The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1875-01-01
A RACE FOR LIFE.
A Fair OF scaips Barely saved-LieuLo
Whetmore and His Servant Find Very
Little Choice Between Redskins and
Snow-Storm I'm the Texas Pan Handle.
from the Leavenworth Commercial.

| From the Leavenworth Commerciall
1t appears that on the 10Th uIt.,
Lieut.. Whetmore, accompanied by a
servant, left Gen. Miles headquarters
on the Washita to carry dispatches 10
Camp Supply. Reaching the Canadian
river, he concluded to leave the train
and escort with which he had been
travelling and strike for Supply, accom-
panied only by his servant. This was
a very risky undertaking, as the balance
of the story will show. Scarcely had
Whetmore and Hamilton, his servant,
left the train before they saw signs of
the redskins. But they were both
full of pluck and anxious to reach their
destination and SO, unmindful of the
danger they were in, detiantly gallOped
on toward the north. Toward night,
on the 18th, the two reached stream
where they determined to camp, but on
rounding a point came suddenly on
/ band of three redskins who, on seeing
the blue coats, scattered through the
| brush like leaves before a winter wind
Here was a nice position for the tive
men, for they well knew that the In.
dians they had met were but stragglers
of a still larger party in the immediate
neighborhood. And so it proved. Re
tracing their steps they put spurs to
their horses, only to ride into the midst
of q party Of nine mounted savages
who were so completely taken by sur
prise at the appearance of the soldier
boys that they merely turned on their
horses and gave one steady, prolonged
stare at the blue-coated intruders. But
/ Whetmore and his companion did not
take the introduction so coolly. Quick
/ ly wheeling their horses they started
down the slope and out on the sleety
and frozen prairie with the speed of the
wind. They were in for it now. One
/ look behind them revealed the savaees
in full pursuit. But they had a good
start. The wind was blowing gale
from the northwest and the piercing
needles of sleet drove straight into
their faces with binding fury, but they
could neither stop nor change their
course. On went the fugitives, and on
came the blood thirsty pursuers. 1t
was veritable race for life. None OF
your dime-novel fictions, but a living,
breathing, palpitating, exciting fact.
Nine hell of the frontier after
two blue-coats and their scalps. This
was the exact situation, and Wetmore
and his companion knew it. They also
knew that their horses would not hold
out long against the terrible storm, and
began to devise ways and means to sell
their lives as dearly as possible. They
thought of making a stand in the buffalo
wallows, when the remembrance of the
terrible fate of Chapman and his COM
panions made them dig in their spurs
little deeper and seek more favorable
location. At last it was evident that
they could go no further, and some.
thing must be done.
The trail they were making on the
sleety surface told them there was no
escape by flight, so unslinging their
carbines, they dropped behind small
thicket and prepared to "pass in their
checks as lively as possible. BY this
time darkness had set in, and the storm
of sleet and snow was raging with un-
abated fury. Long and anxiously those
two benumbed and benighted men knelt
on the frozen crust and waited for the
appearance of their savage foes, but
they came not.
Either the redskins had been pelted
out of their purpose by the terrific
storm, or else they had con to the
conclusion that the market price of two
scalps would not justify more than one
or two twenty-mile heats on q stiff and
slippery prairie. At all events they
gave up the chase. Lieut.. Whetmore
and Hamilton stayed behind the thicket
all night, narrowly escaping freezing to
death, and expecting every moment
that the whoops of the savages would
be heard and the crash of tomahawk
put them out of their misery and end
the terrible, terrible suspense.
When morning dawned the savages
had disappeared, but the beleagured
men were in another pickle. They we're
lost on the prairie. Lost as effectually
and completely as though they were in
mid-ocean. The storm howled as fierce
as it did durin0 the night. BY nothing
in the heavens above or the earth be
meath could the points of the compass
be determined Weary, frozen, hungry
and discouraged, the wanderers began
TO feel that their miraculous escape OF
the night before was only putting on
of the inevitable. Finally, seeing that
they were completely bewildered, they
struck for the nearest stream and FOL
lowed it TO the mouth. 1t emptled into
larger one, and thus these men kept on
until after innumerable hardships,
they succeeded in striking the old trail
fifty miles south of Camp Supply. Forty
miles from the post they met the cavSl-
nv out in search for them, and were es-
corted TO quarters, having been nearly
three days without food, and with
their clothing frozen tight to their
bodies.
Lieut.. Whetmore says his hands and
feet are badly frost bitten, but other.
wise he is in good health and spirits.
Hamilton his companion in the advent
ure, has not yet arrived from the
frontier, owing to his exhausted condi-
tion.
DURING the late bathing season an in
dividual walked up to the office of sea
side hotel, and with considerable -four
ish signed the book and exclaimed:
I'm Lieutenant Governor of ="
"That doesn't make any difference"
says the landlord "you'll be treated
just as well as the others"