Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1883-02-14
Far West Experiences.

now fast becoming extinct-the old hun
tiers, trappers and prospectors of the fsr
West, the men WHO spent their lives IN
advance of the wave of civilization, who
, explored the country. fought the Indians,
and, as he SAYS, made 1t safe for the
soldiers to go there'-was at the Glrard
House, Philadelphia, recently. HIS pane
is j. Nj. Kirkpatrick. lie is a stout,
robust, wel-preserved man of fiity-ive.
with a kindly face, a mild but bright
blue eye, a pleasant voice and ready
speech. He had come to Philadelphia
10 confer with capitalists about the sale
of some mines which he owns in Ari-
zona, in which Territory he now makes
his home, after forty years of wandering
up and down and into every corner CT
the vast stretch of country between the
Mississippi and the Pacific Ocean. tie
was but fifteen years old when he left his
home in Ohio. He drifted about the from
tier for while, and when the Mexican
war broke cut entered the army as tifer,
saw service IN Mexico, and early In 1850
followed the Argonauts IN California.
Since then his lie has been one ion-. ro-
nance.
''indians are Ike children" said Mr..
kirkpatrick, IN recountIng his adventures
to & reporter. IF yod gain their conf
dence you can do what you please with
them. | never made promise to an Ip-
dian that did not keep, and il that wav
| made plenty of friends among the tribes.
They like bravery, too, and will not hurt
man who shows no fear when over
powered. When the Indians get you in
a corner, if you stand up and bare your
breast and tell them to shoot, they will
never do 1t. | have had to do That twice
in my life, and so speak from experience;
but l never knew them to kill prisoner
who defied them.
Tight scrapesl l have been IN good
many, but think the worst eyer struck
was at Port Oxford, Oregon, ON the 10th
of June, 1851. That was the time, rs
tell my friends, VIXEN my baIr began 20
drop out.' Here he lifted a huge SOM
breTo and showed wide expanse Of glis
Ie1Ing scalp, well fringed with grizzly
brown. ''There were nine men. ali told,
IN our party, and We had come down IN
the steamer from Portland to start d settle
ment there and open a road to the Few
placer mines IN Oregon and Northern Cal
ifornia. The steamers officers promised
to stop on their way back, ON a certain
day, and see now We were getting on; but
when the vessel reached San Francisco shs
was seized for debt and TIED up, and we
came precious near being annlhilated for
counting ON her. We had only been at
Port Oxford few days and had no time
TO put up stockade when the Indians
found US and band of eighty or ninety of
them pitched into US while We were at
work. They had no guns, luckily for us,
but the arrows few like hail and some of
them came with almost the force of a |
musket bsll.
"Three OF our men fell dead at the first |
fire. The rest of us managed to get under
some kind OF cover, and 1 placed myself |
beside six-pcund mountain howitzer that |
we had brought along and stationed at the |
head Of ravine up which the IBdIans had
to come. We had two pounds OF powder |
in the gun ard a lot of plg-lead cut up INTO
slugs. lighted piece Of tarred rope aud
waited for the Indians to get close up. |
Meanwhile, as had TO he exposed to their |
fire, one of the men got piece of inch |
and-a-half board and held It up In front |
Of me as a shield and in about a minute |
that board was stuck full of arrows, |
some Of which went in so far that their |
points showed on the other side. / !
thought Our time had come. sure. but
determined 10 take as many Indians as
possible along TO the happy hunting
grounds, and so held my fire TIL the |
foremost was within ten feet of the gun. |
4 la. l.nr nd hnfn
could get over their surprise the six of
lis were among them with our knives
and six-shooters. In about minute ana
a half from that time not a live Indian !
was to be seen, but when we cleaned up
we found twenty-three dead ones.
Well, after that the Indians were afraid |
too come too close, but they laid regu- |
lar slege to our place and We found we'd |
have 10 get out of it. The steamer was TO |
be back In fifteen days from that time and
we told the Indians by means If the sign
language that we would leave in fifteen
days. So they waited. The time came,
but no steamer, and the Indians came al
Us again. This time there must have been
three or four hundred of them ana the
bows made up their minds we we were
going to be wiped out. Things did look
pretty desperate. There we were, all
alone in the woods, not another white
man within a hundred and fifty miles OF
us, and only half a dozen of us TO fight
three or four hundred redskins. When
saw that we were likely TO have more
trouble | wrote an account of Our fight
on a blank leaf of a book, winding up
with the statement that we were sur
rounded by hostile Indians and would
probably all be killed, and this l buried
at the foot stump, which / shaved down
ON one side, and wrote on the fresh sur
face, IN red chalk, the words: Look be-
Meath.
"Ihings kept looking worse and worse |
all that day, but the Indians didn't care to
face the howitzer again by daylight and
they let us alone until evening. Then |
ssId to the boys: Now, look here, we've
got tn get ollt of this. If you will follow |
ne Ill take you out right through the
woods. / never mlssed my bearings yet
and | reckon 1 can take you to Portland
overland So we slipped away that night
and l guided the party to the Umpqua
river. where we separated l went on to
bAS AAASb mn 4 AiNh
there were Phil Kearney and MAJOR Lor-
ing, the man who went to Egypt as Cen
eral Lorlng. by graclousp Loriug ex-
claimed, there's. Kirkpatrick and they
rushed across the street to SHAKE hands
with me. Five minutes afterward the
whole town was in an uproar, and found
that the news of our death had got there
before had. The captain of the steamer
had told another vessel, coming north, TO
look out for US, and she had stopped at
Port Oxford the day after We left Her
menshed found my record and carried 1t
to Portland, and when | got there vessel
with hundred men on board was Just |
about to start to look out for US.
Mr. Kirkpatrick is full of "reminiscences
of the brave old lndIan-fghters OF the |
past, foremost of whom he places Kit
Carson, whom be considers one of the
nobleSt men that ever lived. lie met
Carson frequently during the time between
1850 and 1859 and they struck Up strong
friendship. Carson" he said, ''was