The Hot Springs star. (Hot Spings [Hot Springs], Dakota [Dakota Territory, i.e. S.D.]) 1886-189?, 1890-08-29
A TENDERFO OT'S LUCK.
He Relates How He shot Els Fkst
Buffalo.

0UAA6skSo ~
Tie Crept Up ON the Herd, nlaked Away,
wnd = Noble Bull nit the Dust An Un.
profitable and Decidedly Dis
agreeable Surprise. ~
Ono day, while Twas ticket agent Of the
Kansas Pacitic railroad ut Wallace, Knn.s
during the years that buffalo were still roam.
ing in vas: herds over the plains. the tele.
graph operator ut the station came INTO my
oiiice in u great state OF excitement, writes
a New York Sun correspondent.
There q million buffalo feeding on tho
prairis only three miles below here" ho
exclaimed, ..and not more than quarter Of
IA mie from the railroad track. Let's ~
down and bug few.' &.
Twas s,ill u tendcrfoot In the region, and
was crazy TO kill a buffalo. So, In less THAI
ten minutes after the operator brought mo
tho news, we moanlcd hand-car, and,
accou. panied by one of the track repairers,
we're spinning along toward the spot where
the bufT;.!ucs were reported to be feeding.
The report hadn't been exaggerated, except
III It the buifa!ocs were feeding no nearer
...an mile from the track. That was tho
first herd Of buffalo had seen. I saw many
:. E.:s o:.o afterward, bit nevers saw one that
bison gathering. The prairie seemed filed
..i:a them. They formed one black, un-
;':.pl.cn, undulating mass that seemed
bounded only at tho horyaon and stretched
eastward aad westward as far as the ey9
could follow it. The herd was on the nortk
side OF The railroad, and feeding toward 1t.
Derai.ing our hand-car Gnd taking our guns,
we proceeded cautiously across the prairie,
half creeping. half crawling, ursil we had
s .ccecded Il, approaching to within quar-
ter of a milo Of the advance guard Of the
mighty host
AS we lay there watching the systematic
arrangement and conduct of the vast herd,
its divisions and subdivisions md line OF
outposts, our attention was attracted by the
nerlii.ar actions CT various members OF one
rs the punches which was feeding nearest
10 US. First one buffalo would give a sud.
Gen jump, run several steps; stop and looie
i,ac!s, and then, giving his btt,y q thorough
shaking, would resume his feeding ag.oni
only ID repeat his str:tpgo ma. lvers q few
/ seconds .a,er. Another and another were
affected i'll the same, way, and, one after
another, thy finally fell .abrapliy to tho
/. '-round, and lay stretched notionless there
W iG!llengih.
s'lt seems to me-" said I in whisper TO
vy companicn, s't,,at ratt,esnakes are
". S.lS!l tOsll Jtl luVsoS' HutlAtlUSS.
s'-.o,' said The traclsnian, Who seemed to
snow something about buffalo. ':.Ae pr,,lrie
cattesnake can't kill buffalo. Not es
leicl. as those fellows have gone down,
.aNliow. never saw any thing like that
oetore, and can understand it,"
70 solve the mys-sry, we concluded to
t.rs INTO that particular bunch, which would
(. stampede it, and i'll turn seEd tho entire
.i..r,l speeding away over ts.e pain. was
;..iowed t..o privilege of first fire. crawled
lpto WITHIN three hundred yards Of the
,ench. A magnificent spike bull stood
within easy range, broadside to me.
.i:nca at him and fired. He fell where he
...ood. His Immediate companions fed
line alarm spread aiong the herd, and soon
he vast body was laundering away to the
nortaward. shaking the prairic by theil
mighty tread. Followed by my comrades,
'l.hcd ny To my trophy. put my foot or
!Js ,nasslvo neck, and '1elt proud or my
i:,.:.icvemcno I looked back at my com
a..,,ioUs. They were standing stock still
tea feet behind me, their eyes staring al
,c,nc.ing beyond mo and their jaws
Il, afing. turncd to see what they were
.eu.:ing a.tand my eyes instantly became q.
,.ai-il.g wide open as theirs were. Inevcl
s.:.ew where he could have Como from, bu
.e.e AZ the other side of the buffalo hut
,',ot stood an Indian. He was at least 81,
feet SIX i:.c.les tail. He was entirely naked
,cnt that lie wore G strip Of buckski,
around HI, i5iils AM, :. culver OF arrows O
his bucs. Ills eyes flashed ,y:caetliy as b
..c.;r himself up to his full hii,,,aa. place
is foot Oh the buffalo, and, shifting hinscl
n h.s; bare breast, exclaned in o haught
Ind iirperiti. tone:
s'S,...l boo.;,lo-o-o!'
Before the Indian had finished making hi
. scs.tive claim TO the buffalo became pair
,.i.y;. ware that he YVES not alone, but tn;
.oujesa than six other Indi;.;ls, as, big an
) .,giy Us he WAS, had appeared on til
ce'lc ;.iquietiy and mSsterious!ya as he ha.
had no intention whatever Of disputii,
he re,l thief $ cia.:n, and ! know IT,;
.,itlie'of my companions had. I took IN
ocs off of the dead bull. which was all I'll
,.ti;..l knew for resigning my right to II
repny. The Indian folded his right arm
mi: looked, j thought, contemptuously at U
and then exciaimed:
!, s.-.'ss.,.ac?''
We interpreted this lightly to mean tn,
, he Indian wanted q chew Ct tobacco. Sir
iltaneousiy all three Of us produced b
4 lug, aid reached it toward him. He toe
aen;lil, oiLcsf q chew from one, and stowe
: ,,o three away somewhere in his brcec
. loti. Then, With wicked lccr, he wave
! is hand toward The railroad. We itts,
v reted this to mean that we had better q
y ~. we went. Tine mystery cf the stra,i.
z lions Of the buffaloes we had seen fl
o ia explained. The Indians had beer,
t ,i;ng on tho edge Of the herd, and (;
# .,.liisS off the choiccstcf them with tue
- Useless and deadly arrows. We ncy,
Q ,l.od back until we had reached our han
I. ron the track and were to START for HON
\. lei, we saw the Inliens squattel in an c
% ted group on tie ground.
st '.They are gambling for our tobacco, - sa
3, ,s trackn an.
- T.l;.tw was the way shot and lost my fir
1t ,uffalo, and have often congratulated III
.slf since that didn't lose my scalp, o,
in ways wondered why that viilainous &c
ID kin happened to let me kecpit.
Marrying for Money.
!, The New York Sun, which is fond
y ~ taking surprising statements, says: ssv
~ ~ onot believe that marriage purely +
~ !. ioney ever really happened" The daug
y, -, .r Of distinguished Massachusetts auth