The Bismarck Tribune Newspaper, June 20, 1936, Page 10

10 THE BISMARCK TRIBUNE, SATURDAY, JUNE 20, 1936 Marsh Raced Far West With Reno’s Wounded 710 Miles in 54 Hours At End of Fastest Run in Missouri River History Battle Survivors Broke Tragic News to World From Tribune Office Never before—and never again—did the muddy waters of the Missouri river boil as they did on the Far West’s thrilling journey from the mouth of the Big Horn to Bismarck, bringing 87 wounded men from Reno’s command to Fort Abraham Lin- coln for medical care, and news of the Custer defeat to a waiting world. That record of 710 miles in 54 hours made with the Far West's gallant captain, Grant Marsh, “on the root” is one that has never been, and doubtless never will be equalled on the Missouri. For that historic journey, the Far West had been trans- formed into a field hospital. Under the direction of Doctor| Williams, the army surgeon on board. the open space between | the Far West's boilers and the stern had been cleared. Fresh marsh grass to the depth of 18 inches had been piled on the deck, and fresh tarpaulins had been spread over it to make of the whole an immense mattress. Medicine kits to care for the wounded had been stacked around the side. During the journey, Dr. H. R. Por-; bulletin to the New York Herald, | me 4 y , and for|Teading as follows: soit gee ek Serene | “Bismarck, D. ., July 5.—1876: FORT LINCOLN THE WINTER OF ’76 From one of the coteaus northwest of Fort Abraham Lincoln, D. F. Barry, noted photographer, took this pic- | Was the second building in Bismarck. | ture in the winter of 1876. The fenced enclosure was the corral for cavalry horses. The line of structures to the right were the officers’ the parade ground facing quarters which was bounded on ‘the south, east and north by bar- racks, was a mess hall. Back of each barrack The cluster of buildings on the river bank housed the quarter- master’s department, post- ofgice, trader's store and civilians. many years —General Custer attacked the In- worked ceaselessly caring for the| dians June 25, and he, with every wounded men, only one of whom died! officer and man in five compan- on board. jes, were killed. Reno with seven Joseph Mills Hanson, in his book on} Marsh's life, “The Conquest of the Missouri,” has described the breath-/} less trip downstream: “From bow to stern her timbers were quivering to the incessant clang j and cough of the machinery as shirt less firemen, sweating and grimy.| stood before the furnaces. cramming | sheet, after sheet as he wove the tre- fuel into the hungry flames. | mendous story poured into his ears by “Now and then the hoarse bellow of|the participants. ‘There was over a the whistle sent its echoes reverberat-/ column of notes on the campaign up! ing along the bald cliff sides, start-/to the day of battle, written by Mark ling the grazing herds of buffalo and) Kellogg (The Tribune's correspond- eik to wild stampede from the fiery]ent) and recovered by General Terry monster that came tearing. like a de-| himself from the pouch beside the Position three days The Bis- marck Tribune's special corres- Pondent was with the expedition and was killed.’ “Then the little party In the tele- graph office settled down to work in tudes. Now and then the keel scraped | columns of comment and description along a projecting bar and sheered! sent down by Major Brisbin. Then! off violently, throwing the men to the came interviews with Captain Smith,|~ deck like tenpins. A hundred times it| Doctor Porter, Captain Marsh, Fred seemed as if she would be dashed to|Girard, and the stories of General pieces, but each time the skill of the} Terry, of Curley, of some of the! pilot saved her and she sped on with! wounded, and of the death of Charlie her message of disaster to a waiting! Reynolds. During a lull when Carna- nation and her burden of suffering} han’s key for a moment ceased click humanity groaning for relief.” ling, Lounsberry flung over to him a| Hanson also describes the boat's ar-|copy of the New Testament, exclaim-| rival at Bismarck the night of July 5: ing: | “The boat had barely touched the; “‘Take this! Fire it in when you run! bank when her officers and men were out of copy. Hold the wires, Tell em off, running up the streets and rous- | it’s coming. and to hold the key!" ing the sleeping town. It was like the} “Now followed the full list of the night that Concord was startled from killed and wounded, and now, in the slumber by the hoof-beats of Paul Re- early morning hours, the message vere's horse, galloping down the elm-! written by Captain Smith for the | shadowed streets on his mission of! widows at Fort Lincoln, which was! warning. Men ran from their houses | being carried to them by the Far half-dressed and disheveled. In every | West, dropping down to the fort with | Girection lights flashed at the win-|the wounded. Through the day the dows. The first men routed from their | story grew until, when it was finished, | beds were C. A. Lounsberry, the ed-| more than 15,000 words had been! itor of the Bismarck Tribune, and J.; transmitted. It cost the New York/ M. Carnahan. the telegraph operator,|Herald $3,000, but it was worth the} today a resident of Missoula, Mont. | money, for it was the biggest ‘beat’ They. together with Captain Marsh,/in newspaper history.” Doctor Porter, Captain Smith, and a! The Bismarck Tribune published number of others from the boat, hur-| the first extra, the New York Herald tied to the telegraph office and Carn-isecond and for four days these two ahan took his seat at the key, from which he scarcely raised himself for twenty-two hours. “Editor Lounsberry, who was also the accredited correspondent of the New York Herald, prepared copy. handing it over to Carnahan as fast as the latter could send it. None of them thought of tiring. for it was the most thrilling work they had ever done. The words they were sending would soon be flashing around the world. The first message was a brief | \ Then take a Commercial are almost ideal. place to secure employm Bismarck, a time and at so little expense. Our students are employed everywhere. ment, in all the departments of the State Government. large business concerns everywhere. Our school is founded’ on a different plan from most others. We do business on We do not misrepresent or exaggerate. Here you can depend on fair, honest. treatment. We receive many compliments on our school and its complete equipment. It would be a credit to a much larger city than Bismarck. The arrangement and equipment a reliable and dependable plan. is good enough in all cases. bright high school graduates. Pioneer Days Festival July 3-4-5, 1936 sux Capital Co newspapers at the opposite ends of the country were the only ones to carry the complete story, Other ed- itors scoffed at the tale but when the war department at Washington con- firmed the story, it became the “big- gest” story of the decade. One thousand tons of freight was received at Bismarck over the North- ern Pacific roads during the first week after trains came through. The charges amounted to $22,000. Course. ent, North Dakota COMMEMORATING OTA (Incorporated) BISMARCK, N. D. Northern Pacific trains used to leave Fargo at 7 a. m. and get to Bismar companies, fought in intrenched | 4t 6 p. m. As there were no diners on the early trains, they would stop one hour at Jamestown for dinner, Pas- sengers and crew would all eat at D. M. Kelliher'’s boarding house, During the first summer the North- earnest, Lounsberry’s hand flying over|ern Pacific brought 14,700,000 pounds of freight to Bismarck. Charges to- talled $107,000. Bismarck’s American Legion post was the first one organized in the state, ' The Dakotas have the oldest State mon of destruction. into their soli-|correspondent’s body. There were two| Bankers Association in the United States. N. D. Historical Society Photo He fought the Battle of Kill- deer Mountain in western North Dakota in 18638 in a vain effort to hostile Sioux. subdue the In the records of the Indian wars the name of Gen. Alfred H. Sully is one of the foremost. Want a Permanent Position * and Salary? ¢ No other profession can be learned in so short In all departments of the U. S. Govern- In wholesale houses and ANY TIME Summer Term Now in Session R. E. JACK President mmercial College A Practical Office Training School; Completely Equipped The truth oes 2 | Bismarck’s first residence, a two-| was stationed there to protect Bis- |story log house, once stood where! marck from the Indians. \Finney’s drug store now stands. It! —_——_—_———_ The U. 8. Post Office used to be on | South Main Avenue, between Second During Bismarck’s early days, on and Third. It was open daily from 8 the land now occupied by the Weather | a, m, until 9 P. m., and Sundays from | Bureau stood Camp Hancock. A gar-| 8:30 to 9:30 a: m., and from 7 to 9 rison of a company or two of soldiers | p, m. penises 13 Suneeysreayeqoneeva cance neeteet a amtacunravvuasenanneanee nee nageennnynee ean Ar) Which Dakota Joined | Union First Unknown North Dakota and South Dakota ate twin states. They were admitted to the Union by two proclamations which were signed by Pres. Benjamin Harrison on Noy. 2, 1889. But the president could not sign both at the same time. One had to be signed; first but which one nobody. knows | and nobody will ever know, and here is the reason as set forth in Doane! Robinson’s South Dakota: sign Proclamation admitting North and | South Dakota to the Union. He called in Secretary of State James G. Blaine and a number of gentlemen of North and South Dakota who were in Washington, together with the cor- respondents of the newspapers who report White House doings. Mr. Hal- ford, private secretary, took the proc- lamations, placed them under a news- paper and shuffled them back and | forth until they could not tell which | Was the first, and then, keeping them | covered, exposed just enough of each to permit the president to sign at the | bottom. Again shuffling them he; turned them over to Secretary Blaine. There were 38 states previously in the Union. North Dakota and South Dakota are the thirty-ninth and for- tieth, but which takes precedence can never be . Sibley Island Site of Indian Fight in 1863) = One of the spots where blood was let in the Indian wars lies five miles south of Bismarck—the Sibley Island battlesite. It is reached by driving south across the Northern Pacific tracks from the intersection of Main and Third to Front street, west to the entrance of the ball park, then straight south five miles to Sibley island. There on July 29, 1863, General H. H. Sibley engaged in a desultory ac- tion with the Sioux responsible for the Minnesota massacres, There he watched his quarry eventually flee over the river at the place called “The x | The action was called the Burned Boat Island battle because the site at DOC To the Pioneers of Western North Dakota The Bank of North Dakota Extends Its Best Wishes : and Sincere Thanks HeCeUUQUUUECENTAUUUUUUUUEANONUUOUUETRCUEEU AAU EMEA AOUU UU eH eekeeeeeeke ‘was an island upon which the steamboat “Assiniboine” had burned while enroute down river with the Maximilian party in 1834. After Sibley’s expedition had reached there it became known as Sibley island. ° ——————————_* | Pioneers of 1873 [ | Hail Celebrants | Though they may be far away their hearts ore with all of the pioneers who will gather in Bis- marck, July 3, 4 and 5 to celebrate the 75th birthday of Dakota Ter- ritory. From Hollywood, Calif. where they are spending the eventide of life came this telegram to the edi- tor of The Bismarck Tribune. man, pioneers of 1873. For many years a hotel oper- ator and later city weighmaster, Mr. Wakeman long was identi- fied with business here. Mr. and Mrs. Wakeman are the parents of Mrs. Edmond A. Hughes. The hardships they endured and the perse- verance manifested has made possible the won- derful progress of North Dakota. Come to Bismarck. It is the most interesting city in the Northwest and the best Call on us or write to us at any time. Our Intensive Four Months’ Secretarial Course has given many good positions to The cost is only $66.66. Begin at any time. Fall Term OPENS TUESDAY, SEPT. 1, 1936 YOU MAY REGISTER AT WILLIAM G. ELLIS Secretary-Treasurer PHONE 121 WALTER WELFORD, Governor JOHN WISHEK, Secretary of Commission he Bank of North Dakota Owned, Operated and Controlled by the State of North Dakota, under the supervision of the State . Industrial Commission: THEODORE MARTELL, Commissioner of Agriculture & Labor R. M. STANGLER, Manager of Bank Bismarck, North Dakota _ We are proud of the part we have had in aid- ing the development of this state through the facilities made available by the establishment of this bank. It is our sincere wish that we may continue to be of service to North Dakota and that we all will be benefited and prosper in the years to come. MoT 4 P. 0. SATHRE, Attorney General