The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1874-10-27
Srlert Stn1y,.
+ AN INDIAN TRAP. 4
BY LIEUTENANT MURRAY.

DI LII EUlbNANI MOhhA1.
:. A few years ago, before tile Pacific
Railroad had spanned the American
Desert with Its iron tracks, there was a
military station, small adobe fort, on
the North Platte, near the present site,
Of Hawk-Eye, where hundred infantry
men were generally located by the War
Department, more for the purpose of
Keeping up military show to the In
diahs than for sny service SO few men
could perform in that isolated situation,
The command was often shut up in
their stockade-for it was hardly more
at timex unable Ito stir out
upon the plains, whichoswarmed with,
savages. II an unfortunate soldier was
caiIght, ,ohe swasl instantly nomalawked.
and scalped, his body stripped Of every
thing, and mutilated in the most dis.
gustipg manner, after the, Indian ldliiip fash
ion, .r,,.,, ~:
The tribe which lurked about Fort.
Lincoln, as the men, had named the
stockade, were mostly Sioux, and though
often enough in sight of the little gar
.rison, yet they. knew enough to keep
well out of rifle shot, for in the state of
feeling then prevailing, not an officer
or soldier would have hesitated to shoot
q Sioux any more than he would have
spared a gray wolf The little COM
mand had lost, in the course of four
months, five or SIX of their best men,
who had ventured too far from the fort
after prairie chickens or shot, at,
passing herd of antelcpes, and resolved
TO play the redskins some tick which
should not only punish them as severe,
ly as possible, but which should also
frighten the savages. .,s..e.e y,
So. one day party got together, and
with the aid of the captain command.
ing, they constructed two lay figures,
which were clothed in. uniform coats
and foraging caps, and SO stuffed and
arranged as to exactly represent a
couple of private soldiers in sitting
position. These dummies were SO ar
tisticafy manufactured as to pass for
the real thing at tew rods distance, and
would have deceived any One who was
not particularly on his guard After
these decoys we're finished, a party Of
six men, with picks and shovels, went
out of the fort after dark and dug a
large hole, just at the foot of a low
bluff, some four or five hundred yards
from the fort, star-shaped and radiating
some ten feet, the dirt thus thrown ur
being carefully carried back to the. fort
/ III wheelbarro&s.. '"'o.o''S's
In this star shaped excavation were
placed over fifty pounds Of gunpowder,
covered with old scrap iron and rusty
nails, aud packed over all with prairie
grass, SO as to give it what engineers
call good mead, or in other words.
confning the po wder so as to give it
the necessary, explosive power. All
was then covered over with boards and
sodded, SO that casual observer would
not have noticed that the ground had
been at all disturbed.
An electric wire was then arranged sc
as TO reach the six divisions of the stal
shaped excavation, and run to the fort
being sufficiently covered for. purposes
of protection and secretion. There thu
end was made ready for attachment tt
small electric battery. 7I ret
The Indians never give the frontie
troops or settlers any trouble during th,
might, especially avoiding any exposure
to moonlight, however lively they may b
after daybreak. Sc all these arrange
ments we're very handily performed b,
starlight, while the Sioux were peaceabl,
sleeping in their camps some six or eigh
miles distant. The two dummy figure
were placed in the middle Of the star
shaped space which had been mined wit
their backs toward the bluff, and so stu
ated as to appear to be engaged togethe
at game of cards, the universal resol
OF the rank and file for killing time.
| All being thus made ready the wir
end was SO arranged with the electric:
battery that the operator could see til
, lay figures from little embrasure in th
wall of The stockade, and the officer VIII
superintended5 the affairq was alread
watching his novel and dangerous ira
for bagging few Sioux. There was Ii
: tie sleep among the command that nigh
every one entering into the spirit Of Il
trick, and determined to be awake
witness its operation. At the last mt
menta venturesome corporal went oil
to make sure that everything was in pc
feet order and sure to operate when rt
quired, coming back to the fort throue
the darkness all safe. 9H ~ -. .s.f' a
The decoys had been placed just OIL
4 Of rifle range from the fort, so that tt
Indians would not suspect that it was
: trick to draw them within reach of O
bullets, and nothing remained bat
await their advent. ii1f eH' i.ss. :,
Many wakeful eyes watched the d
y breaking in the east that mornil
through the openings in the stockade.
1t was not long before dozen Sioux,
was almost always their morning Gu
n tom, put their heads over the brow
q the bluff to look about the fort and s
n if there were any stragglers outside
y walls on whom they might ,pounce a
rs secure scalp They did not for SOL
minutes detect the two men who seem