Omaha daily bee., 1891-01-11
The NEBRASKA FUCITIVES.
A Story OF the Present Indian Upris-
ing.
By SANDY q. v. aRIswoLD.

UHAFIEH L
TIE SCOTT AND THE nHnsr ID LNcF.

or age, OF the class cf common ranchers,
with the unmis stakabie air OF q man accus-
toned to thrilling scenes and wearing the
peculiar garo Of a cowboy.
1t was upon a balmy afternoon, Just six
weeks ago, in among the sterile sandhills OF
the northwestern part Of this state, when
Pierre Baptiste, the government scout, thus
obviously Intercepted himself
An original was this Baptiste, worthy OF a
word or more OF desert ption. In his physical
aud moral man he was a complex character.
A big, broad-shouldered fellow, having in his
veins at least three separate streams of
blood-European, Indian and Mexican-with
a dash of the devil to give spice to the com
pound. For all, splendid man at bottom,
fearing God after fashion, but without the
slightest fear Of man.
For month or moro he had been ranging
the Indian country roundabout Pine Ridge
and in South Dakota. 1t was his duty to
maintain an unremitting surveillance upon
the movements of the followers of Big Foot,
Short Bull, Two Strike Sitting Bull and
other suspected Sioux. 1t had been re-
ported at the different agencies along the
Nebraska and Dakota border that these In
dians had already assembled in the hiueous
ghost dance, which, if found true,
portended nothing more or less
than foray of devastation ana murder
y,
in such an event would be found in lament
ably defenseless condition, indeed
BaptiSte had been sent out by General
Brooke and had found the reports of prob
able hostilitles among the Sioux anything
but groundless. savage army was in
dubtaby massing. For the past several
days the indomitable government scout had
been i'll their very midst Big Foot and
Short Bull had taken advantage of the
peculiar condition of affairs and novel
N ry
insurrcctonal fire by insidious stories Of
the coming of the Messiah, a mythical being
who was to restore the redmCu to their
pristine power and again populate the great
plains and mterminable forests with the
buffalo, the elk and the wapiti.
The fair state of Nebraska, or at least the
exposed western portion of it, seemed about
to be drenchcd in blood. At night the camp
fires of the assem- bling Sioux lit up the dark
valleys and the hill-tOps as If at II earn ival
From every direction was heard the bolstor-
Gus shout, the deep cultural laugh
and song which awakened the slnmber-
ing echoes for miles Here and there wher-
ever their erratic fancy dictated were per-
tions of the Indian army encamped, and as
Baptiste from his hiding place in the sand
hills or canon, noted their dark, sullen and
vindictive looks he was convinced that the
lnfuriated hordeS would soon begin their
murderous work and thata determined raid
upon the exposed white settlers was shortly
to occur The evening before the day on
which my narrative opens Baptistc had been
spectator of the ghost dance in all its hid
eous werdness He had been watching the
myrmidoms of Big Foot all day, Mt last locat-
ing them in an unfreQuented canon about six
teen miles northwest of Pine Ridge.
The ravlne or guch in which the savage
detachment was bivouacked was about one
hundred yards in length, and walled up on
both sides with massive rocks and boulders,
which arose to the height of twenty or TWEEN
ty-tive feet, along whose summit, IN the
masses of fertile soil, washed there by the
rains OF centuries, grew peculiarly lux
uriant sort of shru bbcry, which afforded an
cffectual screen from those below Stealthily
Pierre crept along the top of the rocky
escarpment until he reached this under
growth, when he crouched low, and parting
the interviewer branches, gazed upon the
wild scene below There Were two
hundred Indians gathered in the gulch;
some of them were lolling ndolently upon
the ground,or lay in "A ahalf-rccumbent position,
While large number were gathered about
the fires in different attitudes. In the center
of the open space the most renowned warriors
one after another, addressed the throng
After these had been heard Big Foot took his
stand amidst his enclrcling and admirlng
braves, striking majestic attitude he flung
the flaming blanket from his colossal form
and stood erectin all his barbaric ofuiness be-
fore his now eager subjects and began
speaking with the native eloquence and i'm
pressiveness of an Indian sovereign. The
first words that fell from his lips, though low
and mild, caused his loing auditors to
strighten themselves up in attitudes of re-
spectful attention. but as he went on and his
language grew less calm and deliberate and
his face grew black with the hatred within
his breast and his eyes glowcd with the fero-
cious CLEAN of a wild beast, the dusky forms
of those savage beings Werc as silent and mo-
tionleSs as if they had been carved from
so many blocks of bronze, but their
fierce eyes were riveted upon the dcmoniac
pntN t,tn,,, t1,xN., l,t1,
intensen ess that nothing short of the prom
ised delights of the coming of the Messiah
and a butChcry of the whites could create.
The ranking passion IN his bosom had its
counterpart in theirs. For an hour or more
the big, impassoned Sioux harangued his
warriors, eloquently depicting their past
wrongs, their maltreatment by the govern
ment and the wrongs they had suffered at
the hands of unprincipled Indian agents. fore.
telling their inevitable fate if the ghostly
warning brought in by the wailing chinook
was not needed and preparation made for the
advent of the Messiah.
The bitter words with which Big Foot
closed his speech had struck chord that
never fails to thrill in the heart of an In
dian, and the whole dark body of revengeful
hends sprang to their feet as one man, -four
ishing their weapons frenzie1ly and Shrek
ing out their fierce delight in the widest and
most unearthly yellS.
This accomplished, and Big Foot with that
piercing war scream of his tribe, braniished
his war club and commenced the blood-curd-
ling ghost dancel
Brave after brave fell into the whirling
multitude, until the entire war party was
numbered in the dizzy maZes. The spectacle
was one of the widest terror; the heudish
countenances of these maddened beings re-
ceiving additional ferocty from the appalling
discord in which they mingled their inhu-
man voices.
That lonely spot, way off there, in gulch
OF the turgid Porcupine, appeared like some
ungodly arena or pandemonium, where the
unholy attendants of satan had assembled to
to enact their wicked and intern al rites
This was sufficient for Baptlste, and he
felt positivef he would fulfill his errand of
mercy, not single moment was to be lost
and arising cautiously he stole back from the
bluff, and then assuming an upright position,
started of at brisk pace toward the east.
IL was his intention to visit the ranches of
the most isolated farmers, notify them OF the
state Of affairs, aud advise them TO make in
slant flight to some town or the nearest In
dian agency.
Early in the afternoon on which this history
begins, as the hardy scout was descending
small hill, he discovered Immediately at its
base, on the open plain, in full war paint.
three young bucks lounging lazily upon the
sands,
Baptiste wheeled in his tracks, and in the
hope of escaping observation, leaped away
with the tieetness of an antelope,
But before he had trayersed one