The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-12-14

wncn you see MIN. opinions are ulNlueu
as to whether hcroism is matter of luck
and accident or springs from n personal
quality inherited and cultivated by the
winners of laurel crowns. But here is a
story of deeds such rs are claSsed vnriOusly
as brave and noble and daring that seems
to upset some of the theories underlying
both arguments.
How could the luck theory or the train
ing theory account for the exploits of Gym
thia Westovcr, who in youth WAS chris
tened the Colorado Grip because of
way she possessed from early childhood of
doing wonderful things in the presence of
men and women having equal chance to
snatch the flying moment-if it all rested
upon chance-and with training for emer-
Eences superior in n hundred ways to that
of any juvenile.
Miss MISSIONER crossed the plains from
Iowa to the Rocky mountains in n wagon
train seven times during the period of In
dian hostilities in the Platte country. She
was born in Iowa in 1858 and made the
first trip to Colorado in 1865. From that
date until womanhood her life was passed
roughing it in the mining regions and on
the plains. She told me, when asked for
the narrative of her daring deeds, inklings
of which have appeared in the newspapers,
that she had never done anything worthy
the name of daring, but at length agreed
to tell her own story for the first time, let
it pan out true metal, quartz or what not
This is substantially what she said:
On our first trip up the Platte the train
reached Julesburg just after the great massa-
ere there. Everybody was panic stricken. Tho
Indians lowered around the route, and
were anxious to get the wagons TO the dest-
nations in the mines. One of the drivers of
the train, who n great favoritc, was
ecalpcd outside of camp and lay there in tho
hot sun. None OF the men would 20 to his re-
lief for fear of being seen by the Indians. Some
of the women in the train gave mo water and
handkerchief, and Icrawled out through the
tall grass, bathed the wound and bound his
head with wet handkerchief, thus saving the
poor fellows life.
On another trip the Indians attacked our
train when part of it was detached and sep
arated from the rest. There was n little fort
back on the trail where we had passed-a hole
scooped out in the ground and rooted over
with adobe and loopholed. There were but
few people in our little train, and tho whole
thought was to get back to the fort for de-
tense ahead of tho Indians. Father and | set
out alone and crawled through the grass to
the fort, found 1t unoccupied and kept the In
dams Mt distance for whole night and until
our friends came. Father was gold seeker,
and when he determined to adopt the rowing
miners life he put me in training for rough
experiences. for had no mother and he would
not leave me behind. He taught me to shoot.
i could handle rifle, and always carried /,
small Colts revolver in my belt
The Indians who were hostile in that region
in my early days were the Comanchcs Kiowas,
Apaches and Arapahoes They would hang
along the route of Il train to attack stragglers,
and if they could catch children would hold
them for ransom, and murder them out of re-
vengc when the ransom denied or they
were attacked in force. On one of our trips
when we were near Cottonwood Springs, was
out nj n distance from the wagons. and still far
ther off were a boy and his mother. heard the
mother scream, and looking UP saw an In
dian with his tomahnwk raised to strike the
boy, whom he had seized and was carrying Off
when the mother screamed an alarm. i was
confused over tho sccnc-thc frnntic mother
the struggling boy and the ugly redskin brand.
ishing his tomahawk-but my instinct told me
TO shoot. and did and brought the Indian
down.
The people in tho train made good deal OF
ii mt the time, but don't think il was much
of n daring feat. was always timid, even
after became young woman. The sight OF
any one suffering whom | could help moved
me to act. did whatever would help any one
in trouble. While we were campcd near Cen
trail City the news of the assassination OF Lin
coin was brought by message overland. y
miner made silly remark, gloating over the
deed, and some of the men who had been
drinking started IL mob TO lynch him. I saw
the poor fellow ut bay, pleading for his life,
and ran between him and the maddened