Feliciana sentinel. [volume] (St. Francisville, La.) 1877-1892, 1891-12-12
SIMPSONS ROCK.
4 Monument to tho Heeoism of . Great
Indian Fighter.

4 sIonument to tho Heroism of Great
Indian Fighter.
Out at Trinidad, COL, just south of
tho town, is huge hat-topped rock on
the top Of d hill perhaps three hundred
feet high. 1t is called Simpsons RocIs,
and is one of the historical points in
the west Indeed, it is fragmen. of
history from that time when heroic
deeds made sacred by the spilling of
shitc mans blood ushered in the safe
and prosperous era of white mans
rule.
Simpson was pioneer and came TO
the place long before the name of
Trinidad was heard He was
freighter, AMI finding many advantages
about the spot he prepared q home for
his family on the bank Of the Purga.
toir river. He had a wife and two
boys in his home at Santa Fe, and no
| man ever more lovingly prepared a
lodge for his love than this rou:!:
| driver fashioned a dwelling in far-away
| Trinidad. He had everything in readi-
ness as he passed through to the east,
and meant t. bring out his wife and
children on his next trip west. But
the Indians had risen that fall and
swept all the settlements down the
river, They found SIMPSONS home Just
| ready for occupancy. captured the men
he had employed to take care of it, and
| then laid in wait without sturbing a
| thing till the ownar should come.
Si1npson had seen signs of their ra--
nges, and knew the knife and brand
were devastating the country. lie cir
cled around his cherished home and
saw enough to warn him. He drove to
the foothills, south of the river, and
| began preparations for a guarded camp.
The Indians did nst !~ait Tor barriaades.
but attacked at once. The helpers
we're slaughtered at the first assault,
but Simpson, with one cantecn of
water, fought his way through the line
of screaming Utes and elm bered up
the hill. They followed him as we'll as
they could, but darkness favored him,
and he gained the hills. Next morning
early they found him, and he retreated
l'.lc further up the hill, killing sew
eral Of his assailants from better
cover. In the afternoon they drove
him from that, and he clam bcred a lit
tic higher up. So the warfare went
On. He had shot SO many they would
not leave him alive, but they could not
capture him. The second night Simp-
con retreated to the very top of. the
hill, rolled up shelter of stones in a
spot where he could command the one
approach, and waited. He had eaten
nothing and could hope for no food.
The only chance of deliverance lay in
the possible coming of soldiers tc
avenge the massacre of settlers. Lying
: there in the broiling s;,u by day anc
, the chilling air by night, the grim ole
, man watched sleeplessly, picking of
his enemies as they crapt, one by one
! UP the path.
c Day after day for week, withou
| other food than cactus root, with M
| | water than that one canteen full, h
stood off his enemies. He never sho
( till head was in sight, and he alway:
! | killed. Ten days. and he prayed 70;
, death Eleven and he lost his cartridge
belt He found it, feebly crawling
4 about his little fort, on the evening o;
, the twelfth. He killed three Indians
| on the thirteenth. = In the thick dark
, ness before the dawn OF the fourteen nth
. dav he felt rather than saw an Indian a
0 the path, and shot without a waTer
! He heard the voiccless Ute roll dowr
: the precipice and pumped in anothei
f | cartridge.
That was his last. They found hin
s so at noon, his deal eyes wide open
. his rifle laying along the rock hi.
; piuched, heroic frame starved for fooc
5 and fau1ished for water SO thin tina
they spurned it with their feet. Fo
s fourteen days he had fought them, ant
Y then he had died defiant.
Trinidad people have raised a cross t.
e mark his grave ami perpetuate tn
$ memory of the most hopeless, the mos
I surprising fight in all the Indian annals
=, -Chicaco Herald.