St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-11-18

idlilitS ou tiit otdo, buis tnCiS WIS
valley about ten rods wide between
the ridges. In some of these valleys
there was fine pasturage, while others
were badly quilted out by the rains. AS
we rOse one of these ridges we heard
firing, and, proceeding with due eau
ton, we finally located II beyond the
last ridge. The ground there broke
away into an almost level plain, where
the earth was baked hard and the rock
Outcr0pped in
GREAT PROPULSION.
Half mile from the ridge stood two
dead cottonw0ods. Around the bases OF
these the stones had been piled up in
circle two or three feet high. As we
crept to the top of the ridge on hands
| and knees and looked over we saw
temporary Indian camp right below us
| at water-hole. There were three or
| four Indians lying under shelter of
| skins, and beyond them we counted
| nineteen who were crouched behind
| knobs and powders and firing at the
| breaStWOrk.
| We saw at once that some one was
| being besleged, but made no move until
we could learn the particulars. While
we were watching affairs puff OF
smoke shot out from the breastwork.
| and an Indian who was raising his head
above bOwlder to get shot. sauk
| down dead. We were ready to help the
| defenders, but we waited a few minutes
] to see how strong they were and how
| much game they had. In about three
| minutes there was loud report from
| shotgun, and redSkin who was hug
| ging the earth at the roots of a bush
| was hit by some of the shot and uttered
| q yell and rolled down hill to safer
| cover.
''There are only two white men
there!' whispered one of the citizens,
lana they are not Overstocked with am
| munitlOn. They are firing only when
they have dead sure thing. Let US
give those red devils surprise party"
We crawled a few yards to the right,
| to spot furnishing good cover, and
| then each picked his target and opened
| fire. What followed was grimly lu-
dicrous. The fire in the rear broke the
| Indians all I'D in a minute, and they
made a rush for their ponies, which
were grouped to our right. and half a
mile away. We wounded two and
| killed one before they got out of range,
| and then descended to the camp to find
four wounded warriors lying there,
| every one
| HIT WITH BUCKSHOT.
One of them got hold of his rifle and
sent bullet through one of my COM
| rades' cap, and with that we turned to
| and wiped them out. Then it was that
the beSieged showed themselves. Who
do you suppose they were?. A woman,
| forty years old, a widow, and her fifteen
year-oId soni You had to he right there
| to credit the fact. They had started out
| from Eastern Nebraska to find suit
| able place and take up claim. They
| had wagon drawn by two horses, and.
| three days before. within five miles of
| the place, had been discovered by war
party of Indians. They had run
| the horses to within half a mile of
| the spot. when the wagon
broke down and they had to abandon it.
| The mother seized double-barreled
shotgun and the boy his Winchester and
made for the trees. The Indians halted
| to plumber the wagon. and this gave the
| pair time to fOrtify. They hadn't drop
of water nor mOuthful of food, and
were not too we'll supplied with ammu-
| milton. They were thirty or forty miles
| from assistance. realized that only some
special interpositiOn could save them,
| and yet they never had a thought of
surrender. The Indians went into
camp and sought to cajOle them.
| butt was no go. The real attack began
| at daylight on the morning we got there.
| The four warriors IN camp and one who
had got away were wounded by the
woman. The boy killed two. Neither
had slept wink for two nights nor
tasted water or food. and yet they rather
made light of the whole affair.
II told maw." explained the boy, "that
we'd cover and hold out as long as we
could. but | guess it was just as well
you cum up as you did,"
at Of for hot,
| shaky." added the woman. Il ought to
have killed every one / drew bead on,
but my nerves went back on me and
the gun wabbled. DO you happen to
have bite of food?"
Neither one felt that they had done
| anything out of the common, and / was
really vexed with them for taking the
matter so c0Olly.
THE NEXT SUMMER
| I was an eyewitness to an affair that /
| shall ever remember in all its details. /
was scouting to the north of where the
| town of Sheridan can now he found,
and had for cOmrade young fellow
| eighteen years old named Abe Smith.
| He was in the employ of the govern
ment, and this was his first scout. We
were ''feeling" for a BODY of $50 SOL
| dIers. part of whom were infantry. and
as they had wagons and ambulanceS
| along our pace was slow. At noon
| one July day, as the men were
| finishing dinner. Abe and l rode on
| ahead to see what lay before us. Halt
| mile beyond camp we rose ridge. de-
| scended into a valley, rose another,
| passed big boulder. and were descend.
| ing a gentle slope when band of about
| fifty redskins. each one concealed i'm the
| bushes and grass at the foot of the
| slope, rose up as one man and gave us a
| vOllev. You would say that such a vol
| ley at the distance of 100 feet would cut
| everything to pieces. but the only re-
suit, queerly enough, was bullet
| through the calf of my left leg. while
second raked nv horse enough to draw
blood and startle him. He wheeled
| about, made half-a-dOZen jumps, and
unlOaded me at the big boulder. As |
| looked up after my tumble | saw that
| Abe had dismOunted. driven his horse
| ont of the way. and was covering me.
| He had revolver in either hand, and,
| as he SLOWLY backed N the hill and the
| indians hurled kni g and tomahawks
| at him, he fired right and left as coolly
as if practicing at target. Some of
the fellows had time to reload, and
| l saw as many as eight Of them take an
| offhand aim at him and pull trigger
backed almost up to me before I had
got hold of my revolver. which / wore
| in holster. and at my first shot he
turned his head, smiled good-naturedly
and calmly said:
THE woods are full of 'em, Steve,
but they can't shoot for shncks."
had fired nv fifth bullet when the
bugles back at camp sounded the alarm,
| and the Indians whirled and made off.
| They had their horses in dry ravine
near at hand. and were gone before our
| slOw-moving cavalry appeared. /
| was hit and nv horse scratched.
That was the total damage on
our side. Abe had no less than six
bullet holes in his clothing, but escaped
| injury. On the other side we had three
| dead and two mOrtallv wounded Indians
to care for, and two years later war
| rinr who was in the fight said that we
| inflicted flesh wounds on four others,
we having fired seventeen shots in all.