The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1880-01-22

are comfortably and warmly housed,
clothed, and fed, ever bestOw a single
. thought on those soldiers and scouts
who are camped and barracked far out
on the plains, where an extra glass u
toddy is the extent of the Christmas
festivites?'' The above question was
asked Of an Alta reporter by Mr.. j.
Howard Paget, a scout who had been
attached TO Gen. Miles's command, and
who was an eyewitness TO Miles's fight
with the NeZ Perces on Sept. 80 and
Oct. /, ,, 3 and 4, 1877. MIR. Paget, or
Howard" the name by which be is
known on the plains, is a fine-looking,
well built Young man of 80 or there
aboufs. whose hardened sinews and
bronzed features bear witness to the life
of exposure he has followed for the past
seven years. He is a native of Iowa,
and has been in California 10 years. His
first visit to the pTairicS was in 1873,
when he took st. Louis party to the
Black Hills; in 1875 he was driven out
of the Hills by Gen. Crook, since which
time he has been Government scout.
Mr. Paget is quiet, Unassuming gen
tleman, who, although covered with
honorable scars and wounds gained IN
the service of his country, is somewhat
reticent of talking of his life on the
plains, and it required some little press
ing to induce him to converse in such
manner that the following story might
be told. He differs also from several of
the noted scouts in that he wears his
hair short, and not in the POLITICALLY art
istic style of flowing locks dropping over
the shoulders:
"Well, yes" said Paget, 81 think ]
know thing or two about roughing it,
and l can just tell you a scouts daily
life is not the pleasant thing you would
take it to be from the yellow-covered,
I0-cent novels At five minutes notice
we frequently undertake a journey of
hundred miles, on horseback, during
which we have 70 ride from so to IS
miles n day, and don't see a human
face. a fence or house for weeks.
When we are sent with dispatches, we
don't bother much about luggage;
usually it consists of what fellow has
on, blanket for a saddle-cloth, buck
skin pants, a wooden shirt, and pair of
Government boots. Weapons? Well,
yes, guess we take them along, too; a
brace Of good revolvers, a needle-gun,
and an Arkansas tOothpick, or pocket
knife with a seven-inch blade, is ny
usual outfit in that direction. OF
course, never travel without my COM
pass, as that is frequently my only
guide. Ra,iOns? Well, yes, / take
some OF them, of course, though not
enough to bother my mount; some
bareback, sowbelly, or salt pork, and
black coffee is the extent of my larder.
In case the grub runs out, don't hesl-
tate to kill my animal for sustenance.
For water and fuel we usually trust to
luck, which don't always pan out well.
/ have more than once ridden one hun
bred and fifty miles without seeing a
creek of running water, or finding
stick as big as match. Sometimes
we are sent ont with dispatches
for a command a week ahead of
us. Do we find them? Yes, |
generally, but we have to trail the COM
mand. Sometimes it is easy enough; |
other times it isn't easy at all. In or |
binary weather / can generally tell by
trailing within two hours how long it is
since they passed, or how old the tracks
are. Well, yes, | guess we are pretty
well paid for our services, as a general
thing. Sometimes the service is a par
tlcularly dangerous oAe, and the com
manding officer offers a reward for a
VOLUNTEER to carry the dispatches, but
even the reward don't always secure a
volunteer.
Right after the Custer massacre re-
ward of $1,000 was offered to any one
who would carry, sealed letters to the
nearest command and bring answers
three soldiers volunteered and got ,
through safely, but they could not be ::
induced to return with the answers. In ,
dians? Well, yes, | think have seen a
few of them during the past six years;
have seen them and felt them closer ,
than / ever want to again. Treaties ,
don't amount to any thing; the Indians
are nasty, treacherous devils, and you
just mark my words, they kill white
man whenever they get chance. It's
in their nature, and they can't help it.
The Piutes in and around Nevada and +
Utah are quiet and peaceable enough, {
but that's because they are not strong :
enough to be fighting. Well, don't ]
want to blow my own horn, but | c
should remark have had few narrow g
escapes. Ii you think you would like to t
hear a couple of them, l will just as +
cave tell them as not. No, thank you, +
don't drink; in our business a man +
must keep a stout heart, a steady eye, o
and a cool head, and liquor won't help 3
o give him any of them. d
''In June, 1877, think it was about p
he Dist, started to take train OF is
from Deadwood to the Big /
horn country. In the party were sew b
raj ender-feet-pretty green ones. A 5,
nan named John Snyder of Cheyenne Y
md myself thought we would scare p
hem little; so we sneaked off about II
wo miles from camp and LIT fire. il
joining back into camp, we woke the >!
,oys up with the remark, There's In a:
ianS around; see the fire. and, to car b,
Y out the joke, we put them TO work ii
igging riie-pits. There's many true e,
ord spoken in jest, you know, and so al
was in our case. AT dawn, in the al
of our fire, which had, 4
Oubtless, been seen by them, were til
bout eighty Indians, in war-paint, and tn
Scellently mounted. l think they were sh
Lame Deer's band. | knew they p1
-ouldn't attack us till daylight, because ds
Indians are superstitious of the dead and We
Hing at nighttime, so we got ready to lie
chit, and awaited movements on their
art You bet, we didn't have long to
ait. In about ten minutes after day
ght they were upon us, and shooting
1mmenced in good earnest. In the Al
rst round three of our men, tender th
,et, got killed; they seemed to be in