Pullman herald. [volume] (Pullman, W.T. [Wash.]) 1888-1989, 1890-08-16
IN THE GOLD COUNTRY.
AN OLD MINER TALKS OF THE EARLY
DAYS IN THE BLACK HILLS.

Load of Dead Passengers.
As was travelling through Colorado
and Montana on trip for my health |
struck the town of Big Sandy, NJ T.
The little city was all excitement over
the reported discovery of gold and silver
in the Sweet Grass hills, distance of
sixty miles northwest of Big Sandy, and
the town was filled with prospectors of
all descriptions, from the old timer of
49 to the youth fresh from the east in
search of his fortune, all bound for the
new gold and silver fields.
AS had plenty of time on my hands
and wanted little excitement, Joined
prospecting party. We started for the
promised land the next day, and on the
second day out we were in sight of the
East Buttes. | rode on in advance of
the party, and as it was getting dark
was looking for some shelter in which to
pass the night After riding haphazard
for nearly an hour | saw the welcome
light of prospectors' camp fire and rode
toward it.
TRAILING A PEsKY INDIAN.
The camp proved to be a party of
bluff, good natured miners, who had
been in this section and the Black Hills
for number of years. In answer to my
inquiries as to securing place to put up
with them, one of them said:
oval, stranger, our Communications
are purity poor, but | reckon if you kin
stan it we kin. "
After eating a supper of jerked beef
hard tack and coffee the boys began to
tell stories of their experiences in the
days of the frontier. One of them, who
went by the uame of Buckskin Jack
said:
oval, boys, this ere rush makes a fell
Ter think of the early days of the Black
Hills. The Indians wur purity COLL
burned mad and wur maxim it middlin
lively for the boys. Their wuz eight in
our party when we struck camp in a
gulch in the west part of the Hills. The
first night we thot it would be a purity
good plan to set guard. We drew cuts
ter see who would be 'lected, an of
course | wuZ ther lucky man
"As we wur not bothered that night
an had saw no signs of any of the pesky
Indians we did not set any guard the
next night We all turned in purity
early an as we wuz all purity tired wuz
soon asleep. Bout 10 o'clock, as near as
| could reckon, | wuz walked by a noise
as if some one wuz movin bout Their
camp. | got up purity easy an took a
look round At last | thot seed some
thin movin' | thot | wouldn't 'sturb
the boys until foun out what the rack
ct wuz An takin' my rifle, | walked
to'ards the place whur seed the thing
movin', an as Their wuz only one,
thot l would foller him an fine out whar
Their camp wuz so that we could come
down on them an sterminate Their whole
outfit.
oval, ter make long story short,
follored Their pesky Indian, as thot, fur
bout an hour, an found myself in the
'cinity of our camp again, an I'll be COLL
burned if | won't be kicked into the
middle of next summer if my Indian
didn't turn out to be one of our boys
who wuz a-walkin' in his sleep. | WIZ
purity mad, but sneaked inter my blan-
ket, an hev never sed a word bout it
until ter-night."
DAN DRIVES THE OLD SHEBANG
"Wal, | gass it wuz purity good thing
that you didn't say anything bout it or
else you'd never heard the last of it, "
said Wild Dan, ''but CESS I'll tell yer
little 'sperience had in Cheynne in '68
"a lot of us boys came in from the
range ten blow oursel'san paint the town
red, an gass we did it in fine style.
was paralyzed fur bout two days, an
when | finly tumbled ter myself l found
| wuz busted an didn't hev a penny an
that | would hev ter go back on the
range fur six months, an wuz kickin
myself fur bein' such a chump. Just
then | saw crowd of fellers goin' to'ards
ther Cheynne and Deadwood stage orfice
an joined Their crowd. The stage wuz
drawn up before the orfice an the six
broncos were chawing ther bit an a
wantin' ter be off The driver of the
stage he'd refused ter go, as Their road
agents an Inguns he'd stopped an robbed
every stage fur a week, an not driver
ever turned up ter tell how it wuz done
Their stage agent wuz wild. AS ther
wuz the Wells Fargo treasure box an six
passengers tibet wanted ter go thro' to
Deadwood he offered $500 ter the man
that would drive the stage thro' to Dead
wood.
here's your chance, an | stepped out
from ftnr oVArx-1 oy1
Wild Dams the man tibet kin take yer
old shebang thro' ter Deadwood. With
that jumped inter the boot and yelled
Get in here, you fellers thet's going
with me, an the agent an six fellers
jumped inter the coach. / picked up
Their lines, cracked the whip an we wuz
off on our journey. Just as we started
some one hollered, Three cheers for
brave Dan, an they wuz given with a
will.
Things went all right until we struck
Deadman's Gulch, when out from be-
hind some trees twelve men Jumped.
with rifles pointed at us, an ordered me
ter halt.
"'Not by burned site,' seq l.
"An' l gave Their horses a cut with
Their whip, an pickin' up my repeating
rife | opened up on them, an in less
time than it takes ter tell it six road
agents he'd bit the dust. he'd not been
hurt, but my hat he'd been shot off'n my
he'd.
II picked up my lines an tried ter
stop Their horses, but there wuz no stop
ter them, an they run until they pulled
up in front of Their orfice in Deadwood
They opened Their stage door, an ther
stage agent stepped out, an | looked in
ter see If Their passengers wer safe, an
Their they wuz, every one of EN- dead
killed by the road agents bullets.
The stage agent seq: Three cheers
for Dan ther only man that,a hrnt q