Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1889-09-11

young QeV1lS TOO muc0 Tune 10 nave their
sport with me, for suddenly there came
the sound of gun near by, and two
squaws fell dead in the snow by my side
One of our boys had discovered my situa-
tion. The other squRws and their young
ones scampered away, but the big Indian
was determined to run the risk of getting
my scalp anyway, and1he pounced down on
me, with his knees on my chest, drew his
knife, and the next second, although it
seemed hours TO me, the top of my head
was in his hand, and he was gone.
'Imagine some one who hates you with
the utmost intensity Sanbertson said, in
describing the sensation of the soalping,
sand he suddenly grabbing q handful Of
your hair, while you are lying PROSTATE
and helpless, and giving it a quick, up
ward jerk with force enough almost to
loosen the scalp; then, while this painful
tension is not relaxed, imagine the not-par-
ticularlysharp blade OF knife being run
quickly in circle around your scalp, with
sawing-like motion. Then let your
imagination grasp, If 1t can, the effect that
strong, quick jerk on the tuft Of hair to
release the scalp from any clinging par
ticles Of flesh that may still hold it in place
would have on your nerves and physical
system, and you will have an mixing Of
how it feels to be scalped. When that
Indian sawed his knife around the top
of my head, first a sense of cold
numbness pervaded my whole body. This
was quickly followed by flash of pain
that started at my feet and ran like an
electric shock to my brain. The sensation
was but momentary, but it was terrible.
When the Indian tore my scalp from my
head it seemed asif it must have been con-
nected with cords to every part of my
body. The pain that followed the cutting
around the scalp had been frightful, but it
was ecstacy compared TO the torture that
followed the tearing of 1t from my head.
Flashes OF pain shot to every nerve. My
knees were drawn up almost to my chin,
and the fingers of my right hand closed
convulsively in the snow, those of my left
hand being spowerlesS owing to the shat
tered arm. That was al / remembered.
When came to I was in a tent. The cav
airy had come up in the meantime, and
the Indians were routed. Only few es-
capped, but Black Kettle was among the
few"
Sanbertson lay for weeks in the Govern
ment hospital at Fort Laramie perfectly
helpless and suffering untold agony He
finally recovered, and in the meantime his
term OF enlistment expired. He had no de-
sire to re enter the service, and General
Custer jocularly remarked to him that he
made mistake in quitting the service.
"For think" said the General, show sur
prlsed and disgusted some red devil of an
Indian might be if you should stay with US
and happen to fall in his hands when he
went to raise your hair to find that some
one else had been there before him" /
saw Sanbertson several years afterwards,
and the same pale red, fiat, round, bare
spot was on top of his head, showing
where his scalp had been torn away as
had seen it when he left the hospital He
said that it was extremely tender, and in
damp or cold weather was painful.
The other person l saw at Fort Laramie
whose head had been tampered with by the
scalping knife was Herman Ganzio. The In.
dian who was after this mans scalp did not
have time to complete the job, for he was
compelled to abandon it after having got the
scalp ready to tear off. Ganzio, ! believe.
was from Milwaukee, and had been acting
as scout and guide for party of tourists
| on the plains IN the summer of 1873. The
| party was scared away from the valley of
Hat Creek by Indians, and were on their
way across the country to Running Water
creek. Ganzio had gone on ahead to pick out
good place for camp on their way. He
! discovered five Indians riding across the
valley off to his right and he turned to re.
| join his party, who were only a short dis.
! tance in the rear. He had got to within
| sight of the teamsters when a dozen In
| dams jumped from the bushes. Ganzio
started on run and shouted for help. The
Indians fired on him, and he fell wounded
in the shoulder and his leg The Indians
rushed upon him. Ganzio lay fiat on his
face. One of the Indians pressed his knees
! on Ganzios back and grabbed him bv the
hair. The Indian sawed his knife around
the top of GanZlos head, and his descrip-
! tion of the sensation was the same as the
one Sanbertson had given at the fort seven
! years before. Ganzio escaped the torture
| of the tearing off process, for before the
Indian could finish that part of the work
! Ganzio'S friends, dozen or so in number.
were upon the spot, and the Indians hed,
not one shot that was fired after them tax.
ing effect on any of them. This happened
only seventy miles from Fort Laramie, and
Ganzio was taken there directly. The army
surgeons bound the scalp, hanging to the
head by small connection of flesh. The
scalp was bound TO its place, and in few
weeks IL grew fast there again, but the
ugly red scar around the top of Ganzio,s
head, marking the course the Indians knife
had taken, the surgeons said would always
be conspicuous reminder to Ganzlo and
his friends that he owed the possession o1
the top of his head to one second of time
for if his friends had delayed their arriva
by that much the scalp and the LIndiar
would have gone away together.-N Y
Times