Rensselaer Republican, Volume 22, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 31 October 1889 — BUTTE HILL BURYING GROUND. [ARTICLE]

BUTTE HILL BURYING GROUND.

■Tenanted by Men Who Died with Boots On. As the traveler approaches Billings from the east, says a writer, he sees to the left of the railroad a large number of bouses, mostly of primitive construction. There is a gap of open country and then comes Billings. That suburb is worth a visit. It is part of Montana’s history. It is Coulson. The houses, with a single exception, are nntenated. and have been for some years. It is said that people coming to Billings find it difficult to get houses, but it is never suggested that the surplus population be gathered at Coulson. If there is not a first-class ghost story for every house in the deserted then things are not as they used to be. If you go to Coulson you must climb “Butte Hill,” and see the Coulson burying ground. Twenty-four men are buried there, and twenty-three of them died with their boots on.

One day California Jack—every border town had its California Jack staked his last twenty-dollar gold piece at the faro table and lost it. He got up, feeling ugly, walked out doors and into the restaurant, which was near by. Several men were there, and a little waiter who knew Jack intimately was sitting on a fable swinging his feet. “I’ll shoot the first man that speaks,” said California Jack. “What’s the matter with you?” called out the waiter in a bantering tone. California Jack put his left hand on the little fellow’s shoulder, and, at the same instant, drew his pistol and shot his victim through the heart. It was such a cold-blooded affair that the men in the place, usually ready, sat as if paralyzed just long enough to let California Jack swing himself upon his horse and get out of range. Then there was a hasty recruiting of a posse, but it was too late. California Jack escaped and never came back to Cgulson. . That is the way one of the three graves on “Butte Hili'’ was filled. The other stories are like unto it. Coulson was here before Billings was. It was the great outfitting poipt for the buffalo hunters. It was a frontier metropolis. When the railroad approached the Coulson people saw their town a second Chicago. Coulson boomed until the railroad company built by it got a section of land a couple of miles further west, and located Billings. It was proposed to connect the new town and the old town with a street railroad. The cars were even ordered and received. But the project went the way of so many other schemes of the early days. People gradually moved away from Coulson until only “Liver-Eating” Johnson remained. Mr. Johnson is credited with having taken 1299 Sioux scalps. Once upon a time he and two companions had an unusually severe tussle with the “varmints.” Mr. Johnson was so worked up over the struggle that at the end of it he cut out the liver of an Indian and devoured it in the presence of his companions, who told the story. Ever since that time he has been known as “Liver-Eating” Johnson, and he makes no denial of the incident. The historical associations at Coulson are not unpleasant to Mr. Johnson, and the ghost stories do not disturb nis slumbers.