St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-18
TRUE BLUE BRAVERY.
Several Stirring Incidents of
Pluck In Native-B0pn
Americans.
A Woman and Her Son Keep
at Bay a Band Of Red
Devils.
The Goodness Displayed by a
Beardless Boy Of
Nineteen.
An Indian Fighter From Away
Back - Bullets Used to
Good Purpose.

New York sun.
The man who should attempt to argue
that the native American had lost any
of his pluck since the days of the Revo-
luton would soon find himself smothered
under volumes of truth to the contrary.
In war soldiers have shown their pluck
by brigades, regiments and companies.
In peace peril menaces individuals
alone, and gives mans nerve fair
trial. have seen the American, as an
individual, in good many tight places,
and 1t has been a rare thing to
see one show the white feather,
no matter what the odds were.
In the year 1867, while was acting as
government scout, | had to pass be-
ween two military stations in Weste I'm
Kansas. The Indians were on the war;
path. and were never so malignant and
cruel. They could see the beginning
of the end, but were determined to fight
it off as long as possible. / left camp
at midnight for a ride of forty miles.
could have made it by daylight, but at
2 o'clock in the morning my horse
slipped on stone and went dead lame.
| was then on the right bank of the
Smoky Hill fork of the Kansas riv er
following down, and by leading the
horse half a mile. / got the shell
ter of a grove of cOttOnwoOds. | knew
| must remain there for the day.
and | made the best arrangements
could for the defense. There was a
large thornapple tree in the center of the
grove, which was covered with grape
vine. Under this shelter / dug out q
rife pit. and when it was finished knew
l could stand any small army of Indians
off until / had fred 100 bullets.
slept from O'Clock until 9. at which
time whimper from my horse aroused
me. / heard the reports of rifles to the
north and the east. mingled with the
faint whoOps of Indians. and as soon as
/ could get look in,that direction the
cause was plain. A white man on
horseback was headed for the grove,
coming from the north. He was fol-
lowed by
A DOZEN INDIANS.
He was well ahead of pursuit, and
would have made the grove all right,
but party of four Indians were COM
ing down from the east to head him off.
He had pulled up just as / looked out
He was cut off, and those behind were
fast coming up. He took in the situa-
ton in minute. He was on knoll
covered with dead grass and scrub
bushes. He swung himself from the
saddle. unbuckled and pulled 1t off, and
gave the horse slap and started him
off. had telescope with me. and
when got it out and got the BEARINGS
the man was so hidden on the knoll
that | could only guess his location by
locating the saddle.
All the Indians had come up and
halted lust ont of rife range. There
were fifteen of them. and from the APP
pearance of their ponies knew they
had had long chase. The white mans
horse came down to the stream above
me. drank his fill and then began grazing
as If in his own pasture. | wanted to
mix in at once. but they were not only
ont of range, but nv horse was dis
abled. To have moved ont on foot
would have been throwing nv life
away. There was every chance that
might have to fight them single-handed
later on. The white mans actions
proved that he knew how to take care of
himself. and | TMlst let him do SD for
the time being. / climbed into one of
the cOttOnwOOds, got an elevation of
about thirty feet. and now my glass
SETNGU Illt DtJbtT. ifC IIidH WAS tlI0RfllS
in the earth with his hunting knife TO
the redskins rested and planned. They
gave him about twenty minutes. and at
the end of this time he was we'll hidden,
even from my sight. He had turned up
several large stones. and these made
A BREASTWORK.
When the Indians moved it was to cir
Gle around him and keep up fire 70
rattle him and waste his ammunition.
While they were at long range he made
no answer. but as they narrowed the CIR
Gle puff of smoke suddenly leapad from
his pit. and one of the warriors fell
from his horse like a log. A second
dashed in to secure the body. and his
horse was shot through. The bullet
hit the rider in the opposite leg, and l
could follow him as he crept away
through the grass. Another cOnsulta-
ton was held, and It resulted in a gen.
began creeping forward on his own ac-
count. firing at will. They had the man
completely encircled. but he was very
cool. When he finally got sure thing
he fired and shot an Indian so dead
that the fellow never kicked. Two
minutes later he killed a second. This
was three killed and one wounded, and
they were losing their sand. All erept
ont of range and consulted again. and /
knew how it would end. IL the eleven
warriors let ore white man best them
off they would be diSgraced forever.
The ground was favorable for charging
him on horseback and they were soon
ready. Six went to the east and five to
the south. and at a signal thew put their
ponies on the run and rode for the
knoll. I'm Jumped the man, his rifle at
his shoulder, and he fired twelve shots
into the two sections faster than could
count. He killed two ponies and
wounded two or three warriors. and this
stopped them. They broke back and
headed for the grove to make new re-
repairs and study up
NEW DEvILTRY.
/ let them come within pistOl-sbot and
then opened on them with my Winches-
ter, and it is recorded in military re-
ports that killed two and wounded a
third. The living went off down the
river so badly ratified that an old
woman could have kept them on the
run with broomstick.
1t didn't take the stranger more than
a minute to catch on. and he came down
to me. To my great surprise he turned
out to be beardless boy Of nineteen
who had been out searching after lost
stock. The Indians had run him all
night long, making a ride of almost fifty
miles. He didn't pretend to be even a
COW boy, and when praised his courage
he blushed like girl. He said he ex-
pected to be wiped out in the end, but
was bound to give the redskins the best
he had before he went under. 1t was a
lucky fight for both of us. There were
four dead Indians on the ground, and
we found on each buckskin bag with
$3.50 in it. They had finished flo some
pioneer or mining party. and made big
haul, and the money had been evenly
divided. We had 81, no to divide be-
tween us, and it was a big lift to both.
The above adventure occurred in
June. About the LIST of September the
war worked to the east and over the
Nebraska line. | left camp on the
Republican river one morning to ride
across to another on the Platte, having
three citizens of Kansas with me who
were in search of white boy who had
been carried off the fall before. bad
figured that the hard fighting of the
previous week had drawn the Indians