Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1939-06-09
BY ERIC THANE

u operated WltnIu the DOuu-
~ daries of Montana the Mar
quis de Mores was one of the most
spectacular. The scion of noble
French family, his adventures, es-
capades and huge financial losses
in the SOS form a chapter in the
history of Montana that is start
ling and unusual-a colorful cpl
sode in the colorful story of the
state. He was a soldier of fortune,
one of the finest swordsmen in
Europe, a cultured cosmopolitan and
a traveller to remote places; he was a
charming companion in the palace or
on the roundup, but there never lived
a more erratic, more impulSive man,
or one OF worse judgment. He COM
pleted his military training as cadet
at the French military school for Of
ficers, and from then on, until his
death in the Moroccan desert, his life
was never devoid of thrills. He is pc
culiarly of Montana and North Da-
kota-here he attempted the raising
of beef, with the ambitious dreams Of
putting the Cudahys, Armours and
Swifts out of business; here he ex-
perimented with the growing of trop-
ical fruit, had a gun fight with Riley
Lufsey and Frank ODonnell, in which
the former was killed; here he was
charged with murder, and fought the
charge in a spectacular case that
Montana and Dakota into action; and
here he played part in the. Vigilante
raids against rustlers in the bad lands.
In 1883 the Marquis first entered
Montana. His cousin, Count Fitz
cestors had fled from Scotland to
France with Bonnie Prince Charlie,
had hunted in Montana, and his glow
ing stories of the buffalo herds had
stirred the Marquis de Mores. The
Marquis was an ardent sportsman,
and it did not require many of the
tales of hunting to be had to determine
him to visit Montana.
Webs Bankers Daughter
The Marquis had recently married
Miss Medora Won Hoffman, the daugh-
ter of a New York banker. The bluest
of blood flowed in the Marquis veins,
but financially he was not SO well Off,
and the 100000 900 he hoped to inherit
through his marriage would serve as
the bolster to his noble lineage. Be-
sides, he had ambitions to establish
fortune of his own, and he needed
money to lay the foundation for 1t:
He succeeded in securing unlimited
backing from his father-in-laW, and
in coming to the western plains he had
in mind, besides the hunting, the in
vestment of money in an undertaking
that seemed to have possibilities OF big
returns.
He had heard much of the profits
of the packing industry, and when he
saw the huge herds Of cattle in Mon
tana and the Dakotas he devised a
plan for the building of a packing and
refrigerating plant in the midst OF a
cattle range and the shipping OF the
products east, instead of the method
of management of the time, which was
sending the cattle east to slaughter.
and once his plan was conceived, he
did not delay He selected point
few miles east of the Montana line, IN
North Dakota, for the scene OF his
operations, and named 1t Medora, after
his wife. Within a few weeks OF his
arrival he had secured tract OF land
on which he built a roomy dwelling to
serve as his offices, and began prepar-.
alton for business. And not IN small
way. He made plans for cold storage
leading cities of the middle west, as
well as in Butte, Helena and other
settlements of the Rocky mountain re-
gion The Stockmen all over the west
began to take notice OF the Marquis
de Mores and his ambitious project. 4
The Marquis arranged for an eastern
outlet for his products-he planned to
market in a de luxe way, and con-
tracted with the then exclusive Palmer
House of Chicago to feature his meats
on their menu. Shortly after. he de,
cided to begin actual business and
fit for a delivery of 5000 cattle to his
packing plant, or abbatoir. as he IN
sisted It be called, at the rate of 1000
a month for six months, delivery to
start in June when though he did not
know it, beef was in the poorest con-
dition.
Imports Butcher Corps
Long before the abbatoir was COM
pleted. the Marquis imported a corps
of butchers from the east, and for
considerable time they drew fancy
wages while awaiting killing time. The
men selected by the Marquis to handle
the business end of his cattle buying
were those whom he admired, rather