Little Falls transcript., 1884-05-23
MONTANA ROAD AGENTS

|ipay,nastsr Whippls Describes His Hn-
counter with q Band Of Highwaymsn In
Montana. lbs Il ,a-5. ....@5 ii 4,
Fort Buford, Oak, Special Telegram, May
15.---I have interviewed Maj. Whipple, the pay
master who was attacked by road agents, and
who has just reached the garrison. He says:
'sWe left Glendive at 9 o'clock yesterday morn
ing. Our party was composed Of myself, my
clerk, Mr.. Such, and Sergeant Conrad,
who was in command of my escort, which
was made up of three men with two
drivers. Mr. Such and I occu-
pied the rear seat Of the ambulance, Sergeant
Conrad apd driver on the front, while the others
rode in the wagon Immediately behind Con-
trary to my usual caution, had placed my
money in the ambulance. AT about 2:30 in the
afternoon as we were driving quietly up through
of Barnes ranch, I heard rapid firing. I
looked out and saw Sergeant Conrad firing to
the left at party of masked men, seven in
number, who had opened murderous fire up
on us without word Of warning Three Of
the seven men were firing directly into our am
bulance, which tire was returned by the Ser
geant in the
BRAyEST AND MOST GALLANT MANNER.
At an early stage Of the action, however, he re-
ceived two mortal wounds, but continued to
fire until the loss OF blood SO weakened him
that he could no longer hold his rifle. About
this time the driver received scalp wound
and fell down from his wagon, when Mr. Such
and jumped out One of the mules was
wounded, and the team becoming frightened,
ran away with the ambulance, which contained
| the lieutenant and my money. Mr.. Such and
We're kept under very heavy fire, and our
escape was most miraculous. Fearing that
the highwaymen would capture the !a!mbulance,
suit, and made the best record Of my life in
| running the mile. was Obliged to. was
successful in overtaking the mules and climb
ing into Tie ambulance. The sergeant-gal-
! liant fellow that he was--died in my arms about
twenty minutes after being shot reached
Scott's ranch, about eightnliles from the scene
of the murderous attack safely. In the mean
time Mr. Such and the ambulance driver were
! covered by the rifles of the highwaymen and
forced to return to the escort wagon. One of
the men was badly wounded in the arm in the
| shot Tho villains, thinking that the
! escort wagon contained my safe, had paid but
little attention to my escort beyond few shots,
| which they sent unpleasantly near. They then
began to search the escort, keeping the men
| WAS fruiltless. They seemed rather disap-
| pointed, and began to search the men and Mr..
| Such. They found little tobacco on ono of
the men and from Such they took about $40
snd watch, which, however they returned.
After destroying the carbines they ordered
the driver to his scat and allowed
fs ,1a i R@s sSos at sem sent my pon eoarer s
Fort Buford for o surgeon and additional es-
cort, as we fully anticipated an attack before
! night Upon receipt Of the intelligence Gen.
! Whistler. ordered Maj Bell Seventh cavalay to
start with his troops, He made a forced night
march, and reached us at in the morning,
| greatly to our relief, we having been on guard
! duty the entire night Maj. Bell has instruc-
tons to do everything in his power to capture
the band He has taken with him three Indian
escorts and an interpreter"