Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-05-09
DULL KNIFE.
Interview With the Dreaded Old Chey.
enhe Chlef---The Outbreak at
Fort Roblnson---A Terrible
Story Of Exposure and
Suffering.

Village, near White Pine Agency, D
t., says:
Since his arrival in this vicinity, a
described in a previous letter, Dull
Knife, the head chief of the Chey
ennes and the leader of the terribl,
outbreak at Fort Robinson, has beer
suffering from illness, and has for tn,
most part remained secluded in hi
lodge. So shattered is the old maI
by exposure and hardship that hereto
fore il has been impossible to Obtair
an interview with him, To-day, how.
ever, at the suggestion of an ole
friend, Mr.. William j. Roland, who
has been among the Sioux and Chey-
ennes for thirty years, the famous
chief consented to have a talk with
your correspondent.
Driving as near as possible with my
ambulance to the cluster of new white
lodges in which the remnants of the
late Cheyenne prisoners, numbering
about forty, T now assembled, the
old chief was summoned from his
retirement through the. agency of an
Indian boy, who had been wildly
dashing about, chasing a herd of ponies
wilder, if possible, than himself. The
lean, careworn face Of the last of the
Cheyenne chiefs soon appeared, and
the usual stately salutations followed.
rs he had been appraised of the object
OF my visit, little time was wasted in
preliminaries. A buffalo robe was
spread, and, amid the rolling and
smoking of cigarettes, the interview
began:
Oh, yes" said the old chief, in
answer to a question, "the story of
my escape from Camp Robinson. All!
| will tell you it all. Oh, what a
hard time it was! | have had a good
many very hard times, but that was
the hardest of them all" Throwing
back his head, as be leaned upon his
right elbow in a recumbent position.
he pressed his forehead a moment
with his left hand aud seemed to be
lost in a reyerie, in which. no doubt,
the dread scenes in which his beauti-
full daughter and many relatives were
slain came back wildly and terribly
before him. He aroused himself soon
and continued Il had nothing to eat
for four days. jumped through the
broken window of the barracks
among the first, followed immediately
by my people. The firing was very
fast and the bullets seemed to pass all
around me and right by both sides of
my head. | saw the Cheyennes fall
ing all about me and thought every
moment | would be killed, but that
was what we expected when we broke
out, and We didn't care, for VIC
thought our time had come to die and
1t did not make any difference to us
how we were killed"
But how did you escape being shot
and how did you get away from the
fring?"
All, the Great Spirit looked down
on me and took pity. He has always
taken care Of me. | have been in a
great many fights aud a good deal of
but have never been hurt.
ran until | got a short distance away
from where the soldiers were shouting
aud firing, and / laid down in a little
hollow in the snow. The soldiers kent
going TO and fro near US, and Thought
they would trample upon us and we
would be killed. When everything
became quiet about us my squawa and
little girl, who were with me. and my.
self crawled of to one of the rayines
close by and there we stayed. We
had one blanket each among US. hut
nothing TO eat. / had no arms. We
worked out Of the rayine into another
after that, during the night time. to
get further away, but sometimes. on
account Of the way they run into one
another after we had been travelling all
aight long we would find ourselves In !
the morning just where we started. or
within a few feet Of il. We were
very sad, and commenced to think I'd
was no use trying % get away. But at
last VIC reached Crow Butto and hid
there. Then We worked on, still keen
out Of sight IN the daytime. going
around Camp Sheridan 70 the north.
ward, until We got near the agency oil
the Sioux. our old friends aud rela.
This took us fourteen DAYS.
aud we came thes 70 a ranch on the
belonging 10 a white man
9amed Crayen, ] think. His wife Gan
gQnan) saw me and ran away
came up 70 her after a time
and got something 70 eat, the frat We
bad since W. started II Was very
hard ] don't kHoN how / stood IL.
LIyIN0 % RosEBrDs.
What did you and your family live
% for The fourteen days, and how did
yog keep from freezingg Was IL not
hitter cod / asked.
We picked roaebuds. / bad A III.
in eaB ID which / gathered and
carried tlem ~ the canyon. W. could
not keGp yarn. We would get under
the three blankets We bad among nj.
boz Ne suffered awfllly from tic cold
! bad my toes frozen"
Here he chief pulled Of a moe
cas0n aud shoged where two Of he
tgeg ~ Lif JEFF foot he'd disappeared
Then when We arrived near here.
be continued. during he four da,s
foll0MHR ! staQgcfed about and ia
pot bardly kBoB ghefeI was going
Ny bead pot b4d end ! was dry. yery
weak and sick ! thought I would
give ~. reached Litte Biz NAM
house, and then got warm and some.
thing " eat, When ! went ~ sleep !
forgot everything ! cannot believe
that II y ne. ~ ODD man. who went
through all dis / shut ny eyes and
seems " ne Ike a great, ffiphtGl
dream"
Here be became silent. and cover
gg bic eyes saBk into q reyerie agais
This continued but q few moments.
when Ne made 4 ee.ftF. 49, L