WARREN'S WEARY WAIT.
Kept a Prisoner in His Shack for Three Days.
Last week, John Warren, the veteran frontiersman, returned from the Yellowstone country to his shack at the coal bank and found his old friend Charley Green "at home" in it. Warren had located Green on the claim, pending his absence, for the purpose of protecting it. Gren {sp} came to the conclusion that it was his and when Warren came back he learned that there was a contestant in the person of his employee. Warren entered the shack forcibly by breaking the padlock. Green was off duty at the time, and when he returned he found Warren in possession. That simple circumstance seemed to exasperate him and with a rifle he perched on a big boulder and whistled for Warren to come forth. He cooed like a mad dove, but Warren wouldn't heed his cooing worth a cent. Warren was unarmed and as Green was apparently in earnest, he kept in doors. This joke continued for three days. Green boarded at the stage station and Warren feasted on flour and water. It was not an even thing until Warren was presented with a gun by a friend, who stole a march on Green's watch. When he got the gun, Warren raised the black flag. He yelled to Green to rally and open fire at once. Green wouldn't rally for battle, but pleasantly asked the half starved Warren if he wouldn't go a fishing with him. The besieged brother answered back that he would a gunning. The explanation of his answer in detail persuaded green that there might be a funeral if he lingered in those posts long. Green fell back to Mandan. Warren now holds the fort and is patiently waiting for the railroad company to come along and buy a few hundred tons of coal. The coal is good lignite and will make excellent fuel. There is evidently plenty of it under cover. The small excavations show two veins four feet thick each. The claimant insists there is an inexhaustible supply within easy reach. He has been holding on for six years with the hope of seeing the day that will undoubtedly dawn this summer.
Bismarck Tribune, 5/10/1879
