Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-03-01
SAVED FROM THE ALAMO.

Louis ahead of him.
SAVED FROM THE ALAMO.
The Hero of Many Thrilling Escapes From
the Indians.
Col. Cannon, guide. scout and in
terpreter," with wealth of confused
western frontier lore in his head, saws
the Milwaukee Sentinel, is here to get
treatment for a gunshot wound in the
leg, which he claims he received in
1886 while chasing Geronimo's band
in New Mexico. He claims to be
William james Cannon, the child
saved from the Alamo massacre in
Texas, and shows number of papers
and documents which appear to have
been furnished him by good-natured
wags. The colonel can not read and
write himself, else he wouldn't be so
free with the Endorsements of his
friends. During Grand Army week
at the exposition, he was one of the at
fractions, and told everyone who
stopped to listen that he was 100 years
old. Yesterday he said that he was
talking about his godmother, Nine.
Candelaria, who is now living in hum
bic circumstances at San Antonio,
when he made that statement and if he
applied it to himself it was because ne
had considerable beer in him at the
time.
Col. Cannon showed two letters
from Buffalo Bill, written in London,
and expressing q wish to see him.
The Indians, it is stated in these let
tiers, are inquiring for him and they
would like TO see MIN. w. F. Cody
also inquiries how Uncle Jimmie
Cannon" is getting along with the
autobiography that he intends to pub
lish, and expresses the hope that he
will get plenty of money from its sale.
1t is impossible to get any clear idea
of Cannon's antecedents from his jun
bled talk. He will Jump from the re-
lation of one episode to another, and
is astonishingly handy with names and
dates, which, however, have been
found wanting by old military men
living in Milwaukee. When he begins
to rattle off the names of Indian bands
and chiefs, western forts and towns,
it seems as if an avalanche of jaw
breakers had broken loose from the
official reports of the department of
the interior. The names of Santa
Ana, dit Carson, score of desperate
Apaches, Sioux and Cheyennes, to-
geLher with five hundred generals,
cOionels and lieutenants of tie army,
issue forth from his lips in an almost
unbroken succession, and the average
tenderfoot will look at him with some
thing akin to awe and trepidatlon.
He said that after he was saved
from the Alamo he was captured by
the Indians and traded for horses from
tribe to tribe until he could talk in
the languages and dialects of thirty
can converse in Spanish, French and
Italian. In 1914 he escaped from cap
tivity, he said, and ever since that
time he has been serving the govern
ment rs a guide, scout and interpre-
ter. He was shot through and through
sixteen different times, and to prove
the truth of this statement indicated
with his fingers where the balls had
entered and slipped out again.
Glow did you learn to know Buffalo
Bill?" asked the reporter
"How did /? l raised him. Got
i'm on Salt creek, three miles from
Fort LeavenWorth, where his father
was shot by the pro-slavery men be-
fore he was born. / raised him on the
trail, until he became an actor and
got busted several times. He's doing
well now, though. In 20 | saved Mary
Brand from the Sioux, and was shot
through the body sideways above the
l.: 7 ~, 4 NJ
wars. and altogether was engaged in
122 battles and Il great many Skin
mishcs. Was l connected with Kit
Carson? Certainly. He was with me
before he married his Ute wife. l
guided the men that made all the
wagon roads west of the Missouri, and
only came to Milwaukee to be treated
by Dr. Miller, of the Home hospital.
| went with 80 scouts and 102 Mexicans
after Geronimo and took % prisoners.
Afterwari Col. Miles came up with
his regulars. I'm not 60 yet, but my
godmother celebrated her Tooth ami
versary. called on her last year and
got this affidavit from her as to my
identity. This is only copy of the
affidavit, the original of which is on
file in Texas. She says that this scar
on my forehead was closer to the hair
when L hurt myself in fall, but that
is because have grown since then.
''Do you know what the currency
was in the West 50 years ago? One
otter skin was worth three beaver
skins; one beaver skin three mink
skins; one mink skin three coon skins,
and one coon skin five muskrat skins.
Horses were the wealth of the cOun-
try. Who made the West? Itwas we
poor devils. If it wasn't for the Texas
war we never would have had Next
can war, and if we hadn't had a Mexi-
can war we never would have had the
West. The government gave me
grant Of 4,442 acres, and the State of
Texas 2,660 acres. I have been offered
$3.50, 900 for the grant, but won't take
it; no, sir. Not until | can go down
there will I sign a paper. Money Is
no object to me-.
Uncle James Cannon farther claimed
that he owned the park around the
Alamo monument in San Antonio, but
that he wasn't going to sell it. He
wasn't that kind of a man, he said.
He wanted more for his land grant,
and when he could get it he would
give it to the poor.