Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-06-26
PRESIDENT TO SEE
PAGEANT OF WEST
Roaring Deadwood of SO
Years Ago to Be Depicted
for Coolidge.
By Consolidated Press.

By Consolidated Press.
DEADWOOD, S. Oak, June o5-
The roaring days of '76. with which
President Coolidge is going to become
acquainted when he comes here in
August, were days of real sport, the
old-timers opine.
Any one who thinks that cities now
adays have traffic problems, should
have tried to navigate in Deadwood
SO years ago when bull whackers and
mule SINNERS held sway in the
streets. And crime commissions, wor-
ried over the increase in felonies.
could take a lesson from the methods
used by the cattle rustlerS in handling
communities.
At least the men who were in Dead
wood during the big rush days of half
a century ago. say so now. Through
1t all the city still has many of the
earrnarks of a quaint valley mining
town, surrounded by gold-filled noun
tains-one of the most picturesque
spots in the Black Hills.
up until 1886. when the railroad
came in, bull trains and mule trains
were the principal means Of travel"
said W. J. Mcfarland, one of the first
newspaper men in the hills. During
the rush days of '76 and 1T. people
were coming in at the rate of nearly
800 a day at times, and talk about
traffic problems-they had the streets
tied up from morning till night
Stage Drivers Aristocrats.
"The only times these bull outfits
made room was when the stage came
in. Stage drivers were the aristocrats
of the frontier and the old Deadwood
stage was the high-class outfit OF
them all. Sometimes it would make
the 300.mile run from Sydney, Nebr..
to Deadwood in two days. Horses. Of
course, would be changed about every
20 miles and drivers would alternate.
It was a thrill guessing when the
stage would come in lickety-slit down
the narrow mountain road, horses at
a full gallop, taking curves on two
wheels. finally to swing up at top
speed in front of the Deadwood stage
station. There's nothing like it now"
Commissioner Russell. one of Dead.
woods first saloonkeepers and its
most ethical one, a close friend OF
Gen. Custer and of Buffalo Bill. was
particularly impressed by the honesty
of the rough frontiersmen during the
wild gold days.
we never thought OF locking DOORS"
he said. every one was welcome in
the cabins of that time. A miner out
working the streams for gold would
leave his cabin open with note to
any visitors telling them where to
And supper. Right on the shelf along
side the bacon and -four often would |
be several hundred dollars worth OF
gold dust, but it wasn't disturbed.
Undesirables Dealt With.
'sThs miners had a thorough way |
of dealing with undesirable caracters.
A thief was strung up to the nearest
tree, and persons suspected to being
undesirable were given "a hours to
leave town-and they left. A person
might get involved in shooting
match and kill some one. and still get |
off. but a thief didn't stand show. |
there weren't many
thieves"
Neither Mr.. Mcfarland nor Mr..
Russell spoke very highly OF that
famous character. Calamity Jane.
though both thought quite lot OF |
Wild Bill Hickok. =.
..Calanity was a tough customer"
Mr.. Russell said. when she would |
get liuuored up. as she usually did.
she enjoyed beating people up, ana |
came out on top of good many en- |
counters with miners. :,
s.She was a. product of frontier rail- |
road camps and drifted into the mis-
from wyoming. For a while she
drove cattle, and at one time served
as mule driver in Clusters outnt: she
enlisted as a man. She could drink
with the best of them.
Calamity got her name because she
was always around when there was
trouble in camp She earned consid-
cradle gratitude by caring for people
during an apidemic of typhoid fever:
Efforts to connect her with Wild Bill
are foolish, though, because Bill never
knew her. I had known him as a
Union scout during the Civil War. Bill
was handy man with gun, and kill.
ed a lot of them, but always with
provocation and upholding the law"
He was a gambler here in the hills,
and was killed over a gambling SQUAD
bie."
"Deadwood Dick" Living"
There's a Deadwook Dick still in
Deadwood, and he is probably the
character that Ned Buntline used
when he wrote his famous dime
novel, but this Deadwood Dick Clark
IS far from the tough character of
storybook fame who made so many
Indians bite the dust. At least so Mr..
Russell and Mr.. Mcfarland say.
Gen. Custer, of course, led the first
expedition into the hills in 1874, and
the first settlement was named after
him at the spot where one of the
members of the expedition first found
gold.
Buffalo Bill Cody was here often in
the old days, and was brought back in
1889 to try to settle the Indian trou-
BILE of that time. He had great infiu-
ence among the redmen, but wasn't
able to prevent serious outbreak
that eliminated in the battle of
Wounded Knee, the last big Indian
fight
These old characters and events will
be brought back to life in the pageant