davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03
MAKES FORTUNE
OUT OF FARMING
RECORD OF LEWIS AND CLARK
FARMER ONE THAT SHOULD
INSPIRE TILLERS
Came to Montana With a SO Gold
Piece Which He Still Possesses;
Went to Work as Farm Hand;
Now He Is Wealthy.

One of the most successful, if not
the most successful, diversified
farmers in Montana, after demon
strating for 80 years in Prick1y
Pear Valley, that it is diversified
farming hat pays, has decided to
quit and enjoy the fruits of his la
bors. The man is John L~eggerini,
who came to Montana with a $40
gold piece as his sole cash resource
MIR. Leggerini says he is going to
quit active work, but those who
know him, while they will take his
word in other matters, do not
when he says he is going to enter
the simple life.'
This part of Montana has produced
pioneer gold miners, pioneer stock
men, and in Mr. Leggerini, it has the
pioneer diversified farmer. Born in
northern Italy, when a very young
he came to America, going first
to Denver. Wanting to go further
west, he started out on foot for Mon
tana, walking all the way; working
when it came to him and holding on
to the $40 gold piece with which he
Arriving at Helena, he found
work on the Hugh Kirkendall ranch,
Just north of Helena. There he has
been for 35 years, first as a hired
hand, for many years a renter, and
for the past seven or eight, a partner
with Harry w. Child, in what is now
called the Green Meadow farm. He
has not only been able to retain that
original $40 gold piece, but he has
added to it many times over, so that
.oday he has lands and other interests
n many parts of Montana, and is
among the financially sub
;tantial citizens of the state.
Asked how he has accomplished it,
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03
sROUMD IRON BOB MELDRWM, FUR A~RIST0GRAT,
MARRIED "A SQUAw; WAS LOWED AS Am INDIAN
n OBERT MELDRUM, whose aris-
tocratic appearance and bear

~ OBERT MELDRUM, whose arfS-
tocratic appearance and bear
~ ing seemingly should have
placed him above the level of the
"squawmen" of the early days of the
Montana fur traders, was in fact a
"squaw man. and for a number of
years lived upon the plains with the
Indians and adopted their mode of
living.
Among the Indians, he was known
as Round Iron,' was with Major
Alexander Culbertson, and entered
the employ of the American Fur com
pany, with which he remained until
his death at old Fort Union in 1865,
which resulted, according to Indian
tales, from an over-indulgence in
whisky.
Medium, according to n writer,
was born in Scotland about the year
1902 and removed with his parents
to Kentucky at an early age, al
though another writer says he was
born in Shelby county, Kentucky, in
1906, and anne to the northwest
when only 10.
However, it appears that he spent
his early years in Kentucky and
there learned blacksmithing, later
finding his way into the service of
Captain Bonneville and accompany
ing the latter into the wilderness in
his fur trading expedition in 1882.
Upon quitting the service of Cap
tain Bonneville, enamoured of the
savage life he had tasted for three
years, he remained upon the plains
making his home among the Grow
Indians.
According to Bradley he adopted
the dress of the Indians, glueing
long hair to his own to make it con-
form to the savage fashion, having
his squaw and lodge, and, living in
all respects the life of an Indian, he
was quickly enabled by his superior
intelligence and courage to acquire
great influence with has savage as
sociates and soon became regarded
a chief.
He was a man of many adventures
and although he possessed a mild
disposition and Stunned quarrels, no
one ever ventured to call his courage
in question.
Medium subsequently entered the
of the American Fur COM
pany with which he continued until
the time of his death at Fort Union
in 1865. Upon entering the service
Of the company he left off the Gus
and habits of Indian life, and
in his civilized dress was a man to
attention from his evident SUI
oeriority to the class of men he gen
orally encountered amid such sur
r~oundings. He left no children.
In 1916, when Major Culbertson
set out from Fort Union for Fort
Alexander on the south bank of the
Yellowstone near the mouth of the
Big Horn, Meldrum was n of his
PARTY. The American Fur company
lad previously had two trading forts
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

on the Yellowstone or it's tributaries.
The first two had been located on
the Big Horn, the earliest, Fort Cass,
having been built about 1892 and
abandoned about 1885 to 1888, fol-
lowed in the latter year by Fort Van
Buren,, which had been located on the
Big Horn at the mouth of the Rose
bud. This latter post was sometimes
called Fort Tullock, after its builder
A. j. Tullock. 1t, too, had been
abandoned when Larpenteur built
Fort Alexander on the south bank of
the Yellowstone, giving it the chris
tian name of Major Culbertson. Mel
drum was in charge of this post in
1916.
The voyage to Fort Alexander was
being made at the request of Colonel
Redfield, agent for the Grow Indians,
and was made in two boats, one in
charge of Medium, carrying goods
for the fort, and the other with an
nuities for the Crows. Due to the
swift current of the river the party
frequently found themselves at the
end of a day of arduous labor still in
sight of their camping place of the
At the mouth of Powder river Col
onel Redfield was taken sick and the
goods were all loaded in one boat,
which continued in charge of Mel
drum while in the other Culbertson
and Redfield returned to Fort Union
and upon the recovery of Redfield
the trip to Fort Alexander was made
overland.
A story of Meldrum's dealings with
the Indians along the Yellowstone,
Big Horn and Rosebud rivers, was
told to Lieutenant Bradley in 1876
by Little Face, one of Bradley's
Crow scouts, then a man of about So
years. His narrative referred first
a trader known among the Indians
as The Crane, who was stationed for
several years on the Rosebud. He
THE Crane did not stay long, but
left another man, Big Nose, in his
place. The Crane went away east,
among the white people, and never
back. He had two wives among
he Crows, whom he left when he
away, and several children, only
of whom he took away with him.
lie was a tall slender man with long,
ANDY hair. The Crows did not like
Big Nose because he was rude to
hem in trade, often throwing their
'obes back into their faces when they
we're not tanned soft enough to suit
lin. So they told him they did not
want any such men to trade with
hem and that he must take his
FOODS out of their country, and he
i'd SO after the fort had been at the
Rosebud for three SHOWS (three
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

ing said about it, and we want to
have nothing to do about it." In
some unexplained manner the body
was placed in the wagon. When
brought to town it was identified
by ]. X. Beidler and William Clark.
This! briefly told, is the tragic
incident which reused the citizens
of the territory from their state
of indifference, and led to the trial
of Ives, and ultimately to the over
throw of the power of the road
agents. 1t was quite time II the
life of any man might be imper-
illed.
Even after Ives was captured
and held under guard, his fellow
road agents did not fear the out
come of a trial; but it was thought
Ives might be freed more expedi-
At once lawyers were con-
and George Lane was dis
patched in haste to Bannack to
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

''Three SHOWS after the Rosebud
fort was abandoned, Round Iron
(Meldrum) came to trade with them.
The Grows liked Round Iron. He
was the best white man that ever
came to the Crow country. He could
speak Crow like one of themselves,
and no one could tell from his talk
that he was not a Crow. He had first
come to their country when he was
a boy, and had grown up among
them.
Round Iron had four posts
among the Crows. The first was on
the Big Horn just above the mouth
of the Little Big Horn believed by
some to have been built by Manuel
Lisa), where he stayed three SHOWS;
the second was on the right bank of
the Yellowstone, nearly opposite but
a little above the mouth of the Great
Porcupine, where he stayed two
SHOWS; the third was on the same
side of the Yellowstone, a few miles
lower down, where he stayed five
SHOWS; and the last was on the left
bank of the Yellowstone, between the
Rosebud and the Tongue rivers,
where he stayed four SHOWS. (This
would indicate that he traded in that
immediate vicinity IA years.)
"While he was at the latter place
an opposition fort was built on the
some side of the river close to his
own-in fact the two forts were al
most together. The mar who built
the opposition fort was a Crow, but
I do not remember his name. When
the opposition fort had been there
two SHOWS, a great flood came on the
Yellowstone that filled the whole
full of water and made it look
like one big river from n bluff to
the other. The two trading forts
surrounded and filled with
water, which wet the ribes and goods
and frightened the traders so much
that they loaded everything in their
boats and went away.
Round Iron went first, when the
river began to threaten them, but
the opposition trader stayed until
water went down, and then left
IN the fall. These were the last posts
on the Yellowstone.
"Round Iron went down to the fort
at the mouth of the Yellowstone,
which had been there a long time;
md the Crows have been told that
there got to drinking whisky so
much that he died. The fort built
The Crane at the mouth of the
Big Horn is the first that 1 know
II. l was built two SHOWS before
he stars fell. I was then a boy, but
Utmost a man. 7 have heard there
vas another fort there a long time
go, but it was before my time, and
can tell nothing about IT," :
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

TT was inevitable, after the &C
quittal of Buck Stinson, Haze
Lyons and Charley Forbes fol-
the killing in broad daylight of de-
putty sheriff Dillingham;, the Grim
inal element should become more
daring. Sentimental women had
wept over these ~cowardly murder
ers, and the attorney for the de-
tense, H. P. A. Smith, in a lachry-
NOSE condition, fell on the neck of
Forbes on learning the verdict, ex-
claiming, "Oh, my boy, my boy!'
1t, without repentance or repara-
ton, good looks could serve as
plenary indulgence, other road
agents besides Forbes were posses
sed of it.
This was especially true Of
George Ives. He was young, about
IL years of age, of a light COM
plexion, and his eyes were blue. He
wore no whiskers in a day when
men We'd with one another in the
abundance and length of such hir-
suite adornment, whiskers often
reaching to the waist, or below. I
recall one man of that period, who
braided his carroty red beard and
tied it with blue ribbons.
Thomas Dimsdale, who knew Ives
well, says of him: His height was
nearly six feet, and he wore a SOL
dier's overcoat and a light felt hat.
The carriage of this renowned des-
perado was sprightly, and his cool
ness was imperturbable. Long
practice in confronting danger had
made him absolutely fearless. He
would face death with an indiffer-
ence that had become constitutional
and the spirit of reckless bravado
with which he was. animated made
him the terror of the citizens. Hei
would levy blackmail under the
guise of a loan and as a matter of
sport, and to show the training of
his horse he would back the animal
into the windows of a store, and
then ride off laughing"
The personal charm and dare
1eviltry of Forbes paled before the
superior qualifications in both res
poets of George Ives. Here was a
nan, if the occasion arose, to move
weak-minded women to tears, and
melt the hard heart of a lawyer
and the, occasion promptly arose.
An employee of Butschy & Clark
Nicholas Tbalt, had sold
hem some mules, for which they
made advance payment. Taking
he money with him, Tbalt went to
,ring back the mules from Demp-
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

Mr.. Leggerini gives the recipe in a
few words: Hard work, and divers
ification."
Under his direction, and by his
labor, what was when he first had
leased it, a ranch almost wholly de-
voted to the production of hay, and
not a very extensive me-, grew until
he was farming $500 acres, some un-
der irrigation and some non-irrigated.
He was for years the largest hay pro-
ducer in the county, as well as pro-
ducing year in and year out the
greatest volume of potatoes. A hum
dred ceres of onions, feed crops for
the livestock, poultry, mich cows
breeding draft horses, marketing
hogs, sheep feeding, and the pro-
duction of each had a part in his
diversified program. 1t was a work
of gradual development, and in this
development, many acres of brush
land we're cleared and put into pro-
duction.
In the years in which he was
building up the ranch and his fortune
he gained the reputation of being not
only a good farmer, but a good bust
ness man. Illustrative of his business
ability is the way in which he handled
his potato crop. Every year he had
in a big acreage and in but few a
did it fail to yield him a profit. He
did not depend upon the local market,
but before his crop was dug, went to
Butte, and even out of the state, and
made his arrangements to sell. Car
rying many head of cattle and horses,
in the years when the hay crop was
short, he always had a surplus from
the preceding yeear, not only suffi-
cient for his W needs, but some to
sell. If the surplus were greater than
he believed he could market, or use,
and the price was low, then he en-
gagged in sheep or lamb feeding, and
thus marketed his surplus.
Illustrative of the fact that he was
a good farmer, at the Panama-Pacific
exposition at San Francisco he was
awarded three medals, one a gold one,
the latter for the best wheat shown
there.
Don't forget the chickens and the
said Mr.. Leggerini recently, to
a friend who asked him how he could
start to stock a farm. ''The eggs and
the chickens saved me many a time
the going was bad in the early
days. In one year from the hem
house l took in $4,000, and the hogs
have made me a big profit time after
After breeding heavy draft horses
or a number of years, several years
Ego Mr.. Leggerini came to the concIu-
ion that there was a better market
or mules, so he started in to breed
hem. Only a few weeks ago he ship
'ed two carloads to st. Louis, where
hey were sold, topping the market.
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03

Ition. Colonel Sanders has drawn
a vivid pen picture of Charles S.
Bagg, who was his efficient aid. He
says, in Sanders History of Mon
tana, of Bagg: "He was a short,
stubby, hairy, fatherly looking
man, somewhat rude, of dilapidated
garb, whose bootlegs did not have
sufficient fibre to stand up, and
into one of which he had vainly
essayed to tuck one of the legs of
his pantaloons. He spoke intelli-
gently, and made it manifest that
he had been deeply stirred by the
events that had taken place. If the
lawyers of the defense appealed to
the miners on questions submitted,
the appeal of my colleague was
with greater frequency and inten-
sity to the Almighty, with whom,
judging from his speech, he was on
terms of considerabl intimacy"
This little man, who presented
so ridiculous an appearance was, in
reality as great a hero as ever fell
on the battlefield, and his memory
should be cherished by all Montan-
ans who honor courage and devo-
ton to principle. Colonel Sanders
credits Charles S. Bagg with hav-
ing rendered valuable service dur
ing Ives trial.
The leading attorney for the de-
Tense was Harry Percival Adams
Smith, whose names, or initials, we
have seen as those of the counsel
who succeeded in turning loose
those arch-criminals, Buck Stinson,
Haze Lyons, Charley Forbes,
Moore and Reeves, again to prey
upon society. Colonel Sanders
says of Smith: Though somewhat
demoralized, he was a man Of very
remarkable ability" He informed
Colonel Sanders that he, Smith,
had been sent for to "get the boys
out of a scrape."
Also for the defense was another
able lawyer, James M. Thurmond.
On his way to the place of trial,
Nevada City, Colonel Sanders fell
in with him, when he explained
that some of his clients were in
trouble, having been arrested and
accused of the murder of "the
hat he was counsel
for "these fellows" and generously
suggested that Sanders should
share in the defense, and in the re-
sulting fee, as "they had plenty of
money"
Richie, the third lawyer for the
defense, was a consumptive and an
inebriate, perhaps in consequence,
as wine or whiskey was then a
favorite prescription for consump-
ion, as we'll as for snake bites. His
weakness incapacitatetd him from
contributing greatly to the aid of
Concluded on Agricultural Page.)
The Wolf Point herald. (Wolf Point, Mont.) 1913-1940, 1924-04-03
Accountant Seeks Position

Nine years. experience, with recent special
training in st. Paul and with VIM. Il.
Finlay, C. II. A, Great Falls, Montana,
wants position with responsible business
where opportunity for advancement is to
be had. Address: Accountant, care of VIM.
ID. Finlay, G. p. A., Great Falls, Montana.
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04
HE WAS SOME FIGHTER WITH
HIS TALKING APPARATUS

For one day Paris was a fruitful
grab-bag for a modest, reticient in
dividual who said he won the war. He
gave his name as Sergeant Michael
Donaldson, discreetly limited that he
had % citations and Is medals, in
cluding the congressional medal, the
D. S. c., the Victoria Cross and the
japanese Order of the Rising Sun.
Except for occasional assistance
given by Pershing and some 100000
veterans, the alleged Donaldson per-
sonally defeated Germany. He said
so.
He was aulogized, petted, made the
lion of the hour, but
Some one said he had seen this
Donaldson fighting the battle Of Bor-
deaux with only black eyes as decor
ations. The British government said
it had not given a Victoria Cross to
any American soldier. Diplomatically
the American Legion post asked Don
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04
BY STANLEY

your wiles; bewitch and bewilder
wherever you can, but please, please
remember | am not the man. I'm
frozen to bushes and proof against
eyes; I'm hardened to simpers, and
stoney to sighs; I'm tough to each
dart that young Cupid can lance
I'm not in the market at any advance.
l sew my own buttons, darn my own
hose; | mend my own garments and
fold my own clothes; mind my own
business. and live my own life-I
won't, no, the Dickens! be plagued
with wife! | go forth in trembling,
| come home in dread; | don't fear my
heart, but | do fear my head! My
civilest bow is grunt or nod, and
that, heaven save me, is "charmingly
oddI' Now ladies, good ladies, just
hear me l pray! / speak to you all
in the pluralist way; my logic is sim
pie as logic can be-if / don't marry
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04
SCATTERING OUT COMMUNISTS

When communists attempted to
break up a patriotic demonstration of
French and American world war vet
Grams at Choisy-le-Roi, near Paris,
quick action by American Legion
members forestalled an insult to the
u. S. flag. A color guard from the
Legion headed a procession through
the streets, and group of comnun-
lists began to stone the paraders. The
American doughboys with their fixet
bayonetgi caused the demonstration to
be confined to the French section of
the parade. The Legion color guard,
furnished by the Paris post, has par
ticipated in many patriotic celebra-
tions in Europe.
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04

s'poses it's because there amt no
+, lynx around handy.
Deal Del: Bein' as how it's comm
on to leap year, an to kinda stave
off the inevitable that's shore to in
evit just as quick as the dear ladies
think the time has come for them to
take things into their own dear soft
little hands an do the proposin', I'd
like to have you print the followin'
warnin', which it's took me some time
to work out SOS to get it not too
blunt to be perlit an also to make
the damn thing take in all the facts
and be po'try. Here she be, an |
mean biz:
"I'm grumpy old bachelor, all
grizzly and gray; I'm seven and
forty if | am day! I'm rusty
and crusty and dry as a bone;
so ladies, dear ladies, just leave
me alone! Go shake out your
boblets and beam out in smiles;
go tinkle your trinkets and show off
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04

aldson" to explain. He said he'd
bring credentials around the next day.
They're still looking for him.
There is a Sergeant Michael Dom
aldson, a war hero, but he is believed
to be in New York.
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04

you, please don't marry me! But
there's seventeen old maids who be-
lieve me their fate; there's three doz-
en- widows who'd change their es-
tate; there's silly young maidens who
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04

and Bill asked him if they were COM
Portable.
"Oh, yes" he said.
SWELL" said Bill, Il was wondering
why you shuffled along that way"
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04
HERE'S A NEW WET GAG

az just found this gallon of whis-
key and was on my way to take it to
Police Chief Wirtz for evidence" said
S. C. Barnes. ''Then we'll go along
and introduce you to the chief" offic-
ers reported. And it worked out as
could be expected.
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04
THEY ARE USED IN MEXICO

When customs officers searched Lo-
reto Amaya for suspected liquor, they
found a pistol, which he was attempt
ing to bring into the United States.
He was fined $40, given ten days in
jail, and told that firearms were pop
ular only below the boundary.
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04


as facts. Said in the Harvey house
at Needles he overheard one man say
to another: "No, / didn't stay at the
Ell Trovatore while / was at Grand
Canyon, but I got my meals there"
V. o. said he ate at the Biltmore in
Loose Angels and the menu being
printed in French, he pointed to some
thing on it and told the waiter to
bring it. "I can't sir," said the wait
er, "the orchestra is playing it."
A young fellow in a high-powered
car went speeding by. "Gosh," said
Tom Rickel, ''that car raises heap
of dust, don't it,"
"It ought to- said Frank Brooks,
cts draggin' a mortgage on 100
acre homestead"
Fleas will play golf all day on a
dog, Carter Joy says, explaining he
The Coconino sun., 1924-01-04

Paul Coffin says one of his boy
hood ambitions has been realized. In
his Eoyhood his parents used to cut
hi hair and he used to wish he might
be bald-headed.