, 1923-06-24

mlnuLeS, III remlnlSClnS IN res
Cattle Business my inclination was
10, decline. My knowledge of the cat
tie business would DO rejected in
court as "hearsay." Hence. I am in.
component TO testify as to its
'tEarly Days" Although. I have first
hand knowledge respecting some per.
sons yet alive, who were engaged in
that business. in the eighties and early
nineties. 1 feared It might embarrass
them and be dangerous &c myself
should I tel tho truth. the whole
truth and nothing but the truth" con.
corning them.
After ! received the invitation, /
consulted Billy Irvine. He urged me
TO accept. but cautioned mo to soft
pedal tho truth should I refer to
him Truth like n torch burns more
f~iercely when shaken. IS Billy and
I were born in the same state, al
though a half century apart. 1 prom
ised not to shake the torch as to
him.
Two unfounded Impressions pre-
vail concerning myself. one is that /
have been a Judge. the other that I am
a pioneer. 1 admit pioneer a%nteGates
the eighties, the date Of the Organic
Act and the advent OF the Union
Pacific.
Il arrived in Cheyenne from Omaha
December It'll. 1882. I was forced to
leave there on account Of my opinion.
which was. tina I would die young
81 I remained. The morning OF the
BAY 1 left. l debated whether to lie
in bed and starve or get up and
freeze. Soon after I became a resi-
dent of Wyoming, 1 learned that
many others of my WI profession
had been forced to come here on ac'
count of their opinions. namely that
they might go to the penitentiary or
be disbarred. IL they remained. where
they were.
Like Charlie Riner. who is pres
ent, / my be considered a connecting
link between the picturesque epoch
which began about the year 1867,
when this county was "A part OF the
territory OF Dakota. and which epoch
ended in 1890 when statehood began;
and the colorless era, which com.
menced with the adoption of the
Eighteenth Amendment. and still con-
tinues.
ut is a far cry from the days of
the pioneer to the days of prohibit
ton. From Arbuckle Coffee and cleo
margarine to automobiles and air
ships. The poet who writes Wyo-
ming's epic will be inspired by the
epoch; he viii be depressed by the era.
He will have finished the last stanza
of the epic before ne reaches h
cate of the Vo,stead act.
81 roomed Il the building which was
erected in the carly eighties by and
for the Cheyenne club. Every evening
for several years after its completion,
the number of millionaire cattle
barons, who assembled here, exceeded
the thirty "lmponderables," who now
meet every Friday evening in the
Carnegie Library building to com
pliment each other. and to l~earnedly
discuss every topic under tho sun.
from short skirts to T1ft's Tomb.
These who assembled at h Chey-
enne club knew their limitations n
kept within the same.
Most of those who then frequent
ed that club are now with the silent
majority. My time limit will not per.
nit more than a passing reference
to them individually or en- masse- In
h words of Geopatra's affinity,
''They were all, honorable men"
"If any OF those now living should
visit the dining room OF that builce
ing-the scene of former revelry-
he would no doubt recall ihese
pathetic lines OF Moore:
~ feel like one who walks alone