The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1876-08-24
DASIING CHARLIE.
The Man who hrs Lived with the Iudiaus 4
Seventeen Years.

Inc mnn who hrs Lived with the Iudtuua
Seventeen Years.
Among those reported slain on the
81 ux side at the recent Little Horn
massacre, says n st. Louis paper, was
Charles IL. Emmett, alias Milburn, bet
ter known as DashiHg Charlie" ia
nous scout and interpreter, who has
lived for the last seventeen years among
the Indians of the wild Northwest. l
was furthermore published that at tho
tlmo Charlie was killed he was with Sit
tlng Bun, and acting as the chief ad-
wiser OF that savage warrior. The pa
pers published the statement; there
fore, when reporter, during his pere-
grlnations, ran up against tho veritable
Charlie" stalking along Fourth street,
his feeling of surprise may be easily i'm
agined. Emmett said he had seen the
statement referred to, and was some-
what indignant that he should be cassod
among those renegade whites who had
turned against their race. He had not
been on the plains during tho present
Indian war, and therefore had not been
much killed on either sido in the late
slaughter. During tho course of the
SO'''iouoiVl lo TtUlThtu IIUb no D1u
lived among the Sioux svcr since he was
ten years of age, and spoke their Ian
guage with more easo than no did his
OWL. They were greatly moderated, as
a lighting people. They numbered at
least 5000 warriors, besides their
lighting boys" well armed, mounted
and equipped. With our present force,
consisting of about B, 900 troops, infantry
and cavalry, it would be impossible to
conquer them. Insuch war he thought
the infantry worse than useless. A par
ticipatlon in several battles with the
Sioux had taught him that they were
powerful enemies to cope with. They
knew every inch OF their country. Every
canyon and gorge is familiar to them.
They are the best marksmen in the
world. They ride horses that can travel
over any kind of ground. They live on
nothing but utmeat and drink alkali water.
Two hours sleep will do them, and they
can go three days without food Gus
ter, he thought, was not sufficiently ia
miilar with the formidable character of
tho Sioux, and, as General Sturgis had
SAID, recklessly rushed into trap which
his willy foes deliberately set for him.
Emmett was among the Indians in
1867 at the Fort Phil Kearney massacre.
lie gave q narrative of that terrible
slaughter which will prove OF interest to
the reader, as it contains some new facts
not heretofore published. Early one
morning detail of one hundred men
were sent to a creek known as Crazy
Woman's Fork" to bring in wood for
the fort. The creek in question derives
its name from a tragedy which took
place on its banks. In 1859, when the
so-callod gold fever was at its height,
some immigrants, en- route for Califor.
ma, were attacked near this place by a
band of Ogallalla Sioux led by Red
Cloud. All the men, one after another,
fell beneath the tomahawk of the sava-
ges, while the women were reserved for
worse fate. The most of them met
speedy death, but Mrs. Henderson, wife
OF one of the murdered immigrants, and
mother of two small children, after hav-
ing seen her husband killed before her
eyes and the brains Of her little ones
dashed out, was delivered into the hands
OF the savages and met no mercy. She
passed from one to another, till madness
took away her sense of suffering, and
the wretches found their victim was a
raving maniac. With the superstition
Of their race they stopped their abuse,
but too late; the unhappy woman died
from the shock, and from that time the
Indians say her spirit haunts the bor-
ders of the creek, and on stormy nights
her wild laugh can be heard above the
whistliug of the wind. They call the
place Weah-g gun-ush-" Crazy Woman's
Fork" The Indiane had been watching
the fort for weeks, firing on the sentries
and cutting off parties who ventured out
for the necessary supply of water. When
the wood detail was ordered out they
sent about twenty five of their men to |
attack the soldiers and retreat, which |
they did. The men, expecting an easy
victory, We're led to follow them step by |
step into a narrow pass. The instant |
they were in the desired position the |
artful savages appeared from both sides
of the canyon, firing down on the sur
prised soldiers, slaughtering them to
man. When the men from the garrison,
two days afterward, sailed ont to bring
in their comrades, they found their re-
mains mutilated beyond recognition. |
Each body had been disjointed and cut |
into small pieces, and the pieces piled |
into small mounds. The burning sun
and swarms of canyon flies were doing
their loathsome work. Therefore, the |
only thing to be done was to dig a
trench by the sido of each heap and |
shovel the mass 1.nder the earth. Since
then monument has been erected on
the spot.