Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1888-03-10

strength they fired q few shots at long
range and passed on to the east. At
dark we entered the fort, arranged the
goods and provisions to give us all the
room possible, and by and by turned III
to sleep while one man was left on
watch. This was Miller. He was to
watch until midnight. and then call one
of the young men, but at eleven o'clock
he quietly aroused the garrison and
whispered the news that large number
of Indians had arrived. We were
scarcely awake before being made aware
that our fort was being closely inspected
by spies. When We had carefully pulled
the plugs from the loophOles VIC could
see and hear them moving about in large
numbers. BY and by We heard a num-
Der of them on the roof. They were
probably investigating to see how to burn
us out. At signal from Nj 10Y VIC tool.
up our guns, carefully poked the muzzles
through the loopholes in &C planks, and
at another signal all fired. We killed or
wounded two Indians by the volIey, and
the others hastily departed. Half an
hour later two or three of the reds crept
up TO the barricadc in front of our door
with arms full of light wood and started
a fire. The posts were only half sea-
soned, and all that afternoon had kept
them wet with water. They 'charrcd
little under the flames, but the fire would
not take hold. From the number of In
dians we could sec, and to judge by the
yells of those out of sight, our enemies
numbered at least fifty. After trying us
with fire they drew Off to wait for day
light, and the most of them probably
went t. sleep.
When daylight came our enemies were
re-enfOrced by band of twelve, and
these newcomers brought with them two
settlers teams and wagons and three
prisoners. Two of the prisoners, q man
and a woman, were killed soon after
com ng up. knew the man. lie lived
about eight miles away, and had fire.
quently called at our house. The third
prisoner was settler none of us knew.
About an hour after daylight. the Indians
| sent him forward with white flag to
demand our surrender. He came up
within thirty feet of our barricade, and
! then halted and told us what he had been
commanded to do. A dozen or more In
dians had their rifles on him, ready to
shoot in case he attempted to play them
false. lie was a big gpOweIful fellow, and
never saw such grief and anxiety in a
human countenance. In voice loud
enough for the Indians to hear, he de-
manded our surrender, but in whispers
! he warned Us not to, as every one of US
would lie butchered Miller replied to
him from loophole, telling him to go
/ back to the Indians and ask their best
| terms. When he returned he was to
come as close as possible, and at IA signal
he was to spring forward, and the door
would be Opep fOr him. He was pretty
p, lic", fellow, in spite of all his sutferings.
He returned to the Indians, consulted
for few minutes, and when he came
back to us he approached within twenty
five feet before they shouted to him to
halt Then he told us that we would be
permitted to take one of the teams and
leave the country; that the Indians all
loved US; that all they wanted was their
land We had our guns ready to cover
him, and | saw him draw a long breath
Just before the signal came. As Miller
uttered a whistle one of the men pulled
open the door, and at the same instant
the strange made spring for shelter. 1t
was a veritable spring for life. The In
dians fired at him, but too late, and he
pitched in among us without scratch.
Then began a siege which lasted nine
days, and in which over forty Indians
were killed or wounded. They gathered
in the quarry, rs expected, and Miller
exploded the torpedo and killed four
and badly wounded a dozen. They
tried every possible way to burn us out,
and on one of these occasions, while
they were congregated together, Miller
sprang another of his mines and killed
several OF them. Five or SIX different
times they displayed flag of truce and
sought to coax or threaten us into sur
render, but Miller was wise enough to
refuse to trust them. From first to last
they fired about 4, 900 bullets at our fort
over hundred of which lodged in thu
door, but none Of us was wounded. Th'
bcsieglng force mover numbered less thar
thirty-fiye, and one day the number wa
over 100. On the ninth day troops CAM
and drove the tiends of, and it was onl,
, then we learned of the widespread de
r vastation. No. a house nor barn haC
been left standing for mile. a>d miles il
any direction. Crops had been destroyed
stock shot down, and settlers butchereC
or driven off all over great section o
the State We had been the only one
outside of the towns to make a fight
and by our standing siege We kept
large force of the savages from goini
aoainsf the settlers Man York SIM