The producers news. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1918-1937, 1927-05-13

of the pioneer once stood. And The
old order changeth, yielding place to
new"
1t would hardly be fitting, in
sketch of the perils and achievements
of the pioneers who built this cOun-
try, to omit the rest of the quotation
-"And God fulfills himself in many
ways"
That great Force, out of accord
with which even black beetles are
unblessed in their business, sparrows
fall, and heroes perish, works out the
destiny of our nation and of our peo-
pie, in the many Units of the Great
Projects, watering the soil with our
sweat and tears, and enriching it
with the bones of the pioneers, ere
our fallowed lands be fit for crop.
What is now Sheridan county was
originally part of Dawson county.
This was created by the Acts of Jan
.uary II, 1872, and of February 16,
1877 and is found in the Revised
Statutes of Montana, first enacted at
the regular session Of the Twelfth
Legislative Assembly on the 21st
day of February, 1879, when Mon
tana was still a territory, and this
being the first codification of the
general laws Of the Territory of
Montana, in force at that time.
Thereafter, and on March 10, 1887
by the Compiled Statutes of the Ter
ritory of Montana, the general laws
thereof were compiled, edited and
indexed. In passing, it is interest
to note that, on March 9, 1887, it
was specifically provided that any
person who sold, bartered, gave or
in any manner disposed Of firearms
or ammunition to hostile Indians
within Montana Territory, was sub
ject to fine of not exceeding $500
or Imprisonment in the county jail
for not exceeding six months, or both
such fine and Imprisonment. Only
thirty-nine years ago!
Reeneacted, as section 1890 of said
Compiled Statutes, were the Acts of
January IL, 1872, and February 16,
1887, which included the lands now
comprising Sheridan County in the
old, great, County of Dawson.
By the Act approved February 6,
1898, Valley County was created,
comprising all Of the territory from a
point between Dodson and Malta,
thence north to the international
Boundary Line, thence east to the
Dakota line, and thence south to the
Missouri River. Glasgow was the
county seat; and when the old tim
ers of what is now Sheridan County
located here the terms of court,
which were few and far between,
were held at Glasgow, first, Judge
Dudley Du Bose presiding, and, later
Judge John w. Tatten, who still rules
in the old court house at Fort Ben
ton, on the Bench which he has oc-
cupied with dignity and vigor for
some thirty years. The pioneers do
not remember Judge Du Bose so well,
except that perennially there hung to
the end of his nose a drop of water
which, ever and anon, he shook there
from, declaring that ''This Court
may be in error, but it is never in
doubt"
There is a legend that Judge Du
Bose once referred to Jack Teal in
uncomplimentary terms, for that in
combat, with his teeth, Jack had in
jured the ear of one Andrew David
son (for many years chairman of the
Board of County Commissioners
thereafter being called by the Judge,
upon his acquittal, a cannibal, and
diligently and with malice, seeking
the Judge thereafter, who, happily,
was then sitting in an all-night poker
game in the saloon operated by Bill
Enright and Johnny Mcintyre, in
Glasgow.
Judge Du Bose went from Montana
to Alaska, and it is said his proto-
type appears in Rex Beach's great
film, '"The Spoilers" Certain it is
that one of its characters was made
up greatly to resemble the former
judge of the Twelfth Judicial Dis
tr1ct Of the State of Montana, in and
for the County of Dawson.
With the steady advance of years
most of those who hair is frosted Oh
whitened by the winters of age, be-
gin to live more and more in the past
And on the tablets of our memories
are craven deep the prints of the ole
court house at Glasgow, Judge Tat
tan presiding, with Dan Kyle, Harry
Cosner, Conatser, 'Sky'' Small Har
ry Rutter, or "Puck" Powell acting
as court bailiff, each with a big
blue, fOrty-five in his pants-band.
And there were legal giants in
those days,-Senator Thomas H. Car
ter; Old Judge Mcconnell; Taylor &
Lewis; John J. Kerr Gather of Flor
Hncn EAcpN now. Of MILL o.AI eo,,...