A Smart Alex.

Wihle Mr. S. F. Morrison, in company with two other gentlemen, were coming down the Missouri in a dug-out Tuesday morning, they were fired at by some one on the opposite side of the river about one mile above town. They could plainly see the man who fired at them, and one of the party, a young Frenchman, insisted on running their little craft to the shore and sending forth a feeler from his Winchester, but Mr. Morrison being a gentleman of discretion, persuaded him not to do so. Two shots were fired at them—the first was so close to them that they could hear the ball whistle very plain, but the next one, though a good line shot, fell far too short. The man who did the firing had on a white shirt, but a further description they could not give. He was probably doing it "just for fun," but had it not been for the rocking of the canoe, the "fun" might have been of a serious nature, for a Winchester is bad medicine.

Bismarck Tri-Weekly Tribune, 8/29/1877