San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-11-25


still the anxious fears among the fami
lies of the absent soldiers. There had
been lively excitement when the papers
arrived giving sensational details of Der
rien's wound and of the affair at the
Porcupine, but it was as nothing to that
which prevailed over the tidings of the
imminent peril in which Mrs. Berrien
and Winifred had been placed. That it
was just like Mrs. Berrien to insist on
joining her wounded husband at once
was conceded by all, but opinions diff
fered as to the propriety of her course in
taking Winifred with her. This the
major decided by prompt assertion that
Miss Berrien doubtless refused to be left
behind. And, being a very lovely
blending of the characteristics Of both
her parents" said he, lit would have
been decidedly unlike Miss Berrien to
have stayed at home"
And then came the dread news that a
great band from the northeast, rein
forced by reckless gang of fanatical
young ghost dancers from the Bad
Lands, had broken away, and that all
the regiments. had gone to head them of
Far, without fight, they could not go
The question was which regiment would
be the first to meet them. Then the
next nights mail brought the next days
papers. and the Twelfth, having swung
loose and being absent from the neigh
borhood whence were derived the items
on which correspondents based their re-
ports and editors their comments, shared
the usual fate of the absentee, and hay
ing sustained the only casualties and in
ticted the only punishments yet heard
of about the agency, was now coming in
for its share of the "toujours tort to
which it was, of course, justly entitled.
Kenyon first glared at and then exploded
over dispatch which read somewhat as
follows:
"All hopeof bloodless solution of the
difficulty is now at an end. Even the
most peacefully disposed among the res
ervation Indians are furious over what
they do not hesitate to term the slaugh-
ter of their Clansmen in the three affairs
that have recently occurred, and it is an
open secret that at general headquarters
the gravest annoyance is felt over the
total overthrow of carefully laid plans,
all caused by the injudicious conduct of
certain hot headed officers of cavalry.
The friends of White Wolf, the princi-
pal brave shot by Major Berrien's
troopers, declare that lie and those with
him were friendly and were only striving
to reach the major with the news that
couriers were coming, hoping thereby to
earn something to eat, for they were
cold and hungry when they were fired
on without warning, and even while
making signals of peace and friendship
White Wolf was slain. Then the Brules
who were with them could not be re-
strained and attacked the couriers in re-
venge.
las for the affair at Wolf creek after
the blizzard there is unspollen denuncia-
ton among the Indians, and the 'damna-
ton of faint praise in other quarters of
the conduct of a cavalry officer present.
The Indians declare they had gone out
only to gather up their ponies. The sight
of the mules told them there must be an
ambulance stalled somewhere in the
drifts, and they were eagerly searching
for it to render succor and aid when
they were fired upon from ambush by
the lieutenant and his men, and two of
their ponies were killed and one young
Indian shot through the leg. The In
dians declare they could easily have
killed Major Berrien, but merely strove
to defend themselves and explain, and
that had they been hostile they could
have finished the lieutenant and his little
squad at the Wolf creek crossing long
before reinforcements came. Altogether,
there is something so plausible in their
statements that it is understood that the
conduct both of the major and at least
one of his subalterns will be made the
subject of official investigation"
"Well, well, wellr' said Kenyon.
THANK God I'm not serving a grateful
nation in the heart of the Indian coun-
try. It's bad enough to be shot and
worse to be lied about, and that is all
the comfort there is in being a cavalry
man, if | do say it who am nothing but
a cross grained old crank of a doughboy.
If this is what the Twelfth is to get for
"a mere affair of outposts,' what the
devil will be said of them if they should
get into a regular pitched battle? Here,
Mr.. Adjutant, dump that paper in the
fire, and don't let a woman at the post
know anything about it. Know it al
ready? How the mischief could theyT'
There were half dozen of them, sir,
at Mrs. Hazlett's reading another copy
of that paper as came down. And poor
Mrs. Thorpe is crying her eyes out. She's
been utterly upset since the news came
that the Twelfth had been sent out.
] Cd Cd Ii. IL