Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-12-17
"YUBA BILL.o

The Alleged Original OF Bret Harte's
Hero.
There is man in this city, writes a
New York correspondent of the Troy
Times, that claims to be Bret Harte's
original "Yuba Bill" His name is
Seely, his occupation is a truckdriver,
and whether the novelist has drawn on
him for matter or not, he is singular
parsonage. j knew him intimately al
most score of years ago, and his
family, which consisted of wife, son,
who has been for many years in Buenos
Ayres, South America, and two daughters.
Almost every evening he can be found
in a certain beer saloon on Hudson
Street putting away at clay pipe in an
advanced state of color and relating to
a choice circle of friends and admirers
some episode of his checkered career.
Physically he is fine specimen of man
hood. On an enormous pair of shout
ders rests q well-shaped head with
short neck. The face is brcnzed by ex-
posture, and his huge mustache is coal
black and wiry. There is a wild, at
times savage, glare in the large black
eyes, which are like those of man &C
customed to looking great distances in
the mountains and prairies. His gait is
peculiar and awkward, and he explains
it by saying that until he entered Jim
Fisk's service as MASTER of teams he
never wore anything on his feet but
moccasins.
Here is a short account of his life as
given by himself: 81 was born, guess,
somewhere about 1920, which makes me
about "a years old, though don't look
it. My birthplace was Springfield, Mo.
When turned the Cherokee Indians
made raid on our neighborhood, and
carried me off with them. / was taken
to the reservation of the Six Nations,
and remained there about eight years.
Of course I learned the six Indian dia-
lects. Shall give you a specimen?
sToma woma to" "Pray don't" I
gasped to him. "Wen," continued
Seely, 81 got tired of Indian life after
eight years were over, and ran away
from the reservation. I was pretty
young, but knew how to take care of
myself. Later on I joined Fremont's
expeditions; the first in 1842, up the
Platte River, and the other that went
all the way from Kansas to Fort Suffer,
on the Sacramento. I'm not going to
tell you anything about these expedi-
tons, because you've only got to open
any history of the United States to find
out all about them. But what you can't
find out in history is just this: Here,
just draw your finger this way, across
my head, So. Now you feel that three
inch scar running across my skullt This
is how I got that: When the Texas revo-
luton broke out l was the first to vol
unteer, and when the war on Mexico
was declared / also volunteered. [
fought under Zach Taylor until after
Buena Vista, then ] was under old
Scott. Just as we were storming the
portion of the City of Mexico above
Puerto del Rey bit of shell struck me
on the foot and foored me. I felt
pretty uncomfortable and groaned SO
loud that one OF my pards asked if I
didn't want to be put out of my misery.
thought he was going to give me his
flask, and so I brighteued up. "Well,"
he began fumbling in his cartridge
box-a curious place for a flask, it
seer1ed to me. Then he hauled out q
solitary cartridge, his last one, but it was
wet and he threw it away. After
second or two 1 heard him mutter:
CD this business" and before I
could give another groan I got my skull
split open with the butt of his musket.
That's what he called putting me out
of my misery, but he only made it
worse, and I told him so after I came
out of the hospital.
did / ever drive mail? You bet
I did, and the first one that ever ran be-
tween Fort Leavenworth and San Fran
cisco. The Indians were tough custo-
mers in those days, can tell you, and
it's many time they went for the coach
but they never got much out of it while
'Yuba Bill was on the box-except bull
let's. These they received gratis in un-
limited quantity. They got square on
me once however. My home was on
ranch six miles from Topeka, and after
each return trip paid my old woman
and the children few hours visit. One
night on nearing the homestead, [ heard
heavy firing, and when [ reached it
found my poor children dead and the
old woman standing over their dead
bodies, the sight of one eye Como and
smoking musket in her hands. She had
just had three hours fight with half a
dozen Indian cattle LITE rs. The same
night L started In pursuit with some
friends, among who was Kit Carson, and
before the sun went up the next morn
ing three of the iends were swinging
from tree. My old woman is still Iiv-
ing, minus an eye. (Fact.)
after six years mail-coaching took
to hunting, mining and all sorts of
things. When the war broke out [
served as a scout under Gen. Thomas.
When that was over [ got into Jim
Fisk's employment at 800 month,