Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-07-13

his Something about wealthy hom
in the east, college, disgrace and the
the call Of the west.
OF course. Jim must be buried. Be
cause OF his high standing in the com
munity II was decided that he mus
have q high class funeral. A fund wa.
raised among cattlemen, sheepmen
cowboys, Saloonkeepers and gamblers
A new preacher, who was the onll
minister 80 miles in any direction, wa.
asked 70 Officiate at the funeral.
Two young men with 9 team Oh
horses and a "dead-aX' wagon drove
70 the nearest railroad with stric
orders 10 buy the best coffin they
got Following orders, the men bought
the coffin and then decided to tank
up on bad whisky The men drove
home reckleSsly over the frozen road
for it was winter time. The coffin
rolled around and around in the wagon
so that the cloth on it was worn 20
shredS when the men arrived in Du-
puyer.
Funeral Committee of Two
Big Bill, the Saloonkeeper and gen.
eral store merchant. and Scoop Flyn,
the gambler. made up the funeral COM
mittee. The grocery man was the only
person in the community who could
'offer prayer" He had had charge
of all funerals until the arrival of the
new preacher.
+ The coffin was pretty badly battered,
but the committee decided after a
( heated conference to go ahead with
/ the funeral on scheduled time, because
( friends of Jim had come from so miles
around The town was full of people.
I Sheep wagons and Indian tents were
pressed into service for sleeping quar-
ters Barbecue parties we're along the
roadsides. At one place whole steer
was being roasted.
There was no church in town, Of
course, so the schoolhouse was pressed
into service for the funeral.
The day set for the funeral dawned
clear and cold with canyon wind,
starting up. The weather men sitting
around splitting and whiting in the
general store optned that everyone had
better put on fur coats for, they said,
the wind would be 40 miles an hour
before night.
A three-hour holiday was declared 1t
was the first time in the history Of
the town that the saloons had been
closed either day or night The keys
could not be found to lock the doors
SO guards were placed at each saloon
to keep the people from going in.
The little Schoolhouse was filled two
hours before the service. Men stood
10 deep outside the building There
were Sheepherders and cowmen, the
eternal enemies, and Indians and those
who preyed upon the Indians, other
eternal enemies, but here at the fu-
neral of Jim the sheepherder they
put aside for a little while their en-
mites and listened to the funeral serv-
ice Of the young preacher, who had
recently come to town.
The preacher was inexperienced and
did not know what TO say. In school, |
however, he had won an oratorical i
contest on the subject of alcoholism.
Points Evils Of Intemperance
The sermon was masterpiece re- |
membered for many years after. Cried !
the preacher, who killed Jim? Who |
put Jim in his coffin? Who made Jim /
a pennileSS wretch? No better man /
keep from being a drlInkard. Jim had
no control over himself Who killed
Jim? You saloonkeepers killed Jim.
You sold him poison. You took his last
cent. You made him a slave to alcohol.
the blood Of Jim Is upon your
hands, may We be forgiven"
An awkward silence followed when
the organiSt could not find the music
for the solo, which was to have been
sung by the school teacher from Ohio.
In the back of the schOolhouSe Big
Bill, the main saloonkeeper lifted to
his feet and strobe forward toward the
preacher with what appeared to be a
threatening gesture.
Big Bill was the most feared man in
town. 1t was said that he had killed
four men and nobody dared to arrest
him. His face very black, he charged
toward the preacher, who turned white
and shook so that he could hardly hold
his hymn book.
But Big BIZ said, "this here amt
right. 1t amt right so it amt, to hold
this here meetin' without takin' q col
lection for the preacher"
Then, without further delay, Big Bill
went up and down the aisles thrust
ing his hat around. People contributed
willingly, especially when Big Bill be-
gan to knot his fist If they hesitated.
In q short while he had collected
500. 40, which he dropped In his hat in
front of the preacher, saying. there
sky pilot, there is money for the great
est funeral sermon that has ever been
spoke in these here diggin's."
The preacher, no longer white and
shaken, now took a firm hold on his
hymn book and the funeral went on.
The cemetery was just outside of town
on an old abandoned Indian burial
ground. The wind was blowing as the
weather prophets in the store had pre-
dicted. 1t was blowing 30 miles or more
per nOuT anu blS temperature WIS ~
below zero. But every man, woman and
child followed Jim to his last rest. The
crowd completely covered the Indian
ground
oval, goodby JIM" somebody cried
when it came time to lower the coffin
into the grave. And then it was dis
covered that the grave diggers had mis-
calculated and had dug the grave six
inches too short. The ground was
frozen so solidly that the men had
to go back to town to find picks In
order to lengthen the grave. This took
great deal of time, but nobody for
sock Jim Men, women and children
crowded around the coffin slapping