The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-12-27

I
beaten path, he suddenly cam
face to face with squaw. On tn
impulse of the moment, and scare
realizing what he did, he struck he
with his fist. The blow probabl,
broke her jaw, as she did not or,
out. She was knocked down, bu
she scrambled up and made de
termined attack on her foe. Sh'
had no weapons of any sort, but sh'
seized Saunderson and downed hin
and got such a grip on his throa
that he had to exert all his strength
to break it. He flung her off, anc
in turn got the same grip, but sht
bit and clawed him in ferociout
manner, and when he had choked
the life out of her she still had hel
fingers in his hair.
This body went to keep company
with the others, and then Saunder
son withdrew to a safer position
The mysterious disappearance Of
three people from the village kicked
up great excitement before evening
but although a hundred Indians
scattered about to search for them
they found no clue to the mystery
Next day Saunderson secured the
scalp of warrior and then left the
neighborhood. During the next
month he lived among the foothills
of the Laramie mountains, and
among his stirring adventures he
related this:
He was stalking a deer and was
in the act of leveling his rifle to
shoot when he espied six Indians
advancing along a trail. A moment
later one of them shot the same
deer, and the party at once proceed
ed to build a fire and cook portion
of the meat. They were all full
grown men, but felt so safe in their
own territory that no precautions
were taken. Every rife in the party
was placed against a central tree
fifteen feet from the fire, and as the
Indians toasted their meat they
sang, laughed and joked each other
like so many boys. Saunderson
had cover to the tree spoken of, or
within a few feet of it, and when
the redskins got to eating he crept
forward and got position behind a
large rock. He was above them,
with the tree at the left. The largest
Indian in the party sat facing him,
and Saunderson shot him stone
dead. He had his revolvers out
before any Of the Indians were on
their feet, and as they sprang up he
killed a second and wounded one.
The survivors bolted through the
forest without attempting to secure
their guns, and the avenger saw no
more of them. He scalped the dead,
cooked the rifles and started off to
look for more victims. If l had
had the slightest doubt of the truth
of this adventure queer turn of
affairs would have more than sat-
isfed me.
When Saunderson came into the
fort it was late in October and snow
had already fallen. He announced
his intention of laying up some
where along the south fork of the
Laramie for the winter, and as the
raidipg season of the hostiles was
about over | got leave of absence
for sixty days and decided to return
with him. My mission was to pros
pect for gold and silver among the
mountains, but l was we'll armed
and equipped, and on the trip we
took out thirty steel traps to capture
fur. We had been encamped for
three weeks before we had an ad-
venture with the Indians. Saun-
derson left camp one day without
notice to me and made scout of
eighteen miles and discovered an
Indian village. There had been a
thaw and the ground was now clear
Of snow. He found some squaws
and boys gathering wood in the
foothills, and he killed and scalped
= squaw and youth of Is. An alarm
was raised and he retreated to
strong position, and, in a fight at
ong range. he killed a warrior, but
could not secure his scalp.
When night came the avenger re-
,reated, but light snow fell and
he Indians pressed him closely. In
lis return toward camp Saunderson
made for the spot where he had
cached the rifles, which was mile
md a-half from the spot where l
vas waiting for him. At noon on
he third day of his absence l heard
ifle firing to the west of me, and
IN going forward l was led to be-
ieve that party of five or six
White men were surrounded on the
rest of a rocky hill. l worked
Onward until l could draw a bead
IN an Indian, and as l opened fire
he entire force, numbering about
hirty, broke away in panic. Then
found that Saunderson had killed
me, wounded two, and had been
lolding his own with the spare
if1es.
By January, 1868, saunderson
lad thirty-nine Indian scalps. Dur
ng all that wear he came into the |