The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1893-09-21

y call mad been notified to be present
: L asked him about my own fate, anc
1 he said 1t was understood that | wa
X 10 die the day after If there was an
/ doubt about this it was soon dispelled
i The boy had scarcely disappeared
2 when old Red Moon appeared. H,
: was now fully dressed as chief, anC
= had on all his dignity: [ was lying
l on my back, and he stood over me fol
moment, glowering down upon me
with a savage expression before ht
, said:
: Does the white man think the
Comancne dog that he can come into
| his village and insult him?"
, ''Cn the contrary, the white mar
knows the Comanche to be brave"
replied, land no chief is greater OF
braver than Red Moon"
But you came to buy Us off,
The white man captured by you,
brave warriors is neither a soldier,
hunter, nor scout He is man of
peace, living far away. He has never
harmed you. He is a great medicine
man among his people For these
reasons his friends hoped the great
chief would spare his life We wish
ed to make you present"
white dog, you liew shouted the
chief "You wish to get US in trap
argued and protested and again
appealed to his honor in my own case.
He heard me through, and then gave
me several hearty kicks in the side,
and exclaimed:
You shall die! You were fool to
Gomez
The kicks made me mad, and feel
ing that [ had no hope of release |
opened on Red Moon in the choicest
Billingsgate Of the west. I called
him a coward paltron, squaw, buzzard,
and everything else mean I could
think of. / offered to fight him in
any way he wanted, and boasted that
L had on one occasion charged five OF
hiss bravest warriors and killed two
and run the others into the woods.
L gave it to him straight from the
shoulder for ten minutes without a
break, and he did not interrupt me by
word OF gesture When | finally
paused for want of breath he said:
The white scout is not dog, as
thought for. He is brave man. He
will not cry and beg for his life when
the fire is lighted at his feet. Nv !
young men shall let it be known at |
the fort that he died without being
woman"
And that's more than you can say
for any Of your warriorsr' [ flung |
hDa Of 4 I, L,
like dog when he is hurt He cannot
stand fire. When his feet get little
warm he becomes child"
He pulled his knife from his belt, |
thinking to end my life then and |
there, but on second thought he re
placed it and walked out. Directly |
he had gone two warriors came in
with liberal supply of food, and my
arms were united and | was given a !
chance to eat. They appeared good
natured, and as the thongs were being
replaced one Of them said:
The white man is very brave He
will hold out a long time"
At last two guards were placed |
outside my tent, and knowing that |
had no show for escape, [ made my
self as comfortable as possible and
soon fell asleep. 1t may be thought
curious that a person could sleep
soundly under such circumstances.
but as matter Of fact did not open
my eyes until long after daylight
There was considerable hustle IN the
camp, and in few minutes my break
fast was brought III. Arms and legs
were now united, and one of the three
bucks who came into the tent informed
me that preparations were being made
to torture the doctor. 1t was an hour
later before | was sent for. Then my
arms were left free and my legs were
hobbed just below the knees While
l could walk it Was only with short
steps, and the idea of my trying to es-
cape from such crowd was to absurd
to be entertained. found the inhabi-
tants of the village drawn up in two
long lines extending out on the
plains. Even children five or six years
old were in line, each one armed with
stick or switch. [ was led to the head
of the line between two warriors, and
in four or five minutes the doctor was
brought out, Red Moon had arrang
ed this as mental torture to both of
us. He signitied to us that we might
speak, and l at once informed the
doctor of my errand and its failure.
He expressed his pleasure that his
friends thought SO well of him, and
his sorrow that [ had brought mis-
fortune upon myself, and he seemed
to have made up his mind to die like
a man. / knew the Indians thorough
ly, and told him what the programme
would be. After running the gaunt-
let, he would be tied to post and sub
mitted to the powder torture, which
consists of shooting charges Of pow
der into the flesh, the muzzle Of the
gun only foot or two away. After
that would come cutting and mutilat-
ing, and he would not be tied to the |
fire stake until pretty thoroughly ex-
hausted. | advised HIM to do as in
tended to do-leap upon some war
rior as he ran down the lines, grab his
knife or tomahawk, if possible, and |
then fight until they would have to |
kill him then and there. He calmly
replied that he should adopt the plan,
shook nae by the hand, and then all
was ready.
As we talked l had been getting the
lay of the village. 1t was only quar-
ter of mile back to the broken
ground, and not over a half mile to
the foothills. l had made up my
mind to make break for liberty, and
| had my plans all laid before the
doctor started Red Moon command
ed me to tell him that he was to run
straight down the lane and back. and
that if be made good run he would
not be much hurt l gave him the
information. and advised him to make
his break about two thirds of the way
down, as he came to the last of the
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