USA > Wyoming > History of Wyoming, Volume II > Part 19
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ney of Rawlins, being elected in 1893 and continuing in the office for a number of years, during which time he revised the major portion of the city ordinances. He afterward again served as city attorney from 1908 until 1914. As county pros- ecutor he successfully convicted more than fifty criminals, who were sentenced to the state penitentiary, and while he was city prosecutor he collected for Rawlins many thousands of dollars in fines and jail sentences for violators and during his entire term of office as city and county prosecutor he had only three cases reversed and holds the unchallenged record of being the ablest prosecutor the county of Carbon has ever had in all of its history. He has been connected with many notable cases, being attorney for the defense in the trial of T. O'Hama, a Jap- anese, charged with murder and convicted in May, 1916, and sentenced to the death penalty on the 28th of October. Mr. McMicken entered the case in September, 1916, after it had been defended by other lawyers and sentence had been passed. He reopened the case by appeal to the supreme court, the latter granting a new trial, in which Mr. McMicken succeeded in proving the innocence of his client, who was completely vindicated and discharged.
Mr. McMicken was married in Rawlins to Miss Helen Cannon and they have become the parents of two children: Andrew Revelle, who was graduated from Harvard with the LL. B. degree in June. 1916, and who on the Ist of November. 1917, became a member of the new firm of McMicken & McMicken; and Ann Helen, who is at home.
Mr. McMicken is prominent in Masonic circles. He has filled all of the chairs in the Blue Lodge save that of worshipful master and has attained high rank in the order, being now a past illustrious potentate of Korein Temple of the Mystic Shrine. He has also taken the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He belongs to the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, of which he is a past exalted ruler, and he has been chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias.
Attracted to the west for the benefit of his health, he has found here a splendid field for professional activity and has become a prominent factor in the develop- ment, progress and upbuilding of the section in which he has located. Like his ancestors, who were builders of Cincinnati, he has become one of the builders. of a growing and enterprising western city, his efforts along many lines being far- reaching and beneficial. All who know him attest his worth in public connections and recognize the fact that he has carved his name high on the keystone of Wyoming's legal arch.
NATHANIEL KIMBALL BOSWELL.
No tale of fiction can match in strangeness or in interest the life record of Nathaniel Kimball Boswell, perhaps the best known among the old pioneers living today in Wyoming. Not to know Mr. Boswell in this state is to argue one's self unknown, and he commands the highest respect and confidence of all with whom he has been brought in contact. He served as the first sheriff of Albany county and was among the best known of the old-time cattlemen of the state. After nearly sixty years on the plains he has never lost the refinement that came with his boyhood environment. Every experience of pioneer life is familiar to him and he relates the story of the early days in a most interesting manner, capa- ble of holding the attention of his auditors for hours.
Nathaniel Kimball Boswell was born in Haverhill. New Hampshire, Novem- ber 4. 1836, and has therefore passed the eighty-first milestone on life's journey. His parents were John and Lucinda ( Pike) Boswell, both of whom were natives of New Hampshire, where they spent their entire lives. The father was a descend- ant of a well known Scotch family that was established in America in early colonial times. The mother was also a representative of an old New England family of Scotch and English lineage. They became parents of twelve children, six sons and six daughters.
NATHANIEL K. BOSWELL
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Nathaniel K. Boswell in early life attended the schools of Haverhill, New Hampshire, and at the age of seventeen years he went to Michigan and afterward to Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business. While at work on Green Bay, Wisconsin, on the 4th of December, 1857, in an open Mackinaw boat, the boat was capsized. Three men were in the boat on a trip to an island in Green Bay to cut timber. Two of the number were drowned and Mr. Boswell, the other occupant of the boat, saved himself by climbing on the boat and after fifteen hours reached land. As a consequence of the exposure, however, he suffered a hemorrhage of the lungs and on the advice of an eminent specialist of New York city he came to the west in order to live in the open. In 1857 he left Wisconsin and proceeded to Davenport, Iowa, from which point he began the overland trip to Boulder, Colorado. He remained in the vicinity of Boulder for a short time and then with five companions proceeded to inspect the country, living out of doors. He went to Gilpin county, Colorado, where he engaged in mining and in the lumber business, remaining there for eight years, during which time his health was fully restored and he became very vigorous and robust. In 1867 he removed to Cheyenne, Wyoming, and opened the first drug store of the city, conducting the business from 1868 until 1870. At the same time he carried on a drug store in Laramie, which was the first establishment of the kind in that city. He had traded a mining claim for a stock of drugs, but having no experience as a druggist he employed clerical assistants to aid him in the conduct of the business, in which he remained for four years. In the meantime he did government contract work and was also appointed the first sheriff of Albany county, which at that time had a length of four hundred miles. He likewise engaged in ranching, raising cattle and horses. He still owns his ranch prop- erty and is conducting the business on an extensive scale. While acting as sheriff of Albany county Mr. Boswell became famous as a menace to the bad men of the country and did much to put down the lawlessness of this section of the western country. For a number of years he filled the office of deputy United States marshal and again was a bulwark of defense on the side of law and order.
In 1857 Mr. Boswell was married in Elkhorn, Wisconsin, to Miss Martha Salsbury. who was born in the state of New York and died in Laramie in 1896. She was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Roswell Salsbury and to the marriage was born one child, Minnie A., who was born in Laramie and pursued her educa- tion in the public schools and in the University of Wyoming. She married C. D. Oviatt. Mr. Oviatt has been a member of the state legislature for the last two terms and is a well known cattle rancher of Albany county, prominent in business and public life. To Mr. and Mrs. Oviatt have been born two children : Clarence, who is attending the University of Wyoming at Laramie; and Martha, also a student in that school.
Mr. Boswell is a member of the Masonic fraternity. He was one of the first representatives of the order in Colorado and aided in organizing the first Masonic lodge both of Colorado and of Wyoming. At different times he has been con- nected with the Masons of Cheyenne and of Laramie.
His life record reads like some tale of fiction, there are so many exciting ex- periences and interesting events in connection therewith. As sheriff in the early days he was possessed of not a shadow of fear and on many occasions has faced famous gunmen, outlaws and bandits and horse and cattle thieves. He never undertook to arrest a single man but what he accomplished his purpose. On one occasion he had an encounter with a noted character by the name of Jack Watkins, who was not a criminal in the usual sense of the term but was most lawless when intoxicated. He was a remarkable shot and could hit any object he desired and he was known to be as brave as he was reckless. Mr. Boswell was at that time deputy United States marshal and also sheriff of Albany county. While visiting Judge Jones in Cheyenne who was his friend and later was dele- gate in Congress, Jack Watkins was on one of his proverbial sprees and was shooting up the town. He especially delighted in shooting out the lights in a noted dance hall. The judge called Mr. Boswell's attention to the fact and re-
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quested that he go and arrest Watkins, but as this was not his territory he de- clined. He was then, however, deputized as a United States marshal and papers were handed him, giving him the authority to assist the sheriff of Laramie county, located at Cheyenne, who was sent with Mr. Boswell but was apparently afraid of Watkins. As the two men approached the side street they saw two fellows facing each other with drawn revolvers, having an argument. The Laramie sheriff urged Mr. Boswell to arrest Watkins, one of the men. In the excitement Mr. Boswell had mistaken a deputy sheriff for Watkins and pounced upon him, while Watkins walked away and entered a grocery store. On learning his mis- take Mr. Boswell followed Watkins, who covered Mr. Boswell with two revolvers and told him not to approach nearer or he would kill him. Without the least hesitation Mr. Boswell told him that he would not fire and that if he did five hundred men would riddle him with shot. He then proceeded to read the warrant to him, after which Watkins said: "Who in hell are you anyway?" Mr. Bos- well told him, whereon the criminal ejaculated, "So you are Boswell. I heard about you and I like your nerve. Now, if you will protect me from this mob I will submit to arrest." On being assured that Mr. Boswell would do so Watkins handed over his gun and accompanied him toward the jail. On the way, how- ever, the mob followed and three men, having secured lariats, demanded the prisoner. At this Mr. Boswell handed the prisoner his revolver again and so great was the fear of this remarkable shot that the crowd scattered in all direc- tions. After this no further difficulties occurred and the man was put in jail, but was immediately released after giving bond. Ever afterward Mr. Boswell had a true friend in Watkins, whom he arrested dozens of times afterward, but the man never resisted, always going peaceably along.
About the 23d day of April, 1868, the Union Pacific began the sale of lots in Laramie. The survey of the town had been made some months before. This was the terminus of the great national highway and every man had money enough to buy a lot in Laramie and anxiously awaited the event. For a month prior to the sale there had been camped on the plains around the new townsite from two to three hundred people in tents and many more sleeping in the open. With the sale of lots began the settlement of Laramie and the rapidity of its growth may be conjectured from the fact that within one week from the day the first lot was sold over four hundred lots had been sold and in less than two weeks five hundred buildings were being erected, buildings of all designs and descriptions. On the 10th of May, 1868, the first train came into Laramie and discharged its freight, which included all manner of household goods and building materials, Jew peddlers with fancy goods and packs, crockery, cook stoves, wines, liquors, cigars, and riding on flat cars in the midst of their household effects were men, women and children. In about three months Laramie had grown to a popula- tion of five thousand, including about one thousand strong, earnest, daring men ready to face any danger or undertake any perilous task if they could in hon- orable manner better their fortunes and win homes for their families. There were about a thousand more who were ready to adopt any policy, honorable or otherwise, that the balance might wish. There were a few good noble women but the majority of the population were gamblers, thieves, highwaymen, ruthless cut- throats and women of the underworld. Such was the beginning of Laramie and Mr. Boswell as a citizen and as an official stood for law and order, right and justice, and by his bravery did much toward developing the high standards of citi- zenship which have long characterized the old capital.
His is indeed a notable career and there is no phase of western pioneer life and experience with which he is not familiar. He has known personally most of the noted men in this section of the west and is a personal friend of Theodore Roosevelt and other eminent people who have visited this section of the country. He has always been a great horseman and his life in the open has undoubtedly been one of the strong features in preserving his rugged health. His acquaintance is indeed broad and he is respected in the highest measure hy all with whom he has come in contact. His life history if written in detail would present a
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most accurate picture of the development of this section of the country. Though he has met many lawless men the innate refinement of his nature has been pre- served and his high standards of life have been maintained. He has long been regarded as one of the foremost ranchmen of his section of the country and there have come to him "the blest accompaniments of age-honor, riches, troops of friends."
ROBERT WALKER HALE, M. D.
Dr. Robert Walker Hale, of Thermopolis, whose high professional standing is indicated in the fact that he is now occupying the presidency of the Wyoming State Medical Society, his position, moreover, indicating the warm regard enter- tained for him by his professional colleagues and contemporaries, was born in Scotland county, Missouri, near the town of Downing, July 24, 1869, being the youngest in a family of ten children whose parents were Lewis and Sarah Hale, natives of the state of Tennessee. On the Ist of January, 1849, they left their native state and removed to Missouri, traveling by boat down the Ohio river to Cairo, Illinois, thence by flatboat up the Mississippi to Canton, Missouri, where they landed because of the fact that they had no funds with which to travel farther. The father cut cordwood in order to get money to purchase provisions and when he had done so walked to northern Missouri, where he borrowed an ox team and a lynch pin wagon and returned for his mother and grandmother, who had accompanied him, and a negro woman whom they had brought with them. They located near the old homestead upon which Dr. Hale was born and after a few years made selection of their present home and have since resided on that farm, covering a period of about sixty-two years. Mr. Hale was one of the pioneer settlers of that region, experiencing the hardships and privations incident to pioneer life. He was of Scotch-Irish descent and of the hardy pioneer type. He supported the family by working for fifty cents per day, accepting his pay in meat, grit and the food that could be had in those days, scarcely ever receiving any money for his work. The clothes of the family were home made, Mrs. Hale weaving the cloth. In the course of time Mr. Hale acquired five hundred acres of land and it was upon that farm that the Doctor was born and worked until he had attained his majority, it being the law at that time that a man was not a man until he reached his twenty-first year. The school advantages offered farm boys in those days were in many instances very limited. It was necessary to clear the timber from the home farm and this made much hard work for the father and sons, there being three brothers older than Dr. Hale. Farming, as it was done in those days brought out all there was in a boy. The Doctor was drilled in that work from early life and at the age of twenty-one years he was strong, rugged and active. As his older brothers took up their abode upon the home farm there was not room for him and it became necessary for him to leave home and choose some other line of work. He decided upon the medical profession and in September. 1890, he entered the Missouri Medical College at St. Louis, Missouri, and on March 27, 1893, was graduated from that institution with high honors.
After returning home for a short visit Dr. Hale located in Macon county, Missouri, at a coal mining town called Ardmore, where he spent the first year and a half of his professional career. He was in the employ of the Kansas & Texas Coal Company. On the 7th of October, 1894, he bade good-bye to his parents and friends and boarded the train for Sheridan, Wyoming, where he arrived on the evening of the 9th. When the Doctor left home his mother asked him if he in- tended to return. She had buried all of her children at that time but three sons and she felt that she was almost giving up another one in having him go so far. Four daughters and one son of the family had been victims of tuberculosis. The mother may have thought Dr. Hale feared the disease and, not wishing to speak of it to her, was going west on that account. Among the last words which she said
FORT, W Hale
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to him when alone were: "My boy, no matter where you go, no difference where you are, always do right and the world will respect you." On the way to the train the father said: "Did you ever think of connecting yourself with a good secret order ? In your business it would do you no harm." The father himself had been an honored member of the Masonic fraternity for over forty years. This advice Dr. Hale heeded and fully appreciated in later years. His father con- tinued : "My son, if you never return to live among us, I wish to say to you, never make an agreement you know you cannot keep. Keep your credit above reproach and you will never see the time you cannot get all the financial aid necessary to properly conduct your business. Be honest, be faithful, be true." Mr. Hale was a man of sterling integrity whose word was ever as good as his bond. Early in life he inculcated in his children the necessity of being honest. His advice was ever found to be useful and Dr. Hale in later years has come to a full appreciation of the fact that no man was ever born of better parents or received better advice. His father and mother were truly types of their time. Like giant oaks of the forest, they set examples worthy of all mankind. The father spent seventy-eight years in a most useful career and the mother still survives, having reached the age of eighty-six in September, 1917.
Arriving in Sheridan, Wyoming, Dr. Hale was advised to visit the Big Horn basin with a view of locating there. He rode a cow pony over the Big Horn mountains by way of Dome lake and to Hyattville, to Bonanza and to Otto, where he decided to locate and engage in practice. He returned to Sheridan, ordered his books, instruments and supplies shipped at once and while waiting for them to arrive the snow fell to such a depth that he could not cross the mountains that fall, for it was late in October. He then reshipped his supplies to Billings, Montana, and found on arriving there that the only way to get into the basin was by freight. In those days many people from the basin went to Billings for their winter sup- plies. During the time he waited to catch a freight outfit he was invited to visit the Billings Club in company with Dr. J. H. Rhinehart. He visited the club and made the acquaintance of such men as Otto Frank, who was then the owner of the Pitchfork Cattle Company on the Greybull river in Wyoming, above Meeteese; Henry Lovell, who owned the M. L. Cattle Company on the lower Big Horn river, and many others of that type who had helped make this country habitable. They employed many men in the conduct of their cattle ranches and many of their punchers were afterward patients of Dr. Hale. In conversation with the Doctor in Billings Mr. Lovell gave him some discouraging advice by saying : "Young man, you will starve in the Big Horn basin trying to practice medicine. Several doctors have located there and all have given it up." After waiting seven- teen days Dr. Hale was able to get a freighter to load his goods and they started for the basin. It was cold by this time. about the Ist of November. Dr. Hale had never camped out and slept on the ground in the snow but had hitherto oc- cupied a feather bed. After eight days of travel he landed twenty-five miles above the present site of Codv and after a month got a man to take his goods to Otto. He purchased a pony that the owner called Twenty and paid twenty dollars for him, a pony that at one time belonged to the Seventy-one outfit that in the early davs ranged its herds on the Powder river. Long before the time of this transac- tion the pony had been given his freedom and turned out on the range to make food for the coyotes. Dr. Hale, having faith in his friend, who had been so kind as to houl him from Billings, asking him to live with his family until he could get to Otto, believed the ponv was a bronco but he soon proved his age and it required three days to make the journey from the ranch to Otto. The pony gave out and one dav Dr. Hale met a man who was going to where Twenty had ranged and the latter gave the man five dollars to take the pony back and turn him out so he could die among friends. Soon a man came along who loaned Dr. Hale a horse called Croppv that afterward made many notable trips and carried the Doctor across the Bad Lands in the Big Horn basin to see manv a sick or injured patient. A horse of that kind seemed almost human. It would graze around wherever you dropped the reins and was never known to buck. Croppy could swim a river
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like a duck. He would also raise his head high in the air, strike a long, swinging lope and carry his rider at the rate of ten miles per hour for hour after hour, never seeming to tire or to weary after his trip to the bedside of a suffering mother or a sick child or a crippled cow puncher. Dr. Hale certainly appreciated the use of that animal and the kindness of the owner who had loaned him. From the head waters of the Big Horn river and its tributaries this horse carried the Doctor from east to west, north to south, where his services were needed. For two years he alone covered that part of the great American desert on the back of the horse in answer to the call of duty.
Dr. Hale did not starve, as Mr. Lovell had predicted, for he did not belong to the type of men who starve. Later he made the acquaintance of Hon. J. L. Torrey, who was then president of the Embar Cattle Company, located on Owl creek, above Thermopolis. Colonel Torrey said: "If you need any assistance in your work, a horse or men when you are trying to reach the bedside of a sick man or woman or an injured puncher, use the whole Embar outfit if you need it and if you kill a horse under such circumstances it is already paid for." This one incident alone will account for the fact that men and women coming from the east to the west seldom care to return to their native state. During the years of his residence in the basin, from 1894 until 1917, these acquaintances made under such circumstances, have lasted in many instances and are valued beyond price.
Dr. Hale located in Otto and as there were only a few log shacks and no ac- commodations to be secured it became necessary to accept what he could get. Lou Blakesley edited the Otto Courier in one of these log huts, his family lived in another, and Mr. Blakesley offered the Doctor sleeping room in the Courier office, so he accepted it. The room was twelve by sixteen feet, the roof was of dirt, the walls were daubed with mud. It seemed that the mud supply ran short, for there were many spaces where one could see through, it being unnecessary to go to the door or window to know who was passing. You could look out between the logs. The door was made with upright boards and lacked several inches of reaching the floor. The bed was a tick of straw, none too smooth, but it was the only thing that the Doctor could secure. When morning came the bed was shoved under the case containing the type used in the printing of the Courier.
True to western hospitality, no charge was made for the use of this bedroom. The Doctor was in- vited by Mr. Blakesley to take his meals with them and did so. All of this un- solicited hospitality was much appreciated by him and showed the goodwill of the people, who were glad to have a doctor locate among them. Frank S. Wood built a drug store building for the Doctor in the summer of 1896, it being the first frame building of the town, and the establishment became the first pioneer drug store of the basin.
On the 28th of September, 1898, Dr. Hale was married to Eltie May Faust, of Otto, who lived only until August 25, 1899. In October of that year the Doctor returned home to visit his parents and on the night of the 17th the drug store and his residence were destroyed by fire. Nothing was saved. The building was uninsured and the labor of years was thus lost in a few moments. The Doctor afterward returned to Otto, closed up his business and in May, 1900, removed to Thermopolis, where he has since resided. The day following his arrival in Thermopolis, May 13th, Martin McGrath, who was then mayor, appointed him city health officer and this position he has filled since May, 1900, and as long as Thermopolis was a part of Fremont county he was appointed from time to time to act as county health officer. When Hot Springs county was organized he was appointed by the state board as county health officer. Dr. Hale was again mar- ried December 24, 1905, when Coral B. Bowman, of Macomb, Illinois, became his wife. Soon after taking up his residence in Thermopolis, Dr. Hale organ- ized the Thermopolis Pharmacy, which he successfully conducted until 1906, when he sold the drug store to devote his entire time to the practice of his profession. He built up a splendid practice, which at times involved making some of the longest, hardest calls to distant points ever made by any physician in the state. He handled the work on the construction of the Burlington Railroad from Kirby
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