Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1886-06-24


reached the house the game was up. He
therefore insisted on taking up his posi-
tion outside the house, without even a
twig to shelter him. His back was to the
logs and the ravine in his front. For
fear some of the Indians might approach
the house singly from another direction,
the woman was instructed to first fasten
all the doors and then pass from window
to window and maintain an active obser-
vation. She was woman Of thirty-f7e,
who had been tenderly reared in an East
era State, and had been in the West less
than two years. The sight Of a snake
would have made her scream out in af-
fright on that very morning, and the
thought Of an attack by Indians would
have been sufficient to chill her blood.
Yet, when brought face to face with the
terrible menace, she was heroine. With
pale face and compressed lips, and stop
ping not to question the policy Of the
wounded mans plans to save their lives,
she promptly obeyed.
The Indians must have known that
Webber and the woman were alone, and
that he was wounded, but they did net
dare make a rush. Much as they desired
scalps and plunder, they did not care to
recklessly expose themselves. They
crept up the ravine, as was expected, or
started to, when Webber saw that their
ponies had been left within range of
his Winchester. He opened fire at once
and dropped three of them to the grass
before the redskins discovered what he
was at. This called halt in the pro-
ceedings until they could remove the
other six to place of safety. He
counted them as they returned to the "a
vine and saw that three were missing.
The trio had separated from the others
to creep upon the house, and this fact
was announced to Mrs. Moss. In the
course of fifteen minuts the six had gained
the position sought for opposite, and
Webber gave all his attention to them,
trusting to the women to watch and
defend the house from the others.
From the house to the ravine was a
gradual slant, the ground being covered
with grass and entirely clean. Webber
sat there, as plain target as man would
desire for his pistol, the blood from his
wounds soaking into the ground, and his
eyes watching the ravine with the knowl-
| edge that he was one to six. No Indian
could fire on him without raising his
head above the bank, and the first head
up got bullet through it, and one red
skin tumbled back corpse. This was a
caution to the others, and instead of
raising their heads they rested their rifles
on the bank and fred blindly. Thirteen
bullets struck the logs within six feet of
Webber, and others only missed him
by shave. It was simply d ques-
tion Of time, if the firing were kept up,
when bullet would hit and finish him.
Meanwhile the three bucks who had
left the main body were creeping toward
the house from different directions. Mrs.
Moss could see two of them, but the third
crept along a deep furrow, and finally
gained point from which he could FIRE
upon Webber at fair range. From this
point the red fred nine times at Webber's
right side, which was exposed to his
view. He either had poor gun or was
much excited, for not one of his bullets
counted, although some Of them whis-
tied uncomfortably close
"I knew what was up, said Webber,
in modestIy telling his story, "but had
to trust to luck. He was not where ]
could hit him, and if he happened to hit
me it would have been no worse than to
be killed by the others in front After
his first bullet dn't even turn my head
that way. The woman came to the win
dow near me and said the other two were
in sight, and instructed her to open fire
with the revolver. She had fred pistol
only few times, and did not count on
anything beyond her giving the bucks
something to think about. It must have
been entirely by accident that at her very
first fire she wounded one Of the fellows
in the hip, and he at once crawled away
to take care of himself. The other one
sent three bullets through window al
which she was standing, but she kept
firing away at him and sending SO much
lead around his ears that he dared not
advance.
The fight in front lasted about half an
! hour. Whenever there was luIl in the
firing Webber looked to see the Indians
spring up and make rush, and to pre-
vent this he fred at random along the
bank, tearing up the sod and fiinging
dirt over the red skins in hiding. He had
no idea that help was at hand, and was
/ yet depending upon himself when the
Indians suddenly ceased firing and beat d
retreat, and ten minutes later Moss and
his man rode up, having been met on the
open prairie BY the riderless horse. In re-
treating from the ravine the Indians car
ried away the dead warrior, but the one
wounded BY Mrs. Moss was left to take
care of himself He was found in the
dry furrow and despatched The hero.
ism Of Webbcr in taking and maintaining
his position, severely wounded as he
was, and Of the woman in obeying his
orders, hopeless as the defence must have
appeared to her, deserves place on the
pages Of undying history. Nsac T0rl
San.