St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-14
AN OLD INDIAN FIGHTER.
The Hero Of Many Fierce Battles in
Town.
HE TELLS A VIVID STORY
Tragic Death of Major Petriken---Tor.
lures by Fire and
Knives.

San Francisco Examiner
w. E. Beach, an old Indian fighter of
the frontier, who has been through
many fierce conflicts and narrowly es-
capped with his life, is at the American
Exchange hotel.
Mr.. Beach is an old Californian. but
has put in many years on the Mexican
border. He was with Maj. r. w. Petri-
ken in January in Chihuahua, when the
Chiricowas suddenly came down upon
them and murdered two white men, in
Guiding Maj. Petriken, and eight Mex
leans.
Besides this they carried away Pima
Indian woman and two small boys, and
afterward murdered the woman and one
boy in cold blood. AS the story of these
and kindred barbarities, in which Mr..
Beach has been put upon the defensive,
has never been told in detail, an Exam
liner reporter asked him for an account
OF them yesterday.
Maj. Petriken was chief engineer of
the International railroad at that time"
said Mi. Beach, land he was going over
to look at the International silver mines
owned by me. The mines were on the
Dolores river, ninety miles from the
nearest station. The Chiricowas came
upon them suddenly while camped, and
began the wickedeSt kind of a fuSilade
with their Winchesters.
NOT EXPECTING INDIANS.
''No Indians had been seen prowiing
around for several days, and they did
not suspect that the ChiricowaS were
on their track. Taken completely by
surprise, they were unprepared, and
the Indians had walkover.
''Petriken was shot down early in the
fray, and the others, being somewhat
unskilled in desultOry fighting, were
speedily overcome.
"There were only few who escaped,
and that by the greatest effort. The
poor Pima woman and two boys were
carried off to the Sierra Madre. One
boy. Don Juan San Carlos, escaped one
night during a raging storm in the
mountains. The other boy they tortured
to death by fire, and by leaving him for
a long time bound without food or
drink. One barbarity heaped upon an
other soon finished the poor youth.
1.-The woman was cut in pieces. They
abused her in thousand fiendish ways
SO well knows to the redskins. and be-
cause she still refused to bend her will
to theirs they cut her while alive liter
ally to pieces.
II do not know the names of the few
who escaped, but they were glad lot,
and it was many weeks thereafter be-
fore any of them could be induced to go
into the region again.
HIS WORST BATTLE.
"The worst battle ever had with In
dams was in January, 1888, at the afore-
said mines. / had force of men at
work, and was building mill in which
to treat the ore. A frOwning embank-
ment stood just above the works, and
on this the Apaches took up their stand.
They had good chance at US, and the
first thing we knew storm of murder
Gus bullets was poured into US. We
grasped our guns, and, taking refuge in
our outhOuSeS, returned the fire as well
as we could. We fired voDley after vol
ley until there was a perfect rain of
bullets from our twenty rifles.
But it was no use. The hundred
blO0d-thirsty Apaches gradually climbed
down the embankment and bombarded
our stronghold. My partner, Frank
Lindley, was wounded, and Richard
Whitman was killed, besides seven 9TH
ers of our force, men most all strangers
to me, and whom nobody knew much
about.
sit was the widest fight ever saw.
A terrible storm, blended with light
ming, was nothing to it. Peal upon peal
resOunded from the guns. and lead came
down like deluge of stones. In the
midst of the fight the murderouS toma-
hawk was displayed, and gun stocks
became war clubs.
LITTLE CHANCE OF ESCAPE.
'How anybody ever escaped has al
ways been mystery to me. 1t was
such hand-ts-hand conflict, such a
direful battle, in which blood flowed
like rain. But as man will always do
his level best when pressed for his life,
so we fought and held the place as long
as we could; and then fought and ran,
moving down the SavageS as fast as we
could as they advanced upon us. Sew
eral of these bit the dust, and, aided by
scattering trees, rocks, Sagebrush and
stumps, and about haIf-doZen others
got away.
Il have had many close battles with
Indians, but in this there was the most
relentless cruelty shown. Such wounded
men as could not walk were murdered
outright. Others were carried away to
their hiding places in the mountains
and there ended their lives by slow
torture.
II think the Indians as a whole will
are struggling bands both on the Amer
lean and Mexican frontiers that are
likely to do some bad work."
Mr.. Beach is yet interested in mines
in Chihuahua. He has recently been
spending short time in Santa Barbara.
and has just arrived from there to this
CITY,