Daily globe., 1880-06-06
The Queen of the Sioux.

lady named Mrs. Kelly, with her niece seven
years of age They were on the familiar,
welI-known trail from Fort Laramie, owe,
which hundreds and thousands had passed,
and there were other trains in front and
rear, SO that none entertained thought OF
danger.
1t was just growing dark, and the two
.colored men were busy preparing supper.
The Little Box Elder flowed at their feet,
its bluffs rising abruptly on the opposite
side. Mr.. Kelly had started off to deter
mine the best point for crossing, when all
at once a couple of hundred Sioux warriors
appeared on the bluffs and swooped down
upon the sstounded emigrants.
The latter were powerlesS, and the next
minute three of the whites lay dead, one
vanished IN the darkness, and Mrs. Kelly
and her niece were prisoners. The change
was as sudden as awful The two were
forced to mount a horse which was led by
an Indian the plundered teams and the dead
being left behind.
They had not travelled far, when Mrs.
Kelly formed plan of escape fol her niece.
She began tearing into small pieces num-
Der of letters which she had about her per-
son, and stealthily dropped them to the
ground as they rode along. At the same
time she called the attention of little Mary
to them, and directed her, when the time
came, to let herself safely down from the
horse, and run back upon the trail thus
marked out, until she should reach the plum
dered camp, where she was to await the ar
rival of some of the other emigrant trains
that were not far behind.
This suggestion was carried out, the girl
slipping down so quietly that her absence
was not noted. She started on a run across
tho prairie, there being just sufficient light
for her to detect the white bits of paper
which marked her path.
The success of her niece in getting away
awakened hope in the heart of Mrs. Kelly
that she might do the same thing, though
she could not but know that the chances
were much against it. She was not heav-
iIy-buiIt woman and she managed, after a
time, to reach the ground and she, too, at
once started on the back trail as fast as she
could make her way over the prairie.
She was speedily missed, however, and the
Sioux rode cut so as to form an immense
circle, when all began moving in toward the
centre. The search was not prosecuted
very long, when the crouching figure
was discovered in the grass, and retaken.
At the same time another party galloped
ON in search cf the little girl, who sped along
with a light step, until daylight, when she
saw she was so close to the trail that only a
narrow ravine interviewed.
Just then she observed three soldiers ap-
preaching, and with a cry of JOY ran toward
them with outstretched arms.
But the Indians were closer still, and they
spurred their horses forward on dead run.
Mary ran with might and main, and the sol
diers hesi;ated at sight of the redskins.
minute later they shot the little fugitive
dead, and with her golden-haired scalp fut-
tering from the girdle of one, they cantered
back to the war-party.
Mrs. Kelly did not learn this until many
weeks afterward, but she enjoyed the faint
pleasure of believing the little one had ef-
fected her escape.
The situation of the lady herself was
frightful to the last degree. She could
not tell whether her husband was alive,
nor did she know what was to become of
herself
Her mental torture would have overturned
her reason but for her terrible bodily suffer-
ings. A long stretch of arid desert inter-
vened between the Laramie trail and the
destination of the Sioux, and the ride over
this was so severe that the lady more than
once felt she must succumb and die.
She was compelled to ride one horse and
lead another, and the latter was an ugly
brute, which continually jerked his head
backward with such violence as to draw
her to the ground, when she was beaten for
falling.
Her distress from thirst was SO great that
her mind occasionally wandered, and she
seemed proportionately dull in compre-
hending the commands of her captors, thus
insuring harsher treatment than ever.
The Sioux, however, subjected her to no
greater indignities than that of blows.
Once, when thoroughly worn out and des-
pairing, she flung away a valuable pipe of
the chief, which she was given to carry.
This SO enraged him that the company was
halted she was tied to tree, and wood piled
around her, with the intention of burning
her to death.
But the plan was changed and it was
agreed that she should be tied to horse,
like Mazeppa, shot to death with arrows,
and then left upon the back of the steed.
At this Juncture, the captive drew roll
of greenbacks from her bosom, and offered
all to them if they would spare her life.
They weren't sensible enough to appreciate
this beautiful currency, but they became in
terested in the fine engraving, and asked
her to explain it.
She made this explanation so pleasing that