The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1877-04-07
A Boys Desperate Encounter with
Indiana.

Black bills. A boy of 16, lightly built,
q woman's face, and one would pass
him by as having only woman's cour-
age. And yet Buffalo Bill, Texas Jack,
nor any of the other historic Indian |
fighters ever displayed the cool courage |
and steady nerve which that boy from
Wayne County exhibited one day last
November as he went out from Dead |
wood City to visit q brother in camp |
seven or eight miles away. He was
called boy then, and now totell you
why they changed his name to "the
man from Michigan"
The boy, whose home name is Will
lard King, was ermed with a Henry
rifle, revolver aEd u light Ratchet,
and he set out to pursue his journey on
foot. There were Indians above and
below and around Deadwoed. They
had killed two men only the day before,
and we're known to be lurking on the
paths and trails. Young King was
strongly advised against leaving the
town, but having heard that his brother
was very sick he was determined to go.
He left Deadwood about o'clock in
the morning, there being three or four
inches of snow on the ground.
"It's like throwing that gun and re.
volver into the sea, to say nothing OF
his being scalped," remarked one of
the miners as the boy set out, and some
of the men said it was shame for such
good weapons to be carried to the In
dams.
The boy felt safe enough until mile
or two out of DeadW0od, when he grew
more cautious. His route lay over
hills, through broken ground and along
valley, being mapped by compass and
no trail to follow. Three miles from
Deadwood he heard the neigh of a
horse, and he at once hurried from the
open ground to the shelter of timber.
Speeding along for half q mile at a
"dog trot," he became certain that
the Indians were ON his trail. He had
seen no signs and had heard nothing
but the neigh of the horse, but he had
q presentiment, as it were, that the red
men had taken his broad trail andwer
after him. King made for higher
ground and soon obtained the shelter
of mass Of rocks, which could not be
handily approached, except from one
direction. He intended to secrete him
self until certain that his trail was or
was not followed, and he had not long
to wait. In the course of seven or eight
minutes nine Indians, walking in single
file, appeared in view, following his
steps at a fast walk.
King could have retreated If he so
desired, but the prospect of fight did
not frighten him. The odds were
largely against him, but the boy had
nerve, q good position, and he deliber-
ately opened the battle. The savages
did not know how close they were to
him until bullet from his Eifle cut the
jugular vein of the first one and buried
itself in the shoulder the next. The
first lesped from his feet and fell back
corpse, while the second went down,
but scrambled up again and took cover
along with the others, SO badly wounded
that he could take no hand in the des-
perate fighting which followed. The
Indians at first thought the boy had
joined two or three hunters. but after
making a circle around his position,
they found he was entirely alone, and
they opened fire on him from three
different points. He was safe enough
in his retreat, and waited to let them
exhaust their ammunition. As their
fire slackened he obtained sight of one
of them, and shot him through the
head.
The idea of boy having killed two
of their number and wounded a third
drove the remaining six savages to des-
peration, and they left the cover of
their trees and charged on his position,
yelling fiercely as they advanced on a
run. He had not expected such a
maneuver, but was not taken altogether
by surprise. He wounded one of them
in the wrist by shot from his rifle,
and when they we're upon him he threw
down his gun and peppered away with
his revolver.
"They were right upon me, and we
were all blazing away at once" he at
forwards explained, but the boy was
too many for them. The cowardly reds
retreated after q moment, having
wounded King in the side, in the leg,
and in the cheek. In return two Of
them carried away some of his lead,
but were not too badly wounded to use
their rifles afterwards. The gang haul
ed off for q time, and one of them
crawled as near as he could and shout
ed in broken English:
"White boy come out-me no hurt
him!"
But the white boy was going to stay
right there for awhile yet. He knew
the treacherous nature of the savages
around him, and he believed he could
whip the whole crowd, wounded as he
was. The Indian, finding that young
King could not be enticed from his po-
sition, returned and reported, and for
an hour all was quiet. The boy was
beginning to hope that they had with
drawn for good, when a savage ap-
peared in view on the left and wanted
to hold talk. He INDUCED in furious
gestures, danced around, and made
every effort to attract Kings attention
to him and keep it there.
"White boy very brave-won't hurt
white boy-like to talk to brave white
boy!" he called out as he danced around.
Meanwhile the rest of the band were
sneaking up from the other direction,
calculating on shooting King in the
back as he watched the single Indian.
He suspected the trick, saw them COM
ing, and drawing fair bead on the
stalker" he dropped the fellow dead
as crOw-bar. Those skulking up
numbered four, being all the Indians |
left alive and unwounded out of the |
nine first sighted. They did not rush |
as the boy expected. On the contrary,
they hurriedly retreated, and but little |
time was lost by them in getting out of |
the neighborhood. The boy waited
till O'Clock in the afternoon before
leaving his retreat, and then, his cloth
ing stiff with blood, he pursued his