The Portland daily press., 1888-11-24
SOARING WILD INDIANS.
Roman Candles Found To be More
Effective Weapons Than Rifles.

"One of my adventures, eh?" said the
book agent to a reporter to the Omaha
Herald. swell, about eight years ago l car
ried pack of novelties such as you frequent
ly see exhibited on the street corners and
presided over by sunburned Italian. With
another man and young fellow of eighteen
l travelled through Kansas to the Colorado
line, selling and trading our wares to the
Indians for anything marketable in the cit
les. About the time of our arrival in the
western part of Kansas the memorable In
dian 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 off and
scattered. You may be sure felt consider
able solicitude concerning the safety of my
little party and took extra precautions to
fnd secluded spots when camping. Of
course, under the conditions, deemed it
advisable to get out of the neighborhood i'm
mediately. To do so we found it necessary
to pass through the country most likely to be
infested with struggling bands of Indians.
Despite the risks we determined to make the
attempt. After long. hard days tramp we
canyons so prevalent in Western Kansas. 1t
was an excellent place, too. Our backs were
etfectually protected by natural cave in the
side OF the bank, the entrance to which was
concealed by tall grass. Sam, the boy of the
party, was an exceedingly bright young fell
low, and very familiar with the tactics of
Indian warfare. Just before lying down |
noticed him untying good-sized bundle of
SUCKS resembling short broom handles. He
placed them within easy reach and tumbed
down to sleep. had noticed him fumbling
around the bushes short time before. but
dldu't pay much attention to his actions
The other fellow ana myself concluded not
to set a guard, as we were in such an excel
lent place. L don't know how long we had
SLEPT when we were awakened by Sam shak-
Ing us slightly and whispering:
BE quick, now the Indians are getting
ready TO slip in on u.s.
- "By this time we were both wide awake
and ready with our rifles.
Listen whispered Sam; hear the dirty
scamps sneaking up. Put down the rifles.
Eve got something better
He handed us each four of the sticks men
toned, remarking:
'Them's Roman candles. I've got a pile
OF whoppers along, and / think we can
scare these tramps clean out o. their hides.
Il caught the idea in a moment and
strained my ears to listen for further demon
could hear them creeping here and there
Though the bushes, scarcely making noise,
but easily distinguished in the silence Of
the night.
-" Now whispered Sam, take two in each
hand and I'll light Them
''Suting the action of the word he con-
trived to fight them in rapid succession Then
he turned them into the bushes and heavens
wat sight was revealed as the candles
flashed About fifty villainous looking saw
ages and greasers were STOPPING and creeping
toward as. AT the first flash they stopped
as If spell-bound. We turned them SO the
green and white balls would strike them in
the face. The candles were tremendous
affairs and eight or ten ofthem popping away
independent of human aid was enough to
terrorize any one. Our assailants wavered a
moment, then with a terrible yell bounded
away toward high ground as II the devil
himself was in pursuit. We could hear them
| scrambling up the hillside, mount their
horses and gallon away. Sam afterward ex.
| planned that he had brought the candles as a
| side speculation, and he also explained that
| he had arranged system of strings among
| the bushes so that no one could approach
very close without meeting the obstruction
and alarming him. 1t is needless to say that
| further molestation