The Delaware ledger. (Newark, Del.) 1879-19??, 1884-09-13

In 1868, when the Indians made
raid into Douglass and Ell Paso coun-
ties, they sought hiding places in this
country, but the canyon of Deer Creek
is too small for covert. Turkey Creek
canyon gives more secure hiding places.
In the earlier days this country was
travelled more than it is at present. A
coach used to run to what is now
known as Villa Park Up. T. Barnum's
subdivislon) from Denver, and continue
on the Morrison and adjoining roads
until it reached a rancho owned by
Judge Reed, better known as the old
Pennsylvania House. The coach went
south through the foot hills that adjoin
Morrison to Fairplay. Among other
interesting matters connected with Deer
Creek and the Platte country is the le-
gend of an old Indian chief and his
daughter. Blazing Star, a war chief
of the Arapahoes, had attained the great
est influence among his tribe. Stern
and implaeable in battle, earnest and
invincible in council, he cared little for
women, and was accustomed to regard
all squaws as very inferior creatures.
The Colorado pioneers had reached the
country, and the great chief felt very
jealous of their approach. But doubt
and uncertainty prevailed among the
tribe, and Blazing Star believed they
were about to yield to the white man.
Noted for his boldness and unheard-
of ntrepidity, the war chief resolved
to reconcile the opposing factions by a
grand coup d'etat. Calling all chiefs
and warriors to assemble on certain
day, he sndd.nly appeared before them
on the topmost point of a great crag.
which rises above the most romantic
and beautiful part of the canyon, a spot
known as Glen Plym, where, through
groves of cotton wood, Deer Creek,
clear as crystal, dashes along with a
sound that is wonderfully musical.
How he got up to that height no one
knows, but it was to be tried again soon
after, as the story will show. Assuming
that the Great Manitou inspired him to
stand there, the warrior addressed those
in the glen below him, urging them to
relentless war against the pale face.
His cries for the white mans blood
were heard and answered, and many
spears flashed In the sunlight at his ap-
peals. But one old chief returned from
the powwOw sad and disheartened.
Laughing Eyes, the chlef's daughter.
was so beloved by Wagulla as If she had
been his own child. He knew that one
of the pale faces, young scout, who,
mere boy, had come West in the DAYS
of Kit Carson, loved and was beloved
by the Indian maiden. He knew that
Blazing Star had contracted special
hatred for the youAg scout. Hence he
resolved to warn the young girl. His
warning came none too soon, but when
The maiden started for the settlement
to warn her lover she was beset by high
waymen, and after thousand perlls
escaped to find the settlement burned
and her lover prisoner in the hands of
her father. She soon knew the worst,
On the crag above Glen Plym was the
body of her lover, who had been laid
there to die of starvation and exposure.
She attempted toscale the perilous rock,
but slipped and fell into the canyon be-
meath, corpse. The father, finding
his daughter dead, and arriving in the
same way at the cause, succeeded by
the means he know in reaching the ton
of the crag. But his aid came too late
the young scout had breathed his last.
Since that time it is SAID that in the
dead of night cries are heard as of the
old Indian chief bewailing the loss of
his daughter, and other and feebler
cries as of an Indian maiden weeping
for her lover. So runs this legend hard.
ly old enough TO be called so, for the
old pioneers are SO near to the Colora-
doans of to-day that it is not at all un.
likely that the legend had some founda-
ton in the love of young man named
Walters for an Indian chiefs daughter.
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Public Burying,