The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-05-04
FOG BUSTER USED
SAME COFFIN
HARLOWTON PIONEER WAS CHIEF
MOURNER, AUDIENCE AND FIR
ING SQUAD AT FUNERALS

WAS CHIEF
MOURNER, AUDIENCE AND FIR
ING SQUAD AT FUNERALS
Harlowton people who have moved
to the mining city in the last Is
years will not remember Fog Buster"
But the old-timers will recall him,
although few will remember him by
his real name, which was McAldOon-
At any rate, Fog Buster was .
giant of a man and possessed a deep
bass voice that reached way down in
the cellar. It was his voice that got
for him his nickname.
He lived in Harlowton during itB
pioneer stage, about 1902 to 1907, and
made his living by swapping out sa-
looms, building boxes for collins and
other odd jobs he could get.
Harlowton was a typical, thriving,
hardboiled western cowtown in those
days, and it was not unusual to find
a dead man lying around in the bushes
or the alleys at any time. On these
occasions Rowe johnson, who, it Is
claimed, did not know the meaning of
the. word fear, would take charge
johnson was deputy sheriff of Meagher
county and lived in Harlowton.
The customary procedure at the time
of these not infrequent funeral cefe-
monies consisted of dealcoholizing
Fog Buster until he was sufficiently
sober to dig a grave and build a box
like coffin. When this was accom-
plished, Sheriff johnson and Fog
Buster" In all their pomp and dignity,
would hold the funeral services.
johnson possessed a tiny Bible, one
of the few in this whole section, and
the ceremony consisted of opening the
book at random and reading a verse Or
two, whereas Fog Buster" who had
erstwhile been the chief mournes,
audience and firing squad, would as
sumo a more active role by dumping
the improvised coffin into the grave.
covering it with a few shovelfulls q
dirt and the rites were completed
Fog Buster" received SO for his ca1-
pentry work on each of these occasions
and during the particular fall Of 1906
business in this line had been unusual
ly good. However, life ever at its
highest peak, it not without its trou-
bleS. And so it was with Fog Buster"
An early winter set in that year,
making it impossible to get to the
county seat at White Sulphur Sprinek
the result being that Fog Buster" was
forced to put it on the cuff" as It
were, for his labors. He must bide his
time until the spring freshets arrived,
when johnson could make a trip to
White Sulphur Springs and get his
money.
To Fog Buster the long winter
moved very slowly and the days seemed
to pass like lazy cattle moving across
a landscape. Here he was with a verit-
able fortune coming to him, but with
nary a thin dime to quench his ever
mounting thirst. The situation became
obnoxious to him and with each sue
cesslve funeral he became more re-
bellious until only the direst of threats
from johnson would persuade him to
continue with his vocation.
But there came a time when the
Wlntry blasts were no more, when the
robins and spring birds appeared in all
their cheerful glory; snowbanks, it
seemed, disappeared overnight and Old
Man Winter reluctantly relinquished
his throne. And on one OF these days
Rowe johnson returned from White
Sulphur Springs with a substantial
check for Fog Buster"
IL was a great night for Fog Buster"
for he didn't lose much time in repair
ing to his favorite grogshop, where be
endeavored as quickly as possible to
recapture the jovial mood and mellow
thoughts that had not been his for
many moons. AS the hours passed his
hospitality expanded, his smile widened
and his deep voice doomed with the joy
OF being alive. But the bystanders
noticed that throughout the evening he
would chuckle to himself and assume
an air of mystery.
The more mysterious he acted. the
more curious Rowe johnson became
until he at last approached his helper
n inquired as to the reasons for the
chuckles.
Come out here in the back room"
doomed Fog Buster" and I'll ten
you."
On arriving in the shed at the rear
OF the saloon, Fog Buster" pointed to
a box half concealed in a dark corner.
"See that box?" he asked,
Eyes," replied the sheriff,
"Waal," he chuckled, that's the vegy
same n we've been buryin' all thee
stiffs In all winter"