Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1878-10-07
FROM THE FRONTIER.
INTERESTING CONVERSATION ABOUT
BORDER LIFE.
Fort Keogh and the Excursion Up the
Yellowstone-Miles'F Fight With the Ban
nocks-Two St. Paul Ladies Picn1ckine on
the Frontier.

Tales of the border, the daring and the dan
ger, excite the young and kindle up the OLE
with enthusiasm. But particularly is tn
midst of the peril or have just escaped i'm
minent danger. The Metropolitan hote
register bore the name of w. D. O'Toole
Fort Keogh, yesterday. Mr.. O'Toole latel,
escorted two favorite young ladies of thi
city out of these realms beyon,
the pale. Connected with their SO
journ in the wilds, came ugl
and alarming rumors of woeful disaster
death at the hands of the savages.
A reporter of the GLOBE meeting Capt
O'Toole, and renewing happy acquaintanc
of former days, brought the professional
pump into play, and after an agreeable chat
summed up his information as follows:
The gentleman proclaims all at peace il
the neighborhood of Fort Keogh.
s'There amt hostile Indian about sine
Miles capture of the Bannocks," said he
General Miles keeps a thorough
scout, and the peep of hostil
he ad above the horizon is seen at once, ant
the head is struck just as soon as it appears
"When did you leave Keogh %
s'Just two weeks ago."
"And then-?"
well, there was no particular news. 4
general satisfaction over Gen. Miles late vic
tory and capture OF Bannocks was expressed
The interest was revived by the arrival of tn
captives. There were - bucks and over 4(
women and children. But the best feature Of
the fight was that Gen. Miles killed more In.
dians than he had soldiers in his command
''About how many was that?''
The gentleman didn't observe the inter
ruption, and continued enthusiastically, eli
was gallant fight. At the time it wasn',
known but that the Indians nun bered ten
to one of the whites, but they were there,
and it isn't Gen. Miles policy to let an In
dian escape. He hasn't received half credit
enough for this fight, nor his general ser
vices"
For the edifcation of the reader Mr.
O'Toole was asked to give brief
story OF how the command got
into the field, it's object, etc.
He stated that about the middle of August
Gen. Miles formed an excursion party to the
Yellowstone Park. Among the party were
Mrs. Miles, five of the officers wives, and
Misses Rachel Rice and Sanborn, of ST..
Paul. The general went prepared for fun or
fight. He had an escort of 100 picked men,
part of the band and lot of Grow Indians.
Easy marches were made, and the ladies one
and all were enjoying the trip hugely. Their
morning maps were broken into as early as
three O'Clock by music from the band, and
tho mornings were each day a picnic
My opinion, stated the narrator,
is that Miles had considerable
forethought about the matter. Profting by
his example with the Nez Perces, the gen
eral expected to meet the Bannocks, and
picked his men accordingly. The first init
nation the party had of the near presence of
hostiles was when scout, s.Little Rock"
by nickname, came in and reported he had
run into camp of them, and having been
and unhorssd was allowed to de
part. The grass didn't SO much as start to
grow before the excursion pleasure party was
broken up and the war paint put on. The
ladies were sci t Fort Ellis under uroper
escort, and arrangements fol owed which
in the gallant attack and vic
tory.
"Where is the general and party now?"
''Ihey have not returned to Keogh yet, but
from what we learned before our departure,
they have reached the post before now. In
fact believe Miss Eice and Miss Sanborn
will reach home, St. Paul, about the 26th or
9th of this month. They will be accompa
med by Mrs. Miles,
The gentleman then again alluded to the
Bannock fight, but as the night was growing
apace, and the muttered Cry of s'copy'' was
telephoned the writer, he interrupted by
saying:
where is the great warrior of all, Sitting
Bull?''
"a day or two before we left, a party of
Ogallallas came into Keogh. They were
from Sitting Bulls camp. Several chiefs
we're OF the party, and they represented that
they wanted terms of surrender. This
mustn't be understood to mean that thew
were from Sitting Bull with terms, but they
were ready to capitulate their several indi-
vidual bands. They were terribly disap-
pointed in not finding Gen. Miles at
the post, and refused to treat with
anybody else. They will await
his return, fearing to leave, as they might be
attacked by the Cheyennes.''
81 thought these tribes were allies.''
"The Cheyennes I speak of are those cap
tured by Gen. Miles from Crazy Horses
band, Sitting Bull and others. They have
been won over to be loyal and good scouts.
In fact, they will fight bravely and Loyalty
the very bands they were allied with in hos
llllty only winter ago. Before the Ogal-
lulas came in they sent word for a safe con
duct. John Burger, the great scout
up, there, came in for them
and made arrangements for their
entrance without danger
''Just what is the prospect of war on the
border?''
''Not much. think Sitting Bulls band
are hungry, SD the late arrivals say. There's
no game in the country where they now
are, and they ma. be forced to come down
after food. If they could make peace thew
would. Another element of probable war
is among the Grows. They are becoming
very dissatisfied. They complain that there
is too much travel over and through their
country. Just before we left the rumor was
current that good number of them had
left their reservation. I have
seen no confirmation of il
but know they are very restless and I'M
easy" longer talk followed, in which the
conviction was tried to be forced on the
GLoBt. man that Fort Keogh and the neigh
boring wilderness wasn't the most uninhab-
liable portion of the globe after all.
MIR. O'Toole was accompanied by Lieut..
Woodruff, of the 9th Infantry. on lsave of
absence. They both are in accord about the
desiiabllity of the far border as home, and
say there's no fear of Indians. Not a bit
OF danger, safe as you are in st. Paul, etc.
Yet we are occasionally startled with the
news OF sudden and violent death in that
country. And 'sLo, the poor Indian seems to
be the divine instrument to lessen the pop
ulation.
F1int's Foundlings.
The judge of the municipal court will
look over his spectacles this morning at five
offenders against the majesty of the law, and