Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1927-06-10
Mrs. SHADES Ride

The horse the woman rode was the eel
ebrated Billy Bay" long the pride OF the
Piegan Indians. He was a Kentucky
thoroughbred, and a raiding band Of that
tribe of the Blackfeet nation had captured
the animal IN a foray into the coun-
try to the north of the great Salt Lake.
Large sums OF money, pelts and other
valuables had been staked and won on
Billy Bay in the inter-tribal races. Mrs.
Slade had purchased the horse from
Major Malcolm E.. Clarke. one time
American Flu company trader, who, a
few years later. was murdered by Piegan
outlaws at his ranch not far from where
the city of Helena, Montana, now stands.
Never have the slopes of the old Tobac-
co Root mountains witnessed a more
thrilling or romantic scene than was en-
acted as this beautiful woman, her skirts
whipped by the wind, n her black hair
streaming, with head bent low upon
the neck of Billy Bay, i~mpetuously
urged the foam-fiecked animal to greater
speed. Those who witnessed the sight
state that hearts almost stopped their
beating as horse and rider topped the
hill whose trail led down to the great
mining camp. The miners knew that
Mrs. Slade was q desperate woman, and
the Committee had acted wisely when
they ordered parties to intercept her pro-
vided she arrived before the hanging.
They were aware Of the fact that she
IA OA ~ RlCfAChc (opA V 1870
husband from the moose. and they were
determined that they did not care to
see her again carry out her purpose.
Beidler and Kiskadden and few of
their friends cut down the corpse and
took 1t to the Virginia City hotel (Which
tourists to the old town VIII now see as
the old O.. X. Livery Stables), where,
ropes removed from feet and hands. 1T
was left to await the disposition of the
brave wife.
When omeon announced: Mrs. Slade
is coming" everyone scattered; none OF
the miners were at all anxious to remain
to witness her sorrow or to receive the
profane epithets she would hurl at their
guilty heads, nor hear the terrible bloody
VOWS she would make for vengeance. The
body was neatly prepared for burial ana
was taken across the hill and buried. In
the spring Mrs. Slade went to Salt Lake
City, taking the body of her husband
with her, burying it in a cemetery at
that place. A plain slab Of marble with
the mans name thereupon. still marks
the final resting place of 1.-THE DIR. Jekyll
and Mr.. Hyde Of the Old West"
Mrs. S1ade
Slade was q bad man, it is true; but
some of those who knew him and his
wife, state that Mrs. Slade was by far the
more vicious Of the two. Slade was a
good shot with rifle and revolver, but his
wife is said to have been even a better
shot than he. Generally atJired In q
flowing black silk dress, she was one OF
the most beautiful to be seen on
the old frontier1e veritable Lazy Mac
beth.
In the early sixties a man n woman
by the name of Myles resided at the old
L~uJzenhizer ferry at the mouth of Bea-
verhead creek on the stage road between
Helena and Diamond City, M. T.. In the
earlier days they had both worked for
Slade when he was division agent for the
overland. Mrs. Myles is quoted as having
stated that Slade wanted to get rid OF
his wife, and one time, she Mrs. Slade)
drew the revolver which she constantly
carried beneath the folds of her silk
waist, n said: you took me for better
or worse, and you're not going to cast
me off like an old Shoe Slade passed
the matter off as q joke.
Another incident has been related
which depicts the true character Of the
woman. 1t seems that Mrs. Slade hao
taken q dislike to acertain saloon keeper
at Horseshoe station on the Overland
One day she gave her revolver to a pony
express rider and said: GO over and XII
him; and he did.
Mrs. Slade returned to Virginia City
and In March, 1865, she was married tc
James Kiskadden. In a short time they
removed to Salt Lake City where Kiskad-
den was forced to OBTAIN separation IRON
the woman, because Of her desperate ma
ture. One III -timer, George Beatty, whc
knew The SHADES as early as 1861, stated
before he died a few years ago, that the
last he heard Of Mrs. Slade, she was
leading an ignominious life In Omaha.
James Kiskadden
1t is said that Kiskadden later married
the actress, Annie Adams who was the
leading woman of a stock company play
ing at Salt Lake City; n that the IA
nous Maude Adams was born at Sal
Lake, November III, 1872. The story adds
that Maud Adams made her first ap-
pearance on the stage in that city wher
she was nine months old.
Kiskadden was now to most OF TIT
pioneers Of the sixties. He was a man OF
attractive personality, but was of q spec
ulative nature, n a good deal given tt
figuring out ways whereby he might &C
ouire great wealth without too much
effort. At one time, he became famou.
in Montana as the leading promoter Of
the paper" metropolis OF the upper Mis-
souri, river-"Ophir"--which 1t wal
planned. would rival Fort Benton. HI
also, on the same occasion, proposed {
railroad around the Great Falls OF tn,
Missouri, to act as a transfer for freight
and passengers from boats plying below
the falls, to those which he and other
planned TO operate from the Great Fall
TO the Three Forks. At times he made hi
living principally by playing poker, ant
was known as the gentleman gambler.