The Ghost of Bob Ferguson

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(Ed: A ghostly article presented by history columnist Shane Dunning for our Halloween week edition. Enjoy.)

In January 1903, "a gentleman who has long resided in Rosebud County and spoke in all seriousness" gave a curious interview to the Billings Gazette.

No, I'm not joking; neither have I become locoed by the many ghost stories of a political nature that have been sent out from our country. Thirteen years have passed since it first became noised about that the house of which I am speaking was disturbed by visits from an inhabitant of shade land.

The speaker identified the ghost as the spirit of Bob Ferguson, a stockman murdered in 1890 by Cheyenne Indians. Ever since the murder, the source claimed, Ferguson's former residence on Little Rosebud Creek near Kirby had been reported by several parties as haunted.

On May 6, 1890, Bob Ferguson rode out into the Upper Rosebud Creek area to search for stray horses. He was twenty-seven years old, unmarried, and a moderately successful stockman. He was last seen alive borrowing a horse and field glasses from the Thompson ranch. His disappearance was not discovered until a week later, when Ferguson's brother started a systematic search. Even then, it was not until May 24th that evidence of a terrible crime was discovered.

Ferguson's dead horse was discovered first, shot through the shoulder, and removed of all its trappings. "A few days later," a body was found

buried in a sand draw, loosely covered in earth and about 600 yards from where the dead horse lay. The body was wrapped up in the saddle blanket and a rope tied about it and the coat was wrapped about the head. His saddle, bridle, slicker and field glasses were also found buried. There were two bullet wounds in the body, and one through the left wrist and the face of the corpse was bruised showing it had been dragged some distance to the place of burial. Moccasin tracks in the sand clearly demonstrate that Cheyenne Indians did the bloody deed.

Footprint evidence indicated that Ferguson had come upon a group of Cheyennes butchering a couple of beef carcasses. At the time, conditions on the reservation were dire. Federal Government food rations had been grossly inadequate to feed tribal members, with the result that young men often went off the reservation seeking food for their families. Frequently, the result was the clandestine slaughter of cattle belonging to white settlers who bordered the reservation. This practice had been going on for years and, by 1890, had caused a considerable amount of racial tension.

A group of Cheyennes was immediately identified as the killers. However, investigators soon demonstrated that the suspects were observed at Fort Keogh near Miles City at the time of the murder. With these alibis firmly established, they were released. No other suspects were arrested.

Ferguson's sister disposed of her brother's property to a married couple, and that is when (according to the Gazette's informant) strange things began happening.

It was not long after the new owner had taken possession when nightly the house's occupants were awakened by someone rapping on the door.

Beattie, the man who bought the ranch, was away from home considerably, leaving his wife at home alone. She was anything but a timid woman, and whenever she heard the rapping she would go to the door and open it, always with the same result – nobody was to be seen. Determined not to be driven away by a ghost or a trick he believed somebody might be playing on him to frighten him and cause him to sell out, Beattie hung onto the ranch, his wife bravely standing by him.

In 1900, the Northern Cheyenne Reservation was expanded, and the government included the old Ferguson property. Beattie sold his ranch to the Federal Government. Before the transfer took effect, Beattie's wife died. He remarried, but his new bride soon realized all was not well with the property. "The second Mrs. Beattie heard the rapping, making it tolerably clear that it had not been a trick of the imagination that had caused the first Mrs. Beattie that something was wrong the place."

The property had many desirable features, and when the federal government took possession, there were several applicants among the tribal members to live there.

One of the many applicants for the place secured it and moved onto the land, using the house and stables built by Ferguson. They did not remain long, though. The rappings that had annoyed and mystified the white occupants continued and the Indian moved. Another moved in and then out. Several others tried it, but none would remain. All declared that a "bad spirit" was there and would permit nobody to live on the place.

Several years have passed since the last occupant left and the buildings have begun to go into decay and are tumbling down, and unless the ghost of Bob Ferguson gets tired and goes elsewhere the ranch will probably be never occupied again, at least by any of the Cheyennes.

While Bob Ferguson's murder is officially unsolved, it is believed that Head Chief, the Cheyenne who killed Hugh Boyle under very similar circumstance a few months after the Ferguson affair, was the guilty party. Before his dramatic "suicide-by-soldier" near Lame Deer in September 1890, Head Chief admitted to killing three white men, including Hugh Boyle. Speculation is that Bob Ferguson was one of these others.

The identity of the Gazette's only source for the ghost tale was not provided with any specificity, so it is impossible to evaluate the credibility of this story. Nothing about the behavior of this supposed specter can be identified with Bob Ferguson. The ranch was not the location where Ferguson was killed, nor is any reason given why the ghost would haunt white occupants as well as Cheyenne.

A considerable amount of time between the murder and the body's discovery caused significant decomposition. The inquest caused even further delay. Because of this, Bob Ferguson's body was finally laid to rest near his family's land just south of Kirby the Saturday following the inquest.

To this day, Bob Ferguson lies by himself, with no other graves in the vicinity. A lonely headstone marking the final resting place of Bob Ferguson can still be seen a few yards east of Highway 314, about two miles south of the Kirby Saloon. Perhaps he still ventures out at night. Who can say for sure?