The St. Johns herald., 1889-08-01
SOARING WILD INDIANS.
Roman Candles Found 60 Be More Ef-
 feciitc Ngesponk Than Rifles.

EOIn3m Candies ECuHt 70 lte 1foF6 feciive Weapons Than Rifles. "One of my adventures, ehs'' said the book agent to a reporter of the Omaha Her Gd "Wcll. about eight years ago carried pack of novelties such as you frequently see exhibited on inc street corners, and pre- sided oyer bv a sunburnel Italian. With another man and young fellow of eight cen travclcd through Kansas to the Colo rado line. selling and trading our wares to the Indians for any thing marketable in the cities. 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 ;nd grcasers. Houses were burned. the inmates were killed instantly CT tortured Q death. and all the cattle were driven off and scattered. You may be sure felt con iier;lble 5olIcitude concerning the safety Of my little party and took extra precautions 10 find secluded spots when camping. or course. under the conditions, l deemed it advisable to get out of the ncigh00rho0d nm ediately. To do so we found iJ necessary 10 pass through the country most likely to be infested with stragging bands of Indians. Despite the risks we determined to make the attempt After long, hard day $ tramp we en- carlped for the night in one Of those small canyons So prevalent in Western Kansas Ii " $ an excellent place, too Our backs were clItc,uaiiY protected by natural cave in tue >.Ic Of the bank, the entrance 10 which was concealed by brush and tall grass SaIl, the boy of the party, was an unusually bright young fellow and very familiar with the tac, ics of Indian warfare. Just before lying doWn ] noticed him unity ing rcc"-rizod brrd!c of sticks resembling st0rt CrooD-hdndlcs. He placed them with in easy reLch mi fGmblcd down to sleep. I b31 noticed hla fumbing around the bushes a short tune before, but didn't pay much ;.tttnt.ca 10 his actions. The other fellow and myself concluded not to set guard, as wc wore ia such an excellent place. Gync linow how long we had slept when vTc were awakened by Sam shaking Us IEhtly ard whispering:
 e. e qc..!-. now the Indians are getting reads' 10 sip il Cn u3.'
 ''Iy thi5 tulc we were both wide awake and ready with our rifles.
 "'L.sfeu.' whispered Sam; shear the dirty sc :gips snc1.Iiag mp. Put down the rifles. I've g0t something better
 lie haad9d us each four of the sticks meutiOnc,.. rc1l2rhin@:
 ''Thcils Rc-lln candles. I've got a pile Of whoapefs along. and think can scare these scllpj clean oIt O their hides
 II c2ucIt tic idea in d moment and strained ny ears to lisicn for further dem lGous from the attacking party. We could hear them creeping here and there through the ba@nc3. scarcely making a nolse but easily distinguished in the silence Of the night.
 ".Now.' whispered Sam, take two in each hand and I II light them.'
 ''6uiting tue action to the word he con- tTived to light them in rapid succession. Then he turned them into the bushes and hcavensi what a slgLt was revealed as the candies flashed About fifty villainous- looking savagcs and grcasers were stoop- ing and creeping towards us. At the first flash they stopped Gs if spell-bound. We turned them 60 the green and white balls would strike them in their faces. The candles were tremendous affairs and eight or ten of them p0pplng away independent of human aid WIS enough to terrorize any one. Our asSGi!@nts wavercd moment, then with a terribe yell bounded away toward high ground as if the devil himself was ia pursuit. We could hear them scramblng up the hillside, mount their horses and glllop away. Sam afterward explained that he had brought the candles along as a side speculation, and he also eX- plaincd that he had arranged a system of strings among the bushes so that no one could approach very closo without meeting the obstruction and alarming him. It is needless 10 state that we reached safe ground in due time without further moles- tation,'