Butte semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-04

We LEFT several dead on the spot where the
ball FIR vt opened. When we got into tht
timber the Indians commenced t0surround
rs, and we soon discovered that ON
only safety would be in gaining the oppo.
site side Of the river where he could tight
from higher ground. With one wild yell We
made q dash for the river, firing into the
Indians as we ran; but the manne in which
they poured hot shot into Us was Q caution
to snakes. We did not lose many men on
the run from the timber to the river. but
while We were fording the stream and as
cending the bank on the other side thirty
min men bit the dust, among whom was
my lifelong partner and Lieut.. Hodgson.
When we had reached tie summit Of q
medium-sized knoll on the other side OF the
Horn we began to throw mp breastworksso
that we would not kill of the enemy too
fast and also to protect Maj. Reno from an
occasional shot from about 1900 Sioux
who were just itching to eat us. After we
had the major safely enscounced behind
some ! uge boulders, we opened q murder
GUS fire on the Indians-that is, it would
have been murderous had they been close
enough and had not attempted to return
the fire. After getting under cover We mo-
ticed that the Indians were disappearing in
the same mysterious as they
had appeared at the opening OF the fight.
We did not care to follow them to find out
thought that We had already killed enough.
We conceded with his viess and stuck to
our hole.
just as we were c~ongratulating ourselves
on our escape from total humiliation, q
big bald-faced, boyish-looklng fellow wear
ing the epaulet. es of a colonel rushed his
whole company in upon us and asked per
mission to help us fight. The boyish.look-
ing fellow was Capt. Benteen, and during
our whole engagement he had been in
camp on top of another knoll bravely bus
silently watching the Indians shoot us
down. He had remained there in hiding
until he saw the enemy start clown or the
opposite side Of the riyer and then be an
bis command rushed to our rescued
While we were on top OF the knoll we heard
firing down the river-it must have been q
mile away. Custer and $50 men had gone
Indian village just before where we first
tackled them at the upper end, and re all
knew that an engagement was going on be
tween the troops and the savages. We did
not go down to help Custer's troops be-
cause we.were afraid that Maj. Reno would
get hurt"
At this iuncture '.Sim" finished his fourth
schooner and continued: "About sun
down the last shot had been fred and /
a sure that Clusters troops had been vic
torious, because the shot was fired from
Mike Garland's gun"
"How did you know whose gun had fired
the shot?" innncently asked the reporter.
why, partner, you might stand 1000
men in line and give each Of them the same
kind Of q gun, and then blindfold me and
let each one shoot and I can name the nan
in whose hands the fired gun is. See? 1t
all depends on the way a man pulls the
trigger, and no two men do that alike.
well to 60 on with the story; we stayed
on top of that knoll all night, and early
morning a detachment was sent out
to look for Indians. / was one OF that de-
them eve since. After leaving the service
OF the government four years before my
time was out, 1 rode horseback down onts
the Yellowstone, striking the river at .
point about two miles above the mouth
of Tongue river. I then travelled down
the river and at the point where
the Yellowstone empties into the
l ran across Morgan, the Dead
Shot and Liver Eating Johnson and
we Travelled toward the setting
sun. We did not encounter any Indians
until we had reached the mouth OF the Big
Horn river. There we ran into about 100
warriors, but we succeeded in getting
into the brush and making it warm for
them for about two hours. Both my CON-
were good shots and hardly ever
an Indian. We killed in that fight
about fifteen out OF the hundred, and the
balance let us alone. When it got dark we
again started and after many days travel
in Yellowstone park. where I sep
from Morg N and Johnson and
lave never since heard of them. l learned
q few years ago, however, that Custer and
all of his men were killed in the battle OF
the Little BIZ Horn, which took place June
26, 1876"