Jack saves princesses.

This is a tale from Terry; Montana and a man I got to know as Jack who was known to the town as Ole Pierce. To me, I got to know him through my great cousin Albert, who visited him being of the same trade junkmen at heart.

This is the tale of the princesses. Bootlegging in Havre, Montana during the 1920s was a dangerous field of work. The Kennedy boys were a mean vicious lot. This tale is told by an old timer junkman to children that visit him every blue moon. Canada the road to rum, whiskey and beer ran through Harve towards Chicago by train and Denver via truck. Jack the story teller was a little orphan boy who was a watcher for the Kennedy's during the night and thief of passing trains cargo during the day.

One night while the Kennedy's stored their whiskey on a train bound to Alaska Jack accidentally fell asleep. He awoke bound to Alaska in a contain that was supposedly filled with whiskey from Canada. Three days he had nothing to eat only whiskey to drink. Finally, the train stopped at a port town because Jack could smell the fish. No one came that he recalls. The container was hoisted onto a ship, and all the yelling and screaming Jack could do no one heard him. He started to catch rats in the container and eat them raw. The container onboard had been placed high on the ship so all his calling to ship men and crew went unheard. The steamship smoke clouded his view so much of the time he spent hoping to catch a rat. Two weeks later the ship docked. Everything was unloaded onto a train. Finally, a soldier opened the crate and saw Jack. He was brought to an armed tent where he was asked about his circumstances.

The soldierly commander congratulated Jack on surviving and told him he had just been drafted. The group on the train was a combination US and British soldiers with train men from the states. Jack got to know the brake man and learned that whole group was off to save the Czar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.

The train adventure was something out of an old war story. The train being a steam engine would puff and stop at times due to the lack of coal. Several times along the way the whole attachment was put forth to cut wood, and or look for coal. Jack was useful during these times knowing a little Russian and Yiddish from his grandfather. Jack also got to learn how to slow the train down by applying the brakes going downhill.

The British having to bribe both the White Army of the Czar, Bolsheviks, wild revolutionaries, and the Red Army of Vladimir Lenin to get through the Siberian train railroad. The tale of that ride brought me back for several visits to Jack the junkman in Terry, Montana. There was the Japanese army of a million men who were taking up positions on long the road. The bribe was a jewel the size of a baby's fist to the general in command. They were attacked several times and held the train with three machine guns and a cannon.

One of the more memorable tales was when Jack’s train had to backup fifteen miles because of no side rails to let the train of General Aleksei Kaledin by. Jack wild story here was more reflective in his face. Talking about how handbraking downhill was easy but keeping a whole train at a steady pace going backward in snow was terrifying. After that he was tired however because he knew some Russian and Yiddish he was forced back to work.

The tale Jack had was that General Aleksei Kaledin invited the officers and he was drafted as their messenger for a night party. His tale was of several professional night ladies dancing singing and drinking more vodka and spirits than he could remember doing so in his life. All he did was watch. But during the night General Kaledin required an extra bribe which the Brit paid several costly jewels and another ruby the size of a handful was the description.

After that the train went to two stops to find the Czar. The first was a bust meaning the Czar had been moved, and the second was Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg.

Finally, they reached Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg. This time an American office, a British officer/royal and Jack as a scout went into Yekaterinburg. The British officer spoke flawless Russian, however, no one in public wanted to speak with him.

Finally, Jack took the lead asking for some bread. Jack was a quick child and knowing some Yiddish allowed him to ask the right kids around the train yard to find the family. Upon getting to the house, there was not much to the tale. The officers bribed the local official and were preparing to leave with the whole family. However, the family doctor said Alexei could not be moved. The Czar would not go without his son. Finally, the four daughters were allowed to go. Getting back to the train yard, there was a run-in with the locals.

One of the daughters was murdered there. Jack's description was not of an execution more like a disagreement with the person accepting a bribe and then that person trying to retake the four girls. Anastasia Nikolaevna got separated. Knowing that name I asked how? He said Anastasia was next to a building when the official pulled out a pistol and awkwardly was being restrained by the Brit when the gun went off. Olga was shot dead. Jack only said that after Olga had been shot that Anastasia just was not there. One moment she was and the next no sign. There was snow, so he looked but could not find her. Anyway after looking for a few minutes both officers, Tatiana Nikolaevna, Maria Nikolaevna and Jack got back to the train. That was Jack's saving a princess tale. He said that the British office married Titiana and that Maria ended up as a missionary in Africa. His tale was fun, and he had many more about Butch Cassidy being a bootlegger in Nevada and such, but this one when he was done he pointed to a cabinet. Inside was one of those Russian eggs, which looked like the frame was made of gold.