The Helena independent., 1889-12-01

water, but chose the level ground along its
bank and dashed down stream.
"'TentionW came IN guarded tones from
the sergeant in command. Brown and
Elliott take the first man, Graves and Good
ing the second Smith and Rogers the third,
and I'll take the fourth After We shoot,
every man fire. Ready
The moments are intensely exciting now
-four men plunging down toward us, each
with a look of desperation ON his set face,
each urging his horse To greater speed, yet
watching the treacherous road.
Aim said Sergeant Higgins.
They were almost opposite us now, and
less than two hundred yards away. just
before they came abreast of ms the quick
cry Fire sprang from our commander.
Ii was not hushed as the others had been.
but was delivered loud and clear. Each
man designated responded with shot, and
then the whole party sprang to their feet.
The hindrnost man alone fell. The second
and third horses were hit and showed il.
The leader. u dashing fellow, equal 10 any
surprise fate held for him, rose
in his stirrups and hurled curse of
defiance AT us, then struck his spurs
again and again. and held his course un.
nInchingly. An irregular vUlley followed.
The second man fell from his saddle: the
third sprang to the ground and tried 20 es-
rnpe ON foot. but was wounded and had 10
give up. The very demon of chance,
though, seemed 10 have special fate in
store for the leader of the band. A hun
dred bullets whistled past him, but not one
seemed to take effect. As he swung round
the bend in tue river two hundred yards be-
low. he turned in his saddle and raised n
hinge wallet which We believed was filled
with our good cash.
Two men were already half across the
rive, wading, swimming, struggling. They
crept up the bank and tried To catch the
reed horses. but could not. Long Bill No
Ian started down the stream Mt dead run
He found knoll which gave him one last
view of the fugitive, and he sent an ounce
of good Missouri lead after him at 600
Yards. A second shot. and then third, and
Nolan fairly screamed with delight.
1--WE hit him." he called. Down both
sides Of the stream the soldiers hurried, and
when nearly to the spot where the desperate
| Law, We heard another shot and wondered no
bullet whistled near us. We thought he whs
| fighting vet, and went forward with mo-
care. Presently We saw him lying stark and
dead on a shelving rock. Nolan had hit him
| in the back, and the wound WAS probably
fatal, but he who had captured thousands of
dollars i'll cash almost at the gates OF -four
company post would take no chances on be-
| ing made n prisoner, and he had ended his
own life with n revolver.
Some moments afterward the cavalry. who
had followed the game so closely they were
| obliged 10 double, came down 10 the water
side, and we gathered mp the men and their
| belongings The three men first brought
down had nothing. The leader had
a wallet which, when turned over 10
Major Eschol. WAS found 10 contain
nothing but the payroll and a set OF
memorandum books. And that WAS all we
ever recovered. Half the soldiers from the
fort came out. and every foot of ground th,
robbers had ridden over wis searched re.
peatedly with no results. Whether, finding
themselves hard pressed, these men hat
tossed the precious packages somewhere in
TO safety, or whether shrewd soldiers foun(
and again secreted the treasure, against |
day when they could more readily use il, NJ
one ever knew. All that could be said will
certainty was that four months pay for 30
men was gone beyond recall, and we had q
wait month longer, till fresh suppl,
could be brought to us. The fatalities o
the day were three robbers, one killed b,
the paymaster's own escort MT the first At
tack and the Others by the infantrymen
Two others were wounded and one captured
and this comprised their entire gang. Ma
jor Eschol and two of his escort wer'
wounded, but they recovered, as did tw,
men from the fort who were unfortunate
enough 10 be hit.