Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1875-08-19

continued until some time after dark. the
fires burning brightly, while the confusion
and hustle were greater than usual An
hour after sunset the entire caravan. with
the exception of four men, started silently
up the gulch and never halted until they
had reached the open prairie, fully q half
dozen miles away. When they set off they
lett behind them two large baggage-wag-
ons, and each OF us four men had his own
horse.
| There was every reason to believe that
| the Indians intended to attack us at this
place, as Leggett had told us, and we
adopted this not very original article in
the hope Of throwing them off the track.
Favored by the darkness, we believed we
could make them think the entire party
was in camp, and by making a gallant
show hold them at bay until the women
and children, with their escort, would have
time to get beyond their reach. After the
departure of our friends we permitted our
camp-fres to smolder, for if there were
too much light keen eyed Indian would
be apt to detect the trick we were attempt
ing to play upon him. All this being ar
ranged as carefully as possible, two of us
stationed ourselves upon one side the
rpvine and two upon the other, our horses
being tethered a short distance below us
where they could be reached at a mo-
ment's warning All of us were lying fiat
in the grass near the top of the hill, so
that we could peer into the gloom without
the danger of being seen ourselves, while
we were enabled to make better
use OF our ears than our eyes, for
by applying our ears to the ground
we were sure to detect the approach of
a horse, no matter how carefully he was
guided. We had lain upon the ground
less than two hours when [ heard the
faint but distinct sound of a horses hoofs,
to which were instantly joined those of
several others. [ gave utterance to a low.
soft, tremulous whistle to apprise the
others of what was coming, and the re-
plies instantly came back. Within five
minutes [ caught the shadowy outlines of
a horse, whose head was directly toward
me, and who approached within twenty
feet before | could make certain that he
had man upon his back. [ took the
best aim possible and fired. The horse
wheeled and dashed away, but as he
turned | saw the arms of his rider thrown
) up in the air. Almost at the same mo-
ment the crack of a rife was heard upon
The opposite side Of the gulch, and imme-
diately after the sound Of a third GUN di-
rectly up the rayine in the direction taken
by the caravan. This last SHOT caused us
great uneasiness, for it looked very much
as If our ruse had been detected, though it
had been our belief up to that moment
that the women and children were all of
two miles away.
After these shots all remained quiet for
an hour, when [ began to give way to nv
droWslness, and assuredly should have
fallen asleep but for another report ND the
ravine, evidently from the same rifle we
had heard before. Several times during
the night we heard the sound of hoofs,
and in several cases Of men moving
about, but we could see nothing of them
and no further shot was fired within our
hearing during that watch. We remained
on the alert until near morning, when we
mounted our horses to ride away, certain
that if the redskins found out how few
we were they would make rush for us:
but when we came to mount we found our
number was reduced to three. An exam
ination proved that the fourth had been
killed and taken away, while the dead
| % hoI
been stealthily removed during the dark
| ness.
MGalloping a short distance up the gulch,
whom should we meet but old Bill Leg
gett, on his mustang, riding toward us at
an easy canter? Leading us up out of the
gulch to the prairie above he pointed to
two dead bodies in the grass.
You heerd my gun twict in the night,
didn't YEP" he asked. We replied that
we did, and were afraid it BODIED i'll to the
caravan. They're all right" he added,
with one of his terrific oaths; the first
shot picked off that loafer and the next
that one. They was down in the gulch,
keep 'em till daylight"
What was that for?"
"I'll show you"
With that he leaned over one of the
men and, with some water from his can
teen, rubbed the side of his face Then he
| split the sleeve of the others hunting
shirt. The result in both cases was the
| discovery that the skin was as white as
| our own. Both men were Caucasians, as
no doubt were all the others concerned in
this little incident, which took place less
than three months previous to the massa-
| ere at Mountain Meadows.
| Ancient Measurements.