Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-02-27


washed away every vestige of a trail. By
night the ground was so soft that the
horses sank to their girths at every step
! and we had to halt. We had now had a
month of discomfort and hardship. Our
| food had been badly cooked and some
/ times deficient In quality, our clothes were
worn out and our feet sore from climbing
mountains Here we found clothing and
rations. and best Of ALL q good dinner
cooked by a woman on a stove. 1t was
! here that s., when asked if he liked his
beefsteak rare or well done, replied that
| he would eat the rare while the well-dOne
was cooking Our stay here was but
| for a day and night. after which we re-
| sumed the pursuit We had so far, at
least, succeeded in driving the Indians out
| of our country and into Mexico. Again
we follow the trail. Now it leads us over
| high, timber mountains, and again we
| find the victims of Indian hate and
! cruelty. The victims are usually projectors,
! for the mountains are full of gold and
| silver mines and the prOspectOr thirst
! for wealth leads him to dare every dam
ger, and full many prospector has been
assasinated by Indians as he sat alone by
/ his campfire, unsuspecting that an enemy
was near. We found the body of one poor
/ old man, who had evidently tried to run
away, but had been shot many times
| through the back, his legs broken and his
! skull crushed In with a stone Papers
| found on him showed that he had redis-
/ covered the long lost Adams mine. The
! original Adams was shot in a drunken
brawl and on his death bed told of mine
of vast richness that he had discovered
and located. His hearers believed in his
| story and for years some among them had
sought for the mine. At last this old man
/ had found it and in letter to his friends
described how rich it was; but here we
buried him and his valuable secret died
with him.
After three days of toll among the
mountains we emerged upon the plains.
| We were now far across the border in Mex
| ico The trail led us along a wide valley,
a valley destitute of water grass, or even
| the smallest shrubs It was the home of
the rattIesnal1e, the prairie dog and the
jack rabbit. We had left camp in the
morning without having had water or
coffee at breakfast, and at night were
| forced again to make a ''dry camp" that
/ Is camp without water. The next day
we started early on the trail. Our Threats
and lips were dry and parched, and the al
| kali dust aggravated our misery by irritat-
| ing eyes and skin. We marched far into
the night and again camped where there
was no water The hot sun and hotter
! glare from the baked sands had made our
| thirst torment. liz the morning we re-
sumed the trail. The sun seemed hotter
than ever, and even the deceptive mirage
was before us. One could see on the surface
of this lake the shadows of the mountains
and it seemed, too, that there were in it
clumps of rushes and focks of wild fowl
swimming about on its surface. To those
| In front it appeared at times but forty or
| fifty yards away. Sometimes a ripple ran
along its shores and then horses would
quicken their steps and lower their heads
in readiness to drink. Occasionally a
horse, driven to insanity by thirst, would
throw his rider and rush wildly off into
the shading water To aggravate our
misery we crossed several large. real lakes,
but they were dry, and yet seemed to have
had water in them for the Indians. for
their horses had sunk knee deep into the
sand and left a deep trail. Numbers OF
horses and mules became exhausted and
had to be abandoned on the trail. Officers
and men walked doggedly along those hay
ing horses leading them. A group of lieu.
tenants thus walking along saw a negro
soldier standing by a depression In the
ground with cup in his hand. They
asked him if there was any water there.
He replied, Yes, sir, but it don tas
good. They were not particular about
taste ard rushed to the pool and glued then
lips to the surface. But the water was
worse than the water of the mirage, fol
Indians had poisoned it by soaking raw
hides in it, and soon the officers were
vomiting away what little strength they
had left.
Thus the column reeled along until about
| 8'clock In the evening". when a scout came
rushing back with the information that
the hostiles were Just in front, in ambush
and waiting for u.s. The trail would leaC
us between two long, high mountains
along the slopes of which the hostileS
were posted, behind large circular piles Of
rocks. so as to have us at their mercy as
as we tried to pass between. But our com
manding officer had been in too many In.
dian fghrs to be caught so. The com
mand was soon rallied into a military
formation, the horse-holders detailed anC
a charge made over one of the mountains
not between them. The writer was MOI
then accustomed to the high attitudes OF
New Mexico and as he ran up that hill he
felt as though a thousand needles Were
piercing his lungs, and the blood came
from mouth, nOstrils and ears. The charge
drove the hostiles from the one hill, but
they took refuge behind the fortifcation OF
the other The firing now became rapid
and above all the noise could be heard
the loud report of the big gun the Indians
! had 1t fired a tremendous bullet that
would go tumbling through the air, max
ing as much noise as a dozen ordinary bull
lets. The soldiers declared that the In.
dians fired lightning rods from it, and il
did sound like it.
The moon was shining brightly, but the
combatants were all in the shadow of the
greet mountain and could only see enough
TO fire at the flashes of each others guns
During all the firing the squaws and ole
meu sat behind their Notifications anC
sang their battle songs and beat then
drums. Only once did they cease and that
was when a charge was made and they
stopped to hurl stones on the advancing
soldiers. The charge failed and during
pause that followed. Victorio made us {
speech. He told us that we were thirsty
hungry and tired and that he had plenty
of water in his camp, plenty of ammmi
ton and plenty to eat He added that be
had no grudge against the white soldiers
who had Joined the command but that ht
hated the buffalo (negro) soldiers. He
advised us to leave him and go our way
in peate. We had labored Intellectually
for five hours and could see by the din
light that their Notifications were too