Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1928-05-18
When Butte Miners Fought
With Bottles at GregSom
Were Killed. 35 Hurt
(By WALTER /. 4

IN tneSe days OF q collar q OOttle IOf
Canadian beer with one bottle to a
Z customer, providing YOU and the seat
Of sale. it seems the widest of fiction to
state that a short Is years ago SO many
beer bottles were in the air one afternoon
at Gregson Springs that for several min
utes it was impossible to see the sun.
Two men were killed, 35 injured. and
one woman received knife Wounds which
sent her to the hospital for a month
Newspaper reporters labeled the story
The Battle of Boiling Water" The
Great Charge at Gregson." and Tough
Wal Follows Tug of War"
But the reason for the caustic com
ments of the reporters was that several
of them stopped beer bottles n that
they went TO Gregson to report a miners
picnic and, without any raise in salary
were compelled to o~fficiate as wal cor
respondents.
When the committee from the Miners
union conferred with Hugh DAILY, then
manager at Gregson, they insisted hat
as the weather was warm, plenty of beer
should be on sale.
A big program of sports was scheduled.
none of which received mention in the
next days new except the tug of war,
with emphasis on the latter word.
More han $4,000 persons attended the
big picnic and as motor cars were as
scarce then as bottled beer is now the
B. A. 81 p. railway used timber OF fiat
cars with q built-up railing to carry the
thousands to the resort.
Crowd Was at Fullest
BY mid afternoon the crowd was at its
fullest. The lawn east of the old hotel
was the one shady spot where the bot
tied beer tasted the best. Empty bottles
by the thousands were lying on the grass
and miners by the hundreds also were
lying on the grass.
West of the barroom q tug-of-war was
in progress. An Irishman working at the
st. Lawrence mine was the coach for the
team of Slavonians. With feet dug deep
ly in the soft ground this team was
slowly winning from an Irish team. A
husky young Irish chap, who probably
had q bet on his countrymen, stepped
forward in the crowd and without any
warning landed a terrific kick against
the shin Of one of the Slav pullers. h
latter let go of the rope as he sank to
the ground, but his teammates continued
to pull their opponents. The kicker
again stepped forward to aim another
kick.
Like a flash, one of the Slavs stepped
toward him and landed a right swing
which sent the young Irishman against
the side of the building.
Anu III SiiTttu
The tug-of-war was changed instantly
to a moi of fighting men. The Slavs
might be able to win at a tug-of-war,
but they were rank amateurs against the
Irish in a free-for-all. They backed to-
ward the bottle-strewn lawn and within
a minute hundreds of men on both sides
were hurting beer bottles.
Three hoisting engineers, Jack Ros-
sitter, My Briney and Frank McNulty,
were hosting some beer on the lawn
when the moi rushed toward them.
Nine bells!" shouted Briney. which in
hoisting circles signifies danger, and the
trio got into reverse and escaped through
artful lodging.
Jim O'Keefe, then sheriff of Deer
Lodge county, rushed toward the center
of the ever-growing fray n to try to
quell the fight which was now assuming
big proportions, he fired five shots from
his gun into the air.
1t was like trying to put out a fire
by dousing 1t with gasoline. Thousands
came rushing toward the lawn, and some
excited men started to yell. THE bo-
hunks are shooting down the Irishl"
Battle of Bottles"
Then the battle Of bottles was IN In
earnest. During the first few minutes
there was no lack of ammunition. All
one had to do was to stoop n reach
for a bottle. Where hundreds were hurl-
ing bottles, now thousands we're engaged
For a time 1t was nearly impossible to
see the sky with thousands of bottles
flying through the air, resembling the re-
lease of all the pigeons in the country
over the given space.
Hugh DAILY was rushing in every direc-
ton telling the excited men that no one
had been shot and to stop fighting. He
might as well have tried to dam up the
springs with q handful of sand.
At one edge of the lawn a score OF
men were hghting with fists. Some one
pulled a knife just as an excited woman
rushed into the melee. She received sew
eral cuts on the neck and shoulders.
Meanwhile, the main battle was NOV
ing south Of the lawn. The Slav army
was retreating out fighting every inch OF
the way. Soon the report Of rifle shots
was heard coming from the hill south
Of the springs. 1t was learned that 9
cowboy employed at the Rafferty, ranch
saw several running men and having
, heard that some one was shot at the
picnic he opened fire. fatally woundine
one Slav and slightly iniuring another.
The fighting round the resort slowly
diminished. A crowd of several thousand
persons went down to Gregson depot tc
take the first special train back to Butte
The train was composed of fiatcars
with high ratings built around the ends
and sides. Crowding into the cars were
scores more thar could find seats.
Fight Resumed on Train
In one car which was 80 crowded that
scores were standing, q Finlander shook
his fist at Gregson and shouted, "Da
Malgumate, da Malgumate, he own smell
tiers and mines" and then launched into
a string of profanity.
Say, you damn foreigner" shouted ar
Irishman who was so drunk he would
have fallen had there been room, dom
you know there is wimmin in this carp
n the Irishman used cuss words that
the Finn never heard before.
Another free-for-all started, but be-
cause Of the jam men Gould neither hit
well nor fall we'll.
In an adjoining car a fight started
when the train neared the Butte depot
One man was knocked under the wheels
being killed instantly.
'Damme," yelled a C~ornishman, IF
ever get hout of this bloody mess, II
never go again to q bloody Hirish picnic.
Sure. and I'll get you out of this.
shouted an Irishman, as ne tossed the
C~ornishman onto the depot platform.
"If ia dis is whata you call picnic ins
dis countree, I guess I learn a da Ian
guage wrong" said a Serbian, as he hob
bled from the train. holding his hand
on a bleeding cut made by a beer bottle
two hours before.
Farmer Inherlts $4,000
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