Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-04-18
myself wheeled our horses and started
toward the Indians.

|
tered, all endeavoring, however, to pass
beyond the ridge of the hill of the side of
which they had made their ambush.
followed several up the hill in the direc-
! ton from which we came, firing eight or
ten shots, and having the satisfaction OF
seeing one of the murderous fiends fall
to the ground.
AS l had not heard shot from Har
| bert, i turned around to see what had be-
come of him, and thus witnessed one OF
the most extraordinary and inexplicable
occurrences in my life. Harbert was
pursuing, in diagonal direction from
me, three Indians, who were endeavor.
ing to cross the ridge at the lower point
than those whom l attacked, but, while
within close range, did not attempt to
shoot. Just at this moment buck, who
was nearest to him, pulled up his weapon,
but the pistol in the left hand of my
companion cracked, and the Indian fell
| over dead. | could see that Harbert's
horse had a free rein, and that it under
stood the work in hand as well as its
master, for in another moment it was
|
was fred this time. Harbert clutched
the Apache by the neck with his right
hand, and threw him from the pony he
was riding, scarcely pausing in his mad
chase after the third savage.
Thinking that the Indian who had been
pulled from his horse was simply stunned,
| / rode rapidly towards him, but was sur.
prised, upon reaching the body, to see,
by the distorted features and protruding
tongue, that life was extinct.
BY this time Harbert had come up to
the last wretch; again his right arm
went out and his hand clutched the
throat of the Indian, who rolled from his
horse as though his skull had been
cloven. Again turning into the road
and shouting to me to follow, Harbert
started in the direction we had been pre-.
viously travelling at a speed which my
pony could not begin to maintain.
The entire fight, if fight it might be
called, did not last over five or six min.
utes. Although not unfamiliar with
such things, | was completely bewil.
dered. How did Harbert kill the last
two Indians? He surely did not strangle
them to death, for he did not take suffi.
cient time, and he certainly did not pos.
sess the strength to dislocate a mans
neck while using but one hand. Why
did he not shoot them like an ordinary
man would have done? Was he wiz.
ard, and what unseen powers did he pos.
sess? While trying to settle these and
| other questions of similar nature which
| rapidly came to my mind, overlook my
companion, who lay writhing on the
ground in apparent agony, while his
horse was quietly grazing on the grass
near by.
Believing that he had been wounded,
sprang to his side to render what assist
ance / could, when he turned his face
toward Inc and fairly hissed:
''For Gods sake, man, don'ttouch me;
it'll kill you!'
His jaws set, his eyes rolled and his
features gave evidence of the most in
tense pain; great beads of perspiration
stood out on his brow. His limbs were
twitching, and his entire frame was con.
vulsed. | never saw any one suffer such
| agony as Harbert did for the next five or
six minutes, and when the throes became
less violent he sat up and began rubbing
and beating his right arm, repeating
over and over again. in low moan, "Oh,
| it'll kill me; it'll bust; it'll break; some
time I'll cut it otf-cut it off, 1t was
| fully half an hour before the suffering
man was able to mount his horse and
ride to the station, but in the meantime
he assured me he had not been wounded
by the Indians.
We reached Prescott the next evening
without any further encounter with the
Indians, and during the day Herbert ex-
planned to me reluctantly-for he was
averse to talking on the subject-the ma
ture of his peculiar gift or ailment, 1t
seems that he had possessed it since
childhood, and was inclined to attribute
it to the painful circumstances attaching
to his birth. 1t was never thoroughly
developed until he came into the Indian
country, when he found that by the sen.
sation in his right hand he was able to
detect the presence, at considerable dis
|
of other people if they were to the right
of him. When unduly excited or angry
his ''electric hand" as Harbert himself
called it, became an instrument of GER
tain death, instantaneously killing any
one upon whom it was laid. After such
occasions he invariably suffered the
agony had witnessed the day before.
Poor Harbert never reached Santa Fe
alive, his dead body-stripped of its
flesh by the coyotes-having been found
near Navajo Springs some two months
after our meeting. The cause of his
death still remains mystery, and hi,
premature demise unfortunately closed
to the medical fraternity all opportunity
of ascertaining the cause and determin
ing the nature of the storage power
which | saw him exercise.-Charles Lane
Mosher in Boston True Flag
Rapid Doubling.
A physician of New York, at little