The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1871-06-17

CARELESS SHOOTING ON THE FRONTIER
A letter from an eN-post chaplain to the
New York Tribune, dated FooteYille, Wis,
June 3, says:
On the march of our regiment from Sioux
CITY, Iowa, to Fort Sully, ID. T., we were
overtaken by young frontlcrsman. whose
parents live in the northern part of the Ter
ritory. He had been with Gen. Sibley's cX-
pedition, had been recently discharged, and
was now on his way home. With us he
could have company and rations. He
had his horse, rifle, and cavalry accoutre-
ments with him. After We had gone into
camp one evening, and supper was over,
the BOYS gathered in groups, as usual, to
enjoy chat. In the group around our
truntIersman a discussion arose OIL The
respective power and accuracy OF their
pieces. This young man praised his
piece above all others Tor long
range and accuracy. just then one
of our men saw what he thought was q
buffalo, or deer, crossing butte, about Il
mile of, and challenged him to shoot at
that. But he said it was neither deer nor
q buffalo, but all Indian, and he thought he
could hit him, or at any rate he could scare
MIN. He drew bead and fired; the object
was seen to spring up in the air, and some
one exclaimed, "You hit him." He re-
oiled, very coolly: "Don't know; an Indian
would jump that way and then fall down
If he heard the whiz Of ball, just to pre-
vent your firing again." Some OF our boys
caught his spirit, aud said SIT was only III
Indian, anyhow" but most of them were
shocked that a man, who had never done
them any harm, should be shOtat i'll so cold
blooded Il mlnuer. At roll call one OF
our soldiers were missing. Another OF the
company said be fell out at 4 stream about
two miles back to catch fish for supper;
another said lie was down with Company
X, so the inquiry was passed over unan-
sWered. The sergeant, however, who
shared the shelter tent with the young man
who had shot ut the Indian, was restless all
night, and could not sleep for thinking
that perhaps it was young F., the missing
man, that was shot. He watched for peep
of day, then woke the young man up, pro-
posing to 60 UP the butte and see il he had
hit that Indian. They went, and when they
drew near enough to see the object on The
ground distinctly, the tlontiersman, who
was ahead, threw up his hands ana eX'
claimed. "My God, il's soldier " 1t was
our lost colnrade, a quiet, peaceable youth
of about nineteen years OF age. The bail
had passed right through his head.
The young man who shot him was put
under arrest, depositions taken, and when
we reached the river was sent, by the first
down boat, under guard, to Sioux City.
Having been discharged, he was a civilian,
and we had to hand him over to the civil
authority. Had he been in the service, we
could have dealt with him under martial
law. He remained there until the grand
jury met, when they decided they had no
bill found. Had he shot
an Indian Wecou1d not have done anything
with him, as an Indian is nota citizen. A
Etrader, who has been several years in the
Indian country, told me If it had been an
Indian our regiment would have lost many
a scalp as the penalty of the wickedness OF
that one man. This would have led to re-
.prisals, and then there would have been
numerous accounts Of " Indian Outrages."