The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-12-22
QUEER AMMUNITION.
Roman Candles AZ Successful Weapons q
Offense and Defense.

QUEER AMMUNITION.
Roman Candles as Successful Weapons Of
OHfense and Defense.
Zone of my adventures, eh!" began
the book agent, as the others settled
into their seats more comfortably.
.'Well, about eight years ago carried
a pack of novelties. such as you fire.
qucntly see exhibited on the street
corners and presided over by sum
burned Italian. With another man and
young fellow of eighteen, travelled
through Kansas to the Colorado line,
selling and trading our wares to the In
dians for any thing marketable in the
cities. About the time of our arrival
in the western part of Kansas the men,
orable Indian outbreak was terrorizing
the country. From the south and west
came reports of the terrible outrages
perpetrated by the Indians and greasers.
Houses were burned, the inmates were
killed instantly or tortured to death and
all the cattle were driven Oft and scat
tered. You may be sure felt consid-
cradle solicitude concerning the safety
of my little party and took extra
precaut;on s to find secluded spots
when camping. OF course, under
the conditions, deemed it advisable
to get out of the neighborhood immedl-
ately. To do so we found it necessary
to pass through the country most likely
to be infested by struggling bands Of
Indians. Despite the risks we deter
mined to make the attempt. After
a long, hard days tramp, we encamped
for the night in one of those small can
yons SO prevalent in Western Kansas.
It was an excellent place, too. Our
backs were effectually protected by q
natural cave in the side of the bank, the
entrance to which was concealed by
brush and tall grass. Sam, the boy of
the party, was an unusually bright
young fellow and very familiar with the
tactics of Indian warfare. Just before
lying down / noticed him untying a
good sized bundle of sticks resembling
short broom handles. He placed them
in easy reach and tumbled down to
sleep. | had also noticed him fumbling
around the bushes short time before,
but didn't pay much attention to his
actions. The other fellow and myself
concluded not to set guard, as we
were in such an excellent place. |
don't know how long we had slept when
we were awakened by Sam shaking us
slightly and whispering:
BE quick now, the Indians are get
ting ready to slip in on us.
s'By this time we were both wide
awake and ready with our rites.
"'Listen, whispered Sam: hear the
dirty scamps slipping up. Put down
the rifles, I've got something better.
.'He handed us each of the four sticks
mentioned, remarking:
| "Them's Roman candles. I've got
pile of whoppers along and / think
we can scare these scamps clean out O.
their hides
Il caught the idea in moment and
strained my ears to listen for further
demonstrations from the attacking
party. We could hear them creeping
here and there through the bushes,
scarcely making a noise, but easily dis
tinguished in the silence Of the night.
Now, whispered Sam, take two in
each hand and I'll light them
'.Suiting the action to the word he
contrived to light them in rapid sue.
cession. Then we turned them into the
bushes and heavens, what sight wa.
revealed as the candles flashed. Abou
fifty villainous- looking savages and
greasers were STOPPING and creeping
along toward us. Atthe first flash they
stopped as if spell bound. We turned
them so the green and white balls would
strike them in their faces. The candle
were tremendous affairs, and eight O
ten of them popping away APPARENT,
independent of human aid was enough
to terrorize any one. Our assailant
wavered moment, then, and with ,
terrible yell, bounded away toward higl
ground as if the evil one himself was il
pursuit. We could hear them scramble
up the hillside, mount their horses an,
gallop away. Sam afterward explaine
that he had brought the candles alon,
as a side speculation, and he also ex
| planned that he had arranged system
| Of strings among the bushes so that n
one could approach very close withou
meeting the obstruction and alarming
him. It is needless to state that W
reached safe ground in due time with
out further molestation. - Omah
Herald.