, 1877-09-11
THIRST.
A Thrilling Story from the Staked
Plains.
Soldiers Suffering Horribly from
Want Of Water.
Keeping Men Alt1c m the Blood OF
Horses.
Nktp FORK Tribune, &nS. A.

4e4As3 t31AL company I'll UHtLCu Gt1tCS c4EnlFy
belonging 10 tie Tcntl, Regiment, under the
| command Of Capt. Nicholas Nolan anl Lieut..
Charles l.. Cooper, while In scareh Of hand at
hostile Indians, had been lost oil what nrc
known ns tho Staked rlains,-a sandy, wasettcss
rrgion In Northwestern Tcxas. I.ntcr rrports
eaid they ha! made their way to Double Lake
| in very exhausted condition, having been four
days Without water. Following those re-
ports d dispatch was received from
Chicago, Aug. 8, and derived from
"os1lcsal informatiot,," stating that
| desperate fight fmt taken place on the stakcl
ptains between Government troops aud Indians,
| md thnt tic soldiers, who were much exhausted
frnm want Of water, had all been killed. It wis
further alleAl TINT lst Of tho killed., cn,siEt-
Ing of two Officers AMI thrty-nhc men, woull lW
forwarded as Mon ~ received: sincc that lis
IN the public prints. The Tribune has now bcc1,
| furnished letter from Lieut.. Chopper, ono of
thc officers Of the cotnln!'ly, nntl s!ate't Fort
cs,ncl'o, Tux, aug ~, Il, which lie iufurms hi.
gives MI interesting account Vi the terrible
sustcrtrCs of himself and others. Tho letter is
| rs follows:
FoRr Coscuo, Tex, Aug. 90, 1sT.-DRAn
FATllEn: Yuu can liarslly Imagine our astofstall-
nent flrsc 10 learn OF the sensation tn the ncws-
paper world our troubles anil tntsfortuncs lIasc
been tic means of causine; nnA rs tau sec
frum the slips you have scht lpr tint tbe rcat
Gireunsta1eas of sIc case are comulctely nltsun-
slerstool, Thought It Il Eus}u i!ea to furnish
you brief account Of our trip. Our u'lnl,sny
IA, Tenth Cavalry left here un July 10 with twu
officers aftl about sixty fict1, for two notifs'
scut Ms wc1s to MAKE supply eamp at some
pursuit q ueprcdatinC Indians, a. also to pro.
tcct settlers, who ure rapldly populattng this
rssgtan of TIC county, Upon our arrivuf 1t q
race called Bull Creek, about 10 tntlca north
Yrnt}1 fi1.ttbn f1tt1,tj d ttrAe
eight men (buda1o-hlnters) who lad lost COLI
siderable stock On account of ludian tlefta, and
vito wcru organized into company for tho pur-
W'se Of ovcrtaking Indians a.l rceaining their
our cutnpauy> thought H. best to establish nnr
supply csil, 1t this place, and 70 With tic hunt
crs, most Of ttnin teinE acquainted With tho
county, and tncy having asa guide Mexican
Ut Trading With these fndIans, atMl had bccume
thoroughly acquainted with tue country, anu
knew every "~atcr-alotc" and possible camp
inEpiarc wiIcre indiaus might be found.
We left uur supply camp With fortv tncn md
two ottlcers, OIL tue 10Th oi duly. Tic hunters
hl twenty~onu tiicn NIL told, 30 you carl scc wu
iad qnite party. After marching for several
says {and wcro from the first experiencing diff
tulty IN prevuring water, on account Of The
great drought this ycar1, VIC fund ourselves OH
thu Stakrl lale, ut place called pntlbfu Lake,
where u small quantity u alkul! water was ub
/ taincd. lfere wc restcd. on the 1ullI If July,
Whilst jose tslse ruidc) md few men went FUR
ti,er west, 10 Dry Lake (suveutcen nitrsj fn
search of water unl signs nf Indians. At II
orloek 7. ILL.,, OH tug :ajtli, while VIC werc watt
Ing fur .Iosc. two ot tia tncn canc back hastily,
with thy news that though tllcro was no water
thcrc, tlat forty Indians Ind passed that n,orr-
tug nj 5;So u'cluek, ani Wcru tcfsurc1y going
y u nurtlawestes1y direction, killing game Us
they went, aud eyldcntls not saspcctlng that
!''ol's were III t'!c .rout,try. We sad.licl up
hurriedly, watcretl the stock, anl started for
Dry Lake, iron, w!enec, having arrived about
sunset. wo immediately started OH the lndlan
trail. THIS VIC followed until 1t was 50 dark tho
guide WIS unablu To sec II, and thcn made dry
camp {tulnp Without watrr tor man or heust)
Oa tiss 2stll, a. lnY.brcak, wc took nt thu trail
and followed 4 Without ,stgp until tight. and
of tic furtt ~cse suttstruck, and bctccant anl
few n,en wrre left with them " follow us up
% soou ~ they had sufficiently recovered. As
atyothet during sho trip, and owing to t6nincnae
lIcat ainl having liz winter to drink. NJ about y
o'ctock came near giving up with suussruAe.
1n tic meantime wo ltast, to uso q nautical
frat, anil llad wandered all .lay orcr n san.ly
'plaLn, With sometimes fresh Indications Of tt,u
Indians having passed recently, aud then aaain
completely Il, losssto lind which way thcY Ind
'rowas! ught the vuila gasc tho trail up feeling
assured wG could not catci! ttctnl and con-.
tnenrcd again to look around for water. chad
followed thu tr,ll With ~ much pcFseverrnce
&Eu e1lEFEf ll4 HAL uuk kEkk uEVuutt VI Ills
trarugs, anl WI found, ~ consequences, he. as
we'll Us afi u III, waa lost on tic Btakcl ffstns,
wit1nlt whtcr mud t.o prospccta Ut getting nay,
% we dill not knnW which why TO En fot II, anil
Irunu ol,r experience W. knew thu EnMtgr mart
Ut Thu e.al,'try wa as "dry Us . lonc.t ttl7ui
In Tho t'scantftite tur ucii had tecu dropping
fr0rn their I'orsea witt! exhnustlnn, ~ We hatl
'low hcen nearly t,wo ''ay:e without wateri and
keep the n,cn together; ihss, t,o, at q talu
when every moment WIS precious to ITS. Nu
made another dry eanp aftcr ttuIk ,atd cinlcay0r-
"i t" iursct ~ sleep tue st1tferlnSs Ws oil en-
in scare, of water, followed by eight u our
ne,l with afi tic elntrens Vi tto co4t,ulanI, 10
that In '1lsc tlry 4lou,l happen to reach water
they could III tts sa'tes,!s, mud, returning to
oat tho sul'!s :tn.l tllo eight ,nen until W. Eot
gust 11ne nrxt morntng. having I'a4!
su, no 'sTs W. .aIea # ,!s ~, ind gaa s'.eBsl sa
10 fo,low in tho direction wo SUPPOSED thy i,l
Eonc, but having nul,ur!y to: Yu!do u, being in
III unknown country. W. did not better Onr
eon1't!on' After laarel.inE ,'ea1y,H'l day In
double Lake. the dlrte.A., Vi which we ala not
ktmw, but IeekoAcd 1t to TIC about southeast.
We marched until It waa very 4ark, and then
10 proceed. Wu Ind NOW reduced uur littls
party to eighteen men, two olllrrss and ono
buaAfphul.leE, anti y0il can t.nugiuo NC were
| I'LL in bud u,tldltsoh The men were al
nlt'st completely uscd Vt, aud tho CaI.
talm alht I WIRE nut much better. Dir
nsu had lrnpped back, one by one, unabe to
Keep un with us; their tungues 9nd throata
wesu sHgllstI, and tlty were upatle cyen iu
swallow their salvs,-in fact, they tsai uo saliva
to swalluw, that H. II Judge VI their condition
trus.l my OWN. alY 10uguu auI throat weru su
dry that wien put q few n.orscts u brown
sugar that ! f"un4 IN ,n4, eoat~posket Into my
mouth wna unsbsu IL lissolye 1t tn or,lcr to
swallow it. During this time, whS lying ol,
tbs srouud, utsc of my prisatu horses sove.!
signs Of exhaustion, s.aggsred aud tell; 20, III
of4er TO relieve tlle u1eI, hatl hi& throat cut.
aud tho hlood distributed au,ouEst the,n. Thu
Captain ant drank he4rtity u ttc stea,nfn4
biJod, aud. though it allied for tins to rt-
licye 0us tntchso suffering. nevertheless in
shost tttne VIC wess In u wor4e condition
than before for the hurscs, having suffered 50
lnuch srulu thirst, u well " vi, their bEskAi
l,atl naturally l'ccolau diseased. anI ~ VIZ l.ul
pastaksn freely, W. Wete soon attacked with
''bli,1 ssag.sss." with the satae sy.uptoms ~
the horses. We left our resting place At u
ociock Oh tho night Ut July =, aud marci.eL
until 10 o'vlsnk tie next 1nornIut;, wlle,, owing
tu lile nten5u heat, our furnished conaitiui, vi