Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 9

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374

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Fort Bridger, and in the fall of 1858 they were as- signed to Fort Laramie, where he remained until honorably discharged with the rank of corporal.

On March 3, 1861, Mr. Beatty was one of seven detailed to trail a band of horse thieves, two white men having run off a herd of forty horses and mules at Fort Laramie. The two details previously dispatched had found no trace of the missing prop- erty. The colonel ordered the men to go 100 miles toward Salt Lake, and if they found no signs of the thieves to return, but if any trace was discovered to run them to ground. The quartermaster sent a note to John A. Slade, agent of Holiday's overland mail service, asking him for any assistance they might require. Meeting Slade at Horse Shoe, he gave them notes to the station agent. At Box Elder they heard that the thieves had passed Red Butte ten days before, and there they picked up the trail and followed it to Sweet Water bridge, where they found one of the horses in a squaw man's corral. The purported owner claimed that he had got the horse in a trade, and tracks were ramifying in all directions to throw the pursuers off the trail. Here several squaw men joined them and the trail was followed down the river. They found the thieves five miles below the bridge. The horses were graz- ing and one man was watching them. He started for the hills but was soon captured and the return trip begun. On consulting his sealed orders at Sweet Water bridge, Corporal Beatty found that they were to shoot or hang all the thieves they might capture, and in five minutes the men had him on a barrel with a rope around his neck. The barrel was kicked out from under him and he dangled in the air. The body was rolled up in a blanket and burned in an abandoned house. On their return they saw a man on a mule ahead of them. Corporal Beatty and two other men started in pursuit, and the others returned to camp. The man threw the party off the trail and escaped.

At Red Butte station they found all the chiefs of the Arrapahoe Indians and 1,000 lodges in camp on the Platte river. One young chief named Friday, who had been educated at St. Louis, said that he would send out 500 young bucks and get the thief. and Corporal Beatty's force continued on their re- turn, but were overtaken by an express rider who said that the Indians had brought the thief into camp and tied him for the night but that he had es- caped before morning, probably assisted by the head chief, who had taken offense because the troop had not joined their feast the previous night. After re-

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

ceiving Corporal Beatty's report his colonel said : "I wish you had got the other thief. Make out a pass for yourself for the remaining two weeks of your enlistment, and if your captain will sign it I will." Later two of Slade's men captured the thief, none other than Charlie Davenport, a notorious club- footed horse thief, and sent him to Horse Shoe where Slade chained him to a log, but the next morning both man and chain were gone. One of Slade's men helped him to escape, and Indians at the Laramie camp had aided in filing off the chain. Later Slade saw the man again, captured him, brought him to Laramie and they hanged him that night. His chief remark was :

"I am sorry I did not shoot Beatty at Red Butte. I was back of a snow drift and could easily have done so."

On receiving his discharge Mr. Beatty secured permission from the government to work on the re- serve and worked with the regiment farrier for two months, shoeing horses, setting tires, etc., for the numerous parties of immigrants. He then went to Walla Walla, Wash., and passed the winter. In the spring of 1862 he went to Florence, Idaho, but finding no mining prospects unclaimed, he contin- ued prospecting on Salmon river. Mr. Beatty worked until October at Clear Water for small pay, and then in 1862 went to Bannack, Mont., where he prospected. The next spring hearing of a big strike at Three Forks, he and five others started thither. On their way they met a band of Crow Indians, who forced them to go to camp. The Indi- ans released thein the next morning after some dickering, but they were followed and their horses surrounded and driven off. Three of the party fol- lowed the Indians and after an exchange of shots the horses were recaptured. At Bannack he joined the stampede to Three Forks. Here Crow Indians stole their horses. Al. Nichols, A. K. Stanton and Mr. Beatty crossed the Missouri, and three miles from where the Bozeman trail runs under the bluff, they came upon the Indians. Each man picked his mark and fired, but all missed. They raised their hands, stopped the horses and drove them back. That season he put in a crop at Three Forks, Joel Wilson furnishing the seed, and he had his garden planted on June 6. He then went to Virginia City, driving fifty miles in a little over half a day, and secured a sixteenth interest in a claim which he later sold for $150. He then bought a yoke of oxen and wagon for $150, borrowed $90 and bought another yoke of cattle and began hauling logs for building

houses in Virginia City, earning fifteen dollars a day. Mr. Beatty worked in the placer mines at Alder Gulch and in the fall of 1863 hauled hay from Madison Valley to Virginia City, and here he first met Judge Pemberton. In the spring of 1864, with five yoke of cattle and a large wagon he engaged in freighting from Fort Benton, but business was dull, so he went to the mouth of Milk river. Here they were attacked by twenty-four Sioux, and in the fight which followed three men were killed. The Indians got away with every horse except the one ridden by Mr. Beatty. Having joined the Fur Company's train he went to Cow Isle and on to Fort Benton. While eating breakfast a man by the name of Fox came in and began to abuse the Yankees, a fight ensued and Mr. Beatty was shot through the hip and laid up two weeks. During his illness no one called as he was a "Union" man and unpopular.

In the spring of 1865 Mr. Beatty and his late partner, C. A. Falen, commenced looking for a ranch, and in March located on his present beauti- ful and valuable property. Their nearest neighbors were twelve miles away. They followed farming profitably, but discovered that there was a reverse side to it from the prevalence of horse and cattle thieves. In 1880 he rented his ranch and passed the winter in New York. He resumed farming the next spring and has since successfully conducted it. On January 1, 1868, Mr. Beatty married Miss Mary L. Waddell, a native of New York, who died in October, 1876, leaving three children, Mary Belle, Alice Letitia and Hamilton Wesley. The second wife is Maggie Meletia Beatty, born in Armstrong county, Pa. Mr. Beatty has long been school trustee and clerk, for four years he was vice- president of the Montana Pioneer Society for Jef- ferson county and in 1899 was president of the Broadwater County Pioneer Society. Fraternally he is a charter member of Morning Star Lodge No. 5, A. F. & A. M., and a member of Union Chap- ter No. 180, R. A. M., of New York city. He is an active member and trustee and steward of the Methodist Episcopal church and prominent in tem- perance work.

COL. WILBUR F. SANDERS .- From a con- servative standpoint, the archaeological stu- dent may profitably turn his studies to the life and labors of many men who have been the found- ers and builders of the newer commonwealths of the great republic. In the annals of Montana there

M.A. Sanders

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

is to be found no more distinct and positive charac- ter than Col. Sanders, whose services to the terri- tory and state have been of distinguished order, and whose prominence and power in public and civic life have been distinctive from the early pioneer epoch until the present time. As a personality Col. Sanders is a most interesting subject for study and analysis. Like all positive characters, he has cor- ners that obtrude, and against which some persons occasionally knock their bones. None that know him can doubt that he feels deeply on the highest human themes, reverences justice and integrity, and judges himself and others inflexibly. In his nature are· combined idealism and realism-practical good sense and lofty conceptions of life and the responsi- bilities which canopy it. Those who know this character, and know the talents that have been placed in the keeping of the man, have not feared to call for the use of those talents in times of exigency and definite need. Col. Sanders has extraordinary equipment. Inherent mental ability and a fine power of selection enable him to gain it. With this equipment he has the rightful dower and power of the incentive of noblesse oblige. When his services have been demanded he has brought all his powers to bear, doing his best; and that best has been a cumulative quantity, ever faithful and steadfast. It is not our desire to enter into a prolix encomium of this symmetrical but many-sided character, but merely to enter the verdict pronounced upon the man by those who have known him long and well, and thus no statement can justly merit criticism. As a man, a pioneer of Montana, a lawyer and a public officer, it is a pleasure to incorporate in this volume a brief review of his life.

Wilbur F. Sanders is a native of the old Em- pire state, having been born in the town of Leon, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., on May 2, 1834, the son of Ira and Freedom (Edgerton) Sanders, natives respectively of Rhode Island and Connecticut. His father was a farmer by vocation, whose death oc- curred in the state of New York, as did that of his wife. The preliminary educational discipline of Wilbur F. Sanders was secured in the public schools of New York, where he eventually put his acquire- ments to practical test by engaging in pedagogic work. In 1854 he removed to Ohio, where he con- tinued to devote his attention to teaching for some time. He began reading law in the city of Akron and was admitted to the, bar in 1856. Thereafter he was engaged in the practice of his pro- fession until the outbreak of the war of the Re- 3

bellion, when his intense loyalty and patriotism quickened in responsive protest. In 1861 he re- cruited a company of infantry and a battery, and in October of that year he was commissioned first lieutenant and regimental adjutant of the Sixty- fourth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was acting assistant adjutant-general on the staff of Gen. James W. Forsyth, and in 1862 assisted in the con- struction of the defenses along the railroads south of Nashville. His health finally became seriously impaired and he was compelled to resign his mili- tary position in the month of August, 1862, and, primarily with a view to recuperating his energies, made the long and venturesome trip across the plains to Montana, then an integral portion of the Territory of Idaho, his arrival in our present state dating back to September, 1863.

Some of the early incidents and events of his ca- reer in Montana are thus forcibly described by A. K. McClure, in his work entitled "Three Thousand Miles Through the Rocky Mountains."

"Colonel Wilbur F. Sanders was one of the first permanent settlers of Montana. He had previously served with marked gallantry in the Union army, until broken health compelled him to abandon a calling that enlisted his whole heart and was an in- viting theater for his manly courage. When Gov. Edgerton, his uncle, was appointed governor of the territory, Col. Sanders came with him, in search of health, adventure and fortune. He had already at- tained a high position at the Ohio bar for one of his years, and on his arrival he devoted himself to the practice of his profession. He was here before the courts were organized, and took a prominent part in introducirig forms of law and in winning for them that respect so often denied in new countries, but so essential to the order and safety of society. When he came, Plummer was in the zenith of his power, and the whole energy of the law was para- lyzed by desperate and corrupt officers charged with its execution. Crime was supreme and defiant. Murders were committed in open day, without fear of retribution, and robberies were almost of hourly occurrence. A reign of terror spread its dark pall over the camps and settlements of Montana, and none dared to demand the punishment of the crim- inals who publicly gloried in their evil deeds. In the fall of 1863 the forbearance of the better class of citizens was exhausted, and the resistance to crime took form in the organization of a vigilance committee. The desperadoes were confederated by oaths and signs; they knew their men, and could

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

command them at any point in the shortest possible period ready for action. But the very perils which beset the effort to redeem Montana from the thrall- dom of crime made strong men stronger; and, with the highest resolve to do and dare for the right, George Ives, one of the desperado leaders, was ar- rested and arraigned before a court of the people. Several thousand spectators were present, all armed; but how many of them were ready to obey the secret signal of Plummer's band and murder the chief actors, no one friendly to order could judge. With their lives in their hands they' erected the new altar of justice, selected a jury of twenty-four true men to pass upon the guilt of the prisoner, and called for a prosecutor. It was the most perilous of all the positions in the court, and men naturally hes- itated. A young advocate, tall and slender in stat- ure, but with intelligence and determination written in every feature of his face, came forward, and, in the name of the people, charged that George Ives was a murderer and unfit to live. His bearing told more eloquently than could language, that either himself or the criminal must die ; and his clear voice rang out over the plain as he pleaded the cause of order with a fervor and ability that thrilled the audi- ence and paralyzed the majority who had come de- termined to save their companion by fresh murder if necessary. The jury rendered their verdict, de- claring the prisoner guilty. It was confidently ex- pected by his friends that the most the court would dare to do would be to pronounce the sentence of banishment ; but they little knew the earnestness of the citizens. While the desperadoes were clamoring for the submission of the sentence to the audience the tall, gaunt form of the prosecutor appeared on a wagon, and, with his eyes flashing his invincible will, he moved that George Ives be forthwith hung by the neck until he is dead! Before the well or- ganized friends of the accused recovered from this bold and unexpected movement, the motion was car- ried : and not until the sudden clicks of the guns of the guard were heard simultaneously with the order to 'fall back from the prisoner,' did they appreciate that their comrade was doomed to die. With match- less skill the advocate for the people has carried his case to judgment, and the murderers were appalled, as in less than an hour they saw Ives drop in the deatlı-noose. The people, clad in the strong armor of justice, had triumphed in the very presence of the heroes of crime; and the execution of the stern judgment foreshadowed the fate of all the robber's band. Before another autumn chilled the mountain

breezes, not one of them was among the living. The young advocate who thus braved defiant crime in the very citadel of its power, and hurled back the fearful tide of disorder, was Col. Sanders; and he is to-day beloved by every good citizen and hated by every wrong-doer for his sublime heroism in behalf of the right. He is still at the bar, and tries one side of every important case in his district. The traces of his early efforts against the lawless are still vis- ible in his peerless invective when it is warranted at the bar; but he is known to be brave to a fault, as generous and noble as he is brave, and preten- ders do not seek notoriety by testing the qualities of his manhood. *

* * With abiding faith in the ultimate triumph of correct principles, he will battle on until churches and schools and railroads come to his aid and give victory to better civiliza- tion. When that triumph shall have been won, he will be the crowning victor, and wear its richest laurels."

On September 17, 1863, Col. Sanders arrived in Bannack City, Mont., then a part of Idaho, and at that time a thriving mining camp. There he estab- lished himself in the practice of his profession, at a time when there was great need for the enforcement of law and order. From the initiation of his career in Montana it was marked with excitement and momentous occasions. "Fearless and intrepid, al- most to rashness, he soon cut for himself a position of prominence among his associates, and with his peculiar genius quickly adapted himself to the de- mands of western life. Keen in his perceptions, bitter in his sarcasm and fearless in his advocacy of every honorable cause that enlisted him, he would prosecute or defend, as the case might be, hurling liis anathemas of scorn or exposing subtle sophis- tries with the same dauntless vigor that he dis- played when he stood upon the wagon in the full vision of a lawless and treacherous mob, on Deceni- ber 21, 1863. Many have wondered why Col. San- ders escaped death at the hands of some beaten ad- versary or some member of the famous outlaw gang which. he so successfully prosecuted. An explana- tion may lay in Col. Sanders' ability to adapt him- self to any emergency. It has been said that men have left the court-room ashen with rage and lain in wait for the appearance of Sanders to kill him. Sanders would walk out unabashed; and, discern- ing at a glance the situation, would deliberately talk the nian into good humor. This peculiar ability certainly entered largely into his marvelous career and mingled with it the courage of conviction, the

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA. 1735320

eloquence of moral integrity and a keen sense of doing the right thing in the right place. That com- bination of fearless energy, quick perception, and daring, intrepid action, commanded a degree of re- spect and fear which carried him through those hazardous days of his early career. It need scarcely be said that Col. Sanders has ever main- tained the highest prestige as a member of the Mon- tana bar, of which he may well be considered a Nes- tor ; and it should be noted that he has ever shown the deepest appreciation of the dignity of his profes- sion ; the legitimate conservator of right and jus- tice. Eloquent and impressive in speech, employ- ing a diction of the choicest order -- "a well of Eng- lish undefiled"-he never veils the salient points in mere verbiage, but shows a tremendous capacity in strenuous dialectics, an intuitive grasp of all pertin- ent points, and a wonderful felicity in the develop- ment of any subject which commands his thought. His many public utterances stand as examples of classical literary style, wide versatility of knowledge and masterful mentality; while the dominating ele- ment of earnest conviction is never wanting. Up to the present time no public speaker in the state is more frequently in demand on occasions of notable importance. One of the sterling pioneers of the state and one who has known Col. Sanders as friend and intimate from practically the time of his advent in Montana recently stated that it had been his priv- ilege to hear Col. Sanders deliver here the memorial addresses concerning each of the three presidents of the United States whose lives were sacrificed through assassination - a statement certainly apropos of the sentence preceding this. Within the limits of this biography it will be impossible to enter into details concerning many interesting events in the professional and civic career of this honored sub- ject, but it is eminently proper to offer a brief re- view of his exalted public services to the state.

His first public service of note was that rendered in 1865, when he went to Washington in behalf of the miners of the territory, who sought release from the burden of undue taxation. In 1872 the Colonel was elected a member of the territorial leg- islature, in which capacity he served consecutively until 1878. He was the Republican candidate for delegate to congress in 1864-67, 1880, and again in 1886. In 1868 he was the Montana delegate to the Republican national convention, to the two succeed- ing conventions and that of 1884. In 1872 he de- clined the office of United States district attorney, preferring to continue the private practice of his

profession. In 1889, in the joint session of the leg- islature of the new state, Col. Sanders was nomin- ated as the Republican candidate for United States senator and was elected as one of the first two sen- ators from the young commonwealth, serving until March, 1893, representing the state and its inter- ests with that marked ability which his character and powers imply. From even this epitome it will be seen that Col. Sanders has been conspicuously iden- tified with the affairs of Montana from the time of his arrival in the territory, in 1863, and has honore.1 the territory and state as a citizen and official of dis- tinctive trust and responsibility. The senatorial contests in Montana have been notable from the time of her admission to the Union, and a hard- fought battle has been waged on each occasion when a representative to the upper house of the Federal congress was to be chosen. In 1890 four candidates contested for the position, and after a long legal controversy, which was carried into the courts, a de- cision was rendered in favor of the Republican can- didates, who were duly seated by the senate. Again. in the dead-lock of 1893, Col. Sanders was a prom- inent contestant; in the first Republican caucus he was nominated, and received the thirty-three Re- publican votes of the joint assembly. On the last clay he received one Democratic vote, but another caucus gave the nomination to Hon. Lee Mantle, of Butte, where it remained until the close of the session. The Colonel has been one of the leading exponents of the cause of the Republican party in Montana, and here has shown the courage of his convictions as in all other spheres of thought and action. He opposed the free-silver heresy which di- vided the party in the state on the occasion of the last two general elections, and his forceful argu- ments and determined inflexibility were all but suf- ficient to overthrow the designs of the opposing faction, which represented the majority of the party in the state. For more than thirty years Col. San- ders has been president of the Montana Historical Society and has been president of the board of trus- tees of the Montana Wesleyan University since 1889. He is a prominent member of the time-hon- ored fraternity of Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons, and was grand master of the Grand Lodge of the state in 1868.

On October 27. 1858, Col. Sanders was united in marriage to Miss Harriet P. Fenn, a native of Ohio, and a daughter of Joseph and Nancy (Car- uthers) Fenn : and of this union five children have been born. three of whom survive, namely : James

PROGRESSIVE MEN OF MONTANA.

U. Sanders, Wilbur E. Sanders and Louis P. San- ders, all graduates of Philips Academy at Exeter, N. H.

James U. Sanders, a graduate of the law school of Columbia University, is now engaged in the practice of his profession at Helena ; Wilbur E. San- ders, a graduate from the school of mines of Co- lumbia University, is a mining engineer at Butte ; and Louis P. Sanders, a graduate from Harvard University, is practicing law in the city of Butte, Mont.

Standing under the clear light of a life and char- acter like that of Col. Wilbur F. Sanders, one can not but be moved to a feeling of respect and admir- ation ; and Montana may well take pride in this ster- ling pioneer and honored citizen of Helena, where he has maintained his home since the year 1868. A friend of Col. Sanders of long standing writes this extract of the man :

"I have known Col. Sanders quite intimately for more than thirty years, after he had already achieved a reputation of which any man might be proud for courage, independence, eloquence and re- sources, never surpassed by any early or late resi- dents. As a lawyer he was from the first the fore- most advocate at the bar and has easily maintained that position. Quick to seize upon the merits of a case, full of resources to meet any contingency and untiring perseverance in pursuing every advan- tage and overcoming every obstacle, courts and juries quickly recognized his commanding influence and success generally crowned his efforts. Had he pursued his profession more closely and for gain, he might easily have accumulated a fortune; but such was the strength of his political convictions, and so strong and alluring his taste for public af- fairs, that they diverted him from close attention to his profession to the sacrifice of personal interest. One of the earliest questions that engaged his time and attention was the organization of Montana as a separate territory. This took him to Washington, and there he was brought into close relation with all the public men of the nation, and enlarged and strengthened his convictions upon all the issues of the reconstruction period.

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Progressive men of the state of Montana, pt 1, Part 9

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago Publication date: [19-?] Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 1374

Author: Bowen, A.W., & Co., firm, publishers, Chicago
Publication date: [19-?]
Publisher: Chicago : A. W. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 1374