Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, January 9, 1910, Page 23

~ Guster Monument < ED CLOUD'S recent death has brought out a host of stories concerning the exploits of that doughty old warrlor, and some inquiry has been made why he took 1o part in the Indian war Of 1876, when Custer and his squadron of the Beventh cavalry annihilated by the Sioux and Ch mne warriors on the Little Big Horn. The absence of Red Cloud from this battle was due to ne love on his part for the white man nor to/un disposition s i & support from the enterprise that had been set on foot by other Sfoux leaders. The war broke out over the dissatisfac- tion of the Sloux with the action of the government in permitting white men to en- ter the Black Hills, the then newly dis- covered gold flelds. The Black Hills was a part of the great Sioux reservation, and the Indians were bitterly jealous of the in- trusion of the whites. Moreover, they were spoiling for any sort of an excuse to take the war tral It was only a few years since the massacre at Fort Fetterman, the tight of “Sandy" Forsythe and his band scouts against 2,00 Cheyenne and Sioux 'umon under Roman Nose on the Arick- aree; the “wagon-box" fight, In which Red Cloud had been so signally defeated by the United States troops, armed for the first time with the breech-loading Springfields; the exploits of Captaln Jack, Boston Charley. Shacknasty Jim and the other Modocs in the Lava Beds were atill a fresh topic of conversation around the | camp fires, and the red warriors of the ¥ #sioux nation were chafing under the tdle- ness that had bound them from the war trall. So the intrusion of the white men into the sacred precints of the Black Hills afforded them an excellent reason. The re- gion where the gold had been discovered was holy ground to the Sioux; at the hot springs, where the town of Hot Springs now stands, they made medicine and took curative baths; along the water courses thby hunted deer and antelope, and cut their tepee poles and wood, but thev aid not penerate deep into the mountains; it [vas “mato tepee”—the home of a great pirit, who was not to be disturbed. Gold hunters followed trappers into the region in 1874 and 1§75, and were removed by the soldiers In 1876 negotiations for cession of the region to the whites were begun with the Indians, aud under this cover the white men crowded Into the new diggings and established the towns of Custer, Dead- wer wood, Central and other camps, now only memories among the ol timers. And this invasion was the pretext under which the hatchet was dug up and the trail again taken. All the ploneers who peue ted the Hills Tia at timminent peril from the Indians. No matter from which direction the region was approached, the way led through In- dian territory, and Was beset by the fiercest fighters ever kpmown among the red races of America, Kvery trall leading into was marked by gra of men and women slain by Indlans, and the miners and freighters were ever on the alert against attack. When the gen- eral uprising was determined upon, the Indtans made a preconcerted attack on the white men In the Hills. While their deep superstitious fear had prevented them entering the mountains In pursuit of game or for fuel, when it came to hunting down the white man, the red warriors pene- trated even to the shadows of Harney peak, supposed ‘to be the dwelling place of the dreaded spirit. Early in June, 187, on the same day, men were attacked & different points in the Hills. Many were slain and others escaped after close calls from the Indians, who seemed to have de- elded upon this as the curtain raiser of the war of extermination. Whether any defl- nite plan of campaign existed can never be exactly known. It is certain that all the northern tribes of the Sfoux nation, with most of the southern, were involved; also the Northern Cheyenne, a fierce and warlike nation, closely allled to the Stoux and by some classed as a part of the Sloux’ nation. In addition to these wer thousands of renegade or “dog soldiers,” Indians from all over the west, desperadoes of the red race, who gladly joined in tho uprising. Red Cloud was the only im- portant foe of the white man not repre- sented. It has been sald by some that he got his fll of fighting the white man at the time of the “wagon box™ affair. An- other view has been taken by others. When General Crook was on his march north to unite with Generals Terry and Gibbons, he met up with Red Cloud some- where near where Edgemont is now located. Red /Cloud was aceompanied by several hundred of his young men, and said be was on a hunting expedition. Crook agreed with him that hunting was good in the vicinity, but expressed the opinion that Red Cloud and his followers might be able to do all thelr hunting on foot, so he had thelr ponies corralled and killed, to the wa number of 450, This left Red « without means to join the hostiles and 5o he took no part in the eam paign that lasted until in the fol lowing spring. Twelve years la‘c the government pald Red Cloud $100 apiece for the ponies Crook had his soldiers shoot The impression exists that the spot where Custer and so many of his men lald down their lives is far remota from transportation lines and difficult of This v talnly on that 2th of June, 1576, when disaster overtook the Seventh United States cavalry. Now the land has been fairly transformed at many places. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have been expended by Crow In- dians alone In the construction of irriga- tion canals under the very shadow of the Custer battle monument. The Custer bat- tlefleld s only about forty miles from Custer station on the Northern Pacific rallway. The battle ground may be seen from the car windows on the Burlington's Billings line. Custer station is near the Big Horn river and the ride, by private conveyance, up the valleys of the Big Horn and Little Big Horn rivers to the battletleld s one of exceeding in- terest and, at places, of beauty. It pre- pares one to view the scene of such direful consequences with feelings suitable to the spot and what it suggests. From Blllings it 1s but a seventy-mile stretch via the Burlington route, which there connects "with the Northern Pacific to the same spot, If one chooses to go entirely by rallway. In May, 1876, a trlangular campaign was inaugurated against the Sloux and allfed tribes. From Fort Fetterman, Wyo., Gen- eral Crook, the greatest Indlan fighter of his day, marched north with 1,00 men; from Fort Abraham Lincoln, Dak., now North Dakota, went General Terry west- ward with another thousand; from Fort Ellis, near Bozeman, Mont., General Gib- bon marched eastward with about 430 men. On June 17, Crook had a tussle with the Indians on the headwaters of the Rosebud river, which was in reality a defeat for him, and he withdrew southward to Goose creek, across the Wyoming lne, to await reinforcements. On the day that Crook was fighting Major Reno with & portion of the Seventh cavalry was scouting the country between the Powder and Tongue rivers, somewhat northeast from Crook's oud the mouth of ANUARY battieground, while Terry, with the re- mainder of his command had just wade camp on the Tongue river about where Miles City now is. Efforts were mude to get courlers through from Crook to Terry, but without success, although Reno's scouting party and Crook were within forty or fifty miles of each other at one time. Terry, Custer and Gibbon knew mothing, therefore, about Crook's tight, and Custer never knew of it. After the battle with Crook the Indlans with- drew northward to the valley of the Little Big Horn. On June 21 Terry's and Gibbon's com- mands formed junction near the mouth of the Resebud river, Terry in supreme com- mand. At this point a plan of campaign was adopted, and in pursuance thereof Custer and the Seventh cavalry started at noon of June 22 up the Rosebud river to strike a broad Indlan trail Reno had found during his previous scout. On the 24 and 24th this Indian road was followed westward toward the Little Big Horn, and early on the 2%th the column was drawing near the “Valley of the Greasy Grass,! as the Indians called the Little Big Horn valley. Custer was in command of his regiment on this march, having twelve skeleton troops of cavalry, the number of men ggregating ‘about 550 or 600. At the divide between the Rosebud and Little Big Horn rivers, it was definitely ascertained that the trall led to the valley of the latter stream and that the Indians were encamped there. 1t was also supposed by Custer and his men that their own presence was then known to the Indians, but there Is some doubt as to this being a fact. Sitting Bull was a heavy-weight muscular man, about five feet eight inches in stature, and at the time of the battle of the Little Big Horn was forty-two years of age. He was the autocrat of the camp, chiefly because he was the host. In council his views had great welght, because he was known as a great medicine man. He was @ chief, but not a warrior chief. In the war councils he had a volce and a vote the same as any other chief. A short time previous to the battle, he had ‘‘made medi- cine,” had predicted that the soldiers would attack them and that the soldiers would all be killed. He took no active part in the battle, but, as was his custom in e of danger, remained in the village, mhaking medicine.” The principal warrior chlefs of the hostile Indlans were Gall, Crow King and Black Moon. About twelve or fourteen miles from the Little Big Horn, the command was divided into Whree detachments, the ad- vance, under Reno; the second under Custer, and the reserve under Benteen. Every man, barring possibly a few of the scouts, was an ufter stranger in a strange land; Custer expected to meet from 1,000 to 1,600 Indians, and against that number his combined force, scouts, Indians and enlisted men, did not exceed 600. It has since developed that the aumber of war- riors was several times the estimate of Custer. It must be borne in mind that the phrase ‘uster Battlefield” includes three distinct fields of battle: Reno's point of attack in the valley proper, the bluffs across the river to which he retreated and where the Indians attacked him, and Custer's own battlefield, some miles down the river from the seene of Reno's engagements The number at that time camped in the valley has been a frultful theme for dis- putation, as indeedehas nearly everything that occurred In connection with this series of battles. The Indians were well armed with the most improved American rifles, bows and arrows, and their usual stone im- plements of war. After Reno, in his forward movement, reached the river, forded it and watered his horses, he advanced across the valley, and attacked the Indlans. He was repulsed and driven back to the cover of timber, where he remained with his forces all day, and retreated during the night to the orig- iral base, where Colonel Bentcen was in charge of the reserves. Why the Indians did not clinch thelr victory over Custer by annihilating Reno's command, which they could easily have done, is one of the unsolvable mysteries. The route pursued by Custer after he left Reno has been the subject of much Qispute, There seems little doubt now that he followed at first a ““draw" or depression that ran behind the river blutfs. He was hidden from the Indian village and was from one-half mile to two miles from the river. He finally came out on a higher and second line of bluffs, parallel to the tivst or river line. He knew nothing of what was before him and we know precious little of what hie did or what hap- pened in detall, save as wi get it from the Indlans, and they Seem to be about as diverse in depicting events as white men. According to Goldin, the fight with Cus- ter began soon after he turned westward from the high point on the back ridge. Doubtless this is to some extent trus, but from what the Indians say, and from the discrepant conclusions of officers them- selves, it is open to question whether the battlefield reveals a great deal beyond the fact that the men were killed at certain pointe, At the northern extremity of this ridge, where the Custer monument now stands, the officers and men seem to have become bunched, perhaps drawing nearer together instinctively for companionship, as their ranks grew thinner. Here fell both the Custers, Captain Yates and Ldeutenants Smith and Rellly. Nothing is known ex- actly of what happened at this point, as the whites were all killed and the Indlans tell different storles. A considerable num- ber of Smith's Troop B were found in a gully leading down to the river from the monument. Two Moon, a Cheyenne chief who fought there, said in after years that these men left the hill near the end of the fight, after Custer had fallen. The num- ber of Indians engaged in the fight was never known exactly, but It Ig certain that several thousand warriors were them im camp in the Little Big Horn. Since the Custer battle the Custer field itself, enclosed by a wire fence, has been made a national or soldlers’ cemetery. From the ol forts and battlefields scat- tered throughout the northwest bodies have been removed to this point and now occupy & considerable area of it, Detective Burns a Famous (Continued from Page One.) days was running down the principals in the Brockway-Bradford-Courtney oa: dere In New York and near by Hrockway was a celebrated counter- folter, and in his early days he had forged ¥irle rallroad bonds. His speclalty was a counterfeit note of a large denomination, one favorite being a $1,00 compound inter- est note. e got hold of a girl In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing at Washington and had her run a sheet of tinfoll through the press and get an im- ssion of the genuine plates. Then he 0 an electrotype made from the tir Impression, printed the notes and oir- ted them with such success that the Asovernment actually accepied $50,000 worth of them before it suspected that unything was wrong. Later on they had to send for # Charlle Ulrich, an old time counterteiter, 10 plek the good from the bad Ulrich is sald to have been the greatest genlus of his kind until the time of Taylor and Brodell, who made $100 Monros head ¢ certificates so well that experts in veasury department declared they genuine. Ulrich had just been re- d trom prison in Germany for a job v there when he came to this country to do some work fo# Brockway and \Brad- ford, the same being to engrave a $1W note for thew. Ulrich came over here and was lost untll two secret service men. Schuyler 4 and Daniels, located him In Cinclnnati. ‘“wnen Burns took the job. He engaged a flat across the street from where Ulrich was lving and for six months he took him up every morning and put him to bed, as the detectives say, which means that he kopt.on his trall all the time. Ulrich was testing himself, that is to say he was satlsfylpg himself that the government de- tectives' did not know where he wasm It was not until the March after the Novem- ber in which he had reached Cloemnnati that he decided that the secret service men had really lost him, and then one day he left his rooms without any baggage and walked to the depot. While passengers were golng through the gate to the New York train Ulrich scanned the face of every u‘v and he was the last man to boaM the ®in L h cume over to New York by the old Cortlandt street ferry and made stralght across West street for the tele- ETaph office. He took up & form and wrote the body of his message without any address. “1 have just arrived,” he had scrawied, when he became consclous that omebody was looking over his shoulder, He turned around to face Burns, whom he did not know “Aha!" sald Ulrich, “you seem mooch Jntorested in vat I am writing." @ am," replied Burns. Den, subbose you vinish it,” suggested Ulrich, “All right," sald Buros, and he took the pen and wrote/the name of the confederate in New Jersey that Ulrich had intended U were to write. Ulrich was taken aback. “This I8 a pinch, Wlrich," sald Burns. “We know what you were going to do. Now you can help us round up the crowd or you ean go to jail.”! Ultich agreed to work with Burns, and the latter sent him to join the gang and through his assistance they got the whole lot in a bullding at 542 Ann street, West Hoboken. There the secret service men found more than $2,000,000 In gold cer- tificates and a lot of Canadian $100 notes. This was the first time that the authorities had been able to convict Brockw He went to Trenton jall for a.ten year sen- tence with Dr. Bradford, who dled In prison, and Courtney. The last was a celebrated forger who had been in coun- terfelting schemes for thirty years. After this Burns was sent to Florida to stop filibustering, and he took Ulrich with Wim to protect him from friends of the Brockway gang, who had threatened his life. Ulrich died two years ago, having reformed and became a useful citizen and leaving a much respected family Burns came back to New York in 1896 to look up that counterfeiting case which was undertaken to promote a revolution in Costa Rica,' the participants making 100 peso noteg with the double object of buying arms, and discrediting the mone- tary system of the country. General Fred- erico de Mora, grandson of the first presi- dent of Costa Rica, and another man served two years In Sing Sing as a result of Burns' Investigations, and then they went down to Nicaragua and started one of the predecessors of the present dif ficulty in those parts, The case of Taylor and Bredell in 150 was one of the most extraordinary In the annals of counterfeiting. The two men were hit upon by a process of deduction and elimination, for there were no clues that could be used. The fact that the courfterfeit note was absolutely perfect indicated that a camera had been used Then the ynusual excellence of the print- ing gave the inference that s steel plate had been used In the engraving and that whoever did the work was able to etgh on steel. Every man in the whole country who yas able to do this sort of thing was taken up and considered, and then the elimina- tion went on until the list narrowed down to Taylor and Bredell. Then It was found that their process was to transfer & photo- STaph to & steel plate, etch the latter enough to bite the lines, and then engrave by hand—a feat that had hitherto been considered impossible. The scheme eventu- ally involved fifteen persons. Two of them, Philadeiphia lawyers, tried to bribe Burus, but were sent to Moyamensing penitentiary with Taylor and Bredell ‘While the latter were walting in Moya- mensing to testity against thé lawyers, they were called upon by a man who had Visited Brockway in Trenton jall. Brock- way had advised & proceeding that he had used on numerous occasions, which was completely Worker to offer to give up plates in return for im- munity. This the government had always accepted untll that Hoboken cse. Taylor and Bredell were not in possession of any plates and their baill was $§100,000, so they decided to try to make them in Jjail Taylor's mother smuggled in the necessary tools and materials and the two men en- graved the plates in their cell under a blanket with the aid of an alcohol lamp. It took them two months t¢ complete the work, but they actually printed the money, sent it out and had it passed. When some of the money was shown to Burns he at once sald that only Taylor and Bredell could have made it. He went to the prison and charged themAwith it and they at length confeesed One of Burns' last big pieces of work for the Treasury depariment was the ap- prehension of Dimmick, who robbed the San Franclsco mint of $0,000. Dimmick has just been reléhsed from San Quentin prison after doing nine years. It took two years to secure a conviction. Dimmick Wwas assistant superintendent of the mint and he had succeeded in familiarizing him- selt with the locks of the vault so that he could stand at the lock with the works exposed and determine what combination another person was setting. Here Burns again Aid some eliminating and deducting, but it took time to get evidence. Burns left San Francisco and came east, and was preparing to take a BEuropean trip for the government when he got a wire from Chief Wilkie to report in Wash- ington. Wilkle had been sent for by Secretary of (e Interior Hitcheock, who informed him that extensive land frauds involving millions of dollars had heen discovered “Can you do anything for us?" the secre- tary asked. Il give you the vice," Wilkie replicd “But can Hitehcock “We replied. So they started Burns 1903, and it was not that his task tar man of our ser- ho €o anything?' said Mr. he had never failed yet,” Wilkie out on May 1. until September, 1906, was finished. resultifg In the conviction of United States Senator Mitchell of Oregon, Iiyde & Benson wealthy landowners of C ornia, and numbers of others. In addition to this work Burns was at the same time (n- vestigating other matte Before these land posed of Francis J. Heney, torney foy the government in Novembe the munictpal campaign In San neisco, had made the declaration that it called upon by the people of San Fran- clsco he would undertake fto prosecute Abe Ruef and the other grafters in the graft ridden town. Iuef's candldate Schmitz, was elected. Later on Freemwnt Older, editor of a paper that had fought Ruef and the poodlers, came on to Wash- ington representing a committee of citizens headed by Rudolph Spreckles and James D. Phelan. and asked Heney if he would come back to San Francisco and carry out his. promise. He sald he would cases had been i who was at- tion that Burns could be got to investi- gate and procure evidence. Burns was let g0 by President Roosevelt's own order, and he dug about in San Franclsco for three years. Schmitz was convicted and sent to prison for five years, Ruef was sentenced to fourteen years. Louls Glass, vice president apd general manager of the Pacific States Telephone company wrs sent to the penitentiary and numerous others, including Mike Cdffea one of the supervisors who falled o keep his promise to testity: B. S. Blake, who had attempted to fix the Ruef jury, and a young Greek named Peter Claudianus, who for a consideration of $3.000 had agreed to murder Rudolph Spreckles, Heney. Older, James L. Gallagher, the state's principal witness, and Burns, Claudianus exploded twenty pounds of dynamite in Gallagher's house, but not one of the eight people in It at the time was killed. Then he blew up three other houses belonging gher. Claydianus was ceptured by George E. Burns,'a son of Willlam J., who hus since died During his 'work in San Francisco various atiempts were made to get Burns off the job. He turned down one bribe of $55.000 and another of §100.000, They sent women after him but didn’t get him. His prin- clpal indorsers for his present work with the American Bankers' assoclation have been Frank A. Vanderlip, president of the National City bank, and James M. Beck, who was attorney for the government in the cases agwinst Taylor and Bredell and thelr associates In Philadelphia. Mr. Burns has a wife and four children. One of his sons Is the superintendent of his father's office in Chicago though only 23 years of on condi- , age Talked Too Mu RTRAM M. RUSSELL of Chi- cago 1s a vietim of the dread- ful monologue which some per- sons (‘l||_ conversation. He talked o 'long and so exclu- sively that his wife, & school teacher, had him summoned into the muni- clpal court in an effort to curb his tongue “He mnever threatened me; he just talked and talked," said the wife “What seemed to be the matier him,” inquired Judge Fry “He talked,” replied the witness “Telked?" “Yes, your honor, he talked. I have known him to talk continuously from 7 o'clock in the morning to 7 o'elock in the evening. “He talked soclalism, literature, reli glon, labor and sang some verses which he picked up to the effect that work Is the curse of the drinking man. He would not allow me (o attend to my duties.’ Upon slgning bonds to hold his tongue Russell was released with Blg Word Stnmps Offieer. Dr. J. W. Stagg. president of the Pres- byterian college, and perhaps the most noted divine in that church in the south, Features of Everyday Life was arrested at Anniston up in a cell for calling a policeman an “encyclopedia.” When taken to jail, charges of being drunk and disorderly were preferred agalnst Dr. Stags, but subs auent developments showed that the trolman was the man who had done drinking. Dr. Stagg took his arrest good humored!: The people of Anniston, however, held an indignation meeting and demanded the im- mediate dismigsal of the policeman and also the warden who had charge of the jall. Mayor Wikle suspended both and oy dered the charges agalnkt Dr, punged from the record Dr, Stagg was walting for a street car and asked Patrolman Sheppurd when it was due. Sheppard sald he did not know, and the minister, with a quiseical smile, said: “Why, I thought all policemen were walking encyclopedias of information,” This was too much for the policeman, who thought he had been insulted and he took Dr. Stags to the station. Ariz, and locke:d a the Stagg ex o Hailroad. Charles H, Warner, the sugar refiner of New York, and Colin H. Livingston of Washington sre part owners of & street rallway system which in one respect has no In fact, Benjamin F. Dulaney, a coal operator, who owns Black Mountain, Va.. which, aside from its mineral possi- bilities, has achleved fame by being se- lected by John Fox, fr the scene of two of his novels, asserts that the rallway is the most remarkabie In the world. Bristol, Tenn,, 18 wiere the road Is situs ated, and some peop'e out there call it the Matrimonlal Beit Line. For a_rule and a quarter the track straddles the Virginia line, %0 that a man may be riding in two states at once. rival as state Parson Burroughs, & clergyman, owns a hotel and meets every car, and nelghbors say that if two strangers of opposite sex arrive together the parson promptly asks them If they wish to get married Fre- quently they do; %o the parson gets in With them and conducts them to his hotel, though not Infrequently the ceremony takes plage In the open, the bride standing in one state and the bridegroom in both, while the officiating clergyman straddles the line. Parson Burroughs admits having joined more than 3,000 couples in wedloek. One may drink on the Virginia side of the line, but not in Tennessee, and it often hap- pens that one side of a street car is parch- ing with thirst while the other is very wet —— New Breed of Corn A & J. A. BUNTON AND HIS FIFTEEN-ROW AKE BRUNTON, a farmer, liv- Ing five miles northwest of Blair, astonished the manigers of the Corn show thers to a finitsh by bringing in for exhi bition, @ full well-developed car with an odd number of rows of it. It is & noted fact that all ears of corn have even number of rows— running from fourteen to twenty-two—but no odd numbers. This ear has fifteen rows with forty-elght grains to the row. Mr. Brunton planted fifteen hills from & pe- cullar ear of corn of his own selectien, of corn, corn on S e b AN Ay EAR OF CORN~—Photo by Hinchman. and the plantiug received the mame att tion as his other corn. He read last year of an offer by an Illinois corn raiser of & 320-acre farm for an ear of corn with an o0dd number of rows. He began to experi- ment and planted an 0dd number of grains in an odd number of hills on the 18th day of the month, and husked and counted each ear separately. A dozen corn experts examined It this afternoon and would not belleve it until counted by themselves, It is & freak of which Mr. Brunton is justly proud, but says he forget to take # to Omaha to the national show,