The Iola register., 1891-02-06
AN INDIAN STORY.
An Interesting Tale of Adventure as Told
by an Old Trader.

by an Old Trader.
The old Indian hunter laid down his
paper saying: I've been amused might
ity to hear some folks discussing the
Threatened outlook among the redskins,
the cOOlness with which they talk of such
and the sneaking sympathy they've got
with the devils. i'd just like to take
such and give them months residence
on the plains. when the Indians are
holding councils and breathing out fire
and murder and worse. l tell you I'd
hear mighty little talk of sympathy then
and see precious little cooiness. But it
takes us, who have gone through such.
to know the horrors of an Indian war.
the terrOrs threatening rot only men
alone. but women and children. ay. the
very baby in the cradle. | don't believe
in peoples hair turning white with trou-
BILE or anxiety. for mine would be as
white as cotton if such would do it..
Especially once did | have fearful ex-
perience with redskins. Want to hear
about ii?
We'll, it was in IS. and I'd been out
trading with the Flatheads and the Nez
Perces for nearly two years Off and on.
when one day | got on to scheme the
Flatheads had gotten up TO raid a little
settlement near TO where Canton, New,
now stands. There were three families
living there, and the plan was to wait
until the men went TO Carson Cf'y for
provisions. when the women and child
rem were TO be killed and the cattle run
of by one party, while another waylaid
the men on the way back and murder
ed them. | was up about Winnemucca
when | got hold of this. and | set out for
Canton as hard as | could 90, but the
men We're gone when | reached the set
tlement, which was called Ridleys
Camp. | had reason to fear the Indians
were only a few hours behind me, and
VT had To move quickly. Our only
chance was to hide out in the mountains
till they left the neighborhOod or to
work our way as best we could by night
to Carson City.
1T was useless to think of saving the
men, SO just kept that part of the bus
mess to myself. There were in all thir-
teen of us. two women and their seven
children, and three little chaps. whose
mother had died the week before, and
me. The first thing | did while the
women were getting ready was to stam-
Indians from getting them; then as we
started | shut up the houses, to keep
the redskins as long as possible there
before they found out that the people
bad run away.
I'VE made the little creek called Snake
river by daylight. and after recOnnoit-
ering | made the whole party wade out
to an island in the middle, which was
about 20 by 30 feet and covered with flags
and rushes and some stunted willows.
Here we lay all day, the most part down
on our stomachs under the brush. OF
course we could build no fire nor move
about, so we ate the cold vituals the
women had brought along, and dipped
up water in my cap. Twice parties of
Indians stopped not a hundred yards
below where We were to water their
horses, but Judging from their actions [
knew they aid not suspect any one was
near them, but We're probably on their
way to Ridley's. They did not linger,
but rode on at once, much to my relief,
for all the time they were within hear
ing | am sure | did not draw breath a
for fear the children would cry
out, when We would have been massa-
cred; but the poor little things, with the
of one child few weeks old.
was too badly scared To stir or speak
unless bidden: and as for the women,
they put any man | ever saw to shame
with their calmness and courage.
when night came we struck out for
q line of hills lying about five miles
away, and where | counted on finding a
cave, or at least hiding place. OF
course | and the women and the larger
children could have made it without
but being obliged TO wait for
the little ones and to carry them every
half mile or so we were nearly all night
getting to the nearest hill. We'd gone
about mile when low down on the hOr-
iZon | saw a dull glow, and knew the
Indians, were burning the camp, and
that they'd be on our trail in a little
while. When we got to the hill could
see nothing like cave. and while it
was pretty heavily wooded there was no
place to hide where the Indians would
not spy us directly. was looking about
me when caught glimpse of black
bear running around rocky spur about
half way up the hill. L followed her
just in time to see her go tumbling or
down cash in the earth, and
which / knew must be her den. With
out stopping | jumped aftei. her and
found myself in little cave about 10 by
10 feet, but with another larger one
leading away toward the center of the
hill.
''The bear began to growl when she
saw me, and | saw, when my ewes got
accustomed to the dim light, that she
4 n1 he it,t hn II h hn,, h oh
she was going to defend. So, aiming
as carefully as could, fired at her,
breaking her skull, after which l killed
the.two cubs and transferred my party
to the cave. The last of the cold meat
and bread was then eaten, and the wo-
men and children, creeping into the
larger division, which was, however,
only about feet in height, went to rest.
But l was too anxious to sleep, tired as
/ was, so hOisted myself out of the
cavern and climed to the topof the hills
to see if l could see aught of the In
dians.
Several times it seemed to me that l
saw band moving along the line of the
horizon, and while the specks might
have been cattle l thought it best to
stay where we were all that day, that
night. and the next day. Our great
trouble was water. which had to be
brought from a spring on the other side
of the hill, and as only a small quantity
could be brought at time, my cap be-
ing the only vessel we had, the child
ren especially suffered a good deal.
At last one of the women discovered a
fiat rock with a hollow dip in the middle
which would hold about two quarts or
so, and kept this filled as cistern. 1
ventured that night t. roast a piece of
the bear in hole in the ground. which
change of diet was welcome one.