Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1890-11-13
A" rENoERFoor" IN WYOMING
He Levels Rife at shoshone.. NM,
Their Disgust, "

ne Levers Rifle at shoshones, NM.
Their Disgust.
"One summer about eleven ve,rs
when was out in Wyomir 81 said ~,
colonel to N. Y. Tribune man U ene
younger brother, who WIS Tiny
coliege boy, came out to spend II.
summer vacation with us. VIII c. us
the rough men out there great JooI
OF amusement with the ideas of has"
man should dress on the plains. H.,
he wasn't bad fellow. for he b,d LUZ
little spirit and was always WILLING ~
do his share of the work.
III you ever met a Shoshone Tp5;.-
at that time you know what a norton,
type of lazy, peaceful. whisky -Iovinc
harmless redskin he is. We used :,
consider that the Shoshones were horn
70 sc kicked about, and | am afraid
many of us lived up to our belets
A man would never hesitate if thor
mad been any petty thieving aronnJ
the camp to walk four or five miles ~
into an Indian camp single-handrJ
and kick things about or drac H.,
mighty braves from their blankets nm.
til he had found his saddle his bride
his rifle, or whatever it was that bod
been stolen. Having found il ba
would sling it on his back and strids
off amid the disappointed grunts of the
dirty braves.
but Will. fresh from the east and
never having seen an Indian before
could not understand this boldness
When there were Indians in the camn
begging for whisky or tobacco. he was
always suspicious of treachery. Al
such times he kept an anxious eve on
the guns and watched every movement
OF the visitors closely. while we used
never to think of such a thing.
I'VE left him in charge of the camp
one day and started for the mountains
after deer. Finding ourselves several
miles from camp that night we arted
fire. broiled IA steak over the wood
GOALS and gathering some leafy
branches for beds and pillows turned
in and slept the sleep OF the Just.
LAS we drew near camp the next
evening we saw sight which sent US
into roars of laughter win was en-
sconced behind barricade which he
had made of saddles. boxes, bedding
anything he could find. He was
standing there with a pale look Of
agony on his face, all the spare gun.
and six-shooters carefully arranged
around him. Two hundred yards from
the breastwoks sat half-dozen Shos-
homes, looking utterly nonplussed and
iisgusted. Coming up to the Indians
first we tried to find out what the
trouble was. From their grunts and
grlmaces, gestures, and snatches Of
broken English, we learned that they
had come to pay us visit on the pre-
ceding afternoon. They had caught
the young tenderfoot mapping, and he
had not noticed their approach until
they were within few feet of him. As
soon as he saw them coming up silent
ly, as Indians always do, he seized his
rifle and frantically waved them back.
Nor would he rest until they had fallen
back to the position which they then
held.
When we failed to appear that
night, the boy Immediately decided
that we had been maSSacred and hastily
began to throw up big breastworks
The Shoshones rolled themselves in
their blankets and went to sleep, but
Will stood guard all that night and
watched them with eagle eye until we
returned the next day. Even then. when
we walked toward him, the Indians
following us in solemn wonder, he was
for shooting. but we laughed at him so
immoderately that he threw down his
rife sulkily. As for the braves, their
opinion of the boy was shown by the
action of one big, solemn-faced buck
who. going up to Will, touched him
on the forehead. and even then Will
started back. The buck looked at him
a momcnt-we ready 10 burst into roars
again-tapped his own forehead slow
ly, shook his head gravely. and turning
away said Ugh! in tones of the deep
est disgust.
"ln the opinion of that Indian only
an insane man could believe that there
was any fight in a Nintah county Sho-
shone.