Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1874-05-20

| pose alone soretired into the house TO await
further developments. Presently o num-
Der of motley looking figures, companions
of the dead indian, stole up, and selling
their fallen comrade set off in the direction
that he had been pursuing. For several
days / stayed at home, expecting to be
assailed by the friends of the Indian that
l had killed, but as they manifested no
such intentions l became less prudent and
on the fourth day, after being duly eau.
toned by father and mother to guard
\ against danger mounted my horse, well
| armed of course and set out to visit Nellie
| Martin, who, may as we'll state here, was
to me the most charming object to be found
in the West. About half way between
Nellie's house and mine was thick belt
of timber through which / had to pass.
AS l entered this timber spoke to Duke,
and he quickened his gait TO a lope.
ave were about the middle of the tim.
Der when my horse suddenly stopped,
| shifted the air, and attempted to turn back.
Before could command him or even COM
prehend his actions, there arose, as If by
magic, almost a multitude of 1.-the, shabby
figures, heterogeneously made up OF flesh
| and dirt skins feathers, tomahawks, scalp
| ing-knives, and rifles. Almost before l was
aware of it / was prisoner, with lot of
dirty demons brandishing tomahawks
| over my head and threatening TO scalp me.
| Presently one of the Indians who was taller
1 and uglier than any of the rest, came for
ward and spoke as follows: Me great chief.
| White man kill great great chiefs brother
| great chief kill white man. Then he drew
aside and conferred with some of his braves
| in a tone so low that / could only make
| out a word now and then. However,
| l compTehended enough to understand that
| they thought L deserved horrid and ling
ering death to atone for the blood of the
| dead brave.
Whatever their programme was, they
soon determined what to do. Then they
tied me on a bare-backed horse, and the
! whole band, of whom there were about
| thirty in number mounted and struck out
| over the plains, takeng me with them.
| We had ridden about forty miles, and L
was beginning to think that L had already
suffered enough to pay for the blood Of
the entire tribe, when the whole band sud-
denly came to a standstill. Before US
| stood two trees, each about foot in diam
| eter, and between the two there was
space of about eight feet. / scanned these
trees narrowly, for as there were no other
trees inf sight, knew that the noble red
men contemplated mischief.
Presently they all dismounted, and
then 1 was united and made to stand be-
tween the two trees. Then an Indian pro-
duced some strong cord, and proceeded to
tie one around each of my wrists. Having
done this, an Indian was sent up each of
the trees, one having hold of the cord on
my right wrist. the other having the cord
that was attached to my left wrist. They
proceeded to the hight Of about twelve feet,
and then commenced drawing me up in
the air between the trees. 1 yelled with
pain, but it did no good. The Indians con-
tinued to hoist me up, until my feet were
nearly two yards from the ground. Then
they made the cords fast to the two trees
and was swinging in the air with nv
mr. ofr or full Ian th NJ
with this, however, they tied two other
cords around my ankles, and my feet were
drawn apart in the same manner. There
/ was, suspended in the air like big letter
y, with all those red devils jeering and
laughing at me. The villains next proceed
ed to build fire on the ground beneath me,
and for an hour at least L was smoked and
singed until | was almost unconscious
cat last, the fire having burned itself
out, these children of nature began to
study up some other mode of pastime
-Four of the scoundrels having rifles walked
away short distance and amused them
selves firing at me, to see how close they
could come without actually hitting me-
The bullets whistled past me, they tore
through my clothes, and grazed my flesh,
while the blood trickled down upon the
ground beneath me.
81 thought of Nellie, my own, little
bright.eyed Nellie, and then / determined
ludL IA ever my lluuDS were Tree aBdlu, i
would escape or die. Presently the four
Indians raised their rifles and aimed them
with more care than usual. / thought
they meant to kill me, but when they fired
/ dropped to the ground so suddenly that
/ thought L making my exit from the
world. AS soon as / could collect my
scattered senses, found that the Indians
had shot the cords in two, as specimen of
their skill, and hence my sudden descent
to terra .tirnlG.
" For q minute my limbs were 30 numb
that 1 could not use them then again a
vision of Nellie, of home, and friends,
came into my mind, and L resolved more
firmly than ever to escape. Like flash of
light an expedient occurred to me, and if
/ could only carry it out successfully L
would be free. Calling the chief to me i
informed him that if he would let me live
day longer / would learn him secret
that would make his tribe Cneof the great
est and most wealthy tribes on the face of
the earth. At first he appeared TO doubt,
but think that no harm would come of it,
he acting quiesced, and demanded my
secret. produced a pint bottle from my
pocket filled with liquid. All the In
dams were curious to hear what il was, and
crowded close around me. Great chief,
said /, form line with your noble braves
and you shall have the secret In an in
slant they were in line and all attention.
Great chief, said /, in this bottle there is
a liquid, which, if you will open your
hands wide and straight, and let me pour
some OF the liquid on your hand, and you
will then press your two hands together
for little while, when you open your
hands they will be full of gold Will YOU
aud your noble braves try it?' A row of