Bozeman avant courier. [volume] (Bozeman, Mont.) 1872-1882, 1878-07-11

/ ca IN person before the Empress and nleat
5 ca lor her husbands life. Influences fro,
London, grandfatller's services to III
: iiist Napoleon. the conspirator's voutl
4 ana his WiIes petition operated in his h,
flaif. Above all. however. was De R,nIio'
$ luck. The Monday following Saturda
was the birthday of the Prince Imppria
: 1t was the custom to celebrate his annive1
sary with the pardon Of some polilica
criminal. On Saturday there we're tire
: doomed souls. For the reasons given. u
: R'idio (the youngest) was reserved 70
!, Mondays honor. The pardon didn't meal
the release OF De Rudio. His sentence
was simply changed from death to i'm
pri.onTnent for lie.
Next followed a dungeon chapter fo
seven months, with bread and water. \
tNenty-potnd chain held him fast in a dun
geon that was itself proof against the e7
cape Of a Hercules. Ie could take two
steps in one direction; that was the only
movement to break the monotony of lying
down. After that chapter was ended he
was transported for life to Silver Mountain
! "a penAl se;tlelnent). in the extreme south
OF French Guiana. Africa. Seven month
there and tic yellow fever broke out.
There were five hundred prisoners. and all
died except siXty-three of the sixty-tlrea
all were down with the plague except
three; of Che three De Rudio was one.
The press of Europe raised storm of in
dignation over Frances inh!nanitv to her
cony:cts and prisoners. The soldiers
guarding had suffered severely. Tie re-
port went to France that cH of those living
were sick. An order returned tor their
transportation to Salutation Islands. thirty
miles OF French Guiana. for convaIcs-
cence. De Riltio was again in luck. He
went with the sick, although not SICK. He
was not there torty-eight hours when lie
coniidcd to f,lloW-prisoner his deter
m!nation to escape. He had noticed a
iisliermans boat secretly moving up under
the rocks, and selling fish to the prisoners
when tie opportunity offered
With five others he went to work, max
ing sail and preparin" fora perilous voy-
age. Vt tie end OF five months they were
ready. The evening OF December 8, 1859.
at Six o o'cloek, they beckoned to the fisher
men Give OF il!,aln) 10 come under certain
rock tor the purpose of trade. When they
'ardet! the De Rlldio plotters We're there,
with sabre in one hand and Ak in the other.
They leapcd into tic boat and threatened
anniliiation if any resistance was offered.
Tie fishermen were unarmcd and submis-
slve. Hati0ns. Wine and water were loaded
nn hnarf! The fiShnrnnn Nnrn then COM
mandtd to put out to sea. They put.
Attera dangerous. and frequently hopeless.
voyage OF six days, the improyiScd sail and
row boat reached English Guiana, landing
at New Amsterdam. On freedoms soil
De Rudio at last saw daylight. He en-
gagged as :. lal:nciman on an Englith mer-
chairman. In England lie was reunited
with his family, February %. 1860. Janu-
ary. 1853. lie landed in New York. Angus,
1863, hejoined the Union arinyas private
LII 1864 he was appointed q second lieuten-
ant in regiment Of colored troops. He
served in that capacity until 1866. lie was
then eight months in the Quartcrmaster's
department at Washington. In 1867 he
was assigned to the Second Infantry. and
on the lIth Of July, 1869, WAS appointed
to a command in the Seventh Cavalry.
From that t'ay to tEis lie has participated
in every movement of his regiment. In
the South he was closely identified with
the suppression Of the Kuklux operating
in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and
Louisiana. He was prominent witness
before the congressional committee in
New Orleans in 1875. In August, 1873, lie
brought the titty-tour miners out of the
Black Hills. In May, 1876, lie came to
Fort \. Lincoln as first lieutenant and
commanding officer of Company E, the
troop of gray horses.
The next and last great episode in De
Rudlo's career thus far was his part in the
fatal Custer expedition of 1876. He was
with the Reno wing until lie was cut of
and lost in the woods. lie was then in the
tghtest place of his life. He didn't antici-
pate any possible escape. Among the
many thrilling incidents Of his lone eXperi-
ence with Sergeant O'Ncll, was three
hours fight behind a stump. He permitted
the Indians once to come within n few
yards of him. lie shot the first one down.
and then treated the second one with the
same courtesy. The enemy fell back, set
fire to the woods. and concluded there
were no soldiers there beyond a single man
or two, who couldn't be routed at any
other cost than numerous Indians Bullets
dropped all around him, and the flames al
most scorched him. De Ruilio's luck.
That experience is story in itself. omit
to pass on and note the fact that last year
De Rudio's company marched thirty-seven
hundred miles, which he claims is the yreat-
est six months march on record He was
over Dakota, in Montana, Wyoming and
Idaho. His horses We're without grain for
three months. What has been said in this
article is only IN outline of De Rudio's
history. With all the remarkable incidents
and exciting details. as he has written it..
or as he can tell it, De Rudio's biography
is one of the records of the time.
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4 Letter From De RudiO.