GRAVESITES

JEREMIAH "LIVER EATIN' JOHNSTON (1824-1900)

John Johnston was born in 1824 in New Jersey. He came to the west in the early 1840s and began trapping in Wyoming, Montana, and the Yellowstone region. After finding his Indian wife and unborn child murdered by Crow Indians, he started a personal revenge war against the Crow for nearly twelve years. According to legend, he would remove the liver from his enemy and take a bite in order to make a fierce impression on his savage foes. Consequently he received the name “Liver Eating” Johnston. In 1862 he enlisted in the Cavalry and fought in the Civil War. After being wounded he received an honorable discharge in 1865. Returning to his life in the mountains he resumed hunting and trapping. In 1882 he became Marshal at Coulson, Montana and in 1888 the first Sheriff of Red Lodge, Montana. He died in January of 1900 in California. Robert Redford portrayed him in the movie Jeremiah Johnson based on his life. He was reburied at Old Trail Town on June 8, 1974 due to the efforts of Tri Robinson and his seventh grade class of Lancaster, California.

JIM WHITE "BUFFALO HUNTER" (1828-1880)

Jim White was born in Missouri in 1828. He served with the Confederate Army in the Civil War. After the war he became a Buffalo Hunter in Texas in the 1870s. In 1878, when the buffalo ran out in Texas, he was among the first hunters to reach the northern Buffalo range of Wyoming and Montana where met Oliver Hanna and became hunting partners. During the next couple of years, White and Hanna hunted the herds in Wyoming and Montana. In 1880, they came to Wyoming and built a hunting cabin on Shell Creek at the foot of the Bighorn Mountains. Upon returning to the cabin one day, Hanna found Jim White dead. He had been shot by thieves and robbed. Hanna stated that he was the greatest buffalo hunter that he had ever known, taking over 16,000 hides during his career. He was reburied at Old Trail Town on May 6, 1979.

JACK STILWELL (1850-1903)

Jack Stilwell was born in Kansas in 1850 and served on the frontier during his youth as a scout and hunter. In 1868 at the age of eighteen, he volunteered as a scout for the Cavalry. In September of 1868 his contingent was attacked by approximately 600 Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Seeking cover on an island in the nearby river, the scouts opened fire with the new repeating rifles that they had been issued. After the first days of fighting, Jack Stillwell snuck through Indian lines and went for help at Ft. Wallace 125 miles away, returning with the 10th Cavalry and saved the survivors on the island. After the Beecher’s Island Battle he was US Marshall in Oklahoma. In 1897 he came to Cody and took care of Buffalo Bill’s interests until his death in 1903.

PHILLIP VETTER (1855-1892)

Phillip Vetter was born in 1855 in Virginia. After serving in the Civil War the Phillips family moved to the Wind River country near Lander, Wyoming and he became a market hunter and trapper. He later built a cabin on the Greybull River above Meeteetse and continued hunting and trapping. On September 1, 1892 he left a note in his cabin stating that he had gone after a bear. A week later, his mangled body was found on the floor of his cabin. In another series of notes, he mentioned a battle with a bear and he was dying. He was buried near his cabin and later reburied at Old Trail Town on June of 1978.

W.A. Gallagher and Blind Bill Hoolihan

William Gallagher and his friend Blind Bill were killed on Meeteetse Creek below the old town of Arland in mid-March of 1894. Both men were about thirty years old. In 1893, Gallagher became involved with Belle Drewry. Later, in 1894, Belle began seeing another man, Bill Wheaton. Gallagher flew into a jealous rage and threatened them at gunpoint. In retaliation Wheaton shot Gallagher in the back, killing him. In a failed attempt to avenge his friend’s murder, Blind Bill was also shot and killed. Both men were reburied at Old Trail Town in 1978.

BELLE DREWRY (1867-1897)

Belle was born in 1867. Little is known about her until she arrived in Arland, Wyoming. She worked in the Saloon and dance hall and was one of Rose Williams’ girls at her brothel on the outskirts of town. Rose moved her place seven miles down Meeteetse Creek after the bridge was built across the Greybull River in 1886 and continued operating it as a Roadhouse and Brothel until she died in 1894. Belle, along with another girl, continued working there until she was murdered in 1897. She was reburied at Old Trail Town in 1986.