The Washburn leader. [volume] (Washburn, McLean County, N.D.) 1890-1986, 1890-10-25
ENOUGH OF SENTIMENT.
A STORY TOLD OF THE TIMES OF
THE GREAT KIT CARSON.

THE GREAT KIT CARSON.
A Frenchman's Desperate Plunge Into .
Mountain Gorge-Both Of His Legs We're
Broken. and So Was His Weakness for
'sPoor Lo'-Didn't Notice the Evidence.
Thirty or forty years ago, when trap
ping" was the regular occupation Of the
plainsman and mountaineer, varied, per
haps, by an occasional fight with the saw
ages, the expeditions Of the frontiersmen
into the remote regions where the fur
bearing animals abounded lasted for a year
or two, and sometimes longer. They had
no watches in those days, and to keep a
record of the time was no easy matter. Kit
Carson told me that often n man Of the
party was detailed to keep the almanac"
or the passage of the days, by that most
primitive of calculations notching a stick.
Frequently the stick was lost and all their
calculations were mixed up, and it was an
amusing thing when they returned to The
settlements to dispose of their furs to learn
how far they were off from the true date
or day of the week. Nearly every man had
his own idea on the subject, scarcely any
two of the outfit" agreeing in the matter.
It was surprising, too, on those extended
trips, how severe accidents would occur,
or how one of the party would be badly
wounded by Indians in some single handed
fight, when away by himself, and yet get
we'll where ordinarily the chances for re-
covery were a hundred to one against it.
Kit told me of one of these hairbreadth
recoveries, if l may employ the term in
this connection, which happened to one of
their party when they were trapping way
up in the "Blackfoot" country nearly half
a century ago.
TOUCHED HIS HEART.
The man was a Frenchman, as were
many of the old trappers in those early
days; his name has passed out of my mind.
He was u kind hearted man, fresh in the
country, and a little inclined to look upon
the Indians with that sort of mistaken
sentimentality which characterizes the av-
erage New England philanthropist who
has never seen the "untutored o" on his
native heath. Late one night, after they
had been camping on one of the many
streams of the region for several weeks, as
he was on duty guarding the camp from
the incursions of a too inquisitive grizzly
or the impertinent Investigations Of the
wolves, his attention wa attracted to
something high up in a tree near by, which
seemed restless, changing its position con-
stantly, like some animal Of prey. The
Frenchman drew a bead upon it, and there
came tumbling down at his feet a dead
savage, with his war paint and other In
dian paraphernalia adjoining his body.
The poor man was terribly hurt over the
circumstance of having killed an Indian.
and it grieved him for u long time.
One day, a month after the nights Incl
dent, he was riding alone far from his
party and out of sound of their rifles as
we'll, when a band of Blackfeet discovered
him and started for his scalp. He had no
possible chance for escape except by the
endurance of his horse, a magnificent ami
NAL, so a race for life began. He had no
trouble in keeping out of the way of their
arrows (the Indians had no guns them, and
he hoped to make the camp before they
could possibly wear out his horse; but just
as he was congratulating himself on his
luck right before him there suddenly ap-
peared a great gorge. and, not daring to
stop or to urn either to the right or left,
the only thing to do was to make his ami
NAL jump it. 1t was his only chance; it
was death if he missed it and death if the
Indians got him. So he drove his heels
into his horses side and attempted the
awful leap. His willing animal made a
desperate effort to carry out the wishes OF
the daring rider. but the gorge was too
wide, and the Indians saw both horse and
rider dash down to the bottom of the fright
full canyon together. Believing that their
enemy had eluded them forever, they went
back on the trail without even going down
into the gorge.
III FAL URE HIM.
The horse was instantly killed and the
Frenchman had both of his legs broken.
Being far from camp, with the Indians in
close proximity, he did not dare to fire off
his rifle or make any noise, so he was com
PEELED to lie there and suffer, hoping that
his comrades. missing him, would start out
to aunt him. They did SO, but more than
a day had elapsed before they found him,
and his pain was intense. OF course doc.
tors in the region were as impossible as
angels, so his companions set the broken
bones as we'll as they could, and fixing a
litter on some pack animals they carried
him around with them from camp to camp
until he recovered, a period extending over
three months.
The affair cured him of his sentimen.
tality for the Indian. Many years after
ward, when New Mexico had become a part
of the United States and courts were regu-
larry constituted, this Frenchman was
drawn as a juryman on a case where an
Indian YVES to be tried for the murder of a
white man. The trial as the courts were
constituted in those days was not a very
prolonged one. But it was observed that
from the very beginning of the proceedings
the Frenchman had dropped into a deep
sleep; so profound wa it that when they
wanted him to decide as t the guilt or in
nocence of the prisoner they had to shake
him violently to rouse him. He had not
heard a word of the trial, but when he was
asked what his opinion vas he replied:
"Hang the Indian; hang him, of counsel II
he don't happen to be guilty now he soon
will be."-Henry Inman in Kansas City
Star.