Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1888-08-15

"Well, next day the old man laid
out a system of Notifications and set
me at digging, He ran shallow
trench down to the river and took out
of one of the boxes a coil of lead pipe
and uncoiled it down the ditch into
the river and fixed up a natty little
pump inside the lines so that if the
Indians did come they could not cut
us off from the water. Then he COW
cred up the trench and there we were
all right as far as water is concern
ed, which is an important thing when
you are fighting redskins. One of the
boxes was fixed 30 that it was water
tight and that we pumped full of wat
er. Then Slower left me working at
the embankment, went down to the
timber belt and got out some logs
which he snaked up to the top with
the six horses, and in the center of the
fortification he framed his timbers to-
gether. making mighty solid struc-
ture, partly sunk into the ground.
"When had the earthworks finish
ed Stover had his machine set up and
it was the queerest looking arrange
ment l ever saw. 1t had all been
made in Kansas City and put togeth-
er there. Then he had taken it apart
numbered each piece, and it went to-
gether again without hitch. There
were four rows Of short rifle barrels,
about 10 barrels in row, and one row
under the other. The muzzles of the
barrels were slightly further apart
than the butts, so that the battery had
sort of fan look. The next row un-
der was the same way, but the barrels
were not exactly under each other.
| saw that if the thing would shoot it
would cover quite a bit of territory.
The whole affair was very clumsy,
but it turned quite easily on swivel
and could be made to sweep the hori-
zon. Then the old man made me get
a lot of poles and sent me around the
fort and had me set them up at differ
ent points all around, while he sight
ed the machine gun. There was one
disadvantage about the thing, and
that was that it could not be raised or
lowered, and if the enemy once got in
side its range it would be useless. l
pointed this out to Stover, but he
merely smiled in his superior way and
said he would like to see any one get
past his battery. After the poles were
set we tried the gun. Stover set out
lot of thin steel bars punched with
ten holes and in each Of the holes was
a rifle cartridge. He put the A load
ed bars in position and closed up or
clamped sort of steel door against
the breach. On the outside Of this
door were 4 bars that corresponded
with those on the inside, and when it
was closed he pulled lever and the
whole thing went off with roar and
a rattle that was terrifying. Every
outside bar had ten brads, one oppo-
site each cartridge, and jerk of the
lever set 'em all of.
"'Now, Bolder, he said, Il don't see
no sign of Indians and we have been
here over three weeks. | must use
you for bait. You get Oh Sam, the
fastest horse, and scour around the
country. Keep sharp lockout, and
the moment you see an Indian make
for here. Sam'll outrun them
"The first day didn't get nibble.
Next day | took compass and went
further from camp. In the afternoon
| saw a couple of moving dots on the
far away hills, and | made for camp
as quick us l could, and before even
ing the Indians were around the hill,
but they kept out of range and SEEM
ed to be sizing us up. We kept watch
all night but they made no move. In
the morning they made their attack.
They seemed to have picketed their
horses and were crawling at us
through the grass. Slower was in high
feather He watched them with that
eagle eye of his and could tell by the
movement of the grass just where they
were. Now then,' he said, you lie
low and fill up the steel bars with
cartridges as | empty them. When /
have fired two or three times be ready
with pail of water to throw over the
gun barrels He kept moving the
machine from one side to the other
and at last got it where he wanted it.
Then he took hold of the lever and
watched the grass. All at once he
pulled, and the yell that rose from the
grass almost drowned the roar of the
guns. What was lett of the Indians
sprang up and ran. He got one more
shot at them and moved them down
like grain. For couple of days
there were no sign of Indians, and
then it seemed they had got reinforce
ments. They tried the other side of
fort and came dashing at us on horse
back. The moment the Indians were
level with the stakes old Slower pull
ed his gun. 1t was the most awful
havoc l ever saw. The horses were
wild and the old man fired eight vol
leys into 'em before what was left got |
out of range. That was the last we
saw of the Indians. The old man in
sisted on going out and counting the
dead. tried to get him not to, for
was sure the Indians were just laying
low and would nab him. But | was
wrong. They knew when they had
enough and had left for healthier
parts. When the old man came back
he said There's just 16 of them for
every one they killed of mine, and 16
over which is my share. Now, ifany
accident should happen 10 me YOU lust |