The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-05-23
HOW He FOUGHT INDIANS.
The Romance an l the Reality of Scalp
Lifting,
From. the Chicago Trtbltli


He was a young man-scarcely NOR
.bon 27 wears of age-but he had fund O
.roniniscences that would have done credi
- an old settler. He had before him a lit
.ls Of the fluid that has the reputation O
cheering. and he was looking over COZ,
If the Tribune. Presently something
among the small advertisements caught hi
eve. He scanned it closely, and then, hand
inc the paper to the reporter, said:
t.Tbere is something that reminds me O
the time | left home to go knocking abou
the world va,
for information as to the whereabouts OF
-. who had mysteriously disappeared
"A number OF years ago" he continued
81 was described in an advertisement SINH
lar TO that one, and my relatives searched
for me everywhere, except in the right
Lace Perhaps if the advertiser in this in.
itance knew where to look some trace OF
the missing one might be found. OF course
This is only a surmise, because there are
r r'',I many mysterious disappearance that
cannot be explained in the way refer to
hnt | happen to know that good many
others can be-"
ITO what do you refer" asked the repor-
"Well think that if the records of enlist
ment for the United States army were ex-
ahmed a good many of these disappear
ances could be cleared up. | know mine
conld have been, and it was about as strange
a one as any of them. just walked out of
fine house one morning without saving q
word to anybody, and | never came back
at least not for good many years. The
main trouble with me was a rush of dime
novels to the head. | had read any num-
er of these, and when, finally, friend of
mine was killed in an Indian fight, | made
I'D my mind that no less than a dozen In
dian scalps would satisfy my thirst for
gore, But how to get to the front was the
great question | finally solved it by en-
listing in the United States cavalry. | had
no great time to swell around in my uni
form, but was sent at once to the frontier
/ reached Bismarck Oak, one dark, cold,
rainy night, and, with number of other
recruitS. was hustled aboard Missouri
river steamboat. | will never forget that
night. We were driven like herd of cat
tie over muddy, Shiny bank that we had
to slide down as best we could to get to the
boat When we got down we were hustled
on to the hurricane deck, and there we Law
without anything to shelter us from tue
cold and the rain. All the romance and re-
venge were taken out of me. | wasn't look
ing for any Indian scalps, but was signing
for the nice warm bed had left. And
somehow it dids seem To me as though |
never had read in any of my novels about
any such experiences; everything had been
about killing Indians and nothing about
cold and rain.
"But | managed to live through it all.
and after fifteen days of travel arrived at
Fort Bufcrd, only to find that had some
800 miles to march to reach Fort Custer.
1t took us three months to make the trip,
for it was winter, you know, and the Their
mOmeter was away below zero. We buried
three men on the trip, and often never got
into camp until or 10 O'clock at night, and
then had TO hustle for wood in binding
snOw-Storm. The number of Indians had
set out to kill had gradually decreased I'M
til | was willing to go home without a
single scalp; butt couldn't.
1--WE arrived at Fort Custer, Montana,
one morning in December and took I'D the
regular routine Of a soldiers life. 1t was
not sport, either At that time of the year
1t consisted of chopping wood and cutting
Ice, with twenty-four hours guard duty
once week as sort of variation. hadn't
read anything about this in my novels, and
j.
But at last the long-expectod event
came We were booked for an Indian fight. |
as the redskins were reported raiding the
settlers l will confess candidly that when |
the time came and the bugles sounded boot |
ana saddle was not SO anxious for en- In |
dian hght as | had been while in the States |
But we had to go. Our company was made |
up mostly of recruits, and we Didn't like |
tne Idea OF turning out in the middle of the |
night TO scour the country for Indians |
We were all after scalps, but we preferred |
to take them in daylight when we could |
see the Indians. But Uncle Sam doesn't |
run his army to suit youthful scalp |
hunters trust some of your readers will |
Dear tuls IN mlnd-sO we had to 60.
ell, torty-tve men strong, with six |
ihdlan scouts, one guide, eight packers, and |
twenty pack mules laden with ten days ra-
IONS we started. and the first day Travelled /
lorty-flve miles without rest. Each man
was armed with a rifle and revolver. and.
WIN our oyercoatS and blankets, it made |
load that was not part icularly comfort
~. lol9 Tor such ride. A man can't realize
yne weight and bother of these accoutre-
I'eNVS untll he has tried such q ride And,
Az you know. my novels had never pic
' ,ai such an affair. They had always
-od about the man riding bareback or with
loLhlhg but his saddle and gun. They
lauht said anything about fifty rounds of
around his waist Jumping up
SUI down so that they chafed his hips raw.
L'efythlng was glory there, but this reali-
\, 1t was almighty stern reality-was
VI hardship and no glory. However, the
, In day out our scouts found cattle
a ~iIu ana ON approaching were greeted
' ", d Nolley OF bullets. But they threw
~ %, .ue outs OF their guns "a sign that they
iiee friendly. The settlers would not be-
i bo,s IN their friendhness though, until
hy saw the soldiers coming up behind
,no d hen they threw open their cabins
,-iu Vold US Of an Indian raid. Five dead
. lo.SeS outside of the cabin confirmed their
'vGy ana we Immediately started in pur-
,S Sa" We went into camp that night on
Ina ground where, the old liners said, the
,t ,r,alS had been the night before. On the
litiiSplgIn OF that information we recruits
''G aTI sleep well-at least l didn't.
roro 10 he6t morning the Indian scouts
.oo s5IiJ out 70 hunt up the trail of the hos
iiJs},." IIIe we anxiousiy awaited results. We
,aa nave to wait long, for in a short
tSn after they had left we heard firing in
nsdo u" ec1lon they had gone. OF course we
mon up our minds that they had come
non,o. 'He hostiles Unexpectedly, and in
"a raI we were in the saddle. We pre-
Jlantoti'or action as we rode, dropping our
ron n.vS, oyercoats, and in fact everything
- r. our arms and ammunition.
,elI - % we neared the first bluff We heard a
r ~r,, anI from behind it came lot of Indians
d '% co IN their war-paint. / didn't stop
bar v0ult them, but / was satisfied that
sroJ we're more scalps there than really
d me- lor' You see, 1t just began to dawn
.5pt g.v that l hadn't lost any Indians and