Daily Yellowstone journal., 1889-09-21
CAPTURED BY C0MANCHES.

Ihad been scouting from Fort BaS.
com, or the Canadian river, and car.
rying dispatches between that point
and Fort Stanton. on the Rio Pecos,
for six months, before the Comanches
called the turn on me. Ii is agreed
that an Apache is q devil incarnate,
but in the old days there wasn'tmuch
choice between the tribes. All were
1loodthirstyand relentless, and il mat
tered little into whose hands n prison
or might fall. Every torture which
ingenuity could suggest was certain
TO be applied, and no ransom. how
ever great, could effect the release of
prisoner. 1t was while engaged in
such an effort that my first capture
came about.
A party of citizens from Santa Fe
had come out to Fort Bascom for a
hunt along the Canadian river to the
cast. They were all well known men,
and were QUILTED in the finest style,
having the best of firearms, and being
accompanied by four hunters and
guides of long experience. The In.
dians were bitterly hostile atthis time,
and although seldom srln near the
tort, they were ever on the watch for
any one leaviBgits shelter. This party
numbered twenty, all told. aud was
strong enough to 60 anywhere, pro-
yiding il was well handled, 1t left
the post one Sunday morning, and
vas gone three weeks. and, up to two
days before reaching the post, all went
well. Then a DR.. 'Albertson, Of Albu-
querque. tarricd behind one morning
rs the party broke camp, and three
Comanches dashed in on their ponies
md cut him off. They mounted him
IN his own horse and had a start Of
alf a mile before the mishap was dis
covered, and, although pursuit was
made, IL was useless. The doctor was
man Of prominence, holding some
POSITION under the government, and
aving many friends, and the party
no sooner reached the post than 1t was
determined 10 make every effort 10 sc.
rure his release. II was Idle To think
u sending ont an armed force, and it
vas finally decided that ] should go
uut as an cmisSaFy TO treat for his ram
sDm. IL was agreed that ] could pro-
Mise the Indians as high as $4,000 in
ash for his release. and All were
Iopeful that this large sum would in
luce the redskins 10 give him up. |
nd boon told time and again that the
,Omauchcs had never been known to
i've upa prisoner, and was therefore
u a state az doubt as ] rode away on
ny errgud | had got % put myself
no their hands Ia order 10 negotiate,
gld If they refused % giveuB the doc
tDr il was probable that they would
ilng on TO Inc.
[ rode away 10 the east, knowing
nat the prisoner had been conveyed
% some camp in the Wichita range. ]
II the post in the morning and rode
ard all day without sighting an In
ian. AT dark / went into camp, and
ad no alarm during the night, and at
gun rise was again holding for the
mountains. At about III o'clock,
while riding over broken ground, i
ought sight Of an Indian taking COW
", and hating my horse ] made the
peace signs with my blanket. Ten
minutes later / was surrounded by a
dozen warriors, who were evidently
astonished at nv foolhardiness. i
could speak their lingo fairly well,
and told them what l had come for,
and asked 10 be taken TO the nearest
village. This request was sulhly com.
Piled with, and at the end Of two
hours / found myself in the little vii
lage OF Red Moon, chief Of all the
Comanches. The village was scattered
along the river for a mile or more,
and numbered al least a thousand
souls. My advent was hailed with
whoops and yells and other tokens Of
satisfaction, and even when IL was
known that , had voluntarily come
into camp on an errand Of mercy 1t
was hard 10 restrain some Of he