Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1870-03-31
Selrrteo seiiseeIlaau.
WILD LIFEIN THE WEST.
stories about Trappers.

wonderful story of the seventy years which
had come and gone since John Vancouver
sailed with his stately ship up Puget
Sound, know not: tor the leathern coun
tenances of the Indians, like dead men,
tell no tales. The medals that Lewis and
Clarke distributed among the Indians al
the mouth of the Columbia river could still
be sometimes seen In the Chinook lodges,
though that tribe had long disappeared,
with all the Columbia and Willamette
tribes, from their old homes.
ssOld Astoria voyagers / sometimes came
across. The son of that Pierre Dorion,
whose escape With his heroic Indian moth
er, after the murder OF his father, is SO
graphically portrayed by Irving, was my
fellow-traveler for weeks together before
knew how historically interesting he was;
and the grandson of one-eyed Concomoly,
chief of the ChinoOks, the marriage of
whose daughter 10 the factor of Astor is so
amuseingly related, trudged side by side
with me for many summers day. Cap
tain Bonneville was not to me, as he is to
many, a shadowy abstraction, invented by
the novelist, on which to hang mahy a
quaint tale of love and war; but was a
hearty, genial veteran, no way backward to
fight his battles over again when he got a
ready listener.
''Some of the trappers whom
knew are old men, and it has been my lot
to know, among others, such men as the
celebrated Kit Carson, Jim Baker, Jim
Bridger and others. Such men were al
most universally Americans; and though
thev were not at all inimical to the female
Indian, yet they invariably entertained i'm
plscable feud against some particular tribe.
They had also their favorite tribe. against
whom it was rank sedition to say q SINGLE
word. Grows kin be trusted, an old fel-
low would say round the camp, his mouth
filed with tobacco; Snakes amt no such
count; but il We wants to get the meanest
pizen-bad lot of Injuns, just trap fall
down to the Washoe country, justp And
afterward you would hear some other man
give exactly an opposite opinion. On closer
observation you would generally find that
the landed tribe was the one whom he had
lived longest among, to which his sQuaw
belonged, of which was the easiest TO ostrike
a bargain with; for. generally speaking,
these mountain men are very unreason-
able set when speaking on Indian matters.
'Old .Pegleg' Smith was so called.
to distinguish him from the numerous
Smiths of the West, on account of wood
en- leg, which he had worn ever since any
body remembered him. Old Pegleg's day
was over before / knew him. and all re-
member of nim was a garrulous old fellow
In San Francisco, no way backward to take
a drink when he found any one willing to
invite him. His adventures formed the
subject matter OF book published some
years ago; and if / recollect rightly, an ar
ticle appeared in one Of the English maga-
zines, about the same period. On one oc-
casion old Pegleg came down to a frontier
brandy port, and there in few weeks not
only spent all the earnings of the past sea-
son, bat had also run so far in debt that his
fine white horse, which had been his COM
panion for years, was placed in pawn In
the traders stables. 1t was in vain that
Smith begged its release. Pleading prov
ing vain, Pegleg tried to get possession of
the stable-key, but that attempt also proved
futile, until at last, all pacific methods fail
ing, he resorted, as a last expedient, to
force Waiting until the trader was asleep,
he hoped to the stable door, applied his
loaded rifle TO the key-hole, and in crack
blew the lock of In another crack the
trader. aroused by the noise, was on the
ground; but only just in time to see his
debtor careering Joy ously, on the back of
the white horse, over the prairie, waving
his cap, and galloping at such rate as to
put pursuit out Of the question.
"a remarkable man. but one much less
known, WAS Albert Pfeiffer. Like Carson,
be was in the irregular Mexican cavalry;
indeed, he was lieutenant colonel of the
same regiment. de was q man of very
singular appearance. His red beard grew
in patches. the intervening space appear
ing burned and discolored. This was owing
to his having been poisoned by some of
the Indians arrow-poisons years before.
He wore blue goggles to shield his weak
eyes; yet, though tney were weak, they
were bright, clear and quick. His was al
most chastity in its signs of suffering, and
he walked stiff, with a cane, being scarred
with nearly twenty wounds, carrying inhis
body some Indian souvenirs of bullets, and
bearing two frightful MARKS where an arrow
had pierced directly through his body, just
below the heart A native of Frissland, he
came to the United States some 80 years
ago, and during all that time served as an
Indian pacifcator, fighter and trapper. or as
a guide to passes in the mountains known
only to himself and the Indians An ac-
quaintancc of mine used to relate an anec-
dote OF Pfeiffer. They had started on a
tour together, and as they rode along. the
colonel gave him various directions how to
behave In case they were attacked by In
dians; finishing by saying, In his broken
English: And now, don't forget, if me be
woanded, you kill me at once, for will not
fall alive into dere internal hands; dey tor
lure one horribly. And if you be wounded,
Iku vou, you see Don't failr
81 write of Albert Pfeiffer as he was four
years ago. For all I know to the contrary
he is still living; one of the last and the
bra7est of the mountain men
another specimen of the mountain man
wasan old fellow whom / may call Seth
ellie seth was rather an intelligent man.
and during our rambles used to be amused
to hear his opinion on men and things, all
of which he pronounced with the utmost
confidence, though his education las far as
book learning was concerned) was limited,
and his range ofe observation equally So
Still like estern folks, he looked upon
himself as particular smart, and . right
smart chance of an 'argifer.'
..Baillie had been a cook deal employed
as guide to emigrants (or, Is he called
them, 'emigranters), for whom be had q
supreme contempt The only job of that
sors ne ever looked back upon with pleas
ure vas the plotting a troop Of q. s. caya-
lry for service in the indian war of 1855, -
He greatly admired the 'smartness' of the
major in command, and the way be settled
a troublesome account. They had lost q
wagon here, and sold horse there. A SOL
dier had sold or Dartered DIS carolne now
and then; and, in fact, their accounts were
in such state that to present report and
to account for everything to the quarter
master general was impossible. At las
they came tc the Columbia river, and TO q
place where there was good deal OF dry
timber. Are there any falls aboat here,
Baillie?' the major asked Oh, yes; the falls
of the Columbia were not over q mile
We'll, then,' the major thought. Well
build a raft; the roads pretty bad On the
raft was placed broken wagon. three
legged mule, five or six broken caribines,
an empty cask, and few more such valu-
ables. The major wished to guide it along
With ropes, and though BailEe assured him
that the current was SO strong that this was
impracticable, he insisted. At last the men
shouted that they could hold on no longer:
Wall. then. let gor was the answer; and