Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1942-11-07
at Funeral i'm Gold Camp.
Paid High Tribute to Famous Gambler
BY z. A. BRININsToOL


great Tex Rickard. gambler and pug
list sporting gent. delivered Gold
fields eulogy by spreading across thf
front OF an outgrown church building
large sign:
this Church Is Closed;
God Has Gene TO Rawhide."
Prospectors, promoters, miners, bar
tenders, percentage girls, gamblers and
others spread the tidings, laughed HI
lariously and decided to go too. For al
the moment, hard hit by the financial
panic Of 1907, the mining business Of
the desert, in general. was somewhat
depressed.
In the spring Of 1908 the Goldfield
and Tonopah papers devoted more
space to Rawhide than they did to
their own mines and activities. On
March IA, the Goldfield Review re-
ported that Riley Grammar, nationally
known gambler and racetrack plunger
had gone to Reno to buy supplies and
fixtures for a paIatial bar and gam
bling resort which he was about TO
erect and operate with Swede Sam
WaIlin Of Butte, at the camps princi-
pal corner, which he had purchased
for $4,000. This lot, incidentally, had
scarcely been cleaned Of sagebrush,
and could have been taken without
argument by any squatter a few
months earlier
Grammar, like Rawhide, was a pro-
were soon to be written into the his
tory and literature Of the West in
Permanent fame, with funeral ora
ton significant Of the time, the place
and the man.
Died in Infancy
Rawhide was to die in its lusty In
fancy. The funeral grafton that pre-
served the memory Of Riley Grammar
forever In the hearts Of the sage
brushers, might more properly have
been delivered over the ashes Of the
town itself. For the body of Riley
Grammar had not crumbled to dust
before the town itself was IN ashes
burned and scattered to the desert
which gave it birth. The two were
one.
Grammar. like Rawhide. was prod
duct of the gambling fever. He gained
a name among gamblers from Sara
Copa to Tanforan. Though his life had
been spent upon race tracks and In the
underworld, his spirit was the spirit
Of the mining camps. Sos broke Dut
famous among his kind, he had gained
the backing Of Nat Goodwin and
George Graham Rice, and had come to
Rawhide with the boom. There again
he had gone broke, as Rawhide was
10 90 broke: had died as Rawhide was
soon To die. and crumbled to ashes as
Rawhide was soon to crumble to
ashes.
Another figure Of the town was
W n. Knickerbocker, a former
preacher, equally at home In tne
motley throng that makes the mining
amp. "Knicker," a man OF cultivation'
smbittered by experience, had ADAM
Toned the pulpit for the mine. Inougn
n a different line of endeavor, ne had
fitted as naturally into the composite
life OF the community as had Gran
ian. Outstanding in the unique psy-
biology of mining camps Is this power
# the community to attract and hold, |
o use and unity such wide variety OF !
human material.
The florid oratory and impassioneo
,eriods OF the preacher-miner's eulogy l
It the bier Of the gambler whom ne
lad hardly known, were IN perIect /
.eeping with the time and place. 10
he crowd Of sweat-stained miners,
awdry women from the dance halls
nd baQnios, promoters, gamblers ana
1oaters gathered in the shabby little
,audeviIle theatre where the services
we're held the words Of the speaker
vara golden words Of sympathy and
UNDERSTANDING. The speech was tuned
4 the spirit of the camp. That, doubt
ess. accounts for the fact that II mas
ontinued to live in the hearts OF the
esert jewellers. For the moment the
nfrocked preacher was toucneo WIN
aspiration.
He was the spirit of the mining
ann. and the periods of his oratory
ouched and by touching, revealed tne
cart OF its people. If, for the asnes
: Rilev Grammar, could be substituted
ne ashes of Rawhide, we would have
he perfect benediction to be pro-
ounced upon all the great dead MN
40 camps. For that reason 1t mas
we'd, and is here available:
II feel that it is incumbent upon me
, state that in standing here oc-
INV no ministerial or prelatic posi-
on M am simply a prospector make
. claims whatever to moral merit or
sligion except the religion OF human
y the brotherhood Of man. STAND
mong Won today simply as man
mong men, feeling that can SNAKE
ands and say ''brother" to the vnest
IAN or woman that ever lived. u
,ere should come TO you anything o.
oral admonition through what say,
comes not from any sense " noA - =
,ueriority, but from the depths OF
" experience.
s.RiIey Grammar was born in Paris.
". about 40 years ago. I suppose ne
all the dreams OF boynooo
new blossomed into phenominal sue
IS along financial lines at Times
IrinQ his life. am told that from
= .-..s4tn~. - hall lxou In a hotel ne