The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-05-27
PIKE LANDUSkY
Continued from Feature Page

NOOlJllueQ 1IOm FedLuTe RAGE
mission was granted; but the following
day the soldiers at Rocky Point were re-
lieved and others took their place. The
new officer directed the soldiers to kill
the pig. The cook shot the animal in
the foot; and when Pike returned he
noticed his porker limping round minus
n foot. The enraged man ran down to
the soldiers camp and kicked the pots
and kettles, stove and everything else ly-
ing loose into the river. He followed this
outburst by giving the officer a hearty
cussing n then resumed his journey.
Works for Granville Stuart
Pike mined until 1886. During the
summer Of that year, he entered the
employ of Granville Stuart, riding the
range for the Pioneer Cattle company.
During the terrible winter Of 1867,
Pike and Teddy Blue Abbott (the lat
ter now of Gilt Edge, Montana, and a
son-in-law of the late Granville Stuart),
rode the range until April.
In the spring Of 81 Landusky returned
to the Little Rockies. His ranch was
located at the mout of AIDE Gulch, and
his mining interests there increased after
the gold producing district was thrown
open by the government, and he became
prosperous.
Landusky
The mining camp for Landusky, the
center of a wild and lawless border coun
tryf perhaps without equal, during its
time, at any place on the continent, far
removed from the more civilized sections
Of the territory, was the rendezvous of a
number of real bad men," Among this
questionable population was a man called
Jew Jake" who operated one of the
principal saloons and gambling houses
in the camp. Some time prior to this,
Jew Jake had lost one leg, it having
been shot of in a gun fight with George
Treat, then marshal Of the Great Falls
district. And, at Landusky, Jake used a
Winchester rifle for a crutch. AS already
described, it was in this notorious resort
that Pike Landusky met his death.
Pixies Death
Various stories nave been told of the
killing Of Pike by kid" Curry, but the
facts seem to be that after the Curry
brothers and Landusky had had some
trouble, the Kid was arrested for some
misdemeanor and placed in charge of
Pike who had been appointed deputy
sheriff. Landusky took the Kid to Fort
Benton for his trial and it is alleged that
on the trip, Pike, in one of his spasms OF
passion, abused Curry in a shameful
manner. InaSmuch as the two were then
enemies, it is possible that this may be
true. After returning from Fort Benton
Kid Curry and his friend, Jim Thornhill
went into Jew Jake's place and found
Landusky, and the latter was given &
severe beating b ythe kid" Pike, it IL
said, reached for his handkerchief with
which to wipe the blood from his face
whereupon Curry hot him dead Kid
Curry said that he thought Pike wa
reaching for his gun.
Many stories have been told of Pix
Landusky, accusing the man of brutalit,
while under the influence of liquor o
in one of his spells of temper. Perhaps
some of them may be, to a certain extent
true. However, there was an unusualI
good phase to the mans character, ant
this is attested by the scores of honor
able men who today refer to him as
man OF and by no means a char
acter as black as some chroniclers woul
paint him.. In some sense, much simila
to Captain Jack Slade Of Vigilante famG
he was a DR.. Jekyl and Mr.. Hyde on tn
old frontier; and efforts to make him ou
a bad man" n most respects are en-
tirely misleading.