The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-03-14

AT that lmpressionable age to see was
to love. Young Willard saw his fate,
and the flame was reciprocated. But
there were the usual difficulties in the
way. Not only were the youth s
parents scandalized beyond ex-
preston at the idea of their
son allying himself to an In
dian, but the Indians themselves,
with true tribal pride, resented the idea
of such union. Still love, as usual!
laughed at locksmiths, and Franks alb
sence from the hacienda upon riding
expeditions of questionable utility be-
came more and more noticeable as the
weeks wore on. There were stolen in-
terviews with Bonita in the chaparral
near the rancheria, at one of which the
loving couple were surprised by the old
chief, when Frank was warned that
such interviews must cease forever,
under pain of the dire resentment of
the tribe. The fair Bonita had, he was
told, been betrothed to Domingo, a gal
liant of her race, and the nuptial cere-
mony was to be performed in the course
of a week, on which occasion grand
fandango was to be held, at which the
whole tribe would participate. From
that time forth Bonita was not permit
ted to go outside the bounds of the
rancheria, though solitary horseman,
presumed to be Frank Willard, Could
still be seen daily riding among the
adjacent hills AT length the day Of
the fandango arrived. The large adobe
building in which the orgy was to be
held, was filled at an early hour of the
evening with as motley an assemblage
of squaws and bucks as ever appeared
at such gathering. The weeping
Bonita was led in, bedecked with as
much poor finery as the wardrobe of
the tribe afforded, and at her side stood
Domingo with triumphant expression
on his coarse and repulsive counte-
nance. Dancing was engaged in
around a fire built on the ground in the
center of the building Git was winter),
wreaths to the cone-shaped ceiling
through hole in which it issued to the
open air. Squaws danced with squaws,
and bucks with bucks, as the invariable
custom is. Under the influence
of agardiente, of which there
was liberal supply, the orgy waxed
wild and furious, Suddenly it was re-
marked that Bonita had disappeared
while Domingo was engaged in dane
ing. In an instant a deafening howl
was set up, and the motley gathering
rushed pell-mell from the building,
spreading hither and thither with pine
torches and glowing firebrands in quest
of the missing maiden. Presently a
shout went up from an outlying quar-
ter. A general rush was made thither.
just at the limits of the rancheria
stood a horse, on which was seated
Frank Willard, while running towards
it, and now only a few yards away,
appeared Bonita, A second or two
more and she would have reached the
horse and been swung into the saddle
by the strong arm of her lover, when,
hapless fate! an arrow whizzed through
the air, piercing the flank of the ami
NAL. With bound the spirited beast
leaped forward, the abrupt movement
throwing the poor youth out of the
saddle. In an instant he was on his
feet, with one arm round the maiden,
while with his revolver he covered the
approaching Indians. Six shots rang
swarthy forms fell grooming to the
ground. But what chance had the
poor boy against the superior numbers
of the now maddened barbarians?
Frank was quickly overpowered,
bound with rushes, and council held
over his PROSTATE body. Some coun-
seled despatching him instantly then
and there, but this was overruled by
the older heads of the tribe.
After short consultation, four of
the stoutest Indians raised him from
the ground and began to bear him out
of the rancheria. They took the direc-
ton of the river, making straight for
the precipice which overhangs it at a
height of 800 feet, followed by the en-
tire tribe. Arrived at the edge of the
bluff, the two stoutest Indians took the
body of the youth by the head and feet,
and swinging him backward and for
ward three times launched him out into
the stream, whose hoarse murmur
could be heard 800 feet below. The
next instant a female figure sprang
forward from the throng of Indians
that had pressed close up to the brink
of the precipice, and, with wild, de-
spairing shrek, leaped down after the
body of her lover.
1t was Bonita. Her body was found
next morning, dashed into an unrecog-
nizable mass upon the powders below
The body of poor Frank Willard was
found few days later some miles
down the stream, caught on a snag be-
low where Cloverdale now is. There
were no marks of violence on it, as he
had been swung clear into the river,
which was then in flood, and as the
PUSHES with which he had been bound
had been washed off there was no evil
dence that he had been murdered in
the way he was. 1t was thought he
had been wounded while attempting to
ford the swollen stream. 1t was early
in the forties when the incident hap
pened. Most of those who took part
in it are, doubtless, by this time either
dead or dispersed. Ny informant, old
Santiago. did not admit having taken
any overt part in the matter, SO ]
could only thank him for his narrative,
and for having given new interest to
the precipice known as the Squaw' s
Rock.-Robert Duncan MSts:e, IL San
Francisco ArgonaH.