Southern standard. (McMinnville, Tenn.) 1879-current, 1881-12-03
A Story Of Indian Captivity.

man bearing it is now in the city, whose
career is heroic enough to be the skele-
ton of most entertaining frontier ro-
nance. Mr.. Beck is fifty.seven years of
age, sun-browned and considerably shat
tered in health, but he is intelligent, and
his story is vouched for in several let
tiers he carries from well-known army
officers, who have had means of deter
mining its truth.
From 1867 to 1870 the subject of this
article was soldier in the regular ar
my, and when mustered out was q priv
ate in Company E of the Ninth Infantry
the regiment now stationed at Fort
Omaha. Retiring from the service, he
settled in Chicago, where he worked at
his trade, being shoemaker. Business
was good, and himself and three other
workmen had all they could attend to,
but his years of army life, during which
his regiment had been frequently trans
ferred from one fort to another on the
frontier, had rendered him unfit for the
unexciting life of a cobbler, and,
in 1875, he sold his business, determin-
ing to seek fortune in the West. The
gold discoveries in the Black Hills about
this time began to excite public interest,
and Mr.. Beck was among the number
who caught the mining fever. He
packed up his household goods and with
his wife, two young lady daughters and
q son of twelve years, he left Chicago
March 10, 1875, and landed in due time
at Cheyenne. Here he joined the COM
pany of Gen. Carpenter, of Sedalia, Mo-,
who led twenty-five families into the
Hills. They had wagons, camping out
fit and provisions for six months. Just
about this time the President issued his
order to the army commanding the ar
rest of all persons who should attempt
to cross the line into the Sioux reserVa-
ton, which then included what is now
the prosperous Black Hills gold mining
region. However, this party was not
detected by the troops, and they reached
Deadwood Gulch in safety, and part of
them went to work developing the st.
Johns mine. Beck was of this number,
and he erected a log cabin about three
quarters of q mile from the diggings,
which himself and family called their
homes.
All went well with the daring miners
until July is, when they were surround
ed by Sitting Bulls band of Sioux and
were made captives. Beck was separ-
ated from his family, and has never
seen or heard of them since. He was
taken, with several men of the company,
to the Indian village of Rosebud, then
consisting of four hundred lodges, and
expected to be the victim of an Indian
scalp dance. The Indians, however, Of
fered the white men their choice between
death and booming members of the
tribe. Death is not often the choice o.
the Caucasian, and Beck formed no ex
ception. IIe DOTTED his mining CARL
and assumed the blanket, moccasins
paint and feathers of Sioux brave. HI
was given young Cheyenne squaw
about eighteen years OF age,for his wife
and soon became, to all appearances, ;
thorough-going Indian.
q Moneka was the name of his dusk.
t sweetheart and bride. "Moneka," il
r the Sioux tongue, is translated "m,
love-" She had been made captive b,
this band when but eleven years of age
and beck became strongly attached f
her. He soon learned the language 0
o the Sioux, and adapted himself to hi
7 surroundings. Five weeks after his cap
n ture he was an unwilling participant il
!. the massacre of Custer on the Little BIZ
h Horn. He followed the fates of his cap
s tors through all the weary months whic
!. followed while the war continued, an
% at last, with them, crossed the boundar
h into the British Possessions.
/. His story of the sufferings of the re
Ia braves and their families in that wintr
h cline are enough to excite the heart
N compassion. Their clothing worn on
t, their game supply scant, and the dee
A. snow and severe cold were bravely borr
n and they struggled along, keeping sol
. and body together, as long as their prid
v could endure, but finally were forced t
I, surrender. Beck and the other captive
10 returned to civilization with their re
II comrades at Standing Rock Agony, bl
st so Drowned by exposure that they coul
I'd with difficulty establish their identity {
a white men.
|, Mr.. Beck says he could have escape
or at any time since they crossed the bore
n. er, but his attachment for the gent
w " Moneka had grown upon him and ha
ho been strengthened by the birth of tN
ia papooses, and he could not consent
%. leave them in exile. After the surren
N er he Joined wagon train en- route
he Fort Laramie, and with his Indian wi
'a' and babies went to that post. He
70. now striving to find his white wife al
N. children,or to learn their fate. He call'
f upon Gen. Crook, commanding at Fo
Omaha, and related his story, Whit
,s. has aroused the sympathy of that ste
q old Indian conqueror. 1t is likely Il
Nv white wife has gone her to long home, b
Of. the daughters may be alive and t
Q mothers of half-breed Sioux, and t
yr son brave whose experience is not u
,bo like that of his father. The old man
;Sb anxious to learn what has become
Nv them, and, las he broken down in healt
on wishes to locate somewhere in t
c;o West, where he can end his days
tho peace with his white wife, if she be J
in alive, or with Moneka, if the civiliz
all companion is no more. He is somewf
m. puzzled as to what will happen in CO
vas the white Mrs. Beck can be found.
bu. is a strange career this man has eXpe
,es enced. Omaha Cor. 81. Louis Clio
,ish DeVocT@S'
,isa