Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1871-10-21
EVENING STAR.
DOUBLE SHEET.
"COuRnche BILL,

Just before the FIRE a very notable character
PAID visit 20 Chicago. Our readers hardly need
10 De told hat there are figures on the pTAiries
a. piCtGr. SIue any ever drawn by Co5D.r ar
by the later school Of genre artist who have sue
cetccd bin. These eccentric persons OCCASION
ally appear on the fringe of society peep in ~
IL were. M the VindOwsO OF civilization, and then
n0Wlse fascinated by what they see there. betake
themselves again to the wilderness. So has
Gone !. t"manehe Bill" Butbef0re his fight ne
submitted to one OF the last and most dslirat.
processes OF mod m aTt-he allowed himself TO
&c 'lnt'rylsTCd' by Chicago reporter. To
that fact J. chiefly due what We now know OF
C"manthe Biili' and IL j. quaint and interest
ing enough 10 be worth telling.
q" CoManChe Bill devOtes his entire energies,
y Sc mstO the exciting ard hazardous pursuit OF
killing Indians. This occupation he ha> adopted.
not out ti mere caprice, but on a settled IFia-
CPic, which - certainly not without justifiya-
ton Many years ago. when Bill was in his
teens, az. way from his frontier home in Min
UeS0ta, a dreadful massacre occurred. A party
OF Sioux headed by the GlOOdthirSty Black
Wolf, attacked the little settlement by night
and killed every soul in il. Among the slain
we're The parents OF Bin, and his mother
whom he tendrriy loved, WAS killed ami
sCalVed by Black Wolf himself BIN got a
lock OF his mothers hair somehow, and Sxore
he would have an Indian scalp for every hair
IN It. lie thereUpOn set himself deliberately
20 carry ont this resolution. Passing through
many critical adventures. and coming out
safely, he encountered his arch enemy. Black
Vol, nve years after the murder of his mother.
i he meeting was On Silver Lake. near the yell
lOwStOne River. Black Wolf Lad many braves
with him. and Bill was accompanied by sixty
fTOntiersmen- The Indian Chief wore the scalp
OF Bhls mother on his shield, and it il easy to
understand how bitter and desperate was the
battIe that followed. In Bills own graphic
language, eve went into them, and got shot
IN the jaw. ! had n Chaw OF tobacco in NV
jaw mouth. and II went out student. tell you.
. III played - with that tobacco. Then had
my Jaw bound M. His band was almost all
hlIled when j 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 cliff his ha'r.''
After this, Bits only sister, who had been
carried on alive by the Indians, was heard OF
among the Cheyennes, and her brother deter
mined to rescue her. While making the attempt
he was himself captured, and the redskins, who
now began TO know something about their for
midable prisoner, subjected him to frightful
fortunes Among other things, they tied him
down and pounded" his finger-nails oft. Then
tht turned him over to an old Squaw, who. be-
Ing childess, had an unindulged genius for flag
elatlOn, and who beat him daily in the most
nendish manner. One day he made his escape.
and bleeding from many wounds and nearly
Oead, got into the trackleSs forest. Here be
nearly starved. In his own words ssAI ate
Tor six days was one roasted rattlesnake You
may think i am blowing. but I will swear To it.
IigOt TO the post and had my hands fixed I'D
and II was two months before could lift a bri
de When could. lifted ten scalps for the
ten hngeT-nails. IL was 10 more than fair
was it, "COmanche BIZ claims to have now
killed the entire band that murdered his
family, They were ninety-six in number, and
he not only lifted all their 'ha'r," but pos
s'sses al their Scaips His whole pleasure in
life consists Of these sanguinaTy exploits and
Accommodating these CHASTITY trophies. The tame
joys of chasing the buffalo and Drawing the hug
OF the grizzly have for him no charm Redskins
are the sole game he cares for. and them he fol-
lows UP with mpiaCable and persistent rtS0lu-
ton. sympathy il often invoked for the I'M
happy Indians; and indeed, 10 sc them gradu-
ally melting from the continent that once was
theirs j. "A mOUTnful and touching spectacle.
Yet n anything could Justify an uH9ying ven
delta. or even the devotion Of VOStcrity to per
pttUal enmity against them. IL il such a provo
cation a. "COmanChe BIIs." He will fan at
last, no doubt, in some desperate fight, and his
bones viii whiten the Il SOlatr prairie or m,lirT
IN some obscure canon. bat bis oath Of rutTihu-
ton will have been terribly fGitlltd. and his
slaughtered parents viii be amply avenged, ac-
-cOTdLng U his own savace cNle.