Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1889-09-26
HAD HIS HAIR RAISED.

Vivid Description OF the SenSa-
ton Under the Knife of a Sioux
ChIef--Two Westerners Who
Survived the Operation.
Few men have been scalped and
lived, but frontier correspondent has
found two who have survived the oper-
alton, One is a private in the regul ar
army named Sanbertson, and the other
former resident OF Milwaukee named
Ganzio. Sanbertson was shot through
the arm in fight with Black Kettles
band.
Imagine some one who hates you
with the utmost intensity" Sanbertson
said in describing the sensation of tn G
scalping, land he suddenly grabbing a
handful OF your hair, while you are
lying prostrate and helpless, and Civ ing
it quick, upward jerk with force
enough almost to loosen the scalp;
then, imagine the not-particularly =
sharp blade of knife being run quick
ly in a circle around your scalp, with a
sawing-like motion. Then let your i'm
Imagination grasp, II it can. the effect
that a strong. quick jerk on the tuft OF
hair 20 release the scalp from any
cliuging particles of flesh that may
hold it in place would have on your
nerves and physical system, and you will
have an inkling OF how it feels
to be scalped. When that Indian
sawed his knife around the top
OF my head, first 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.
That sensation was but momentary,
| but il was terrible. When the Indian
tore my scalp from my head it see med
as il it must have been connected with
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 it from my head. Flashes
of pain shot to every nerve. My knees
were drawn up almost TO my chin, and
the fingers of my one hand closed con-
yulsively in the snow, those Of my left
hand being powerless owing to the
shattered arm. That was all | remem-
bered. When came TO | was in a
tent The cavalry had come up in the
meantime, and the Indians were rout-
| GU Olly IL lew cSCdptu, UuL
Kettle was among the few"
Sanbertson lay for weeks in the gov
eminent hospital at Fort Laramie per-
fectly helpless and suffering untold
agony. He finally recovered, and in
the meantime his term OF enlistment
expired. lie had no desire TO re-enter
the service, and Gen. Custer jocularly
remarked to him that he made a mis-
take in quitting the service. "For
think, said the General, chow sur
prised and disguised some red devil of
an indian might be, If you should stay
with us and happen to fall ia his hands,
when he went to raise your hair to find
that some one had been there before
him" i saw Sanbertson several years
afterward, 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 extreme
ly tender. and in damp or cold weather
was very painful.
The other person | saw at Fort Lar
annie whose head had been tempered
with by the scalping knife was Herman
Ganzio. The Indian who WAS after this
mans scalp did not have time to COM
| plete the job, for he was compelled to
abandon 1t after having got the scalp
ready TO tear off. Ganzio, / believe,
was from Milwaukee, and had been act
ing as scout and guide for party of
tourists on the plains in the summer of
1876. The party was scared away from
the valley OF Hat Creek by Indians.
and were on their way across country
to Running Water creek. Ganzio had
gone ahead to pick out a good place
for a camp on their way. He discover
ed five Indians riding across the valley
off TO his right and he turned to rejoin
his party, who were only short dis
lance in the rear. He had got to with
in sight OF the Transfers when dozen
! Indians jumped from the bushes Gan
zio started on a run and shouted for
help. The Indians fred on him and he
fell wounded in the shoulder and his
leg. The Indians rushed upon him.
Ganzio lay fat on his face. One of the
Indians pressed his knees on Ganzio's
back and grabbed him by the hair.
The Indian sawed his knife around the
top of Ganzio's head, and his descrip-
ton OF the sensation was the same as
the one Sanbertson had given at the
fort seven years before. Ganzio
escaped the fortunes of the tearing-off
process, for before the Indian could
finish that part of the work Ganzio's
friends, q dozen or more in number,
were upon tho spot, and the Indians
fed. not one shot that was fired after
them taking effect on any OF them.
This happened only seventy miles from
Fort Laramie, and Ganzio was taken
there directly. The army surgeons
found the scalp hanging to the head by
a small connection OF flesh. The scalp
was bound to its place, and in few
weeks it grew fast there again, but the
ugly red scar around the top of Gan
zio's head. marking the course the
Indians knife had taken, the surgeons
said would always be conspicuous
reminder TO Ganzio and his friends
that he owed the possession of the top
Of his head to one second OF time, for If
his friends had delayed their arrival
by that much, the scalp and the Indi-
ans would have gone away together"