Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-01-30
WILL GIVE STATUE
To ELKS' LODGE
"BiH" Stratton, Former In
dian Fighter, to Present
| Logan's Request Feb. 8.

There is to be a special celebration
tisa evening of February 9 at tht
grand initiation of washington Lodg.
No. Is, Benevolent Protective Order
Of Elks. For mild hammered "Bill'
Stratton, loyal lodge member, excel
league OF Buffalo Bill and himself "a
fghtin' piece of material out of the
West in the days when men were
men," is to be the central figure.
On this occasion "Bill' Stratton IL
to do something he set his heart or
doing years and years ago. He Is tt
part with one of his priced posses
& aions as gift to Washington Lodge
This particular object of his affec
lions is bronze statue of two ell<s
wiIled to him at the death of Maj
Gen. John A. Logan.
A quarter of a century ago when
Col. William +. Cody was on one OF
thfS visits here, he took Stratton to
call on Gen. Logan at his home,
Stratton Is a dyed-in-the-wool Elk
and when he saw the symbol of his
order in bronze, he wanted 1t badly.
But Gen. Logan wouldn't part with
It at any price, so Stratton persuaded
Buffalo Bill to coax the statesman to
leave it to him in his will, should
Logan die first. And Logan did.
Got Statue Two Years Ago.
Two years ago the statuary came
into STATIONS possession and he re-
solved to present it to his lodge. The
only string tied to the gift is the pro-
mise eXacted- that If the lodge ever
decides to part with it, the statuary
shall go to the National Elks Home
at Bedford, Va. So at the initiation
celebration Stratton is to intrust his
priced possession into the hands of
James Caulifiower, exalted ruler Of
the lodge.
"Bill" Stratton Is one of the great
est characters that ever came to round
out his years in Washington, some
thing he's been doing now since 1908.
Princeton classmate of Woodrow
Wilson, ex-cow puncher, Indian fight
err, Snowman and globe wanderer, he
is a mixture of all those qualities that
go to make up red-blooded man who
has lived in the wide open spaces, as
much at home on the rolling deck of
Stamp schooner as astraddle bucking
] broncho
AS souvenirs of Indian fighting on
the frontier of Montana, he has been
carrying three .44-caliber bullets in his
left leg for 80 years and a half dozen
knife scars on his face, arms and body.
If it hadn't been for those three bull
Ats and some cracked ribs. Stratton
said he would have Joined Roosevelt's
Rough Riders for the War with Spain.
Sleeps In Small Arsenal.
'Bill' is known to Washingtonians
rs William I. Stratton and he lives sur
rounded by mementoes Of his globe
trotting days at GIT Sixth street BY
day he plies his trade as a carpenter,
but at night he sleeps in a virtual
arsenal Indian and bandits knives
decorate his bedroom walls. Pistols
and rifles, all loaded, and each with
little personal history, furnish hair
raising yarns of frontier days. Boxes
OF ammunition are stored in the cor
ners. To Stratton, 1t is q room of
memories and cherished possessions.
Here is stray souvenir picked up In
China or the South Sea Islands. A
curved Turkish knife from the Near
East, the regalia of some bad man"
from the West and a picture of Chief
Tall Crane. Biackfoot warrior and cat
tie thief, who nearly scaIped Stratton
In a famous fight years ago in Mon.
tana.
But one of the prizes is a bit of rope
used by Buffalo Bill the first time he
ever entered bull ring. Cody gave
the lariat to his friend and asked him
TO keep it as long as he lives. That
was time when Buffalo Bin met his
match. The bull snapped the lariat In
two and the piece that Stratton has is
chat was left in Cody's hands.
Stratton is ga years old now, an ac-
tive, wiry man who says vehemently
that he owes his good health ito out.
door NE and gold old rye whisky
MAY Pull Stake Again."
To see Stratton now, one would
never suspect that he had ridden the
hnge in his youthful days, exhibited
as a crack marks1nan and iariat
thrower with the Buffalo Bill shows
or tramped four times around the
globe. He is mild Of expression and
manner, but when he talks OF frontier
days spark kindles in his blue ewes
and the old feeling of wanderlust. he
says, comes back to him. "Maybe
I'll pull up my stake yet and strike
out again where a man can breathe
free air" Stratton said
This son of the western plains
however, is a product of the East
He was born February is, 1868. at
Wrfghtstown, n. j.. on the present
ste of Camp Dix. Like Theodore
Roosevelt, whom he loved and knew.
the youthful StTatton was weak and
puny lad. Doctors said his heart
wouldn't last until he was 81 wears
OLD 80 ne SIfuGk out Tor ReXfOrd
Mont. Col Cody was his cousin by
marriage and took a friendly interest
in the youngster. Two years of life
in the open spaces changed Stratton
into a strapping, harG-muscled fellow.
For several years, as youngster,
he travelled all over the United States
with Buffalo Bills Wild West Shows
Then in 1881 the sea called to him,
so he shipped on a u. S. revenue
autter. But life aboard the cutter
was too tame, and Stratton dreamed
of lands unseen. So one day he
shipped on tramp steamer destined
for anywhere. From ship TO ship he
made his way into strange and little
freuuented ports Of the world. Four
times he circled the globe, Stratton
said, before he got enough of his sea
tevfng life. Then he decided on a
college career
It was at Princeton College in the
late eighties that Stratton renewed an
acquaintance with a serious young
man named Woodrow Wilson, whom
he had met some years before in Vir-
gfnia on one of his wandertngs about
the country.
Has Wilson's Letter.
Stratton is lifelong Democrat and
after Wilson's election as President
hs wrote a letter of congratulations
10 his former classmate. He has
1t