Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1892-08-24
.AFEMALEGUERRILLA
\ DESPERATE WOMAN WHO WAS A
TERROR TO ALL.
The Long Chase Made by Soldiers After
"Tiger Cat" and How She Was Finally
Run to Earth, bat Died Game at the
Last.

"Tiger Cat" and How She Was Finally
Run to Earth, but Died Game at the
Last.
copyright, 1892, by Charles B. Lewis.l
The close of the war left the southwest
n the hands of desperate lot of men.
The regular soldiers they returned to
their homes accepted the situation, but
the partisan rangers and guerrilla bands
were loath to disperse. In hundreds Of
cases they defied the Federal troops which
took possession of the country, and in scores
of instances they were hunted down and
killed. Among the worst of the lot along
the Red river were a dozen men who had
served under the notorious Quantrell, but
hone of them was the peer of a young
woman named Fanny Davis. That be
teve, was her real name. She was the
daughter of a Missouri farmer, and left
home in 1868 to join Quantrell. She was
shen twenty years of age, stout and robust,
but had a face which even her parents
called ugly. Three different members of
Quantrell's band have told me the story of
her introduction. The guerrillas were en-
camped on the Neosho river, near the
boundary line between Kansas and the
Indian Territory. They had nineteen
prisoners, twelve of whom were federal
soldiers and the remainder citizens who
had been arrested as Unionists. The young
woman entered camp on her own horse
armed with a shotgun and a revolver. She
told Quantrell she had come to join, but
he replied that such work as his needed
stouter hearts than women could boast Of.
who are those mem" she asked as she
pointed to the unfortunates.
"Prisoners."
What are you going to do with thems"
~Shoot 'em!'
"Then I'll show you whether have the
nerve Of q man or a woman"
The prisoners were under guard, but not
tied. She walked over to them and stood
six Of them up In a row-four soldiers and
two civilians Then she drew her revolver
and passed down the line and shot every
man through the head. Two of the soldiers
belonged to the Third Wisconsin cavalry
and a third to the Second Kansas colored
regiment. Not hand was r; Used to pre-
vent her action, and when she had finished
Quantrell accepted her as a member of his
band 1t was at this same time and place
that the guerrilla chief and his lieutenant
got into dispute as to the killing power
of a carbine captured with one of the Fed
erals. To settle the question seven of the
prisoners were ordered to stand one behind
the other as closely as possible, and a guer-
rilla stood about six feet from the first man
and fired at his body. The bullet killed the
first three and wounded the fourth Two
of these men belonged to the Fourteenth
Kansas cavalry.
From this time on Fanny Davis was
called "Tiger Cat" and she never left the
band for a day. She was with it at Baxter
Springs when the horrible massacre took
place. In October, 1863, General Blunt
started to remove his headquarters from
Fort Scott, Kan. to Fort Smith, Ark. He
had an escort of ninety men, eight or ten
wagons, the brigade band and a score of
staff officers, headquarters clerks and non
combatants. AS they neared the Springs,
which post was held by small Federal
force they were attacked by Quantrells
band of 600 men. About ninety of Blunt's
force We're killed. OF these not more than
two were killed while fighting. the others
being shot down after surrender. The
wagon containing the entire brigade band
was captured early in the fight, and no
sooner were the men deprived of their re-
volvers than the guerrillas, led on by the
''Tiger Cat" began a massacre. Even the
little drummer boy was not spared. With
her own hand Fanny Davis killed five of
those unarmed men. She boosted of the
fact a dozen times afterward. 1t was this
she fiend who set fire to the wagon after
the bodies had been piled up in it, and who
rode over the battlefield firing upon the
quarter" No quarter"
AS soon as possible after the close of the
war the Federal authorities began to hunt
down Quantrell's guerrillas-every man of
whom deserved hanging. The men scat
tered over wide territory, and when the
pursuit became too hot some of them
crossed into Mexico and others 'hid out"
in the swamps and had price set on their
heads as outlaws The Tiger Cat" took
up her quarters in the southeast corner of
the Indian Territory, where she had friends,
but was seen and heard of for hundred
miles along the Arkansas line. Being
woman, and, falsely stating that the Fed
eral soldiers had wiped out her family in
Missouri, she gained the sympathy of
large class. Had she remained quiet and
peaceable she would not have been dis
turbed, but she went riding over the coun-
try to stir up discord and crafty hate
which had become mania. She killed
Federal soldier on the highway between
Doaksville !. T., and Locksburg, Ark,
and whenever she heard of a settler who
had favored the Union cause she sought TO
revenge on him. Sometimes she had two
or three of the old band with her, but
oftener rode clone. She dressed entirely in
mems clothing and was generally taken
for a man. My orders from headquarters
in Arkansas In regard to this woman were:
Take such force as you think necessary
and go in pursuit of the woman known as
Tiger Cat. If possible capture her alive,
that she may be hanged for her many cold
bloOded murders. You expected to
either bring her in as n prisoner or furnish
conclusive evidence that she is dead
l took only one man with me-a soldier
who had served as a scout the last two
years of the war When last heard from
the Tiger Cat" was on the Arkansas
river, to the west of Van Buren,. Had
price been set on her head some of the In
dams would have turned out to hunt her
down rs they had Others of the band but
as there was nothing to be made they had
no interest in the case. Indeed they were
disposed to shield her. We had been
O x.-oalr l,aforea not tzaal-