deadwood free press 1901

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McKinley AssAssinAted;AcKer sworn in As President

Deadwood Free Press Vol. 25 Issue 7 April 1, 1901

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Vol. 25 Issue 7

After a crazed alien and anarchist,Leo Czolgosz, shot and killed President McKinley, Vice President Silas Acker took the oath of the highest office in the nation

under a veil of sadness Sept. 6Engravings of the event show the vice

president Acker bravely trying to defendthe president by throwing up his hands and shrieking, which Acker explained was a technique he learned from the Lakota Sioux years ago while serving as a bank president in South Dakota.

McKinley was shot while at the Pan- American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, and the crowd’s anger was swift.The crazy anarchist was gunned downby several men and his head sawed fromhis neck by an unidentified man who was believed to be visiting from Dakota.

McKinley initially appeared to be recov- ering from the wounds when Acker carried

him into a nearby room and laid him inthe lap of the mrs. vice president, Truly Acker. When others entered the room they saw the president had taken a turn for the worse and was gasping for air.

The day had begun with much promise,as spirits were high at the Exposition. Presi- dent McKinley had been shaking hands for about 10 minutes. McKinley’s secretary,George B. Cortelyou, had warned the president earlier that day that the public reception of the fair could be a security risk, and that perhaps the president shouldnot attend the reception. McKinley replied,“Why should I? No one would wish to hurt me.”

All that is known of Czolgosz is that he was an anarchist unable to find employ- ment and who was born in Detroit,Michigan.Czolgosz wrapped his hand in a white handkerchief to hide the gun he was carrying. New York Governor Theodore Roosevelt was not present, and condemnedthe attack. Roosevelt had been consideredthe likely candidate for vice president in the last election on the McKinley ticket whenhe suddenly stepped aside and confusedparty members nominated Acker, a sena- tor from South Dakota. Roosevelt apparently thought the role of vice president was trivial.

“I had no idea of course president Mckin- ley would be as sassinated and that I might

have become president. The job is so use- less I have lost account of it. Who is vice president anyway?” Roosevelt asked.

When reminded it was Acker, Roosevelt commented in the words of the Bible “OhLord Jesus Christ.”

Federal Judge Hazel was present was fortuitously present and able to obtain the words of the presidential oath of office.There was much silence until he intoned,“Mr. Vice President, please raise your right hand.”

After the solemn vice president Silas Acker raised a hand, there was a few sec- onds pause until the judge spoke again.

“Your right hand, sir.”There was a pause of another few sec-

onds.“Uh, your other right hand, sir”Justice Hazel immediately administered

the oath of office and asked Acker to repeat the words, “I, Silas Acker, do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States,and will to the best of my ability, preserve,protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.”

“What?” the vice president stated.The chief justice again repeated the

oath, and Acker appeared much struck with grief. The chief justice tried another approach.

“Repeat after me...”I”“I,” Acker said.“Silas Acker,” the chief justice said.The vice president looked puzzled.

“Yes?”The justice responded “Repeat after me.”

“After me,” Acker replied.“No, sir, repeat your name, say your

name.”“Silas Acker,’ Acker said.“Do,” said the justice “Do,” said Acker.And so it continued word by word until

the oath was admiistered. The president then hugged his wife, who had cried for so long that she had to stretch her mouth into a broad wide smile for relief, and spoke withsupporters and others for about two hours

before addressing a crowd. He then took dinner with Gov. Roosevelt after whichpoint the governor said, “Mister President,I think you can lower your hand now.”

The justice arrived with news that the new president had forgot to sign his name to the formal oath of office. Acker lookeddistraught, overcome with emotion at the death of McKinley, ad said he was too overcome to sign anything, so distraught that he handed back the pen pointed upside down.

Acker, who only Tuesday returned from

a visit to the ambassador in Paris, immediately took command, addresing comments to Congress about the problem of “trusts.” Acker said businesses are called“trusts’ because people should trust them.Acker called for less government regula- tion. Acker said government should be runmore like a business, and he would invite business owners to make decisions in the White House.

“Truts are trustable, and nothing like trusses that are very uncomfortable,” he told Congress.

President Acker and his wife on a trip to the palace at Versailles before the recent horrible assassination.President Acker said he enjoyed me eting the French even though “they speak their English with such a thick accent it’s hard to understand.”

Vice President Acker bravely defended the President, but alas it was ....




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oldest VeterAn of wAr of 1812 dies109-year-old Man Had Awaited rail for Bigamy

Reprinted courtesy of the Los AngelesTimes

A former resident of Deadwood, Mr Henry ‘Hank’ Muggins, also the nation’s last known survivor of the War of 1812,died in his sleep only two days away fromhis trial upon allegations of bigamy.

Los Angeles Prosecuting Attorney Mr.Ram Vasser said he regretted the deathand that those who had investigated the crime wishes the Muggins families, bothof them, the best.

Muggins had vowed to vigorously battle the charges in court. “First of all, both of them knew of each other, as they couldnot have missed each other there under

the covers with me,” Muggins told the Los Angeles Times in February.

Mr. Muggins cut a colorful figure in Los Angeles when he moved here in 1883. Few people in Los Angeles knew of the blame he placed upon himself for the sensationalrobbery of the First National Bank of

Deadwood that year. The bank’s safe was blown up at a time whenan unusually large number of payrolls were present. Authori- ties assumed it was an “inside job” but were unable to identify the culprit.

Mr. Muggins said he blamedhimself for lax security and left Deadwood then with an escort meant to care for him in his declin- ing years, the actress Miss Isabelle Endsleigh.

Fortunately, the frugality of the bank teller led to his beingable to stake Miss Endsleigh as a

professional beauty, and her smile and singing decorated SouthernCalifornia social occasions for many years. Mr. Muggins was always a center of attention as he described his role in fighting off the British during the War of 1812 and witnessing the burning of the White House. Mr. Muggins never left a dry eye in the house as he described the enthusiastic thanks he received from Presi- dent and Mrs. James and Dolley Madison.

Despite his age, Mr. Muggins was always interested in new things, and somehow he found

enough money to be one of the first investors in the America Mutoscope company, a pioneer in moving picture technology. Miss End- sleigh became one of its first stars, andher legs have been seen around the nationby those viewing the moving pictures onMutoscope peep show machines.

With the wealth from this investment,Mr. Muggins be came known as a dashingand popular figure, and it was he who gave away the former Miss Endsleigh in 1899 to the mayor of Los Angeles, Thomas Brad- shaw. A month later, Mr. Muggins married the former Miss Prudence Dashiel,an 18-year-old coed at the University of California.

Prosecutors allege however that he also had himself married in se cret to her cousin,Miss Alicia Dankwell, 16. Both womeninsist the matter was one of confusion and

begged Mr. Muggins not be charged withany crime. Both women, pregnant withchild, wore black upon visiting the scene of Mr. Muggins’ death, the Miss Ophelia School for Girls on Brooklyn Boulevard.Mr. Muggins was a longtime benefactor of the school and was instrumental in the somewhat controversial decision some years back, when Deadwood did not have anorphanage, to transfer Deadwood’s JohnTanner Memorial Fund for Wayward Girls to the Los Angeles institution.

One of the students at Miss Ophelia’s said she was assi sting Mr. Muggins alongwith several other girls at special studies with Mr. Muggins and thought he was half asleep when she said he suddenly boltedup, said, “Damn, Dolley, those are purty

Muggins with his many wives

melons” and then collapsed back into the bed, instantly dead. The womansaid she had never heard Mr. Muggins express interest in fruits and gardeningbefore, though he showed keen interest in the girls and often offered to help pursue their interests.

The school’s operators, Mr. Blitzer Punjabhindustani and his wife, knownlocally as ‘Miss Mollie,’ said the girls tried desperately to revive Mr. Mug- gins, a popular figure. “Sor, I jumpedon top of him and did my best to revive him, which I can nearly always works on a fella even when his wife’s in the room, that’s how hearty I can be fer a man, but the ol’ dear was gone,” ‘Miss Mollie’ told this reporter.




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Editorial

now is the tiMe

to stArt A fireBrigAdeWe salute recent announcements by the

Deadwood chamber of commerce for for- mation of the town’s first fire brigade.

There are those who say a fire brigade is hardly needed in a town with so many brick buildings. This is not so. Fire cansweep through wood supports and furnish- ings with great ease.

Discussion of forming the first brigade has brought much commentary from some of our old-timers, who wish there had beensuch a brigade in 1879 even early in the city’s history. It was then that much of the town as it was then constituted burned to

Badger Streeter, Assistant Editor

Black Hills Railroad Sold!Burlington Line Pioneer Buys rack,Service to Improve

Burlington Line Buys Homestake Mining: Company’s Railway.

LEAD, S. D., ((from the RL New York Times)).

G.W. Roldredge, general manager of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company, has purchased of the Homestake Mining Company the Black Hills and Fort Pierre Railroad, with roll- ing stock and stations. There are sixty miles of track, including the road between

this city and Piedmont and side spurs.The Burlington company will, it is said,

put on the third rail immediately betweenEnglewood and this city, making a stand- ard gauge road for the city. The third railwill also be put on between Englewood andKirk on the main line, which will complete the narrow gauge road from the Ga lena district to Deadwood. The considera tionin the deal is not given. Possession will be given Aug. 1.

He Finds a FortuneWe are indebted to the ((RL)) New York

Times for this ((RL)) story recently published in a Nebraska paper. We know not the name of our local resident who handed away the stock:

Supposedly Worthless Mining Snares Suddenly Become Very Valuable

Yet another example: hold on to your mining stocks!

Special to The New York Times

OMAHA, Neb., April 5 1901 —C. M.“Wood-bridge of Woodbridge Brothers,piano and organ dealers of Omaha, last Summer came across an old note for $600 given by a man living i the Black Hills for a piano purchased of Woodbridge Brothers so long ago that the note was outlawed. But be ing very anxious to secure some money at that particular time, Mr. Woodbridge went to Deadwood. He met his debtor andfound him disposed to liquidate the debt;if it were in his power to do so, which it was not.

The man did pay $150 on the note, however, and then said: “Mr. Woodbridge, Ihave a lot of mining. stock here which is worthless, but someday perhaps you might realize a few dollars on it. Anyway, it is as good as my note, for I do not know whenI can ever pay another cent on it. Suppose you take the stock and call it square.**

The piano man had no hope of ever receiving another dollar on the note. He took the mining stock. It was not worth

one cent on the dollar.Within a few weeks after Mr. Wood- bridge returned home, however, a vein of gold was struck in the mine near Dead- wood in which he held shares. First

he was surprised to hear that he might be able to dispose of them at 5 cents onthe dollar. Then came the intelligence that their value had doubled.

In fact, today they are worth 50 cents onthe dollar. Mr. Woodbridge has $75,000 worth of them, and has sold others amount- ing to several thousand dollars in value.

the ground.My father, Neil Streeter, who announces

his coming retirement in another story,has talked often about how important it would have been to have such a brigade.He commented that during the horrible fire itself, as he scaled two-story buildings,pulling orphans, rich European widows

and the crippled from building after building to save their lives, that even while they bravely fought the fire the men and womenof the town rued their inaction.

So it is time to start a fire brigade.If not this week, maybe next.

LettersThis personal letter is reprinted from the

San Francisco Chronicle as it is a perspective

of an early Deadwood pioneer.

Feb. 22, 1901Dear Aunt Lola and Uncle JF,It was good to see you all and, as prom-

ised, I am writing to advise you of our short stop at Deadwood on our way back home to San Francisco. As you know, it wasn’t exactly on the way, but I convincedFrederick he and the children had to see the place where my life turned from darkness to light.

The children have clearly stated they much preferred your home in the hills of Kentucky, with the green trees and mist in the mornings, to the bustling city look of Deadwood, South Dakota. The pres- ence of your 12 grandchildren no doubt added to the attraction!

They found it hard to believe, as didFrederick, that the civilized, well-kept town we visited was the one the three of us shared memories of a s we sat comfortably around the crackling fire in your backyardthose wonderful evenings.

Upon entering Deadwood, the childrenwere much disappointed that we saw not one

drunkard or scantly clad woman roamingthe paved and well swept streets. Poles andwires were strung about the sky - Fred- erick said this may mean many residents have telephones in their homes. There was a Post Office, a huge Public Library, andmore than one shop with modern clothingdisplayed in the windows.

I found not one familiar face, but we were there only a few hours. Much Isearched, but could not find, my initials Carrie Anne Kuhr had carved next to her name on the side of the Gem, where she andI spent many of our free hours.

There was a very nice saloon (whichFrederick would not let us even look into) named “Lizzie’s Place” near where the Gem used to sit. Upon inquiry we were toldit is owned by an attractive and enterpris- ing young woman rumored to have grownup in Deadwood, but Frederick pulled us away before I could learn more.

Many of the familiar buildings - Mrs.Streeter’s General Store, the old newspaper office, Gallagher’s Ice Cream parlor,the orphanage, the Inn, the schoolhouse were all gone, most burnt down and never replaced after that dreadful fire.

And yet -- had it not been for that fire and the changes it brought about, it might be that I would have remained in Dead- wood until this day, never having met andmarried my dear Frederick and sharedwith him our loving mortician business nor borne him our b eloved children, Frederick Jr., Marrant, Carrie Anne, Jemima, Clay,Dio, Addie, Neil and little Bagley.

We thank you so much for your continued love and for graciously sharing your home with us during our visit. Each andevery one of you remains in our thoughts and prayers.

Although it would be a long journey, we

do hope you will find it in your hearts to come and visit us in San Francisco so we can reciprocate. We would enjoy showingyou around our lovely city. The Streeters have promised to come visit if they canpull themselves away from their current complications and have said they would be glad to arrange to travel at least part of the way with you.

We thank the good Lord for your goodhealth and happiness.

With love and affection,Elizabeth Vita Bradfield and family




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MayorRetirementParty Finally

ScheduledThe long-awaited grand community retirement party for Clayton Kungler,who retires after 23 years as mayor, has been scheduled for August 1 1901 states the Deadwood Chamber of Commerce. The time has b een delayed to allow for former Deadwood residents from around the coun- try to gather for the event. No election to replace him has been scheduled.

Mr. Kungler as is well known came to Deadwood to find his fortune. After the great fire of 1879, Clayton Kungler rebuilt his Gem Saloon. The Miss Carrie Anne Dubrovna Kuhr Bogart purchased it in1894. Mr. Kungler and wife September

then moved to Gayville, where he concen- trated on running the brewery he purchased with Diogenes Bogart in 1879 andstill retained his duties as mayor in his former community.

The brewery, known to export a fine lager beer, has been growing steadily ever since. The Kungler’s son Kenneth has taken the role of manager at the brewery.Daughter Rachel O’Hare Kungler marriedas did Jade Kungler.

Kungler, now retired, is rumoured to have over 40 human heads and other ana- tomical port ions stashed away somewhere in Deadwood. He continues to deny the rumor.

MillionAire seeKs PoliceProtection!

Reprinted from the San Francisco Chron- icle

Readers will be interested to know that esteemed pillar of society Augustus J.Pelham, insurance broker and investor,spent last Saturday night at the headquarters of the San Francisco Police Department apparently for his own protection. Details

are sketchy, but it seems Mr Pelham was discovered in one our less salubrious estab- lishments in the company of a female other than his wife.

Wilhelmina Hart Pelham, said wife,appears to have confronted her spouse andmade grave threats against him. Interest- ingly her main reason for complaint seems to have been finding him playing roulette rather than poker or faro. Upon inquiringabout the hitherto renowned security at the gambling house we were informed that no lasting injuries had been sustained.

Both parties were then conveyed (inseparate vehicles) to Police Headquarters where it is understood Mr Pelham remains,his wife however emerged on Sunday

morning when she refused in categoricalterms to give a statement other than to complement “Chief Bill” (Chief of Police

William P. Sullivan) and his department ontheir facilities includingapparently a well runfaro bank.

Other than oft repeated references to ‘North Georgia’ very little is known about

Mrs Pelham prior to her wedding 5 years ago however persistent,though no doubt ill- founded, rumors have linked her to a series of boom towns such as Silver City, Tombstone and even the notorious Deadwood SouthDakota. Attempts to obtain further informa- tion have been rebuffedin no uncertain terms.

Readers are however welcome to speculate onsuch matters and indeed

the future of Mr andMrs A.J. Pelham.

IN FEAR OF HIS WIFE!

Longtime Editor Announces RetirementStreeters to devote full time to parenting

The Deadwood Chamber of Com- merce gave its longest standing ova- tion of record this week to the oldest publisher of a newspaper in the Black Hills, Mr. Neil Streeter, upon occa- sion of his retirement. Mr. Streeter has published the Deadwood Free Press for 23 years but will be turn- ing over operations to his eldest son,Badger, while retaining an ownership interest.

Mr. Streeter indicated he was set- tling his affairs in order to assist at home with his wife, the former Miss Addison Leigh, who doctors predict will soon deliver of triplets.

Mr. Streeter said the family is delighted to have new additions who will join Badger, Rod, Jacob, Addi-

son Jr., Marrant, Elizabeth, Salissa,Kristina and Lola.The couple is well known for their

charitable and business activities.Mr. Streeter is often the first to say

his history was not so glorious. There are a few in town who remember the horrible night when Mrs. Streeter, not seven hours after delivering their third daughter, took after Streeter with a shotgun when she learned he had named the daughter “Jeni.”Mr. Streeter later explained he had slurredhis words, and had actually said, ‘Mar- rant.’

It was shortly after this incident that Mr. Streeter was found wandering in the woods, babbling and much stricken. Mr.Streeter announced he had been visitedby God in the form of a large angel witha brilliantly red face, and told by the Lordto, quote, “Get serious and stop the b___”While local ministers doubted such a visit might happen and condemned suggestions

the Lord might swear, Mr. Streeter says no liquor has passed his lips since that day 20 years ago. “I know what I saw, and Ialso know if God was going to swear at someone, it would be an editor.”

There was much concern at the time that God was visiting Deadwood because of the longtime violence and troubles inthe community, as about the same time

former Mayor Clay Kungler showedup the next day with his face colored a brilliant red. There were reports that an angel has visited him too, but Kun- gler insisted he had simply picked up a very bad sunburn upon a hike withhis daughter.

Whether God appeared to one manor several, the editor Streeter was clearly changed. “After that vision, Irealized my role was to build this townin a serious vein and conduct journal- ism responsibly,” Streeter said. “Godalso told me to procreate and be serious about becoming a father. Addison was remarkably supportive.”

The couple have been longtime pil- lars of the community. The former Miss Leigh was one of Deadwood’s

first town attorneys and almost single- handedly wrote the first draft of the city codes. Her husband was mayor in1877 during a period of turbulence inthe community.

After his conversion, Mr. Streeter spon- sored the First Church of Deadwood. He became at various times warden, vestry- man and lay reader, and he and Mrs.Streeter account that they are probably godparents to perhaps 150 children who have been born during these first years of Deadwood.




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PollyBelle BrAVincoMes to deAdwood

Next month, controversial California actress, the newly famous Polly Belle Bravin, will travel to Deadwood for a

series of musicales performed at various venues around town.

Known for exploits on and off the stage,she may also be recalled by a few in townas the Daughter of the pioneer Method- ist preacher and evangelist, the ReverendBaird Bravin. who resided herw many years ago as a widower.

If rumors are to be believed from sala- cious news reports out of San Francisco last year, Miss Bravin eloped and then ranaway from her first marriage at the tender age of 17. She is said to have left her only child in the care of another paramour andtook up with a shoehorn salesman basedout of Redlands.

Notorious Reputed BrothelOwner Jailed, Released

Reprinted from the Los Angeles Times

The Los Angeles chief district attorney,Mr. Ram Vasser, has apologized to the owners of the Miss Ophelia School for Girls after Los Angeles police raided their school following the death of distinguished

citizen Henry Muggins (see accompanyingstory).Mr. Blitzer Punjabhindustani and his

wife, known throughout the community as ‘Miss Mollie,’ said they provide shelter and safety to wayward and tempted girls,and were shocked by the arrests. Police also rounded up the 14 of the couple’s 18 children old enough to be arrested.

Los Angeles Police Sergeant Angus McTavish said there was evidence this was a house of ill repute. “We determinedthrough the lengthiest possible investiga- tion that people entered the school andwere greeted by at least three girls who

Former Deadwood residentpasses

Editor’s note: We are indebted to the Arizona Gazette for this account pro- duced by a relative of a former citizen.The account, which first appeared in their paper, now appears here.

Ezra awoke earlier than normal onthis chilly day in May 1901. He stretchedand looked over, a smile spread across his face as he watched his wife sleep.

Slipping out of bed quietly, Ezra went into the kitchen of the small cabin that he shared with his wife Martha. He got a

fire going in the cook stove and soon hada pot of coffee on to boil. When it was ready he poured a cup and sat down at the table. He groaned a little as he settled into the chair, his 63 years were beginning to tell on him. His joints were stiff and sore,and his sight was not what it once was. As he sipped the coffee, his thoughts turnedto Deadwood.

When he arrived in Deadwood, it was still a rough place to live. But, it had beena happy time for him. He had made many good friends, some of whom he still kept in touch with. There had been tragedies,like the time that Mayor Kungler’s whore Daisy and the killer BlackJack Landar were both shot down. Then a week later

Sheriff Devon was murdered in his ownhome. Then the fire of ‘79. Ezra, alongwith some others had tried to fight the fire,but to no avail.

As soon as the fire was out he was amongsome of the first to get into the ashes andstart sifting it for any gold to be found. He had been lucky, finding enough and hidingit to get a fresh start. That’s exactly what

would then unbutton their tops and offer pleasure for compensation,” he stated.

But Vasser said the Punjabhindustanis,longtime benefactors of libraries throughout California, are leading citizens who were simply misunderstood. “We have determined that many of the young women

suffer from tuberculosis and would loosenclothing for health reasons,” the prosecutor stated.

Community reaction was swift anddivided. The Rev. Georgian Taylor of the Baptist Church of Los Angeles said this was another example of corruption and“underground influences that have clearly bought and sold our governor, mayor, andnow clearly the prosecutor’s office.”

Miss Mollie disagreed and in fact lookedpuzzled when told of these comments. “The Rev. Taylor? He liked handcuffs, he did, if he be the one I’m thinkin of. I’ll have to ask Blitzie,” she stated.

After discovering her gift for theater,Miss Bravin left this man as well took to the road with a stage show, declaring her-

self a “new woman for the new century”while standing on the steps of the BrightonTheater in Denver Colo.

The mother of Miss Bravin, a wealthy woman of well-known piety who askedher name not be used and who rejects allcontact with cameras to guard against the sin of vanity, is said to be distraught and closeted with her husband and churchmatrons. The Grandparents have filed for custody of the abandoned child, a smallboy named Balthazar.

All of Deadwood will surely look for- ward to much excitement on and off the stage with the arrival of Miss Bravin.

ouching Account by Relative Projects

Man's Final Toughts

he did. Moving to Tombstone, Arizona.It was there that he had met his Martha.She was a whore, but that didnt bother Ezra too much, seeing as how he was a half breed, no decent white woman wouldhave anything to do with him when they found out about his parentage.

His investments at Tombstone paid off well and though he was not what some would call rich, he was quite comfortable.Purchasing this cabin he lived in on the outskirts of town, he was happy. His thought of the years with Martha and the two girls and boy she had bore him. His smile got wider.....

Martha sat up in the bed and smelt the coffee. “Ezra”, she called. When he didnt respond, she decided he must have gone out to the privy. As she tied her hair up in a bun, she walked into the kitchen. Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she saw Ezra at the table a faint smile on his face,his eyes staring into nothingness.......

deadwood free press 1901

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