting service. Then was sent
with the soldiers to California. Next
I went to Nebraska. and afterward
to Wyoming"
In California she served with FIRE.
mont. but has forgotten whether she
cooked there for the Pathfinder.
Meanwhile. she had married q SOL
der named Flanagan. But he died
before the civil war. and after that
struggle she forsook the army, to
marry a civilian named Doyle. There
were four children, two girls and
two boys. all dead now but John.
"And john" she explained, 'could
have been an educated man, for he
had the chance. like his brother, who
was once circulation manager of the
Mobile. Alabama, ITEM but he pre-
ferred ganging up with railroad men
as q section hand"
John smilingly admitted that his
mother was entirely right. Adjutant
Case happened then to ask how old
John was.
II am 49," he answered promptly,
but the words had hardly been utter
ed when mother reprovingly remark
ed: you're not. You're SO last
birthday"
II guess ! am" said John.
With Mr.. Doyle the ex-army cook
came to Montana just after the civil
var. At this point in her story, mem
DRY interfered. with one of the lapses
which afflict one 90 years old.
II remember" she said. that we
came by way of Wyoming. While
We were there a big massacre occur
red. The name of the place was
Mountain something; I forget that.
Then we went to Last Chance gulch. I"
Mr.. Doyle died there, leaving his
wife to shift for herself. She has
been doing 80 virtually ever since.