Butte record., 1854-06-24


give them an opening broadsida; but
unfortunately, tac priHilg Of their guns
WIS wet, and they failed to FIRE. Had
not the slmo accident befallca tae enc
ny, the result Of the canoe fght might
have been very different. Dale now Or
dered Cesar to bring bis boat alour<i lie
the other, and holl them together The
warriors, confident Of thoi- strength, and
eager to grapplc with three men. whose
guns would / fire, allowed thc'r bon;
to movo leisurly along with the current.
IS the the two ncared each other, the
Chief arose, and with "a eiacnlation OF
defsnce TO "Big Sam, - leveiel his
gun at Smith b9ea-t; but before he
could draw trigger, the latter directed
blow at him, which woald have proved
fatal bad it not been adroilly avoided.
The canoes came together with a Jar,
which threw AustlI slightly off his bal
ance, and ere he could regain it, a well
directed blow from war-e.ub prostfa-
ted him across the boat. 4 hall DOZEN
powerful arms were raised to complete
the work, when the heavy rife OF Dali
came down upon the head Of ihe Chef,
with force which sank deep into his
skull Smith had not been Jess active,
and his trusty barrel hid fallen with Ike
effect upon the skull If another warrior,
and the two now felt their death throes
IN the bottom Of the canoe Austill had
in the meantime recovered, and added
h 5 strength to the work ofdestfuction.
The bold Caesar held the boats together
With an iron grasp, and with one foot in
each our he,oes fought. Two succa a>sivo
blows from Austill's rife despatched so
Of the enemy, one Of won f-lI overheard
Thinking 10 III ke sure Of his loe By
second stroke, Ausiill leaned forward t.
strike, when he was again pr0stratcd by
an Inti.n club. The exul;in- savage,
never forgetfnl Of scalp, raised the war
whoop-seized his victim by the haif-
the scalp knife clittered in the air, when
another timely blow from Dale's dubbed
rife divided his skull.
Tra5i'i4n says, that So great wls the
force OF the blow, the skull was split from
The crown to the veltebral column. In
lie meantime Smith, at tie other end Of
the canoe. grapplcd with two lusly war.
riors. lie was a powerful man; but
the chances now were aginst him The
ron clutches OF one Of his assailants are
upon his throat-the tonahavk of the
other above his head He sees his dan
ger one foot Is in one canoe. one in the
other. with a desperate effort he gets
both fsct in one canoe, and draws one
Indian after him, whlc thc sudden
movement s. parates the end of the boats
and leaves the others behind, to meet the
fate Of those all ready come in range of
Dalc's and Austin's rifles.
Smith now had his enemy in his pow
er, aud soon despatched him The con
dict now became eqaal-lhree to three.
The s1vaacs, reduced in unmber from
uinc % three, now fought wish energy Of
despair. Light aal active, they avoided
many Of the blows of the whites; and
daa.5, IN return, s's,' sell directed ones.
that tAey were b ginning to tell in their
favor when Dale, calling to Caesar TO
hold the boats firmly together, sprang
upon one Of the seats and dealt blow
which shivarel a club which had been
directed to meet 1t, and lcveled another
warrior. The remaining two were let to
have destruction metcd to them at the
hands of the victorious Dale who, whic
Smiih and Austi.l leaned upon their
bloody, and brain-bespIaliercd lifes,
de>pateAed them at two successive blows.
During the whole OF tn >ansuinary cen
fict, the heroes were encouraged BY the
continued cheers Of their comrades, on
either bank. Oh tie nine warriors,
Smith killed two, Austjll two, and Dale
five 'iIaviDg lad them all iow, says
Nr. Pickett, these uHdauuted Aneri-
cans began 70 cast them into the bright
waters Of the Alob ma-their naive
stream, now to be their graves Every
time a savage was raised from the bot
tom Of the canoe, and sluag into the wa
ter, the Americans upoa the 6aaks set
up shouts long aa4 loud, IS some Slight
revenge for the tragedy Of Fort Minis.
The Ind.an canoe presented sight un-
usual reyo.tinn-sereral inches deep in
savage blood-tlickencd with clods OF
brains and bupches Of hair, etc
A few years previous to the canoe fIht,
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