The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1890-12-27
ONE HUNDRED SCAlPS.
The Terrible Revenge of q Mis-
sOurlan.

2 The Terrible Revenge of Mis-
! sour1an.
: In June, 1862, a man named
Saunderson packed his family ane
a few household goods into GOV
cred wagon and headed due ives
|, from Omaha to find a location tt
please him somewhere along the
Platte. He had with him his wife
a boy IA years of age, a girl of II
and and a boy II whom he hac
picked up and adopted. Saunder'
son was a native Missourian, and
his starting off alone proved him
to be man of nerve. He was over
six feet tall, long-limbed and not
40 years old.
At the date named one passed into
the Indian country very quickly
from any point on the upper Mis-
souri,. The lone emigrant family
kept going and going, avoiding the
Indians by some strange luck, and
finally brought up on the Loup fork
of the Platte river, near the center
of the then territory of Nebraska.
What followed was told to me by
Saunderson.
The family were living in wagon
placed near small clump of trees
while a hut was being built for a
permanent residence. One night the
horses broke away, and in the morn
ing Saunderson started out to re-
cover them. They led him a chase
of nine or ten miles, and, owing to
him losing his way, it was midafter-
noon before he returned. An awful
discovery awaited him. Indians
had attacked the camp and every
member of his family had been
killed and scalped. The buzzards
were gathering when he arrived.
The wagon and all its contents had
been burned, but a lot of powder,
lead and caps had been removed
from the wagon to the grove, and
this package had been overlooked
by the redskins. A rifle and shot
gun had been left with the wagon,
and Saunderson made out that four
Indians had been killed or badly
wounded before they got to close
quarters. When he had buried the
bodies he took a solemn oath to
devote the rest of his life to revenge,
and how that oath was kept is
familiar history to many Indian
fighters and scouts.
Luckily for Saunderson he was
soon joined by a strong party of
hunters who were bound for the
Laramie mountains, and he was
with them for three weeks before
reaching Laramie. They gave him
all the pointers on Indian life they
could, and when he had traded
about his armament consisted of
heavy rifle, two Colts revolvers and
a hunting knife. l was then at
tached to the fort as a scout and
when / found that no argument
could move him from his purpose 1
gave him all aid and advice. | got
him suit of buckskin, helped him
to mold 500 bullets, furnished him
with reliable compass and rode
with him for two days to the south,
into the Cheyenne country. This
tribe had done him no wrong, but
it was hostile, and one Indian was
the same as another to him. |
found the man moody and uncom-
municative, but l knew the torture
he was suffering, and could excuse
his demeanor. 1t was three months
before he returned to the fort, and
he then had the scalps of twenty
one Indians to prove that he had
not been wasting time. He was in
a more cheerful mood now. and l
managed to secure the particulars
of some of his adventures.
Soon after I left him he discov-
cred the trail of a village on the
move. This he followed until he
found the Indians on Il creek in a
long and narrow valley. He hid
his horse and spare baggage away
in a cave, and prowled about in
search of prey. The herd of ponies
vas pastured above the village, and
he white mans first victim was an
I'D man who was acting as one of
he herders. He was digging roots
With stick when Saunderson crept
Up to him and hit him such blow I
With club that he fell down dead. .
He carried the body half mile on
lis back and dumped it into a dark
'avine, but not until after he had !
ecured the scalp lock. He then (
made half circuit to the other end
If the valley, where found boy
,erder about Is years old lying at {
ull length on the grass asleep. |
This tribe of Indians had no more {
ear of the presence of white man
here than an elephant. Only the t
had ever seen one, unless it
vas some poor prisoner brought in {
o be tortured. Saunderson crawled
lpon the sleeping sentinel and I
;illed him with stone, and his body
vas carried to the same ravine.
The two Indians were killed be- i