The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-19
Lieut.. Darlington Talks About the Indian
War and the Ghost Dances.
+ World, l6.

LWorld, 16.I
Lieut.. Ernest \. darlington, Seventh
Cavalry, L. =. A., one of the heroes of
the Indian fight at Wounded Knee,
South Dakota-and by the way, one of
the victims OF that remarkable ghost
dance uprising, having received pain
ful wound-iS in the city. He arrived
last night, registered at the Charleston
hotel, and Welt almost Immediately to
his room.
Lieut.. Darlington is in Charleston for
the purpose of establishing recruiting
station, where likely young men, pos
sessiug sundry physical qualifications,
may secure the opportunity OF fighting
for their country in case vigorous for
eign policies ever so that far.
Lieut.. Garlingt0a arrived in New
berry last Tuesday morning at , a. m,
somewhat tired out after his journey,
as he had been delayed by the washouts
in the railroads. From Newberry he
comes to Charleston.
He still wears bis arm in a sling, bat
viii be very likely to recover partial
Use of il. He suffers no pain from his
wound, but is totally deprived Of the
use Of that arm at present. The ball
entered the arm about six inches below
the elbow, cnttinga deep furrow, until it
reached the elbow, where it completely
shattered what We, who are not doctors,
know as the "craZy" bone 1t was as if
the elbow had been bent so that the
hand would be near the neck. All the
injured hone has been removed and the
bone scraped, so that he is not likely to
have any more trouble with it.
Lieut.. Darlington gives q very gra-
phic account of the late Indian trouble,
and especially the battle of Wounded
Knee. He thinks that probably the
whole trouble was caused by the "ghost
shirts" The shirts in question were
merely unbleached homespun. with
fringe around them and large red spot
painted over the heart. The Messiah"
had obtained the paint which was used
on the shirts from Nevada, and it pos
sessed peculiar properties.
Ifthe shirt hung on a tree, and was
fired at, the bullets would wrap them
selves in the cloth, but would fail to
penetrate it. However, when a solid
Indian body was behind the shirt, it
lost its efficacy, as was conclusively
demonstrated.
The Indians when called upon to
give up their arms, surrendered three
disabled mUskets. A search Of the
tepees was then instituted, which re-
suited in finding thirty-nine other guns
in about the same condition as the first
three. The soldiers then came to the
conclusion that the arms must be Sc
creted under the blankets, which the
Indians wore thrown over their shoul-
ders.
Upon searching the Indians the sold
=, iers were fired upon by single Indian,
Immediately after which the whole
squad Of reds fired a volley, and made
a break for their tents.
The soldiers had been so disposed
that they were between the bucks and
the tents where the women and child
ren were. The Indians were not ex-
pected to rush to the tents, as that of
to bear upon their women and child
rem.
However, the indians having rushed
to the tents, and as they Coz. nued the
fire, there was but one thing left for the
soldiers to do-fire into the tents or be
shot down like cattle. They resorted to
the former alternative, and therefore
necessarily killed women and child
rem.
There were about two hundred bucAs
engaged in the fight, and but one of
them escaped uninjure1.
There were about four troops of SOL
diers engaged, of which about two hun
dred were dismounted, and the remain
der mounted. The former did the fight
ing, while the latter pursued those who
broke through the line.
Lieut. Darlington was wounded near
the end of main fight, which lasted
about one hour.
Capt. Wallace was not killed by d
tomahawk, as many suppose, but was
shot IN several places, either Of which
wound would have proved fatal. Two
bullets ploughed his scalp, making a
wound which might have been taken
for tomahawk wound.
Lieut.. Darlington gives quite grap-
hic description of his Arctic expedition,
but says that be is satisfied with one
such trip, and does not "hanker" after
such another.
Lieut.. Darlington is very genial and
affable gentleman, and talks we'll of
his many adventures. In appearance
he is typical soldier. He is about five
feet eight inches in height, light COM
plexion, and wears short, light beard
and long moustache. His family ac-
company him to Charleston. Newberry
is the birthplace of Lieut.. Darlington