The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1923-06-27

tering largely into the matter under
adjudication.
"To this primal method there was
little objection. The contestants
were usually undesirable gun men
and whatever the outcome of the af-
fair might be it was felt the welfare
of the community would be advanc-
ed. If only one of them was killed
the coroner was notified and the
other allowed to flee the country
with the sheriff in leisurely pursuit,
armed with the dignity of the law,
and formidable looking gun. that
he never used, at his belt. If both
contestants were killed, as sometimes
happened, they were given the pre-
tense of christian burial, their
mangled bodies taken over the hill
and dumped into hole in the earth
and covered away from the eyes OF
a thankful community. This was
called being buried with the boots
on. After the ceremony of the
burial, the crowd adjourned to the
Sanitarium for Snake Bites or the
Bucket of Blood or whatever the
the matter was talked over and n
wide open celebration was had as n
fitting climax to an affair that had
given a holiday to christian neigh
borhood In 1884 lawlessness had
reached IA degree beyond the control
of civil authority"
Roosevelts Capture
DR.. Stickney told Of the organiza-
ton of the Vigilantes and their cam
paign which brought law and order
to the cattle country. He also re-
called an incident when Theodore
Roosevelt, a young rancher, captur-
ed three prisoners. He said in des-
cribing this:
an the early morning of Septem-
Der Seventh 1883 spare, homely
young man, in hunting clothes and
heavy lenzed glasses, pulled his duff
bag and gun from the platform of 4
passenger coach on the West
bank of the Little Missouri river and
stood pearing into the darkness of Il
land that for the immediate follow
ing years was to know him rs it's
most outstanding champion of law,
and order, and rightfui living. 1t is
not my purpose to enter at this time
! into detail of the life of Theodore
Roosevelt when he dwelt among us
as ranchman. Its recounting would
require the full limit Of the time
you have allotted me. But this | may
say:-I believe the state should hold
| in high esteem the items of history
that record his activities when he
lived within her limits, and should
cherish with pride the fact that the
rough environs Of the old frontier
furnished much of the iron that went
into his soul, and gave him his
opportunity to develop those qualit-
les of clearly, rugged manhood that
SO dominated his life. remember
as if il were yesterday the first
time l met him. And as the circpm-
stances that lead up to the meeting
was so characteristic of the man
am sure you will be interested in
the story. He had come in from the
! North, bringing with him three pris-
oners who had stolen his boat. When
the theft was discovered he immed-
lately built another boat, got him.
self sworn in as deputy sheriff, took
with him two Of his ranch hands and
showed off into the muddy waters of
the Little Missouri in pursuit. II
was at the season of the spring
breakup and the stream was running
bank high and choaked with drift
ing ice. After the hardship of :
three day voyage they came upon thu
ruffains, who had been stopped BY
an ice jamb, held them up at the
point Of gun, and after the delay
of several days Roosevelt brought
them in, over an almost impossible
trail, flooded by spring rains, and
gave them into the hands of the
sheriff at Dickinson, to be tried by
the civil courts of law.