Faro takes all of Pete's money

GLADYS SHAY / For the Hungry Horse News

Story of an early settler losing all in a Faro game was told by Mike Berne in an interview with Dudley Greene, Feb. 28, 1958.

Dudley contacted Mike Berne after receiving a letter from Otto Rob, Landelius, Grabo, Sweden.

Information concerning Charlie Olsen, who sometime between 1900 and 1910 was a cook accompanying the U.S. Geological Survey and mapping crew who were working in Glacier National Park, was requested. Landelius wrote it was his understanding Olsen Creek in the Park was named for Charlie Olsen and he also asked for his nationality and early history.

Apparently it was the practice of the Geological Survey to name creeks after the names of their children.

Mike said the Olsens came here in about 1892. This was about the time Mike Berne came to the area. Mike told Dudley the following story.

Louie Olsen was just a young man and had a farm here. His father had a quarter section of land in Iowa and Louie asked him to sell it and come here and live with him. They all connected up as planned.

He had a brother, Pete, who was a saloon keeper with a bunch of rounders and crooks up here in Columbia Falls. He comes up and they were going to play a game of Faro. They knew the old man had all the money. They had a Faro box, said they had the ceiling as the limit and they would cut a hole in that if that wasn't enough. They worked over an hour.

They had a credit against the house, a bunch of rounders playing among themselves, and they took all of Pete's money and gave the old man a dollar.

At that time Charlie was just a young boy. He came here with his parents and the family had an awful hard time making their living to get going.

There were two girls, handsome young women. Katie was the oldest and she married in Seattle. Ida went back and she was working in St. Paul.

She took up with a married man and they were wealthy people. She went and made a trip to Europe with him and they traveled all over.

On the way back they just missed getting on the Titanic, the big boat that hit the iceberg and went down. They just missed it and got on another boat and came back to St. Paul and he got sick.

She went with him to the hospital and his family gave her a bunch of money. She came back here and then went down to Arizona and took Charlie with her. She died there and Charlie died of consumption.

Gladys Shay is a longtime resident and columnist for the Hungry Horse News.