The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1934-07-27

a novel proposition. He told Miner
the theatre was the glamorous land Of
make believe where some greater pre-
tender who could lead and hoodwink
the people in a most realistic manner
was necessary to the success Of such an
enterprise, and where in all that will
derness out there could such a fakir be
found?
Miner told Salisbury he did not think
that would be a stumbling block, that
we had out here in the west one of the
finest lockers and of the biggest
showmen he ever saw, who was called
Buffalo Bill" Cody, and so the great
wild west show was born. Salisbury took
it around the world with wonderful en-
thusiasm among his audiences until
Bill thought he was the whole show and
would quit unless it was turned over
to him. Bill could fake Indians, stage
robbers and cowboys, but the balance
sheet and the show went on the rocks.
Bill went broke but, like the soul of
old John Brown, the romance, SO JUS
piciouSly started, still goes marching
on.
Another nationally appreciated &C
tor was James O'Neill, who was also a
stakeholder in the Miner company. He
was a handsome nan I have seen
him, some 60 years ago, fill a theatre
to overlooking with ladies on a Satur-
day afternoon matinee. At the outset
he put $1,000 in the company and often
said it was usual for him to never again
see a dollar of his ordinary investments,
but that Miner had given him back
hic nonnau ca noanv tiponc nvnr thof hn
was almost ashamed to take it. His son,
Eugene O'Neill, world famous writer
of plays, succeeded to his fathers shares
upon the death of the latter.
Mr.. Miner may have INDUCED in
some crochets. Who has not? Some
people were not favorably impressed
by him. He did not always follow
their lines of conduct. His nam had
been Miller but he said he knew so
many Millers who had misbehaved and
there were so many pesky insects of
that name who fluttered in such an
annoying way around his reading lamp
at night that he went into court and
had his name changed to Miner. While
he entertained the highest respect for
the religious beliefs of others, he had
none of his own. He did not take kindly
to the supernatural. He was a mar of
education and refinement and possess
ed of considerable wealth and he was
courteous and genteel and rather in
clined to be chivalrous to the members
OF the fair sex. He neve married. His
life was lived in the rough and his idea
was that the rough was no place for
a lady. He contented himself with his
large family of cowboys. He often
spent his winters abroad and took one
OF them along for company. He was a
lover OF the beautiful in flowers, plants
and works of art and on his winter
jaunts he gathered articles he keenly
enjoyed in his ranch homeS-quaint
Jewelry, garnished with precious stones;
fine linens, tapestries, and choice fab
RIGS of various kinds and beautiful etch-
ings. In his will he said he would
leave a list of his most intimate friends
who were to receive gifts from his COL
lection but he forgot to make up the
list. His chief executor, A. H. Bert
Davis, a foreman of the company, was
so intimately acquainted with Mr.. Mil
ner's desires that he made the distribu-
lion without the list.
MI. Miner had become so thorough
~ attached to his cowboy family that
he left the bulk of his fortune to them
n n memory of that manly man is
still green in the hearts of the bene-
flc1ar1es of his bounty. What matters
1t, then, that no kindred hand soothed
his last hours, that no stored urn marks
his last resting place, that no animated
bust tells his story and that the great
river still sweeps his ashes downward
TO the sea.