The report that Jock Johnson died of small-pox, which has been circulated, we are authorized to contradict by
Dr. Slaughter, his attending physician, who says it was scurvy. Dr. Murphy, of St. Paul, thought, as he expressed it, something "akin to
erysipelas." The report in circulation does injustice to the
Custer Hotel and to the city. When Mr. Johnson returned from Tongue River this winter he was quite ill. He went from here to St. Paul, where he was tenderly cared for in the
Sisters' Hospital. He had not long returned from there when he died.
Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, 3/14/1878
Mr. James J Johnson, who died the other day at the Custer Hotel, has no relatives in this country. He was an Englishman. He had been here several years, owned a wood yard up the river, had a number of teams, was a successful freighter, and a man who was warmly esteemed by his acquaintances. His estate will be honestly probated and taken care of for his heirs in England who may rightfully claim it.
Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, 3/14/1878
