The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1879-06-03
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EATING AN APACHE ALIVE.

EATING AN APACHE ALIVE.
The Curious Manner in Which q
Texan Used His Teeth--A Thrill.
ling Story of Lite i'm Arizona in
1S5S---A Gold Miners Narrow
Shave--HOw a Mans Fists Saved
His Life.
pittsburgh Tsleyraph.)
At one of the leading hotels of the
city there is stopping n an with re-
markable history,a history that is as full
Of excitement aud adventure as one OF
Mayne Reeds stories. Col. Blank (he
was not christened "Blank" until now
is of German origin. Before the war be
was an Indian fighter and Mexican raider,
and when the war broke out he was com.
missioned by the Confederacy as Colonel
OF mounted Texan regiment, and served
through the conflict up to within few
months of the close.
4 few nights ago q party Of young
gentlemen were talking politics at the no.
tel in question, and Col. Blank was one
Va hh0 RhOIhtuShe tdthCto DJ 6Olut
means the conversation finally drifted
from politics to curious articles of food.
Each tried to outvie the other in regard
to the unusual things be had endeavored
to digest at some period of bis life. One
said he had eaten elephant steaks in New
York, another had eaten baked monkey
in the same city, third declared that he
had relished horse-aesh when it was well
seasoned, another told of mule steaks
cooked by placing them under the sad
die between his horses back and the sai-
dle-blanket. At last Col. Blank said,
laughingly, "that's all very good, gentle
men, but / think can beat any of you.
| have eaten Apache Indian; been can
nibal and, what is still more, began to
eat Apache Indian when he was alive"
He spoke so seriously and apparently in
such good faith that he was Immediately
greeted with storm of questions as to
when it was, where it was, and how it
was," until overcome by the food of
miscellaneous questions, he said at last
that If quiet should once more reign he
would tell the story. Every body lit a
fresh cigar and the Colonel began:
SWELL, gentlemen, you see when I was
young was fond of all sorts OF adven-
lures, and loved nothing better than a
rowing life. Ir the winter of 1858 there
we're fifteen of us from Texas over 10
the southwestern part of Arizona on a
prospecting expedition. We had with
US party OF Comanches, numbering
about thirty, who were under the lead OF
Little Bear,a wei..known Chief. We fed
the Comanches well and gave them plen-
" OF ammunition, and they stuck to us
nobly. One reason they did this was
because the country all around US was
swarming with Apaches, and you know
that the Comanches and Apaches are
sworn enemies OF ancient standing. We
we're camping in spur of the Sierras.
and thought we were in fair way Of
striking good thing. There were no
towns within hundreds OF miles of US,
and the nearest ranch Of any size was q
town in Sonora, 160 miles away. There
were few sneakiug, scoundreily Mexi-
can miners in the neighborhood, and we
thought they bad "placer" and were
making a big thing out OF it. They were
evidently afraid that we would take their
internal old placer away from them, and
they hatched fine scheme to lay US out,
toes up to the daisies. We had cache
on precipice of the mountains, at the
foot OF which ran the Gila River (pro-
nounced Heela. The cache (hiding
place for provisions and stores) was in
natural cave Of considerable size, which
had small opening which we stopped
up with big rock. In front of the
mouth OF the cave there was fat table,
rock about Is feet square. This was
over 800 feet above the river, which was
very narrow and deep, and shot through
canon with frightful velocity. There
was only one way to get up to the cache
and that was by the narrow, steep path,
like stairway, where we had to 60 in
single-file.
"Well, as / have said, the Greasers
fixed up plan to have Us all scalped.-
They got Young Grizzly, the war Chief
of the Apaches, to come after us with
about seventy-five braves. On Christ
mas afternoon, about four o'clock, as we
we're coming through a canon on our
way to camp, perfect shower of arrows
came down on US from the rocks above.
One of the Comanches was killed and
several of US were wounded. / got
three arrows in my left arm and one in
my left hand You can see the mark
there" and the Colonel show wed whitish
zig-zag scar on the back of his hand
1--WE got out of that place pretty quick.
don't you know, for it was not good
place to stay. On New Years morning
about sunrise two of our scouts came in
and said the Apaches were coming down
the river and intended to attack us. The
boys had consultation and they con
cluded to ambush the red devils as they
came down in their canoes. The boys
went down and hid in the rocks and
watched. They said that as had only
one arm that was good, had better stay
up at the cache, 30 lay down on my
stomach to watch the fight
Presently I saw lot of black things
that looked like logs come whirling
down the river, and then came lot Of
sharp reports, and saw the little white
clouds of smoke rise mp from the rocks,
The Apaches were taken completely by
surprise, and although some Of them go,
in the rocks, the most of them were
either shot or drowned
"When the fight was about over, all
of sudden felt queer. 1 felt just like
when man is shut up in a dark room
and can't see, and somebody comes in
He may not be able to see or hear the
person, but something tells him that
there is somebody near him. / never
felt safer in my life than did up there
but still turned around to where the
path was, and saw the face of an Apa.
che just coming above the rocks.
Jumped up, and SO did he. l did moi
have anv time to get out weapon, fol
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