Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1941-04-05

ger Ia1u anu followed Dy nEaJly-
dressed serving man who carried his
and frame shackS that constituted the
town and inquired with a pleasant
manner for Howard Eaton.
Eaton, then recently arrived cattle
man from Pittsburgh, died 20 years age
at Sheridan, Wyo., near where for rs
years he had, with his brothers, OPP
Grated the world famous Eaton "dude
ranch" at Wolf, Wyo, 1t happened
that Eaton had that day ridden into
Little Missouri after the mail, so the
letter was presented at once. It was
from a prominent eastern business
man. and it stated that the bearer
the Marquis de Mores, was the SON.
in-law of Baron Won Hoffman, a
wealthy New York banker Of German
blood. The letter ended: Il don't know
| what experience he has had In business
or anything of that kind, but he has
some large views"
1t appears that the MARQUIS had
visited Little Missouri as the result of
visit to the bad lands Of Dakota the
! previous year of his cousin, Count Fitz
James, a descendant of early Scotch
exiles to France. Count Fitz James had
been on a hunting trip to the bad
lands. returning to France with stories
of the new cattle country that stirred
bllE nu14NlAc AtAldEAu6bAOu. DEulR al
adventurer, the tales of frontier life in
western America had excited his in
terest, but his ambitions were not along
the line Of sport, but were directed
toward making a huge fortune In some
commercial venture.
After telling Howard Eaton briefly
the facts concerning his circumstances
as follows: Il am going to build a
great abbatoir and packing plant.
OniF1e m hl1U oil tho cIrnor1 o&tIn
and hogs that come over the Northern
Pacific. am going to slaughter them
here and then ship them to Chicago
and the east"
Eaton observed that it would take a
lot of money to buy all the stock that
was shipped over the Northern Pa
cific.
Had s2O,eOO,OOO
That Is Of no consequence" replied
the Marquis. MY father-in-law has
$10,0O0,O00 and can borrow 10 million
more. I've got Armour and the rest
Of the packers matched dollar for
dollar"
The first move the Marquis made
was to form the Northern Pacific Re-
frigerator Car Co. Not receiving any
encouragement from the residents Of
Little Missouri to establish his packing
plant there, he acquired the flat across
the river and six square miles around
it and announced his determination to |
build town there and wipe Little Mis-
souri, off the map Moving tent across
the river, he set 1t UP ON the flat and |
founded the town Of Medora. Medora |
was named after his wife, Medora Won
Hoffman.
The Marquis was wise enough to |
know that he was going to have plenty |
OF trouble from his tough netghborS
across the river If he remained at outs
with them, but In selecting friends and |
advisers from among them he showed |
poor judgment. He chose as his right I
hand man a villainous glInfighter, Jake
daunder, who was held in fear by |
every man in the community. Maun- /
der was shrewd enough to see much
profit In prospect by attaching him
self to the wealthy tenderfoot, and he
cast about for some way to secure a
hold on the Marquis that the latter
could never shake Off Finally he car
ried out a plan to involve the Marquis
and himself on one side In a quarrel
with hunter. Frank ODonald; and
his two friends, Dutch" Wannigan
and Riley Luffsey. on the other.
Shoot First
Maunders made the Marquis believe
that ODonald was going to shoot him
on sight. The Marquis, who was brave
rs any lion, himself, did not fear an
attack from the hunter, but he was
afraid of legal entanglementS that
might follow a clash between them.
he therefore went to the nearest town
where q local magistrate resided to
seek the officials advice. He laid his
Ease before the judge and asked,
What shall dor"
Shoot first" replied the magistrate,
NJ tNn hi
mans simplicity.
The result of this advice was the
-eturn of the Marquis to Little Mis-
souri, and a gunfight between De
Mores and his followers and ODonald
md his two friends. Luffsey was killed
md the other two men, ODonald and
were wounded. The attack
If the Marquis and his men was not
Justified and the stain Of the killing
If Riley Luffsey was never removed
rom the Marquis while he remained
n the west. He was not brought to
rial for nearly two years, however,
md then was acquitted Tt Is said that
he Marquis employed nearly every
awyer Of consequence In Montana and
he Dakotas.
The Marquis soon became busily en-
ragged in losing large sums of money
n every undertaking in which he en-
ragged. He bought steers at TOO nigh
| price and sold them for less. He
Fought 5000 worth of cayuses for
about twice what they we're worth. He
Hooded the territory around Medora
With sheep, half of which were too
Sd and toothless to survive a winter.
they died like flies when cold weather
same.
Builds SIaughterhOuse
Meanwhile, his plans for becoming q
treat packer were progressing. He built
/ slaughterhouSe in Miles City; In
Billings he built another one. He es-
,ablished offices In st. Paul, in Duluth
md in Brainerd, Mimi. He built re-
plants in Mandan, In Bis
narck and at Portland. To many his
plan seemed practical enough, for he
argued that TO send a steer on the
1oof from Montana to Chicago and
hen send It back to Montana in the
'orm of beef involved much waste IN
'reight rates. He also pointed out that
! range steer lost 10 percent In
Ihrinkage on the trip east. The cities
.Iong the Northern Pacific were most
enthusiastic about the plan and pre-
iented the Marquis with all the land