The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1876-08-25

and rejoin my command. l had not
been in this hiding place more than
ten minutes when 1 heard several
pistol-shOts fired in my immediate
vicinity and shortly thereafter came
the sIlVery, but to me dIabolical +,
voices of several "squaws." I rails
ed my head with great caution to
see what the women were at, and to
discover their exact location.
found the women at the revolt
ing work of scalping a soldier who
was perhaps not yet dead. Two of
the ladies were cutting away, while
two others performed a sort of
war dance around the body and its
manipulators. i will not attempt
TO describe to you my feelings at
Witnessing the disgusting perfor-
nance. You, as the father of fam
lily, can imagine what another
father would feel on such a terrible
occasion. 1 confess I thought of
my dear wife, my dear children,
relatives and friends, whom l
would probably see no more, and
there before my eyes was being
performed what, in the event of dis
covery, would be my fate. l de-
termined to hope to the last, die as
l had lived, and sell my life as dear
lV as possible. Finally the squaws
went away, probably to hunt for
more victims, and l employed the
time thinking of my perilous posi-
ton.
While thus engaged 1 heard a
cracking noise near me, which, on
investigation, 1 found proceeded
from the burning wood, the Indi-
ans having Ignited q fire. The
wood being very dry the fire made
rapid Roadway, and 1 was forced
from my hiding place. crawled
out of the creek bottom the same
way l had approached, and, as l
was about to ascend the bank, l
heard a voice calling: Lieutenant
Lieutenant 1 could see no one
but the call was repeated, and ad
vancing a few yards in the direc-
ton from which it proceeded l
found all three Of the party had
left short time before hidden in
the bottom of the creek. Mr.. Ge-
rard told me he had left the horses :,
tied together, where / had seen
L found that the party, like myself,
were afraid of the progress of the
fire; but, fortunately for US, the
wind subsidized and the rain fell,
which, thank God, was sufficient to
arrest the flames and revive our
hopes that we might be able to re-
main there till night. 1t was now
three O'Clock, six hours to wait,
and you can imagine how immense
ly long we found them. During
this time we could hear and often
see the Indians around US, and
could hear them talk quite near us.
cannot find words sufficiently
expressive to describe my thoughts
during those six or seven hours of
suspense. Many times 1 asked N.Y.
self if it was possible that should
end my life in so barbarous, inglo-
rious and obscure a manner. Some
times l would answer myself that
it could not be; I had gone through
so many dangers, had made so ma
ny sacrifices for my adopted coun-
try, could not think l should die
l had been preserved 80 long to end
Il
Finally the time came when, under
the protection of night Git was very
clGudy,) we were abba to come out
from our hiding place and took the
direction of the ford, which was
two miles to the south, through an
open plain. Mr.. Girard and the
scout mounted their horses and the
soldier and myself took hold each
one of horses tail and followed
them. Mr.. Girard proposed that,
in case he should be obliged to run
and leave US and succeed in joining
the command, he would notify Col.
Reno, the commander, of my posi-
ton. During our transit through
the open plain we passed many In
dians 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 morning, but we were mis-
taken and had to hunt for the cross
ing. Once we forded the stream,
but found it was at bend and that
we would have to ford it again.
When we recrossed the river we
ran full into band of eight saVa-
ges.
The two mounted men ran for
their lives; the soldier and myself
jumped into the bushes near US. l
cooked my revolver, and, in a kneel-
ing 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 about
themselves. In few minutes, to
my surprise, they continued their
course, and soon went out of hear
ing. raised up from my position,
approached the bank of the river
and called to tbs soldier, who i'm
mediately answered. We then cav
that the fOrds were all we'll guarded
by The savages, and that it would
be very dangerous to attempt to
cross any part of the river. Of
course we did not know the condi-
ton of our regiment, and knew
nothing about the extent of their
defeat, so that we hoped, if we
could find good hiding-place for
the night, we could wait for the
probable return of our command
in the morning, and could then
easily join them. We also hoped
that the Indians would leave dur
ing the night. Accordingly we
searched for good place in the
thick underwood and brisrs near
the river, and there waited with
much anxiety for our fate on the
morrow. The night passed, and in
the dim dawn of day we heard an
immense tramping as of a large
cavalry commad. and the splashing
of the water convinced us some
troops were crossing the river. l
imagined it was our command, as l
could distinctly hear the sound of
the horses shoes striking the stones.
1 cautiously stepped to the edge of
the bushes to look out, and thought
l recognized some gray horses
mounted by men in military blouses
and some of them in white hats.
They were, thought, going
out of the valley, and those
that had already crossed the river
were going up very steep bluff,
while others were crossing after
them. saw one man with buck