The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1891-07-25
WILD WEST IN EARNEST.
STORY OF A CIRCUS FEUD BE-
TWEEN INDIANS AND COWBOYS.

Buffalo Bill, an aggregation whose talented
acts were hardly more familiar To the dem
ocratic populace of America than to the
tottering crowned heads of Europe, had
raised at home a score Of imitators. Every
county fair which was a fair followed up
its horse racing snaps by terrific discharge
of blank cartridges in which the pursuing
red devils of the unframed prairies, the fee
ing emigrant outfit and the rescuing scouts
or cowboys infested the smoke of battle.
Every circus which was a circus rounded
up its entertainment with a similar exhi-
bition. Public taste clamored for these
excitations.
Among others who thought they knew
| their business as men whose trade it was
to note the general pulse and prescribe ac-
cordingly were the brothers Sells Three
years ago they had an Indian and a cow
boy outfit which professed to take water
from no opposition. Their Indians were
the genuine Indian article and their cow
boys had been specially imported from the
lands where cowboys are epidemic. Their
stock of blank cartridges was immense
| and the amount of noise and smoke they
| could create when an appreciative audience
looked on in wonder was something quite
out of sight. Wherever they went they
conquered.
The summer drifted on, and one night
in midheat weather found the Sells
Bros. and their circus, their cowboys
and their Indians in the little city of Cln-
ton, La. Twelve thousand people turned
out that night to see the circus and wit
ness the heroic cowboy scouts rescue the
emigrant maiden from the clutches of the
savage.
Your Indian is a man of serious views.
Your cowboy isn't. The latter has notions
which are mixed up with practical Jokes
and bursts of sardonic humor. Some of
this sort of thing is too high for the Indian
mentality. The Indian does not wholly
| grasp it, and when he does be fails to like it.
THIS WAS NO MIMIC BATTLE.
In the Sells Bros show the rampant
cowboy spirit had risen to the fact that the
| Indian was fair game for its exuberance.
! When an Indian became owner of cigar
or plug Of tobacco upon the rialto of life
within the ng, cowboy fingers snapped it
| from his possession. When an Indian pre-
sumed to take the air on horseback, cow
| boy lariats were apt to play him tricks.
| The cowboys reviled his Ianket costumes.
| The cowboys made light of many of his
uncivilized peculiarities. Bad blood thick
ened apace. Some Indian ears had been
| pinched and some Indian faces had been
ostentatiously slapped by the truculent ex-
! herders.
There were mutteripgs a-brew when the
show reached Clinton. One word that
ranked in the Indian bosom was "cow-
ard" The Indian bosom determined to
viudicate its intrepidity. Very quietly the
Indians loaded their Winchesters with real
instead of mock cartridges and as quietly
sent word to their hereditary foes that the
battle of the afternoon would not be a
s. IN one. This pleased the plainsmen.
There was no soul among them with sense
OF grace enough to deny the challenge or
inform the management that there awaited
1t the most singular and foolish and crimi-
nal duel ever fought at the expense of in
nocent blood. They loaded their own re-
peating rifles with ball as well as powder
and coolly waited.
When the bell tapped for the Wild West
scene then began the most extraordinary
conflict witnessed since Nero looked upon
| the gladiatorial steel. The seats were
packed with eager spectators. All the
| country side had come out to see. In the
usual fashion the mimic chase occurred.
| The capture followed. After that the res
cue. When the cowboys charged, the In
dams fed. But real bullets flew. Hang
ing upon their horses tanks, tn only
one hand and thigh exposed, the combat
ants circled around the chariot way eX-
changing deadly volleys. Suddenly panic
seized the great audience. Here man fell
dead pierced by ball.
TERRIBLE SLAUGHTER.
There another bled, and here again an
other fell, and yet another still, until the
great tent became mass of terrified hui
manity struggling for escape, scarce know
ing what had occurred, unthinking des-
perate for exit.
The audience poured out as it might into
the exterior darkness. The rifles had been
emptied, and the din of exploding powder
no longer added confusion to the tumultu-
GUS cries of the hurt. Manager Barrett,
alert and eager in inquiry, learned almost
before he heard the last echo of a Win
chester what had taken place. No para
phernalia of any show on earth ever dis
appeared as did that one of Sells Bros.
Before the excited citizens of Clinton really
knew what had occurred, the whole circus
had been bundled upon the waiting and adj
Jacent train and was spe - g fast for the
borders of the state, with ders not TO
stop until the frontier ha cen crossed.
Barrett himself alone re ned behind,
and with him he had 500 n cash.
-Four persons in that audience were
killed outright by this folly. Two of them
were women, and the body of one of these
was found beneath the seats with baby
still clingIng 10 a pulseless breast. There
were eleven wounded ones among the
spectators. Three ponies were killed. 4
dozen of the combatants were shot in the
thigh or arm. One Indian lost an ear and
one cowboy received a bullet in the law.
Barretts keenneSs and his $4,000 stood
Sells Bros. in great stead. He talked mvs-
teriously, bluffed, bought, paid indemni-
ties, and finally hushed up the truth.
When he was through mis- money was all
gone, but the facts were hidden. No one
knew that terrible accident for which no
one was morally responsible had taken
place Few know it today. The truth
never secured publication, and the press
reports Of the time dwelt only upon the
results Of mistake Of the cartridge keeper
But this Is the authentic account of the
facts which lie behind Sells Bros refusal
10 have Wild West adjunct to their pres
ent show.-hansas City Times
Man and Toad Study Each Other.
4 gentleman in Deering has pet toad
that lives under plank walk in his yard.
At about the same time every evening the
toad comes out TO hunt for his food and
the gentleman TO enjoy his after supper
smoke.
He describes the toad's method Of getting
supper. and saws that though seeminCiyso {