Gunfight at the Headquarters Saloon by John C. Russell

GUNFIGHT AT THE HEADQUARTERS SALOON

By: John C. Russell

[NOTE: This is a transcript of a story that appeared in the Inaugural Issue, 2009 of the Montana Historian.  John C. Russell is the Executive Director of the Gallatin Historical Society and Pioneer Museum.]

The settlement of the American West was accomplished by all classes of people involved in all aspects of life.  There were trappers, cattlemen, miners, thieves, farmers, prostitutes, lawyers, bankers, businessmen, businesswomen and homemakers.  Some came to Montana with their families, others by themselves.  Some of our ancestors were pious while others were pompous.  some were socialites and some were loners.  Despite this complex mix of people, our image of the west usually focuses first and foremost, on the cowboy.  The cowboy has received the brunt of attention in the American media.  He's been depicted as tough, reliable, good with a rope, fast with his fists, and quick on the draw.  Gunfights between cowboys have been romanticized in countless movies and television shows.  In reality, they were rare.  But they did occur, and, like any other western town, Bozeman had its share of killings that resulted from a "showdown."  This article is about one of those conflicts:  the gunfight at the Headquarters Saloon.

In the autumn of 1879, Bozeman was showing evidence of becoming a thriving community.  Schools had been established, as, of course, had churches.  Fort Ellis offered security and protection.  Various social groups gave citizens activities like dramas and music.  The temperance movement struggled to eliminate alcohol.  Housekeeper clubs kept women in tune with the latest in fashion, cooking and childcare.  The Lockey's Store in Bozeman offered clothing, groceries, hardware and even tobacco.  The Lunch House sold fresh bread, pastry, pies and cakes.  Nelson Story and Lester Willson had recently opened a bank, and two ambitious businessmen named Sloan and Proffitt established the City Meat Market.

But Bozeman, Montana, was still in many ways a cow town.  It was a popular weekend destination for cowpokes looking for a drink and some female companionship.  Saloons enjoyed a good business thanks primarily to soldiers from Fort Ellis.  One of the more prominent watering holes in young Bozeman was the Headquarters Saloon, owned by business partners Matthias "Cy" Mounts and Benjamin Franklin Sanborn.  It was located just east of Bozeman Creek, on the north side of Main Street near the present City Hall.  The Saloon proudly advertised its offerings in the Avant Courier informing potential customers of the recent arrival of shipments of imported brandy, wine, genuine Sultana Cigars, and foreign and American mineral waters.  One of the establishment's more famous advertisements read, "Go to the Headquarters Saloon to get the celebrated Rock & Rye Whiskey, the best medicine in the world for lungs."  The saloon also boasted an ample supply of 1872 G.W. Taylor Whiskey.

October 31, 1879. Mrs. Eli Keeney sat waiting patiently in her buggy on Bozeman's Main Street, waiting for her husband to leave the Headquarters Saloon, a block and a half away.  After a day in town Eli Keeney had decided to join his brother E.J. (that would be Elias) for a couple of drinks before going home.  Mrs. Keeney did not accompany her husband.  Proper women of the day wouldn't think of going into a drinking establishment.

Mrs. Keeney had been waiting for nearly an hour when she spied her husband on the wooden sidewalk walking towards her.  As he got closer, she noticed he was battered and bruised, obviously from a fight.  Mr. Keeney began to climb into

 the buggy, then suddenly stopped, got back out of the buggy, and retrieved his revolver from under the seat.  Mrs. Keeney had no time to react, to ask her husband what was wrong before he headed back for the Headquarters Saloon.  Perhaps if she had reacted quicker, uttered the right phrase, the carnage that was about to unfold would have been averted.

Eli J. Keeney

Keeney and his wife were newcomers to Bozeman.  The couple and their two children (Annie and William) had just moved to the Gallatin Valley two months earlier from Oregon.  The Keeneys had not had time to make many friends, and Eli's quarrelsome disposition, often exacerbated by liquor, had been a deterrent to the couple's socializing.

Cowpokes liked to frequent the Headquarters Saloon.  On October 31, two of them passing through town had stopped there for drinks.  Like the Keeneys, they were brothers: twenty-two year old William Roberts and his twenty year old brother, Sim.  Both were natives of Texas.  William had left home in 1876 to herd cattle in Nebraska and Wyoming.  Sim joined his brother in Wyoming in 1878, and both were hired by cattleman John T. Murphy in February of 1879 when Murphy established the Montana Cattle Company on the huge open range between the Musselshell and Yellowstone Rivers.  Murphy's brand became legendary--the famous "79" in honor of the year the operation began.

While the Keeneys and Roberts were enjoying their late afternoon quaffs, Eli Keeney and William Roberts struck up a conversation.  As is often the case between strangers who imbibe too heavily in alcohol, the conversation became heated.  The topic of discussion is unknown, but it culminated when Keeney called Roberts a liar.

"I am a boy yet, but little more than twenty one," retorted Roberts, "but I'm man enough not to take the lie from anyone.  Are you heeled?"

"No," said Keeney in response to the familiar western term for packing side arms.

Roberts took off his revolver and cartridge belt and handed them to E.J. (Elias) Keeney while Sim Roberts watched from a comfortable distance.  There then commenced a rough and tumble fight that didn't last long and ended with William Roberts the victor.  With bruises to both his face and ego, the battered and bloodied Keeney left the saloon and headed for his buggy.  E.J. Keeney and the Roberts brothers stepped outside onto the front sidewalk.  E.J. turned to Roberts and asked, "Do you know who that man was who you just whipped?"

"No," Roberts replied, at which point Keeney said, "He is my brother."

Prior to the fight Roberts had  become well enough acquainted with E.J. Keeney to consider him a new friend.

"My God," said Roberts.  "If I 's a known that I would have taken anything from him."

"It's alright.  He insulted you and deserved thrashing."

The Roberts brothers and E.J. Keeney returned to the bar where William and Sim bellied up for another round.  A few moments later Eli Keeney entered the Headquarters.  E.J. noticed the revolver in Eli's hand and immediately intercepted him, telling him he had made a fool of himself and it would be best if he just went home.  Eli ignored his brother and approached William Roberts, who was drinking at the edge of the bar near the piano stand.

Hearing the approach, Roberts began turning to his left and saw Keeney who, now at point blank range, lifted his revolver and shot Roberts just below the left rib cage.  Blood poured from the wound as Roberts staggered and then pulled his gun and shot Keeney twice.  As both men fell to the floor simultaneously, Sim Roberts pulled his gun and also fired at Keeney.

Sim Roberts began backing out of the saloon as his brother and Eli Keeney lay on the saloon floor.  The shooting attracted the attention of deputy sheriff J.L. Sanborn, who was nearby at the time.  Upon entering the saloon and seeing the two men on the floor and Sim Roberts with his pistol drawn, Sanborn tried to arrest the cowboy.  Sim, though, would have none of it:  he kept Sanborn and the saloon patrons at bay by firing over their heads and near their feet.  Sim Roberts escaped and headed for the Fridley Brothers Stables, where he quickly mounted his horse, reloaded his revolver, and galloped out of town.

The saloon had been full when the gunfight began, but it quickly emptied.  Sanborn ordered the building closed and sent for the coroner.  An examination of Roberts found that one bullet fired by Keeney had cut off a main artery and lodged in his hack.  Roberts lived for ten minutes on the saloon floor before dying.  During his last moments he said nothing.  The coroner then examined Keeney's body and found three wounds, any of which would have been fatal.  One of the shots fired by William Roberts chipped Keeney's chin, passed through his neck and severed the spinal cord.  The other had hit Keeney in the left shoulder and severed his backbone before exiting the body below the right shoulder blade.

The shot fired by Sim Roberts had struck Keeney in the left ear and completely passed through his head before exiting just below the right ear.  It was a gruesome scene from a gunfight that had lasted seconds.

A coroner's jury was soon convened and concluded the following:  That William Roberts came to his death from a pistol shot fired with felonious intent by Eli Keeney, and Eli Keeney came to his death at the hands of William Roberts, in self-defense.

Now back to Sim Roberts.  He rode his horse bareback for three hours before stopping at Benson's Landing, near present day Livingston.  Here he found an acquaintance whom he sent back to Bozeman to first see to it his brother got a decent burial and second, to inquire if it would be safe for Sim to return and surrender to the law.  While the messenger rode to Bozeman, Sim Roberts continued his ride east.

Back in Bozeman, Eli Keeney was unceremoniously buried on Saturday, November 1.  Several prominent citizens of the town got together and arranged the burial services for William Roberts, as he had no relatives in the town.  What motivated G.W. Wakefield, Nelson Story, George Ash, Warren Evans, Walter Cooper, L.S. Willson, J.D. Chesnut, H.B. Calfee, P.P, Worsham and J.S. Mendenhall to make sure you Roberts got a descent burial is unknown.  Perhaps all had come to know and like the cowboy since he moved to Montana.  The funeral for Roberts was held on Sunday, November 2, 1879, at the Methodist Episcopal Church, the Reverend C.L. Richards officiating.  The funeral procession to the cemetery was one of the largest that had been seen in Bozeman up to that time.

While his brother was being buried in Bozeman, Sim Roberts was near Sweet Grass, one hundred sixteen miles away, when his messenger overtook him and told him it was indeed safe to return to Bozeman and that his brother was receiving a Christian burial.  Roberts then headed back to Bozeman and arrived Monday night.  There was no attempt to arrest him when he came to town and on Tuesday, November 4, he turned himself in, appeared before the probate judge, and posted bond.  He was ordered to return to court the following Monday to appear before the grand jury.

Sim Roberts obeyed, and on Monday, November 10, he appeared before the grand jury.  After hearing testimony, the grand jury unanimously agreed that it failed to find "a true bill" against Sim Roberts, meaning he was not guilty of any crime.  On Thursday, November 13, the cowboy left for the Musselshell, herding a small band of cattle that was also bound for the Montana Cattle Company.  As he left town, he told friends that he planned on visiting Bozeman for Christmas.

As is usually the case in the aftermath of tragedy, those most affected by the events pulled their lives together and moved on.  Mrs. Ella Keeney (my 2 great-grandmother) married George B. Hamilton near Hamilton on February 3, 1880.  We don't know if Sim Roberts made good on his promise to return to Bozeman in time for the Christmas season, but we do know he began a courtship with schoolteacher Ada Ruth Bostwick.  Those two were married, ironically, near Hamilton, on August 27, 1880, and went on to raise a family.

The gunfight at the Headquarters Saloon doesn't have quite the appeal of the "Gunfight at The O.K. Corral," or the "Great Northfield Raid," or for that matter the phrase "Dodge City on a Saturday Night."  It has received no recognition among those whose hobby is western gunfights and gunfighters--and believe me, there are many of them.  Perhaps the names of the participants, Keeney and Roberts, don't have the same tantalizing ring like Earp, Holiday, or James.  That, coupled with Montana's isolation, has left the events in Bozeman of October 31, 1879, in obscurity.  Like all western showdowns, the gunfight at the Headquarters Saloon had no significance on the local community's future, but still it's a reminder of how dangerous those days could be.  Granted, we too live in violent times, and it could be argued the gunfight at the Headquarters Saloon wasn't much of a fair fight.  Nonetheless, it and other such encounters contribute to our perception of the wild west..

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Nancy Ellen Swank Keeney Hamilton with unknown gentleman.  Could it be son William? Hmmm.  Note that all these photos were taken in the same studio, and none of the men look like Eli.  Double Hmmm.