History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998

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On August 4th there occurred at the theater in Deadwood an incident which, owing to the prominence of the parties connected with it, is worthy of preservation here. It will be recalled that William F. Cody (Buffalo Bill) achieved his first great prominence as a 'scout by the kill- ing of the Oglala chief, Yellow Hand, in 1876. and, in company with Captain Jack Crawford, he had dramatized this event and was to play it on August 4th. In order to give genuine eclat to the scene where Buffalo Bill scalps Yellow Hand it was determined to enact it on horseback. Accordingly in the afternoon two very gentle horses were brought upon the stage from Moon- ey's livery stable and trained to familiarize themselves with the explosion of firearms. In an hour they became so accustomed to it that pistol shots could be fired in rapid succession under their very noses without giving them the slight- est concern. When the curtain rose for the grand equestrian scene, Buffalo Bill, mounted on a snow-white charger, galloped across the stage. A moment later Captain Jack Crawford, as Yellow Hand, trotted out from the wings and then the trouble began. Bill raised his Henry rifle and began to fire, while Jack pulled his re- volver, firing one shot in doing so. He fell heavily to the stage, with his foot clinging for a moment in the stirrup. The horse, relieved of its rider, rushed about wildly, confused by the sud- den fall and continued firing, and at one time

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rushed toward the footlights and seemed about to jump into the auditorium. Captain Jack rose to his feet and limped off the stage, but a mo- ment later made his appearance again in a hand- to-hand encounter with Buffalo Bill. He stood on one leg, with blood streaming down the other, and seemed to be in great pain, all of which was construed by the audience as a part of the per- formance. At sight of the blood Miss Gravedel, occupying a box on the right, fainted. The cur- tain fell abruptly and there was a rush to the stage to learn what was the matter. Jack was found unable to rise and bleeding from the groin. He was taken to the dressing room and a physi- cian summoned. When his leggings were re- moved an ugly wound was found in his left groin from which the blood was flowing freely. The wound was caused by the premature explo- sion of Jack's revolver.

On August 5th, 1877, Prof. Henry Newton, a grandson of Sir Isaac Newton, who was in the Hills with the Jenny expedition, died from mountain fever.

On August 17th the village of Gayville, a mile or two above Deadwood, was burned.

On July 28th a holdup by road agents took place at the water holes near the Cheyenne on the Pierre road. The stage, loaded with passen- gers, was coming out from the Hills and when they stopped to water the stock at the water holes the road agents arose out of the grass and, in a gentlemanly way, informed the passengers they desired to relieve them of all surplus money in excess of three hundred dollars each. An ac- count of stock was taken and it was found that no gentleman in the stage possessed so much as three hundred dollars, whereupon the agents told them to throw off their baggage and leave it for their examination and then to drive on to a safe distance. The road agents then went through the baggage, but found nothing that suited their fancy and they signaled the coach to return, when they disappeared. The coach returned, the passengers gathered up their baggage and pro- ceeded on their way without being further mo- lested.

During that season the road agents became

quite active and there were numerous holdups. As early as the night of March 25th they made an attack on the stage-coach as it was approach- ing Deadwood and was in the immediate vicin- ity of the present village of Pluma. The stage was in charge of John Slaughter, driver, and contained eleven passengers, ten men and one woman. Among these was Harry Lake, who had in his charge fifteen thousand dollars in cash for the Stebbins, Wood & Company's bank, now the First National Bank of Deadwood. About eleven o'clock at night five men were noticed approaching the stage in the middle of the road, and as the stage came up they separated into two parties. Just as the vehicle got abreast of them, one of the men on the left suddenly thrust his gun into the stage and fired. Harry Lake quick- ly grasped the gun with both hands, and held on to it with such desperate tenacity that he was pulled out of the stage on the left. The advance agent had fired at the driver, who fell dead from the box on the right. The horses becoming frightened at the shooting, started on a wild run toward Deadwood with the stage and its five terrified, white-faced passengers, followed by a volley from the guns of the robbers, who then made good their escape without any booty. The passengers arrived at Deadwood at midnight and the story they told created intense excitement. A party, led by A. G. Smith, John Manning and West Travis, hastened to the scene of the en- counter in search of Slaughter's body. They soon found it where it fell. The road agents were never found.

The Sidney coach was again stopped about four miles south of Battle Creek in July of that year and robbed of the treasure-box, and the passengers relieved of their money, watches, jew- elry and baggage. These were the only out- rages of the character which occurred in 1877, though in later years they were even more fre- quent.

While most of the history of the Black Hills for 1877 centers around Deadwood gulch, other points were active, particularly is this true of Rapid City, the gateway to the Hills by the Pierre route. There, on June 20th, three men

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were arrested accused of horse stealing and that night was taken from the sheriff and hanged by the citizens. The men were Lewis Curry, James Hall and A. J. Allen. The action of the citizens was considered high-handed and unjustified, as there was some doubt of the guilt of the parties. Governor Pennington promptly offered a reward of one thousand dollars for evidence which would lead to the conviction of the guilty parties. but no further action was ever taken in the mat- ter.

On August 1Ith of that year Charles E. Hedges, a well-known citizen of Sioux City, who had the beef contract for supplying the Lower Brule agency, located across the river from Chamberlain, was killed by Indians near that agency.

Officially the relation with the Indians was somewhat improved this year. Sitting Bull, who had taken refuge in Canada, soon placed himself in communication with the Canadian police and through them with the United States authori- ties. By this time General Miles had been placed in general command of the northwest. General Miles, through a commission. made overtures to Sitting Bull for peace, which did not result in anything effective that year, for the reason that communication was established with the hostiles too late in the season, though Sitting Bull declared that had he received earlier offer of amnesty he would have come into the agency. Late in the fall of 1876 the government forcibly disarmed and dismounted the agency Indians. General Terry, with a large force of troops, visited the agencies and caused the seizure of all guns, pistols and arms belonging to the Indians. This was considered by the In- dians as a particular hardship, as the weight of it fell upon the few friendlies who had remained at the agency, and of course did not affect the hostiles, who were back in the field. From the Cheyenne agency two thousand horses were taken, which at a large discount were taken to St. Paul and other eastern points and disposed of. The net proceeds, being little more than fourteen thousand dollars. were distributed to the Indians.

In February General Crook succeeded in in- ducing Spotted Tail to go out north with two hundred and fifty of his sub-chiefs and head men on a mission of peace to the hostiles. Spotted Tail found large camps of the hostiles on the Little Missouri and Little Powder rivers and through his earnest efforts and continuous coun- cils he succeeded in inducing them to "bury the hatchet" and come in to the agencies. He re- turned on April 6th, after an absence of over fifty days, and announced that his mission, un- dertaken and carried out in midwinter, through hardships and sufferings from cold and hunger. had been successful; that one hundred and five lodges, crowded with the late hostiles, were on their way in. He had previously succeeded in sending in twenty-five lodges, which he came across on his way out. On April 14th the late hostile camp arrived, and numbered by actual count nine hundred and seventeen souls, under Roman Nose and Touch the Clouds, of the Mi- niconjous, and Red Bear and High Bear, of the Sans Arcs.

This was the first break in the firm ranks of the hostiles. and Spotted Tail felt assured that the Cheyennes would soon come into Red Cloud, and that Crazy Horse, with about two hundred lodges, would not be far behind. These predic- tions were soon verified. The Indian war had been ended. All the hostiles came in except a remnant under Lame Deer and Fast Bull, of per- haps sixty lodges of Miniconjous and Sans Arcs. who refused to accept terms of peace, and, of course, Gall and Sitting Bull, with their Unc- papas, who had taken refuge in Canada.

In consideration of this successful mission by Spotted Tail, who, though an Indian, un- tutored and uncivilized, had been the means of saving hundreds of lives and hundreds of thou- sands of dollars of government treasure, he was by General Crook made the chief of all the Sioux tribes, and given a commission as a first lieu- tenant in the army.

Maj. William Pond. United States district attorney for Dakota territory, while enroute home from Bismarck, where he had been on of- ficial business, died on the cars at Adkin, Minne- .

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sota, on October 24th. Major Pond was born at Salem, Ohio, in 1840, and came to Dakota as private secretary to Governor Burbank. He afterward served as postmaster at Yankton for four years. Upon receiving advice of the death of Major Pond, Judge Kidder, delegate in con- gress, called upon President Hayes to notify him of the death and to say that at the proper time. he would recommend a successor, but to his as-

tonisliment President Hayes told him that he had already appointed Hugh J. Campbell, of Louis- iana, to the position. General Campbell had been an active Republican during the troublous re- construction and subsequent days in the south and had been especially helpful in securing the support of Louisiana for Hayes and the President had naturally taken this first opportunity to re- ward him.

CHAPTER L

THE BOOM DEVELOPS IN 1878.

The immigration boom, which had its gene- sis in 1877, developed in volume in 1878. In that year the whole of the Sioux valley, practically, was occupied by homesteaders, and there began to be an overflow into the James valley, in fact the lower James was by this time pretty well filled up, as far north as Mitchell. The Winona & St. Peter division of the Northwestern system, it will be recalled, was completed to Lake Kam- peska in 1873. It had not been operated, how- ever, and had fallen into disrepair, most of the bridges having been consumed by prairie fires. It was rebuilt during 1878. The line now known as the Omaha, then called the Worthington & Sioux Falls, was completed to Sioux Falls on July 30th. The present Milwaukee line north from Sioux City, then Pembina division of the Dakota Southern, was completed as far north as Beloit, two miles below Canton, dur- ing the season. Mr. Hughitt, of the Northwestern, in furtherance of his plan to pioneer the territory with railways, made a careful reconnoisance of the field personally this year and consummated his plans for the con- struction of the extensions, practically upon the lines since occupied. This year, too, the Milwau- kee railway began to evince a lively interest in Dakota affairs. Its Hastings & Dakota division was extended to Montevideo, its Southern Min- nesota to Pipestone and its Northern Iowa to Sheldon and surveys completed to Eden and Hudson upon a projection intended to strike Yankton, so that at the close of 1878 both of

these great systems stood at the threshold of Da- kota ready to enter upon and occupy the land.

The new settlers who came in this season came to stay and to farm upon a larger scale than had ever been contemplated by the average earlier settler. They had bonanza ideas and lived up to them. Wheat was king in those days and Da- kota was just coming into its reputation as a producer of No. I hard, and it was the ambi- tion of every settler to get as many acres of sod as possible broken. In Codington county alone fifteen thousand acres were broken this season and in Brookings probably more. It was a time of abounding hope and energetic action. Thus far the motif was chiefly agricultural. The town booms were to follow.

At the beginning of this new development it is well to take our bearings and learn upon what foundation they were building. At the be- ginning of 1878 there were in all of Dakota terri- tory about eleven thousand voters and as many school children. Twenty-four newspapers were published within the bounds of the two Dakotas. The only railway in operation was from Sioux City to Yankton.

During this season Deuel county was organ- ized, on April 26th; McCook county on May 16th, Grant County upon June 5th, Codington county on July 19th and Hamlin county on Au- gust 12th.

Watertown is the only considerable city which dates from this year.

The State Insane Hospital at Yankton had

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its foundation this year. The territory had in its charge thirty insane patients. Five of these, from the Black Hills, were cared for at Lincoln, Nebraska, and twenty-five at St. Peter, Minne- sota, upon contract with the authorities of these states. The Nebraska and Minnesota institu- tions were both crowded to their full capacity and could not renew the contracts. Governor Howard visited several neighboring states, en- deavoring to secure accommodations, and fail- ing, returned home and turned his attention to providing an asylum at Yankton. The territory owned a large building erected during the days of the Russian immigration for the temporary accommodation of these people and the city of Yankton had a similar building. These two buildings Governor Howard caused to be re- moved from the levee to the present site of the asylum and at his own expense had them made habitable for the accommodation of the insane, though they were not occupied until the Ist of April, 1879, the legislature having in the mean- time reimbursed the Governor for his outlay and given sanction of legal enactment to the estab- lishment.

Politically 1878 was an interesting year. There was strong home indorsement for the re- appointment of Governor Pennington, while many individual Dakotans had ambitions in that direction. The President, however, had other plans, and on February 21st sent the name of William A. Howard, a distinguished congress- man from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to the sen- ate. Through the opposition of Governor Pen- nington's friends the nomination was not con- firmed until April 12th. in the meantime a com- promise having been reached by which Penning- ton accepted appointment as collector of inter- nal revenue for the district of Dakota, with head- quarters at Yankton.

The Republican territorial convention was held at Yankton on August 22d, with one hun- dred and thirty-nine delegates. The Black Hills had about one-third of the entire representation. Judge Kidder was a strong candidate for re- nomination and Judge Moody and General

Dewey were also candidates from the east side and in the Hills Judge Granville G. Bennett con- tested with William H. Claggett for the Hills support. Bennett carried the Hills and Claggett dropped out. In the convention a red-hot con- test developed. Kidder had about sixty reliable votes and Bennett and Moody each about thirty. with twenty scattering. Seven ballots were taken without result, when a recess was forced and during the intermission an arrangement was made by which Bennett was to at once resign the judgeship; Moody was to throw his strength to Bennett and secure him the nomination and in turn Moody was to be appointed to the vacant place upon the bench. The scheme was carried out and on the eighth ballot Bennett received seventy-five votes. Despite the opposition of Kidder, Moody was a few days later appointed judge of the Black Hills circuit.

The Democrats met at Yankton in territorial convention on August 28th and nominated Bart- lett Tripp for congress without opposition. Ex- cept the Dakota Herald, then conducted by Maris Taylor, at Yankton, there was no Demo- cratic newspaper in the territory, but arrange- ments were made by which Mr. Tripp received the support of the Vermillion Republican, the Sioux Falls Independent and the Roscoe (Egan) Express, the later paper having been established the previous June by George Lanning. A vigor- ous campaign was made, resulting in the choice of Bennett by a vote of 10,455 to 8,493, the vote of the territory having much more than doubled since the previous election. In this election Judge Brookings, who had hitherto heen the stanchest spoke in the Republican wheel, and the organizer of the party in the territory, gave his support to Judge Tripp, and was thereafter a Democrat. The legislature had made the offices of auditor, treasurer and superintendent of pub- lic instruction, hitherto elective, appointive, but at the same time had provided for the election of a prosecuting attorney in each judicial circuit.

The new territory movement, inaugurated in the Black Hills, became so formidable at this time that meetings to protest against it were held

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at Yankton, Vermillion and Elk Point and at various country places.

A great temperance revival swept the terri- tory this year and hundreds of drinking men be- came teetotalers. A prominent feature of the movement was organizations of clubs of former drinking men, which were known as reform clubs. This movement was particularly effective in Yankton, where most of the prominent citi- zens were enrolled:

Gov. A. C. Mellette came to Dakota this year as register of the land office at Springfield.

The Black Hills received their share of the development of the year, although the excite- ment of the earlier days had abated. The Home- stake Mining Company, which had organized in the autumn of 1877, added to its holdings the Old Abe and Highland mines and erected an eighty-stamp mill, and its history as a wonder- ful producer dates from this time.

The First National Bank of Deadwood, really the first regular banking institution of the Hills, dates from September 1, 1878. Major Brennan · built the well-known Harney Hotel at Rapid City this year. It was the first and for many years the only commodious and comfortable hotel in western Dakota.

Very late in 1877 Red Cloud and Spotted Tail, in conformity to the treaty of 1876, brought their respective bands to the Missouri. Red Cloud located at the mouth of Medicine creek. near Big Bend, and Spotted Tail took possession of the abandoned Ponca agency, at the mouth of the Niobrara. Neither were satisfied. Their people were not contented, the young men were constantly subjected to the evil influences of vicious whites, and within easy access to intoxi- cants and both chiefs petitioned the government to permit them to return to the interior. Their requests were granted and Spotted Tail located permanently at the mouth of the Rosebud, where his people still reside, and Red Cloud chose his present home at Pine Ridge.

The zeal for reform which possessed Hon. Carl Schurz, secretary of the interior, worked a great sensation in Dakota and irreparable in-

jury to several worthy citizens. Schurz entered the public service prepossessed with the notion that every officer and trader in the Indian serv- ice were necessarily corrupt, and he consequently presumed them all guilty until their innocence was established. He appointed Hon. J. H. Ham- mond inspector of the Indian department, a man if possible more violent in his predisposed opinions than Schurz himself. Together they set out to cleanse and reform the service accord- ing to their own views. Hammond spent much time in his preliminary campaign, patiently go- ing through the vouchers on file at Washington and then coming on to the Missouri he set out to Pinkerton the agencies. In a short time he seized three agencies, Crow Creek, Lower Brule and Standing Rock, ousted the agents, seized the stocks of the post traders and drove agents and officials away from the agencies. He gave out to the press that he had unearthed the most damning evidence of corruption. At Crow Creek Dr. H. S. Livingstone was agent and Maj. Everitt E. Hudson was post trader. Both were summarily driven from the post and for months the newspapers of the country held them up to execration as villains of the deepest dye. No definite and formal charges had been filed against them, though they were most urgent to know with what crimes they were charged. Major Hudson's stock of goods, aggregating some thirteen thousand dollars, was arbitrarily seized and held from him for months and threat- ened with libel. Finally the United States grand jury assembled at Yankton, in December. Neither official had been arrested, but Hammond made his case before the jury. Livingstone and Hudson were charged with falsifying vouchers. The case against Hudson was so trivial that the grand jury refused a bill. He had simply in the regular course of business certified vouchers, in the name of Franklin J. DeWitt and of H. D. Booge & Company, his employers, who were@ab- sent from the agency and had authorized him to act in their behalf. Dr. Livingstone was indicted and tried for falsifying a voucher, but promptly acquitted when the facts were presented to the

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jury. He had employed five Indians to do cer- tain teaming for the government, for which, at three dollars per day, there was due them one hundred and eleven dollars. By agreement they authorized one of their number who could write to make a single voucher for the whole sum, which Dr. Livingstone duly certified, and upon receipt of the warrant distributed the proceeds to the several Indians according to the rights of each. Dakota has not had two more honorable citizens than Messrs. Livingstone and Hudson ; they had been appointed to the respective posi- tions upon the recommendation of Bishop Hare, and the treatment they received at the hands of the Schurz administration created a sensation which can scarcely be understood at this dis- tance.

Another victim of the officiousness of Ham- mond was Rev. Thomas L. Riggs, the honored president of the the State Historical Society, a member of the renowned missionary family, and who had devoted his life to the welfare of the Indians without selfish thought. He had been with the Indians at his present home since 1872. Hammond secured his indictment for the theft and conversion of a span of mules, which had come into his possession in the most regular manner.

On the 22d of May, this year, occurred the first great flood in Deadwood. The melting snows, followed by heavy rains, filled the gulch with a torrent which swept away many buildings, entailing great loss, but no lives were sacrificed.

On July 23d a cloud-burst swelled the waters of the Little Vermillion in the northwestern por- tion of Turner county, drowning seven Russian settlers.

The crops of this season gave splendid prom- ise until the harvest was in progress, when they were struck with a blight which seriously in- jured the quality and reduced the yield.

The banking house of Mark M. Parmer, at Yankton, failed, with liabilities of sixty thou- sand. He settled later for forty cents on the dol- lar. This was the first bank failure in the ter- ritory.

The famous Deadwood treasure coach was robbed at Cold Springs, by five road agents, named Blackburn, Wall, Brookes, Price and "Red Headed Mike." The coach, six in hand, driven by a man known as Big Gene, carrying forty-five thousand dollars in gold, drove up to Cold Springs station at noon. It was in charge of three messengers, Scott Davis, Gale Hill and a man named Campbell. As they were about to dismount, careless of any danger, the bandits fired upon them from the stage barn. Campbell was instantly killed and Davis wounded. He, how- ever, was able to find cover in the timber near by, from where he opened a fusilade upon the robbers, who at once seized Big Gene and forced him before them in the direction of Davis, who no longer dared to shoot lest Gene be killed. They then took the gold and made away. They started for the Missouri river by the Pierre route and were speedily followed by a posse un- der Seth Bullock and E. T. Pierce, who in the end recovered most of the treasure and brought the bandits to justice.

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History of South Dakota, Vol. I, Part 40

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn Publication date: 1904 Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen Number of Pages: 998

Author: Robinson, Doane, 1856-1946. cn
Publication date: 1904
Publisher: [Logansport? IN] : B. F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 998