The Ketchum keystone. [volume] (Ketchum, Idaho) 1885-1899, 1891-11-21
4 TEXAS HUNTER.
He Killed Buffaloes and Conan
ches and Skinned an Indian.

Few men braver or more daring
than the old-time hunters of the
plains have ever existed in this
country. They did much toward
opening the way for the settlement
of the States and Territories west
of the Mississippi, and will always
remain a picturesque figure in
American history. Their occupa-
ton now is nearly gone and but few
of them remain. A typical speci-
men is Lawrence Christopher Chriss
of Texas, of whom the Ell Paso cor
respondent of the New York Sun
says:
Lawrence Christopher Chriss has
been known in years gone by to
siay with his trusty rifle not less
than 1874 buffalo in one month,
and while he regrets the extermina-
ton Of the American bison he is
proud of this feat. He asserts that
the buffalo hunters did more to
make the settlement of this part OF
the country possible than any other
men.
$50 long as the buffalo were here, +"
says Lawrence Christopher Chriss,
"the Comanches could not be driven
out of the country. $50 long as
the Comanches roamed through
this region" says Lawrence Chris
topher Chriss, "the advantages OF
this dry climate as health resort
were seriously impaired" "We
killed all the buffalo, the Indians
had nothing to eat, they left the
country and the white man came in
and settled it," says Lawrence
Christopher Chriss.
Buffalo hunting in the old days
was pretty exciting SPORT" said
Lawrence Christopher Chriss to-
day, "but it couldn't hold candle
to Comanche hunting. The Co.
manches were the most cruel, blood
thirsty demons that ever escaped
from hell and settled on the green
earth. | remember on one occasion,
in the winter of '73-74, that ten
Comanches ran across a camp o1
buffalo hunters and found there a
young boy who had been left while
the hunters were out attending to
business. The Indians destroyed
everything in the camp and killed
the boy. There was quantity OF
jerked buffalo meat hanging on the
mesquite trees around the camp.
The Indians cut the boy up and
hung his flesh in strips with the
buffalo meat to dry. This was at
Wild Horse Springs, about twenty
miles north of where Midland now
is. J was one of the party of hunt.
ers, and when we got back to camp
and saw what had been done to the
boy we started out in a hurry to
run down the Indians. We caught
them forty miles from there and
killed seven of them. One of those
we killed had the boys scalp and
one of his ears strung on string
around his neck. The father of the
boy, who was one of the party, was
so enraged that he emptied his six.
shooter into the body of the dead
Indian. That did not satisfy either
him or the rest of us, and some one
proposed that we should skin the
Indian and keep his hide to remem-
Der him by. We were expert skin
ners, and it didn't take long to
remove that red DEVILS hide with a
buffalo knife. l did most of the
skinning myself, and found that on
the inner portion of his thighs
where they had pressed against bis
horse, the skin was at least an inch
thick. He was so fat that it re.
minded me of skinning a hog. We
stretched the skin out and let it dry
in the sun, and l afterward took il
with me to Dallas. A man who was
running a hotel and barroom there
was so tickled at the idea of my
having skinned a Comanche that he
offered me free board and lodging
and all the drinks I wanted if ]
would give him the skin. l did sc
and he put it up behind his bar
and for a month or more after that
he had tremendous rush of bust
ness"
"On another occasion, continued
Chriss, II was hunting with ole
Humpback Perkins, one of the best
known buffalo hunters ever in Tex
as. Perkins was a little, dried up
wien chap, with big hump on hi
back, and he was bent over so fal
that he could almost look between
his legs without an effort. On'
evening Perkins and l got lost ou
on the bald prairie in blue norther
1t was cold enough to freeze a bias
furnace, and the wind howled across
the prairie as if it wanted to tea,
up the earth and carry it along will
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