The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1877-09-27
A HAIR-RAISfNg NARRATIVE.

writing from Helena, Montana, gives
the following thrilling account of the
| adventures of two parties Of pleasure
seekers who left Helena and Roders-
burg for visit to the Yellowstone Park:
The Helena party left the falls of the
Yellowstone on the 25th of August for
the Mud geysers aboutnine miles distant
About noon, Ben Stone, cook, began to
get dinner, Pfsten going into the timber
after wood, while the horses were grazing
at the other end of the meadow. In the
meantime thirty or forty Nez Perces
warriors were creeping stealthily through
the woods and grass, gradually surround
ing the apparently doomed party. AL
ready line of dusky savages was be-
tween the camp and horses, and more
red devils were leaving the lines, which
already environed the camp on three
sides, to cut off their intended victims
from their only refuge-the nearest
timber. Fortunately the Indians be-
came apprehensive of discovery and at
tackled before their preparations were
have escaped. Evidently all the Indi-
ans were not expecting the firing to be-
gin SO soon, for all did not fire at once.
and the first volley changed tine loung-
ing individuals about the camp into ex-
ceedingly lively persons, all moving
their legs with such excessive rapiditv
that it required steady hands and prac-
ticed eyes to check them with a bullet.
None of the attacked party showed the
slightest indication to argue with the
savages about the possession of horses.
saddles, or even guns, but, every man
for himself, they wildly fed in what
ever direction their feet had been turned
when the whistling bullets first startled
thea.
Charles Kenck, an old resident of Hell
ena, was not, it is believed, injured by
the first volley, for, like the rest, he
started on the run for the woods, which
he was seen to enter about a thousand
yards distant from the camp. His future
experience will never be told, for he was
afterward found within few hundred
yards from where he was last seen, stark
and stiff, with bullet holes through his
head, chest and right leg. He probably
ran into a party of Indians and never
knew what hurt him. Jack Stuart's
headlong fight was checked abruptly by
a volley from the redskins, one bullet
penetrating his side and bringing him to
the ground, another grazing his ankle.
AS he fell an Indian quickly approached
him, and, finding that he was still alive,
thrust a cartridge In his needle gun,
placed the muzzle against Jacks breast,
and was about to pull the trigger. Stu
art begged the savage to spare him,
showed the blood flowing from his side,
said that he knew he was going to die,
but did not want another bullet in him.
and, finally, as the Indian seemed tohes
itate, he pulled out everything he had
in his pockets, including some hundreds
of dollars in cash and his gold watch,
handed them over to the reflective war
rior, who, after another moments pause,
hurried away. Although badly wound
ed, Stuart never felt so good in his life
as he did when that Indian withdrew the
muzzle of q needle gun from his breast.
He managed to check the bleeding of
his wound, and recovered sufficient
strength to crawl to a hiding-place,
where he remained until Andy Welkert
gave up his horse to him that night, and
he was enabled to slowly ride toward the
Mammoth springs, which he reached the
next morning.
The most wonderful of all the Won
derful hair breadth escapes Of the mem
bers of this party was that of the two
boys Foller and Joseph Roberts, the
one II years of age and the other 10.
Both were sleeping among the packs
when the attack was made, and, aroused
by the firing, jumped to their feet. Joe's
first thought was that the two scouts
had returned in a good humor over their
false alarm, and were trying to give them
an Indian scare, ;" but he was soon I'M
deceived by seeing a savage rise from
the grass within twenty feet of him and
begin to work his Winchester rife with
terrible rapidity. Joe started as fast as
his legs would carry him for the timber,
the Indian dropping on his knee and
throwing fifteen bullets after him. Joe
knew that the chances were against his
ever reaching the wood, and, running
zig-mag in order to discomfort the In
dams aim, he put forth every exertion
before the savage exhausted the maya
zine of his rife, when he slackened up
slightly to let August Foller, who was
encumbered with his coat, overtake him.
Together they toiled on for a mile, and
then, hearing no sounds of pursuit, sat
down on a log to recover breath and to
consider what should be their next move.
They had fed in a different direction
from any of the others, and, as the
woods and the adjoining prairie were
swarming with Nez Perces, they dared
not thread their way through them to
the Mammoth hot springs, toward which
point their companions had directed
their footsteps. The two boys at length
determined that their only hope was to
strike the Madison river as soon as pos
sible, and to follow it until they found
settlements. They were unarmed and
defenseless, unacquainted with the coun-
try, were very lightly clothed, and knew
that if they fell in with Indians they
could expect nothing but death. Their
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