Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1931-08-27

CARRYING MAIL ON BISMARCK W1lES CITY ROUTE 1M EARLY
DAYS WAS HAZARDOUS WORK; A. j. MAXWELL ACCIDENTALLY
KILLED ARMY 0GSERTER WHO PLANNED HIGHWAY ROBBERY

Germ. He made it a point to person.
ally supervise the work of his mail
riders, and often rode the route to as
certain what the conditions might be
and to guard against unnecessary
losses. On one occasion, Dec. 81, 1879,
he came in contact with a deserter
from Fort Keogh, whom he accidental
ly killed.
When Maxwell left Miles City he was
not aware that the military authorities
were searching for one, William Behr-
man, who vas reported to have taken
his departure from his company with
out leave. Maxwell and Behrman hap
pened to arrive at the mail station To-
Gated on the Little Missouri river about
the same time. The contractor was
busily engaged with his inquiries about
the station and waiting for the change
of horses. AS closely as the facts
could be ascertained at the time, Max
well had been out on the mail route
for about three weeks. He started from
Miles City with a supply team for his
stations between the city and Dead
wood, and also had on his person a
considerable sum of money with which
to pay his mail riders for their months
work.
Behrman did not make himself
known to Maxwell at the station on
the Little Missouri, but apparently, not
realizing that it was Maxwell himself,
followed him OF to the RedWater sta
ton, the one nearest to DeadWood,
where he joined him. He told Max
we'll, whom he did not recognize, that
he had been in Deadwood, was IN his
way to Miles City and made some in
quiry about Accommodations for the trip.
He stated further that he had ridden
the mail route out of DeadWood.
Some little time vas spent at the
Redwater station. Behrman evidently
had been giving out hints of what he
intended to do, posing as a bad man"
but made little impression upon his
hearers. The station men, however,
employed by Maxwell, believing that
i their employer should be informed, told
him of what they had heard any that
the stranger at the station was bent
upon some kind of mischief.
Thus fortified with knowledge of the
character of the man, Maxwell met him
and began to try to discover what
Behrman's plans really were. After a
few informal remarks about nothing
in particular, the conversation became
more intimate when Behrman inform
ed Maxwell that he was out on the
road looking for the proprietor of the
mail route, or the contractor. The de-
serter stated further that he learned
that Maxwell was paying off his men.
1t was hardly a consolation for Max
we'll to be further informed that he,
Behrman, proposed to hold him up,
even if he did not get but five dollars.
Then, he said, he proposed to take
MaxWell's horses, round up all his stock
at the several stations, arm himself
with arms and ammunition and pro-
visions and then go to Sidney and Bis
marck, where he would sell the live
stock and property he had stolen.
After listening to the unfolding of
the plans of the fugitive from Fort
Keogh, Maxwell was somewhat startl-
ed, although he did not betray it, when
Behrman asked him to go into part
nership with him. Reaching an agree
ment upon the proposition, the two
men journeyed to the Little Missouri
river where they stopped for a while