The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1876-08-10


ing myself, and selling my life at good
high figure. In the thicket found Mr..
Gerard, the interpreter, a half breed
@, Seventh Cavalry. The first two OF the
quartette had their horses, while O'Neil,
like myself, was dismounted. | told the
owners of the horses that the presence
of the animals would betray us, suggest
ing at the same time that they be STAN
peded. They declined to act on the
suggestion, and left them and crawled
through the thick underwood into the
deep, dry bottom of the creek, where |
could not be easily discovered, and from
whence / hoped to be able, under cover
of darkness, to steal out and rejoin the
command. had not been in this hiding
place more than ten minutes when l
heard several pistol-shots fired In my i'm
mediate vicinity, and shortly thereafter
came the silvery, but to me diabolical,
voices of several 'squaws. | raised
my head with great caution to see what
the women were at, and to discover their
exact location.
sQUAWs AT sCALPING.
I found the women at the revolving
work of scalping soldier who was per-
haps not yet dead. Two of the ladies'
were cutting away, while two others per-
formed sort of war dance around the
body and its mutilators. l will not at
temp to describe to you my feelings at
Witnessing the disgusting performance.
You, as the father of a family, can i'm
agine what another father would feel on
such a terrible occasion. 1 confess l
thought of my dear wife, my dear chill
dren, relatives, and friends, whom would
probably see no more, and there before
nv eyes was being performed what, in
the event of discovery, would be my
fate. I determined to hope to the last,
die as I had lived, and sell my life as
dearly as possible. Finally the squaws
went away, probably to hunt for more
victims, and employed the time think
ing of my perilous position.
SURROUNDED BY FIRE.
While thus engaged, heard a crack
ling noise near me, which, on investi-
eating, I found proceeded from the
burning wood, the Indians having ignited
fire. The wood being very dry the fire
made rapid Roadway, and I was forced
from my hiding place. I crawled out OF
the creek bottom the same way had ap-
preached, and, as I was about to ascend
| the bank, / heard voice calling, "Lleu-
tenant! Lieutenant |" [ could see no
one, but the callswas repeated, and, adj
vancing "a few yards in the direction
from which it proceeded, I found all
three of the party had left short
while before hidden in the bottom OF the
creek. Mr.. Gerard told me he had left
the horses, tied together, where l had
seen them, and followed down after me.
I found that the party, like myself,
were afraid of the progress of the fire /;
but, fortunately for us, the wind sub
sided and little rain fell, which, thank
/ God, was sufficient to arrest the flames
and revive our hope that we might be
able to remain there till night. 1t was
now 3 o'clock p. NJ, six more hours to
wait, and you may imagine how I'M
mensely long we found them. During
this time we could hear and often see the
Indians g. ound us, and could hear them
talk quite near us.
AWFUL SUSPENSE.
/ cannot find words sufficiently ex-
pressive to describe nay thoughts during
|
Many times [ asked myself If it was pos
sible that I should end myslife in SO bar
barous, inglorious and obscure man
ner. Sometimes I would answer myself
that it could not be I had gone through
SO many dangers, had made so many
sacrifices for my adopted country, 1 could
not think I should die in such way.
could not believe I had been preserved
SO long to end in SO unjust and obscure
manner. Finally the time came when,
under the protection of night Git was
very cloudy, we were able to come out
Of our hiding place and take the direc-
ton of the ford, which was two miles to
the south, through an open plain. Mr.
Gerard and the scout mounted their
horses and the soldier and myself took
| hold each one of horses tail and fol-
lowed them. Mr.. Gerard proposed that,
in case he should be obliged to run and
leave lis and succeeded in joining the
command, he would notify Col. Reno,
the commander, of my position. Dur
ing our transit through the open plain
we passed many Indians returning to
their village, and could hear but not see
them, as the night was very dark. We
reached the wood near what We took to
be the ford we had passed in the morn
ing, but we were mistaken and had to
hunt for the crossing. Once we forded
the stream, but found it was at a bend
and that we would have to ford it again.
When we recrossed the river we ran full
into band of eight savages.
ANOTHER THRILLING ADVENTURE.
The two mounted men ran for their
lives; the soldier and myself jumped
into the bushes near us. [ cooked my
revolver, and, in kneeling position, was
ready to fire at the savages if they should
approach me. They evidently thought
from the precipitate retreat of the two
mounted men that all of us had de-
camped, and began to talk among them
selves. In a few minutes, to my sur
| prise thew continued their course and