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One of the most extraordinary characters by old-timers in Miles City and eastern Montana, but to the pres ent generation his name is un known. In the bad lands of western Dakota, all across Montana line, on the orthern railroad, in the late seventies and early eighties were was a little settlement, known as Little Mis souri, or more ee as “Little Misery,” which that it was as a community as existed in the entire west. Its record in this respect was for several years fully sustained, for it knew of no law exercise that of the six-shooter and its li ceme tery on Graveyard butte had as a majority of its.. ton who are . The astonishment of the residents of Little Missouri may be imagined when, one day in March, 1883, a fine looking young man, _inactionably bnably clad in garments seee alighted from the anh opeund train and, followed by a Neatly. ressed serving man he carried his baggage, stroll and frame shacks that me Ee the town and inquired =o. a pleasant manner Fad Howard Ea a Eaton, then a recently arts cattle man from Pitedbiren, died “years ” at Sheridan, Wyo. Ay years he had, with his his Brothers, op erated the world famous Eaton “dude ranch”. at Wolf, Wyo. It happened that Eaton had that day ridden into Little Missouri after the mail, so the letter we presented at once. It was from prominent eastern business man, and it stated that the bearer, the Marquis de Mores, was the son in-law of Baron. von. Hoffman,a wealthy New York banker of German bined. xper eae ; inant 1 — ae what e once he has or g of that kind, ent et ion sort ge view the Marq is had seen e 1 Neo Little Missouri as the results of t to the bad lands of Dakota the royous year of his cousin, Count Fitz James, a descendant of early Scotch eyes of non pe lands, returnin to hatene —t stories of the new cat country tha Rea the Marg ro adventurer, the tales of frontier life in western America had excited his in terest, but by ambitions were not the line of sport, but were toward making a huge fortune in some commercial venture. ogs that come over the North Pacificr on lng to slaughter Cuieean and the east.” Eaton observed that it we take a lot of money to buy all the stock that ues .Shipped over the Northern Pa cific. Had $20,600,000 “That is of no ueace,” replied the Marquis. “Myer-in-law has $10,000,000 and can ly 0 million more.’ I’ve *got Armour and ‘oe rest of the ers’ matched dollar for dollar.” The first move the Marquis made was to form the Northern Pacific Re frigerator Car Co. Not receiving any encouragement , the residents of Little Missour to establish his Pa plant there, acquired the flat across the river and six square miles it and announced eS to build a town there and wipe Little Mis souri off the map. Moving a tent across the river, he set it on the and founded the town of Medora was named after his wife, Medora von Hoffman. The Marquis was wise enough to know that he was going to have plenty of trouble from his tough neighbo rcross the river if he remained at ours with them, but in selecting friends and advisers from among them he showed ete judgment. He chose as his Higat d man a villainous ent. Jake Maunder, who was held fear by every man in the cmmaedl Maun der , shrewd enough to see much profit in prospect by attaching him self to the wealthyenderfoot, and he cast about for some way to secure a hold on the Marquis that the latter could never shake off. Finally he car ried out a plan to involve the Marquis and himself on one side in a 5 sean with a hunter, Frank O’Donal his two friends, “Dutch” , and Riley Luffsey, on the other. Shoot First . Maunders made the Marquis believe that O’Donald was going to shoot him on sight. The is, who was brave as any lion, himself, did not fear an attack from the hunter but he was afraid of legal, entanglements that might follow a clash them He therefore went to the nearest town where a local magistrate resided to seek the official’s advice. He laid his case’ before the judge and asked, “What shall I do?” “Shoot first,” replied the Begg 2s who seemed ‘amazed at the French man’s simplicity. The result of this advice was the return of the uss to Little Mis souri and aight between De Mores and his followers and O’Donald and his two friends. Luf was te ceptanes the other two men, D annigan, were wee. ‘The’ Gack aerenee his mén was not justified and the aan of the killing . a. Luffsey was never removed from th while’: he remained in we week. i. = not See reel trial for nearly two years, however and then was acquitted. It is said that the Marquis employed nearly every lawyer of consequence in Montana and the Dakotas. The mbhrauis soon became busily on ne large sums of money by pad in which he en gaged. He bought steers at too high a price and sold them for less. He lit $5,000 worth of cayuses for about twice what they were worth. He flooded the are around Medora with sheep, half of which were old and toothless to survive a winter. They died like ‘fies when cold weather came. Builds Slaughterhouse Meanwhile, his plans for peceasing a packer were built posessilesity: in Billings he built another one. He es tablished offices in St. Paul, in Duluth and in Brainerd, Minn. He built re ntal plants in Mandan, in a march and at Portland. To many plan seemed practical enough, for argued that send a steer on the oof from Montana to Chicago and seated the eee thall’ ‘the he needed for cance — grew in local favor and influence, he was extremely free with promises that Medora would soon rival Omaha, that telephone lines would be built up and down, there that a stage line to Deadwood would be established, making Medora a dis tributing center an as. to simulate e feelin, SS school was benby f 18 A hard to guess, for nace ona i of children to attend it. Notorthikeen a teacher was procured—a male teach er—and the bad men, gamblers, paint ed ladies, abomene and others on up a “pot’s y salary and some idea’ did not wear well, never, and in a few weeks the y left the school to open a saloon. Trains Begin Stopping The Northern Pacific crosses the river at Medora, and the | had to stopping on his side of the stream, instead in Little Misso was started Me dora called the Bad Lands , an excellent press agent, and were no efforts in imagination to tell of the glories of the new and growing center. Within a year after the arrival of the he was the acknowledged boss of He ‘had built: a good that were driven or, Ré cars were loaded and attached to fast east-bound trains. He built a preten tious home and his wife joined him there. He built and equipped an ex pensive stage line from Medora to Deadwood, which in three months’ time was out of business. At last, the enormous losses suf fered in his various ceberenees Teecet such a point that his father-in-law, , refused to ad vance more money, and within a few months the credi of the — and his roundups. The Marquis came to his death in a manner characteristic of him. He be-
Newspaper Details
Superior Mineral Independent
Superior, Montana, US
Thu, Apr 10, 1941
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 10 Oct 2025
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Superior Mineral Independent
