The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1926-10-15

ed. A new election was ordered to
fill the vacancy, but on this occasion,
an order was made to the effect that
after five years of Punishment, the.
amnesty which had been granted to
the other rebels should be extended
to him. Evidence is not wanting that
throughout the entire episode of
Riel's history-making in Canada,
the man was at no time without a
strong following at the capital of the
Dominion.
Riel in Montana
In 1879 Riel settled in Montana,
where he was employed as a teacher,
occasionally joining bands Of half
breeds on buffalo hunts. During these
years, he lived in extreme poverty.
He taught an Indian school under
the authority of st. Peters Mission,
and was located most of the time in
the Sun River valley. He became a
citizen of the United States, taking
! out his naturalization papers in the
court at Helena. He was we'll known
to many Montanans of that day, but
there are few today surviving,
who can recall the man as he was in
Montana in the early eighties.
Mrs. Martha Edgerton Plassmann
in an article written and published g
few years ago, tells of meeting the
man in 1888, at a time when RE
had called at her Fort Benton home
seeking the services of her husband
who was an attorney. Mrs. Plass
mann, who resides at Great Falls
and who is n of the states LEADING
historians and historical writer's, say
of Riel:
4 "The man hesitatingly extended his
cap to me, remarking as he did so, 'Ah,
Madam, it is too poor At this, l looked
at the man more intently, thinking, as
did SO, This man is well bred"
81 saw that he was Of medium height,
light cOmplexiOned, with hair Of a red
/ dish color, according to my recollection
many years have passed since then
blue eyes. His nose was his most pro-
nOunced feature, being Of good length
[ and aequiline-the nose Of a leader. 4" .
HE had a wonderful voice for speak
: ing, strong and with a resonance l ney'
er heard eQualled. . . He held us spell
bound by the narration Of his exper'
= fences in Montana.
Eat one town where he and his people
were encamped, one Of the county offic'
ials, without the slightest show Of legal
ity, charged into their midst and drove
c off their finest horses to add to his owl
Z large and His people were helpless; i
was useless for them to appeal to the au
: thOrities; they were breeds" with N
e rights a white man was bound to re
: spect. All they could do was to submit
in silence to the outrage. This was blu
one OF the many stories he narrated, tina
led me to see how such treatment vii
Y react on a sensitive nature, such as Loui
Riel possessed from his Gallo inner
itance, If not from his Irish IfOrebears
T who were undoubtedly as quick to resen
e an injury, as were his Indian ancestors.
!. The Saskatchewan Uprising
The uprising in Saskatchewan
= 1884 and 1885 was cognate in
; causes to that which had taken plaI
y in Manitoba Is years before. TT
dominion of Canada, in the act pr
viously mentioned, had granted
every half-breed in Manitoba 24O a
q res OF land. No such concessions hi
been made to those in the other pro
D. inces, and their repeated petitions t
/ this like consideration had been ]
T. nOred. Other grievances existed