Glacier County chief., 1939-08-04
By WALTER ED TAYLoR

In the autumn of 1886 cowboy
quit the range and opened the first
"short order" restaurant in the
then new town of Red Lodge. He
was still in his early twenties but
he had already spent more than 10
years in the west on his own. His
name was John T. Weber and he
still lives in Red Lodge, where he
operates a greenhouse. He doesn't
like to talk about himself but he
will admit that he has seen a little
something in his day.
he was u years old. Horace Greeley
had yet to utter his famous line about
young men going west but Weber de-
cided to try his luck on the frontier
when it was still a real frontier. He
has no time for these people who came
themselves pioneers! Cream puff pio-
neers, that's what they are!
Jobs were plentiful in those days if
a man really wanted to work and
Weber was offered his choice Of two
whacker. He took the job punching
COWS because he knew how to ride a
horse and he also knew that he was
still too small to handle bullwhip.
He would have liked to have taken the
bullwhackers were making good money
then. Freight routes led west from sew
eral points but one Of the most i'm
portant lines ran from Sidney, Neb.,
to the Black Hills, which were Just
Whips 10 feet long and were adept at
placing them-some of the better han
dlers being able to split an inch board
at 40 feet. They had to be able to
handle the whip in order to handle
their teams.
Business "On the Cuff"
Red Lodge was lively place the
winter John Weber started his short
large supply Of groceries and the
business was excellent as long as the
groceries lasted-when the groceries
were gone the infant industry folded,
for most of the business had been "on
the cuff"
Weber had punched cows in that
district for Nelson Story. He knew all
the cowhands and because they were
his friends he had to give them credit. /
The cowboys were honest enough, but
and honkytonks before they got around !
to paying their other bills! Later some !
of them did pay Weber off but he |
had to take saddles, brides and simil- |
ar merchandise. Poker and monte were |
Lodge that winter and Weber even
tried his hand as q monte dealer one |
time. He recalls that the winter Of
1861 was one of the coolest he ever |
experienced anywhere and the tenn
had a big caboose stove to heat his
restaurant but even though he kept 1t
crammed with logs it was almost i'm
possible to keep the building warm.
When the short order business went
back iaS on him. Weber returned to hs
the the Old Ii outfit. The The region Around
Red Lodge was all given over to big
cattle ranches at that time and there
wasn't a sheep in miles. The Grow
boys often encountered them on the
range. Weber says that most Of the
cowboys knew little sign language.
One Of the most celebrated char
acters of the Red Lodge region at that
time was LIVER decd Eating Ting 10 johnson Web
ing's" homestead was Just south of
the present Weber greenhouses. Web
Der recalls hearing Johnson tell on
several occasions how he got his name
killing an Indian and eating slice
particularly relish the liver, he said,
but he felt it was one way of getting
revenge because the Indian had just
killed his partner. johnson was one
of the most trusted of Indian scouts
during the army's campaigns against
the tribes in the seventies. Webber
was one of the few men who knew that
Liver Eating" Johnson's real name
was John Garrison.
johnson Died on Coast
johnson told Weber never to tell
a soul but never did reveal why he
wanted his real name kept secret. It
was generally believed that johnson
was a fugitive from Justice but this
was never proven. johnson finally
went to live at the soldiers home at
Sawtelle. Calf. The privilege Of living
at the home was granted him because
Of his scouting services, although he
had never been formally attached to
the army. He died at Sawtelle about Is
years ago. John Weber sometimes
spends his winters in California now
and although he has searched for
Liver Eating" Johnson's grave on sew
eral occasions he has never been able
to locate 1t in any Of the military GEM
eterieS.
John Weber likes to recall the pic
tureSQue place names Of the frontier !
as he knew them when q youth. He
regrets that so many Of the old names /,
have given away to modern variations
and blameS many Of the changes in
southeastern Montana on an "upstart"
young surveyor who made maps ,
through the district years ago.
1.-The old names the early corners !
gave were good Names" he says, 'tand