Dodge City times. [volume] (Dodge City, Kan.) 1876-1892, 1879-02-15

q
4 Had the rest of the command moved
up on hearing the row there might hav,
been a show to release both OF us, bu
they did not come. By the time the sol
diers he'd given up the search for jim
our comrades were on the back track fol
the Potomac.
was retained at the picket post be.
cause Mosby's lieutenant was there, and
because he hoped to bride or frighten
me into furnishing him information OF
value. l was, therefore, in q position to
see the result of Jim Shanks's work
single-handed and alone. When he
broke away he disabled one man by a
blow from his carbine In his fight he
killed one and wounded two others.
Wounded and dead were brought to the
picket post and l saw them. Mosby's
men were terribly incensed, and but for
the fear of an attack by our forces,
whose strength they did not know, l
believe they would have hung me up in
their first rage.
1t was the guerilla chieftain 3 last dash
into the beautiful valley. He was gath
ering forage and hurrying it back to
Lees lines, and many farmers were
robbed of their last horse and their last
ear or corn. In three days more they
would have been out of the valley en-
tirely.
At the first signs of daylight and
when the old church on the hill was
hardly visible through the gray of morn
ing came a bullet which bored soldier
through and through and dropped him
dead In his tracks. 1t was from the car
bine of Jim Shanks. Hiding under the
steps he had only waited for daylight to
open the fight anew-nOt waiting to be
hunted out and captured. All was ex
citement in an instant, and as soon as
.Jim's location was BETRAYED the gueril-
las scattered and formed skirmish line.
The fire OF this line WAS concentrated on
the steps and was as rapid as if opposed
to line of battle. The firing had Just |
begun when one of the skirmishers fell |
away from stump with bullet in his
head. In three minutes another was
sho: through the chest. Jim Shanks
had forty rounds OF ammunition and he
fired slowly and with precision. Icould
see splinters fly from the steps every
time ball struck and knew that many
of the bullets were driving right through
the boards. For long 20 minutes Jim
held that skirmish line of 30 men AZ
bay; killing three and wounding two. l
counting bis shots and he fired Just 81
times.
A reinforcement of about 20 mounted
men finally came up and hitching their
horses under cover of the hill the men
took the skirmish line. just rs the fir
ing began anew Jim Shanks suddenly
left his cover and ran for the horses
down the road. Every skirmisher rose ;
no and there must have been at least !.
100 bullets fired at the running man in ,
The next minute. saw them plow up ,
the earth all around him and one of !,
hem sent his cap sailing into the air. :
As be got in line with the horses the fire /,
while the men saw his plan =
md rushed forward. Jim was in no .
hurry. Resting his carbine over sad !,
lie he wounded another Of his pursuers :
md it seemed full minute before ne !;
mounted and rode off towards Lees .
'urg. There was rush for the horses :,
md away they gatloped after the recruit y
lring as they rode. =
The strange luck that stood by Jim :
'hanks in his fight might have aided i
Inn to escape had he selected better y
orse. After gallop of half an hour =
e found his pursuers gaining. and in y
rylng to get into the fields his horse n
ell, rolled OYER the poor fellow, and the q
ursuers found him dead when they o
ode up. His clothing was fairly i'd y y
led with bullets, and yet his flesh had r
OF been scratched. The church-steps :,
ere as full of holes as a colander and " =,
bout the same distance apart, and vet ~ :,
i'm was not wounded. Mean spirited, =,
'stinate end logged Is terminate, "
had the courage of u lion and the q,
sllantry of knight, and the first and =.