Obituary of Gus H. Beaulieu
Record Editor Adds Addenda to TomahawkÂ’s Article Concerning Death of Noted Indian
The following obituary of Gus H. Beaulieu, the noted editor of the White Earth Tomahawk, and written by his brother, Rev. C. H. Beaulieu, appeared in last weekÂ’s Tomahawk and it is deserving of a place in the columns of the Record, first as a fitting tribute to a man whose life of work among his brethren is deserving of special mention; and secondly as a permanent feature of the history of Becker county, in the formation of which Mr. Beaulieu has played such a prominent and important part:
Gus H. Beaulieu is dead.
The call was sudden and occurred about 3 oÂ’clock p.m., on Wednesday, August 8th.
Since May he had been a resident of Barrows, Minn., whither he and his family removed for the recuperation of the health of his son, and to be near his ancestral home, the now extinct village of old Crow Wing, and to promote the mining interests he held in company with others.
He was born in Crow Wing on June 12th, 1852, hence he had completed the 65th year of his earthly pilgrimage.
His father, Clement H. Beaulieu Sr., had long been the agent in charge of the fur trading business conducted by the American Fur Company and whose interests he purchased about the year 1850.
He subsequently laid out the town of Crow Wing, and which at one time had great prospects of becoming a thriving town.
All through his lifetime Gus H. Beaulieu had been loyally attached to the place of his birth and through circumstances had led to his removal to White Earth in the year 1869, and a business life had led to a winter home at Minneapolis, his mind clung to old Crow Wing, and he often expressed his purpose to create a substantial home upon the old place which had come into his possession, and there to end peaceably and quietly the declining years of his life.
His hopes after a manner saw light for he was planning to enlarge and beautify the farm house he owned, but the end came suddenly and before the allotted three score years and ten.
In the forenoon of the day of his death he and his wife and son decided to spend the afternoon fishing. Shortly after luncheon they embarked in their car and drove to a lake on the west side of the Mississippi river where as a boy he had fished often.
He was in exceptionally fine spirits, and reached the lake full of anglerÂ’s enthusiasm.
The road being quite rough, the car was not driven to the lake, so the three disembarked a few paces from the waterÂ’s edge and proceeded on foot to the shore, Mr. Beaulieu leading. He had a fishing rod in one hand and a can of bait in the other, suddenly he fell forward at full length and crashed to the ground. His wife and son rushed forward and tried as they supposed to revive him from a faint, for as he fell they thought he had simply stumbled.
Failing to revive him, his son sought a place from which he could telephone into Brainerd for a physician. He found a farm house and from there telephoned and after awhile a physician and the coroner arrived. The cause was pronounced apoplexy, and the attack so complete that the physician expressed the opinion that life had flown before the body reached the ground.
The body was taken by the undertaker who had been summoned to the spot, to Brainerd, and there prepared for transportation and interment.
Mrs. Beaulieu started for White Earth on the following day to help arrange the details of the funeral, and on the following forenoon the son left Brainerd with the body for White Earth.
The body was taken to the White Earth residence and on the following morning at 10 oÂ’clock Rev. Mr. Kah-O-Sed of the Episcopal church held a brief informal service and gave a brief address.
The body was taken to the Catholic cemetery and Father Aloysius, pastor of the church, performed the interment rites and made an address.
The honorary pallbearers were Albert Fairbanks, Ben L. Fairbanks, Frank Roy, John Leecy, Wm. Potter, and Henry Selkirk. The active pallbearers were: B. S. Fairbanks, John Carl, Joe J. Fairbanks, John Heisler, Mike LaChappelle and Fred D. Beaulieu.
The writer refrains from dwelling upon the eulogies uttered by the two clergymen out of deference to the memory of the deceased, who always wished to keep his own and the family name out of the Tomahawk when connected with praise. But the writer also desires to pay testimonial to the worth of the deceased because it is due to his many friends everywhere, and because it expresses their own views, for his name and deeds have been rehearsed almost every moment with bowed head, tearful eye and trembling voice.
And now the once busy brain is at rest, the earthly pilgrimage is over, and he will no more be seen among us. He leaves a wife, Mrs. Ella, and a son, Chester, to mourn his loss, and the grief is shared by his sister, Mrs. Theo H. Beaulieu, his brothers, Rev. C. H. Beaulieu, Theo B., and R. G. Beaulieu, besides many nephews and nieces, and hosts of blood relatives elsewhere.
And his loss is distinct and great to this community and to all the Chippewas of Minnesota.
He was a leader among his people, the Chippewas, in whose behalf he spent all of his years since he attained to manhood.
His every thought was in their behalf, his time and means were given unstintedly.
He braved official opinion at Washington and at Agencies. Bravely and well did he live up to the motto of his paper, The Tomahawk, “Justice and Fair Dealing For Every Indian Who Desires to Become a Good Citizen.” His sole purpose in publishing The Tomahawk was, “in behalf of and to secure the welfare of the Indians of the United States,” and with particular application to his fellow tribesmen, the Chippewas of Minnesota.
The Chippewas of Wisconsin also leaned upon him for support, and one of his last editorials was upon wrongs done to individuals in Wisconsin.
Who will, who can take his place, is the sad question men are asking one another in this community, and the same question is probably being asked in every Chippewa community.
There are, and will be champions, but it is a question in itself whether any will exhibit the courage and persistency of Gus H. Beaulieu, the man whose heart throbbed with sympathy for his people.
His private charity, too, was great, many a poor man and woman have been clothed and fed at his own personal expense. He was fond of children and often gladdened many a little heart after the manner pleasing to infancy.
“Gus” is gone and we shall all miss him, but his personality will long live in the memory of all who ever knew him.
The community and the family and relatives desire to express their gratitude for the courtesy causing the flag to be lowered to half mast during the day of the funeral.
The Tomahawk will continue to be published and will carry out the policies of the late publisher.
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Addenda
As a matter of history, it may be stated that Mr. Beaulieu was an efficient official of the Department of Justice as deputy United States marshal for many years and he rendered commendable service in suppressing the illegal liquor traffic on the reservation.
During the Sugar Point war between the government troops and the Bear Island band of Leech lake Pillager Chippewas, which was precipitated by the haste and imprudence of government officials in attempting to arrest Puck-o-nay-ge-shig, better known as “Old Bug,” chief of the Bear Island band, and in which war several soldiers were killed,Mr. Beaulieu, who was well known among the hostiles, went on a peaceful mission among the belligerent warriors and, at the risk of his own life, counseled them to make peace and to lay down their arms. On this mission he was accompanied by Rev. Fr. Aloysius, O. S. B., of White Earth. Their efforts proved successful and thus a peaceful ending was secured for what might have been a long and sanguinary difficulty between the government and the bands above mentioned.
About the year 1882-3 Mr. Beaulieu was associated with his brother in law, Theo. H. Beaulieu, in the publication of The Progress, at White Earth, the plant of which was seized by the arbitrary orders of the then United States Indian agent, backed by the Indian office at Washington, and the publishers thereof, as also the late Col. C. H. Beaulieu, were ordered to leave the reservation on “eviction orders” issued by the Indian office. However, “the Beaulieus” did not leave the reservation , but on the contrary they brought suit against the agency officials in federal district court at St. Paul and which was finally settled in the courts in favor of the pugnacious publishers, who then proceeded in behalf of the Indian Cause to open up a merciless journalistic warfare bombardment against Indian Bureau abuses and mismanagement generally, and which good work was continued for over two years, tending greatly to the betterment of existing conditions and the affairs of the Minnesota Chippewa Indians, and also of eradicating the snob autocracy of Agency officials. The arbitrary “order of eviction” was spurned by Grover Cleveland, then president of the United States, as “high-handed, unjust and contrary to the constitutional rights of the American people,” and he ordered the then secretary of the Interior, Mr. Lansar, to rescind or cancel the pernicious order and to permit “the Beaulieus” to go in peace.
Mr. BeaulieuÂ’s last big fight with the government was in what is now known as the White Earth Enrollment Cases, about nine years ago. Officials of the Department of Justice succeeded in having suspended from the agency rolls Mr. Beaulieu - for whom they cherished no love, and some eighty other members who were in sympathy with his policies. Mr. Webster Ballenger, a Washington attorney, represented the suspendees, and after a bitter contest, lasting eight years, it was decided that neither the Secretary of the Interior nor the courts had any jurisdiction in the premises, and the Commissioner of Indian affairs was instructed to reinstate the suspended people and to pay them all the annuities and other monies which had been wrongfully withheld from them.
The events of much of Mr. Beaulieu’s lifetime have a romantic tinge, and around him could be constructed a “true” story which would excel the works of some of our noted fiction writers. True, indeed, do we feel that we are justified in contending that this man has been a prominent and important factor in making past history in this section of the state, and that he is deserving of prominent mention in the records and archives of Becker county.
Gus H. Beaulieu has been called to his FatherÂ’s home, and whether or not you agreed with him, you were forced to give him credit for being a man of deep convictions, a loyal friend, a tenacious fighter, possessing a virile mind and strong personality, and a man with a large following of friends who had unlimited faith in his ability whatever cause he espoused.
So let it be recorded in historyÂ’s pages! [The Detroit Record; Detroit, MN; 24 August 1917]