The sun., 1893-08-13
soop STORIES OF THE PRESENT DAy.
A boys Capture by tho Indtnus, and Hts
Escape from Them.

| A Hoy,s Capture by tho 1pdtnus, and HI
| Escape from Them.
oopyrigM 1928. BY Charles n Lsvt
or the thirty families making up what wat
known 40 "Johnson's train." which left FOL
Topeka for western Kansas to make new
| frontier, Ave Of them settled on the Smoky
| Hill fork Of the Kansas River. duo south O.
the present town OF Sheridan. ID amnzes one
Mt this day to look back and realize tho risks
| encountered by such pion eers. After drlvinc
their wagons for days and days straight into
the Indian country. tho families separated
into small colonies and dropped of hero and
there to mako q beginning. with the odds SO
heavily against them that 1t might be called
criminal recklessness. The five families men,
toned counted UP five men, nve women. three
boys over 1B years OF age. and six children
from to 10 years old I was one OF the three
boys, and was living in the Johnson family.
On a ridge on the south bank OF the river five
dugouts were constructed for temporary use.
These wero not more than nifty feet apart.
Each fnmily's wagon was drawn up in front OF
its cave while the horses were hobbed md al
lowed to craze where they would. Each man
then selected piece OF land to suit hms elf
and began cutting timber In tho groves TO
build A shnnty As IL was early sprngtimc the
women and children planted corn q q potatoes
and made gardens. How 1t camo about that
the Indians let US alone for several months has
always been n puzzle to me. but for some rea-
son wo were not molested. They certainly
knew Of our presence and they as certainly
knew our strength. but the boldness OF the in
vasion may have made them afraid. Mr.. John
son, who had organized the train. was brave
man and inclined to hold the Indians in con.
tempt. On one occasion he was with party Of
ten men who stood of oyer one hundred rod
skins and from that time he very
boastfuL When September came and the In
dians had rot molested us. he argued that fcar
any of the women predicted disaster.
On the 18th of September a COW belonging
four cows belonging to the colony. and this
one wore beQ. 1t was surmised that the ami
NAL had xSt mrsd 5 a9ng the river e ana on th
her. | carried with me q shotgun belonging to
one of the men and started OF up the stream.
about bout two Ss,h miles the bank was 'covered 10y a
belt of cottonwoods. l struck into tn Is belt
half a mile above the duGputsi aud was
COW bell. was bit disappointed. as wanted
to explore the country and do little shooting.
minute or two l discovered that the cow
was moving up the ,.IiS. riyer. and and l broke
noU moving at ' smart pace when two Indians
suddenly sprang out on me. and in a trice |
was disarmod. thrown down. and bound A
cow bell in his hand. He had used the bell to
decoy M into the timber and tho trio appear
t ca to 6e Tbssa M.re a" he
Indians had ever seen at close quarters, and
for the first few minutes | expected to he tom
arm ed with rifles. and all middle aged. After
n brief council one OF them wont away. and
versei together. In about ten minutes the
pany Win seventeen others making band Of
To my amazement one OF tho newcomers
nddrssssd M ne in tolsrablyy hd fair LnSsh S ash:
shoot as we'll as the men, While very badly
Mnat sHy haye M
to catch the drift OF his questions They were
Elanninr bold attack on the Sol, eolGny and
slaughter. One Of the, Ave men was seriously
III in his duCout. and the other four were
fIo SRs w6a ths rS Se Sstw @
yaHS sS Rsis felt Ell thSt "s
won't a mussncre il possible. and therefore
replied that two hunters had Joined US the
day sad S M 1
been expecting an attack and wero prepared
i1r It. and that would soon be missed and and
matters Of course. but have always believed
Isaved the colony by SO doing could see
the Indians dk sOHsk
abandoning the field without further effort
All moved down to- point opposite
securely lashed to a tree, A stick
moved @ away was H Perfectly helpless. As they
had the bell with them could figure out their
plan. They were going to conceal themselves
OF the men from camp. The hell was presently
tangled and my shotgun discharged 1t was q
not not fall to } hear the sounds The Indian with
the bell kept up a continual Jangling. and after
Quarter Of an hour my pa was = nGsn dis
o" as Il l were calln ng for helm
While the Indians were lying in ambush in
uroen. who was hunting along the bank or the
stream for q tree Of particular size. came di-
rectly upon me without the least SUSPICION
could not move hand or foot. and Of course
the gag prevented me from speaking. Green
out opening his mouth, and then botsd away
at the top OF his speed. He could have re-
lcased me in twenty seconds, but he lost his
which direction the redskins were ambushed.
he ran right into them. and was made captive
after this occurrence Mr.. johnson. who had
come nn from field work. was told by his wife
that she ad heard TIE rep0rts OF m gun
tiGate He started for the river without taking
4 weapon. but was accompanied by his dog;
walking right into 1t. whom his dog scented tho
Indians and gave the alarm. As Johnson
lurneu TO run every man ol tne twenty Hreu NJ
him. and yet not a bullet scratched him. One
warrior. who was lying In the weeds not more
than twelve feet from johnson as he turned.
sprang up and gave chase. and but for the dog
would have oyertakSn tho half-dazed piopeer.
and in falling the redskin almost sliced his
nose off on his own mahawk. johnson
shouted as he fed. and OF course the camp was
ut once alarmed. one das by the eavages
would have carried 1t, but they were afraid to
try it Thcy fred about fifty shots at long
range, indulSed in n great denl OF Yelling and
We went up the river for mile and there
the previous night and had killed and eaten
most Of the COW was looking for. Green had
his elbows bound behind his back and the
moose Of Q lariat thrown over his bend and was
Obliged to follow on foot | WAS not bound in
any manner nt all. but taken IN behind the
warrior who had ,conversed with mo IN Eng
lish.. He was a full blooded Indian and Il sub
chief and had probably picked up tho Ian
gunge from hunters or around some of the
forts. He seemed to have taken u liking TO
me, but was very sayag. toward Green. He
said that war party OF a hundred or more
would como up within day or two and
scalp every person in the colony. He asked
nv n hnN had h.np vii IA oh