Rare Look Inside the Stone House
with the Luce Family
Superintendent Edward Luce at left
Copyright: Vestige Press 2012
Dr. Douglas Scott recently forwarded me an email
from William Schneider of the Larimer County History Museum in Wellington,
Colorado. Mr. Schneider needed help identifying a young man seen in two photos
from 1954. What struck my interest was the fact that the photos were shot inside
the Stone House (today’s White Swan Memorial Library) and included Edward Luce
and his wife Evelyn. It is rare to find photos from inside the Luce home while
he was superintendent of then Custer Battlefield National Monument.
Mr. Schneider explained in his email that he is documenting the history of an
Indian carbine and artifacts from Lt. Col. Elwood L. Nye. Nye was a U.S. Army
Veterinarian and his name shared in the famous Nye/Cartwright/Blummer Ridge of
the battlefield.
I had no idea who the young man was, but I immediately thought of Robert Utley
and Jerome Greene – they might know, so I sent them an email. Mr. Utley could
not make an identification because he had completed his work as a “summer aide”
(today’s interpreter of the battle story) two years previously, but he was able
to explain that the location in the photo “was the dining room in the old stone
house, with access to the kitchen just behind Evelyn.”
Mr. Greene replied with the details Mr. Schneider was hoping to find plus some.
“I checked the monthly superintendent's reports and found the following notation
for August 1954 under Visitors: ‘Colonel Elwood L. Nye, U.S. Army, Retired, now
a professor at Colorado A & M College, Mrs. Frank Sibrava of Goodland, Kansas,
and City Manager Dick Baker of Fort Collins, Colorado were at this area August
24-27, collecting data for an article on the battle.’ There is also this
notation: ‘Mr. James S. Hutchins of Columbus, Ohio, formerly of the U.S. Army,
Class of 1946, West Point Military Academy, was at this area from August 10 to
27, collecting data and photographs to be used in a book concerning cavalry
equipment used by the cavalry in the Custer Battle.’ I think the young man might
be Jim Hutchins. I knew him, and it kind of looks like him to me.”
In the photo L to R:
James S. Hutchins of Columbus, Ohio,
formerly of the U.S. Army, Class of 1946, West Point Military Academy
Lt. Col. Elwood L. Nye
Evelyn Luce
City Manager Dick Baker of Fort
Collins, Colorado
Superintendent Edward Luce
Photo
Copyright: Vestige Press 2012
Thanks to my friends, I could now advise Mr. Schneider who the mystery man was
but I was still perplexed as to where in the Stone House this dining room table
was located. My earliest recollection of inside the house was from my first
visit in June 1981 and my viewing of the NPS interpretive film, “Red Sunday”. We
were seated in the area which would later be converted to John Doerner’s office.
The TV was sitting on a stand near the back window in the area of today’s
library.
L-R: Luce, Nye, Hutchins, Luce,
Baker
Copyright: Vestige Press 2012
Although there are
drawings of the interior and changes to the Stone House over the years, those
are located at the battlefield and I am not. Luckily, Dr. Scott – with Mr.
Utley’s hint – figured it all out. Dr. Scott explained in an email, “I believe
the fireplace is in Doerner's office and some of the stacks are just beyond it
in what would have been the kitchen according to Bob Utley. I think that is
where you would have seen Red Sunday. The area where the bathrooms are now, may
have been a mudroom at one time. The back door area once had a cover that went
to a large barn/maintenance building made of rock like the house.”
You can see a very early version of that “large barn/maintenance building” in
this 1895 photo of the Stone House.
Copy in the White Swan Library
files, courtesy of
the Montana Historical Society Collection.
A day after posting this report, Mr. Utley followed up with another email
to me which included more details about the interior of the Stone House
and Jim Hutchins:
The dining room in the Old Stone House was not big, and since the office
and reception center were in the front room, it had to serve as a living
room too. It had a couch against the wall facing the cemetery and another
easy chair slanted toward the couch. The curtains hang from the top of the
door leading into the kitchen. In the second picture I can definitely
confirm Jim Hutchins. He was a longtime friend who ran the Plymouth
dealership in Columbus, Ohio, until I induced him to apply for one of
those federal scholarships of the time. He went to the University of
Arizona for several years before dropping out to pursue his true love as a
museum objects guy rather than a historian-writer. Jim graduated from West
Point in 1946 and was assigned to the 27th Infantry, then on occupation
duty in Japan. He decided he didn’t want an army career and opted out in
May 1950—a month before Korea. The regiment deployed at once to Korea a
month later and suffered terrible casualties. All the officers in Jim’s
company were killed.
Thanks to Robert Utley, Jerome Greene, and Dr.
Douglas Scott for all the pertinent details. And, a big thank you to William
Schneider of Larimer County History Museum, Nye/Baker Archives for permission to
publish these photos. I'll see you on Last Stand
Hill, Bob Reece February
26, 2012 (Back
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