St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-01-25
SANTA re STORY.

the other cattle raiser. They were full Of
anecdote, and after both had told several
stories the conductor took mis- turn The mi
ner first got his feet upon the back of the
seat ahead of him and remarked slowly:
| ''Seyen years ago this winter was q mighty
dull season in our camp. The weather was
colder'n usual, there wasn't any water, We
were short of grub, anc the Indians were
very troublesome. We had about fifteen or
sixteen in the camp, 1 believe and we had
| to 20 pretty easy our eatables, so as to
make them last. | had been keeping sever
al men there, thinking every day that we'd
strike something rich, and when they got
more and more dissatisfied / promised them
bigger and bigger shares. l could see that
the men were getting about ready to jump
me- and that they had begun to look upon
me as something of a lunatic. They wo uld
hold long conferences together, speaking in
low tones, and when | came around they
would pretend to be talking about the wealth
er or something of the kind. | had used
them all pretty well, and they hated to leave
me, but they were getting uneasy.
! zone day toward shutdown, when | was
about ready to give up myself, a young Mex
lean couple, who were bound for Sonora,
struggled into our diggings a good deal the
worse for wear They mad been up in Colo
RADIO. and had started for home with team
and driver, but the Indians hau got on their
trail, killed the driver, and stolen the horses
and wagon. The travellers managed to get
away while the driver was holding the saw
ages at bay and lying in hiding until night
fail, they uad worked their way on foot into
our camp. The young woman was one Of
the prettiest girls ever saw. She was about
sick abed when she arrived, but the next day
she was around as clipper as anybody, and
the boys were making themselves very agree
able. Says TO myself: This is special
dispensation of Providence; if can keep the
girl here Tor awhile there will be no trouble
about the boys; they'll stay too 1 never
heard word Of grumbling from them that
day or the next.
Il was little afraid the greaser would get
jealous and knife somebody; but then /
thought if he does the rest of the boys will
| finish him, and then we will have the girl
any way. The Mexican seemed anxious to
get away, but | made one excuse and aDoth-
er for not helping him right away, and one
morning he was missing. He had slOped
during the night, leaving the girl to us.
! Well, she was pretty well cast down for a
while, but | explained to her that probably
hernusband had gone on to get horses and
!
cause he knew she would have objected to
his going alone. This faint hope seemed to
| give her some comfort, and the rest of the
| boys fell in with me, and it became the set
tied conviction about the camp that he would
be back presently. She livened up some,
and the boys made themselves very agreea-
bic. When two weeks had gone by and
nothing had been heard of her husband she
insisted on being taken home, and offered
US any amount of money, which she said her
father would pay, if we would escort her
over the border. | began to fear that her
husband was never coming back and to tell
the truth, had still stronger suspicion of
something else; so l agreed to start with her
| the next morning at sunrise, and told the
boys to be in readiness. That afternoon we
| heard unearthly screams up one of the
| guIches a ways, and several of the boys, run
| ming up with blauched faces to see what the
matter was, found the little woman beside a
new-made and very shallow grave, into which
| she had dug far enough to discover the body
of her husband. As the boys stood there
aghast she sprang to her feet quickly and,
drawing Il revolver, shot two of them dead
before any of US could find voice. l threw
up my hands and begged of her to desist,
and when some of the boys grabbed their
guns pulled mine and made them put the
up. Then | got her back to the cabin, dis
armed her, set one trusty fellow to watch her
and called the others up into the gulch. We
uncovered the dead man and found two
bullet holes in his back.
.''Who put them therel' said I sterny to
the men.
"'rhc two men whom she shot,, they an
swered.n
:" Tmpossiblep says 1. slow could she
know?'"
Issue didn't know. She just hit them
right by chance said one Of the party we
knew when they did it. but we didn't want
to say anything about 1t. They thought to
rob him and run off with her, but she seem
ed to be afraid Of them more than of the
| Others -
''Well, l got kind of tired of that place
after that and when got things ready to
take her home | packed up my own things
also, and as we set out | says to the boys:
'Good-by, old men. You can work the claim
or not, just as you please. 1t amt likely
that I'll ever be back here again. And I
never did 90 back. They SUNK away after
awhile too, and I've heard that nobody has
ever worked there since. | took the girl
home to her father and left her there. She's
there now. Yes, / see her occasionally. In
fact, l don't mind telling you she's my wife,
and has been for two or three years"
The stock raiser pulled quart bottle, with
an outline Of Pixies peak blown in on one
side Of 1t, from his oyercoat pocket, took
| drink, passed ii on, and when IL came back
to him took another drink and said: ''I'm
| pretty much a newcomer in this country.
Most of my life as a cattemqn has been
! passed in western Kansas and Nebraska,
where know every inch Of the land from
| Medicine Lodge TO Fort Robson. Your story
reminds me OF something that happened in
| northwestern Nebraska about four years ago
| Old Man Norris owned a big ranch out there,
and when he got his house built he made his
two daughters 60 out and live in it. They
were delicate girls, and it was terrible
| place to put them. Indians were roaming
around freely, and the white men they saw
were good deal more savage than the In
dams. The girls had been fairly educated,
and they had tastes which made life on the
| ranch extremely irksome. One Of them was
a romantic girl, whO saw possible lover or
| knight in every man who came along, white
or red; hut the other refused to be interested
In anything, and before very long sickened
and died.
II so happened that young Indian from
Fort Robinson, named Lone Crow, was ut
the house on the day Of the funeral, and,
seeing the young girl in tears, he spoke 10
her pleasantly and pathetieally. He was
pretty goOd-lOoHng fellow, if he was red
skin, and when she gazed upon his stalwan
frame and handsome features she took az
much interest IN him as he bad in her. He
managed 10 get around that way frequently
after that, until It became the talk among the
cowboys that the girl had an Iniun lover.
The white men often talked Of rcsenting his
| f.fr a. 70 Faty
Of them had good deal Of whisky aboard,