The Western news. [volume] (Libby, Mont.) 1933-current, 1934-01-18

obviously fictitious. As to the end of his career.
Blair and Meme write:
Death, meodranfatic. violent. caught nm Mt
last with Mike Fink In the winter Of 1929 In
remote trading post by the mouth of the Vel
loWstone river In the western Wilderness
Just how he died. 1T is no longer possible to
discover. For something about the fe and more
especially the death, of the king Of the keel
boatmen attracted the fancy OF western pioneers.
and SO many tales were told about the end or
his picturesque career that now the truth of
his death is SO tangled with legend that no one
can untangle the skein. Although Mike Fink
lived but once according TO the legend he died
at several different places and In number az
different ways AT least fifty times the
story or the end OF his life has been told In
print, and at least eleven versions have been
the sources of these numerous and varied nara
tives- The first OF these original versions an
peared few months after the boatman died
and the last. 1t seems. appeared In 1860. During
the interval. the story must have been told
orally hundreds of times"
Reduced to its simplest terms the story con-
Germs three men-Fink. man named CARPENTER
and another named Talbot or Talbeau Fink md
carpenter quarreled but agreed as pledge of
their friendship and confidence i'm each other ia
whisky off each others heads. CARPENTER shot first
and grazed Finks skull When Ii came time for
Mike to shoot. he drilled Carpenter through the
forehead and for doing this Talbot later killed
Fink. The relationships OF the three men I'm
some OF the stories Carpenter is the adonted
son or Fink and In others he Is the brother of
lalDoD the reasons for the quarrel between
FINK and Carpenter and fine exact manner and
time or Finks death at the hands OF Talbot al
nave come In for establishment and contradIc-
ton In the different versions OF the story.
The bare facts-and they are very unsatIs
factory facts. In way. for they leave many
important things unexplained" say Blair and
Meme. ARE to be found In the government report
concerning the furtrading party OF which Fink.
IN the year OF his death. was q member-'yolume
AAAAll, RECORD Book Containing Copies OF Let
tiers from Indian Agents and Others. to the
Superintendent OF Indian Affairs at st. Louis
September TO- 1890, to April l. 1892 Here, grndg
ingy, unimaginatively. In section. deaths Of
men caused by accidents and other causes nor
chargeable to Indians a few stir sentences
bristling with drama tell that In 1892 Mike
FINK shot Carpenter-Tabot soon after shot
FINK, and not long after himself drowned
OF the Tetons.' This report was written after
September TO- 1880; 1t was not printed, 1t seems.
until 1902. Meanwhile many versions of the
story had been published
A Slightly more detailed version the first in
fact, to reach print. appeared In the Missouri
Republican Of July 1S. 1923:
BY letter received In town from one Of
General Ashley's expedition we are Informed thot
man by the name Of Mike Fink well known I'm
this quarter as great marksman with the rifle
was engaged In his favore amusement or
shooting tin cup from the head Of another man
when aiming too low or from some other cause
shot his companion In the forehead and killed
him. Another man Of the expedition twhose name
we have not heard) demonstrated against FInk's
conduct. to which he. Fink. replied that he
would Kill him likewise upon which the other
drew pistol and shot Fink dead on the spot
Here one might say, is account which NAV
well be the true one 1t comes. Il would seem. |
from man who either Mike die or who |
soon after the event heard the tale from those |
who had seen the death. 1t was printed further |
more before the story had been mulled over.
twisted and embelllshed by inventive spinners Of
tales who yarned dramatically By hundreds of
wilderness campnres.'
G. by Western Newspaper Union