Reaching the city late one evening, the punchers went into an emporium for a bracer, before going to break the news. The Dutchman waited some time, and being thirsty, and also rightly sensing the boys were taking several before returning, he decided to make the delivery alone. Mrs. Bryant heard the knock on the door, and answered the summons. The Dutchman said simply :

"Mrs. Bryant, Ed is here."

"Ed who ?" asked Mrs. Bryant, not knowing if he meant husband or brother.

"Why, Ed Bryant," was the answer.

"Well, why don't he come in?" she asked.

"Why, damn it, he's dead," was the gentle way he finally broke the news to her.

But the sudden and melancholy end of men, and the sudden widows of the early west, had no discouraging effect upon matrimonial events and ventures.

I have mentioned John Montgomery, the keeper of the stage station at the north end of the Fort Laramie bridge. Montgomery had a daughter -- most everyone has a daughter for that matter -- and Miss Minnie Montgomery was like other daughters of the early west. She liked to ride, and frequently met the "birds of passage," the early cowboys, and the

HISTORY OF WESTERN NEBRASKA

other cowmen that settled down and anchored themselves to the soil.

Among her admirers was a foreman of the P. F. ranch. This foreman used to make periodical visits to Deadwood, taking from the ranch some of the fat cattle for Deadwood markets. The P. F. people were not receiving the liberal returns that they had been led to believe was in the ranching business, and grew suspicious of their foreman. An examination of the books seemed to give an impression that all the cattle sold in Deadwood were not accounted for, and they had a warrant out for their foreman.