Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-26
- ILLlEl.tN
"C0MANCHE BILL.


d SluOObu ldc6.tACepCItlB ollgtC LfOuotdStAC
dressed'in -buckskin eyeralls, ornamented
with steel beads on the seams from thigh tC
heel, q SHAGGY, hairy coat made of the skin
of the Mexican hon, the whole surmotnted
with an immense broad brimnled, black
beaver hat. The wearer had. nervous
kind of walk, making rather long strides,
and seeming ever and anon TO be on the
lookout for somebody or something.
This individual, early in The day, strolled
along Third street, and inquired for the
Times and Chronicle Office. He entered
our comting-rcom without much ceremony,
causing several little boys to retreat to the
further end rather more politely than they
are accustomed to do in the presence OF
strangers. Leaning one elbow on the
counter the stranger. remarked, very much
after the style of 81. NJ" the cratic phil
osopher: " p
81 say, what's that you've been publishing
about me?n .-..---.-
Our clerk, in as amiable tone of voice as
be could command, responded that he did
not know. 90
81 mean what Girls wrote about Conan
che Bill" t.e
The idea of a live COmanche Indian de-
manding satisfaction in newspaper office
was rather startling; but the clerk being
suddenly reinforced with number OF as
sistants, together with one or two reporters,
he replied:
"Oh! you are one of Crisis friends? re-
member he did write some complimentary
things about you in letter from Chicago
last week.
81 heard he did," said COmanche, mel
lowing his voice slightly, and betraying an
attempt at a smile. 81 would like to see
what he did write. He told me he was
going to put me in the papers,"
A copy of last Wednesdays Times and
Chronicle was handed our visitor, and he
was invited to seat in our sanctum. He
accepted the invitation, but with some hesi-
tatiOn, remarking that he would about as
leave enter the ranch of body of Sioux.
We assured him there was no danger, as
the only weapon we carried was sharp
pencil.
While he was reading Gris's letter we
stole a searching glance at his face. 1t was
very light, and we began to suspect we were
sold.
"Just as l expected" exclaimed our new
acquaintance. 'Gris is heavy on the In
dian. He's got Indian on the brain.h
''You are not, then, full-blooded Co
manche?" we ventured to inquire.
"No Indian at ALL" was the sharp, bitter
reply. "H-ll, I'd annihilate the whole
race"
excuse me. And so Girls has been
selling us all, has he?" ....
That's his way of telling a story, reck-
on. It's all true, however, except where he
says killed Little Crow 1t was Black
Wolf that killed in hand to hand fight,
who was one of Little Crows warriors"
"Comanche Bill" we learned in fur
ther conversation with our visitor, is a nick
name given TO him by his backwoods friends
on account of his hostility to the Comanche
Indians. His real name is George W. Por-
ter, whose early life was spent in the pio-
neer settlements of Minnesota. While he was
absent from home, party of Sioux, headed
by the blood-thirsty Black Wolf, attacked
the little settlement by night and killed
every soul in it. Among the slain were the
parents ofBill; and his mother, whom he
tenderly loved, was killed and scalped by
Black Wolf himself. Bill got lock of his
mothers hair somehow, and swOre he would
have an Indian scalp for every hair in it.
He thereupon set himself deliberately TO
carry out his resolution. Passing through
many critical adventures, and coming out
safely, he encountered his arch-enemy,
Black Wolf, five years after the murder of
his mother. The meeting was on Silver
Lake near the Yellowstone River. Black
Wolf had many braves with him, and Bill
was accompanied by sixty frontiersmen.
The Indian chief wore the scalp of
Bills mother on his shield, and it is easy
I,
the battle that followed. In Bill's own
graphic language, awe went into them, and
got shot in the jaw. | had a chaW Of
tobacco in my mouth, and it went ont sud
dent, tell you. 1t played - with that
tobacco. Then l had my jaw bound up.
His band was almost all killed when met
him. He had my mothers scalp on his
shield" An awful fight ensued, in which
Bill received seventeen shots and cuts. But
he killed Black Wolf, and had the exquisite
and poetic satisfaction to ''lift his hair"
After this, Bills only sister, who had
been carried off alive by the Indians, was
heard of among the Cheyennes, and her
brother determined to rescue her. While
making the attempt he was himself captur-
ed, and the redskins, who now began TO
know something about their formidable
prisoner, subjected him toE frightful tor
lures. Among other things, they tied him
down and pounded" his finger-nails off.
Then they turned him over to an old
squaw, who, being childless, had an IN.
INDUCED genius for fagellation, and
who beat him daily in the most
fendish manner. One day he made his es-
cape, and, bleeding from many wounds, and
nearly dead, got into the trackless forest.
Here he nearly starved. In his own
word: ''All ate for six days was one roast
ed rattlesnake. You may think am blow
ing, but | will swear to it. | got to the
post and had my hands fixed up, and it was
two months before | could lift a bride.
When | could, lifted ten scalps for the ten
1t was no more than fair, was
ito' =
"Comanche Bil'' claims to have killed the
entire band that murdered his family. They
were ninety-siX in number, and he not OILY
lifted" their chair" but possesses all their
scalps. His whole pleasure in life consists
Of these sanguinary exploits and accumu-
ating these CHASTITY trophies. The tame
oys Of chasing the buffalo and Drawing the
hug of the grizzly have for him no charm.
are the sole game he cares for,
and these he follows up with implacabe and
persistent resolution. Sympathy is often
invoked for the unhappy Indians, and, in
Iced, to see them gradually melting from
The continent that once was theirs is a
mOurnful and touching spectacle. Yet if
anything could justify an undying vendetta,
Or even the devotion of pOSterity, to perpe-
.ual enmity against them, it is such pro-
vocation as that of "Comanche Bill"
He win remain in the city few days,
hen proceed to st. Louis, where he is to
meet parties that are going to the Far
West" for whom he is to act as guide and
scout. When he reaches the region of the
Cheyennes he intends, by some strategy or
other, to get among them and recover his
sister, or die in the attempt. He will fall
1t last, no doubt, in some desperate fight,
and his bones will whiten the desolate
prairie or molder in some obscure canon;
but his oath of retribution will have been
terribly fulfilled, and his slaughtered parents
viii be amply avenged, according to his own
savage code. -..--.--...
SAGACITY OF A DOG.
The Portland (Me.J Press says: "The
story, strange as it may appear, is
gOuched by several witnesses whose testi-
mOny is unimpeachable. A short time ago
a female Newfoundland dog was in the habit
Of coming to the house of a lady in this city
who would throw to it pieces of cold meat, |
which the dog would eat, and, having salts |