The great West. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1889-18??, 1890-10-31
CANYON JOE'S DEATH.

CaAA b unique cbdrHcCers WHOSE DrieA
career and violent end are not record
ed in the annals of the geat and
growing West. He was an exotic
a child OF the East-but he grew to
manhood anon: the rough fro ltiers-
men, and the howl OF the coyote. the
siriek Of the destructive blizzard.
were as music to his ear. His nature
was gradually transformed to a
toughness that matched well the har-
ly cactus and the tunted chaparral.
He was called Canyon Joe because he
war found in canyon by some trap
pers and adopted by me. He had
strayed from wagon train on its
way to Utah and got lost. At this
time he was IA years DID,, and pos
sessed of TN amount of nerve which,
by assiduous cultivation, developed
his capacity to cut wide and cr'm-
son swath in any community that gave
him the slightest provocation. When
/ met him it was several years after
the war. was with mining party
prospecting in Arizona. We were in
that bleak but picturesque mountain
Gus region where old Geronimo so
long detied the United States army.
There were fifteen OF us i'll the party,
including half breed scout and sew
eral old miners, who knew the coun-
try pretty we'll. One evening we had
struck our camp on the mountain
side, n ar q small stream, and put
cut the usual pickets for Indians,
when we heard commotion and
verv soon the scout came walking III,
leading a horse that had rider.
Tha horseman was Canyon Joe, and
he seemed to be very happy to find
white men with plenty to eat and
drink. He had two Indian scalps,
freshly taken, dangling at the pom
mel OF his saddle, aid he explained
that he killed the redskins in All open.
square fight. The miners present did
not credit this and rather suspected
that he slipped upon them unawares.
His face looked as though it had been
tanned for ages bv O hot sun and scour-
ed by dirt scoope'l from an akali plain.
Although only medinm'slzed, he SEEM
ed to possess a w.ry frame and great
physical strength and endurance. Ills
eyes Wee small and piercing black,
set very close together, and separat-
ed by the IN idye OF a very thin, acqul-
line nose. He asked permission to
camp with us that night, and agreed
to act as a guile Tor the party during
the rest OF the trip. 1t was consider
cd better to utilize him than to have
him at large-perhaps stirring up the
Indians against us-SO we gave HIM a
cordial reception. After supper we
sat before a small fire in front OF the
tent, aud passed the bottle. Canyon
Joe drank freely, and began to mar
rate some OF his exploits. The halt
breed scout, a tall, athletic man, sat,
or rather recin-d, on the ground by
the fire opp, site Joe. He kept his
eyes fastened bn the latter and listen
ed attentively, but never v.ntured a
rSnlark.
Canyon Joe related the following adj
venture: cit was along in the sixties
that agreed to act as scout for a
party of nine men who wanted to ex-
plore the country now known as the
Black Hills. These men were a tough
lot, some gamblers, some miners and
all good on the shoot. l was barely
20 years old and looked younger, so
when Off red myself as q scout
they laughed at re and called me a
kid. But when they made inquiries
and learned that had been nearly
everywhere in the West and killed
about as many Indians as the neXtnne.
they accepted my services. Ii they
had not intended to ask one or two
out to settle for calling ME q kid.
These men somehow knew that plenty
OF gold was III the Black Hills, and had
Il map thai some miner gave them ON
his deathbed. We started up the Lit
tie Big Missouri river in q large yawl
boat, with plenty OF provisions and
firearms. it was slow work pulling up
quite distance. We haint been both
cred by Indians and l thought it
Mighty queer. 1t was in the fall of
the year and the weather was fine. At
night we tied our boat to the bank
and camped on shore. We always
took precautions, though, against the
Indians. for fear of q surprise. just
about sunset one day l got ashore as
usual and walked up the bank to Sc
lect a place to camp a while the party
rowed alon. in the boat. I had
not gone far when heard volley of
firearms. rushed to the river and
saw tho boat a few hundred yards
above, but no one was pulling at the
oars. Every man in it was dead or
dying. A crowd of Indians ON both
sides Of the river were firing into the
boat, and some were swimming out to
bring it to shore. The attack was q
complete surprise, and l have no
doubt the first volly killed them all. /
wanted revenge. but single handed I
could not attack them. Luckily l
had my rifle and ammunition with me
or would have starved to death. l
knew was far from any settlement,
aud that ii escaped the Indians
l might meet death in some other
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