Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1893-06-28
THE COWBOYS TERROR.
A Night on the Plains waiting for In
diaua

with the less thrilling but more truth.
full incidents recounted in various
western histories, were the rather un
satisfactory preparatory schooling
had taken before entering into the
reality of western life. When / left
Chicago for Montana ranch | specu
lated wildly with the usual youthful
imagination on the possible repetition
OF the deeds of daring and blood
curdling incidents of which had read
and fondly pictured myself as the hero
of each event
MY dream was uudisturbed until
alighted at a small station in a Mon
tana cattle-growing county. There
were number of cowboys at the sta
ton, who appeared formida BILE enough
with their cartridge belts and revolvers
in addition to their picturesque cos
TUNES True, their appearance wasn't
quite up to my exaggerated idea, but il
was suffi cient to win my youthful ad
miration, mingled with species of awe
II was soon initiated into ranch life
and overcame my disappointment al
! finding that the cowboys did not wear
| their wild dress for effect, but that the
big hats and leather brooches were fol-
| protection against sun and rain and the
weapons for service against animals
rather than each other
II took to riding Ike an old timer
and before year had passed was con.
| sidered as good a hand among cattle as
any rider on the range.
THE spring following my arrival
about three thousand head of cattle
were moved to another section for bet
| ter feed. Five of us were detailed To
range herd them for the summer. This
meant camping out and daily ride OF
from twenty to thirty miles 1 was de-
| lighted. The drive was made, and to
better guard against the return of any
OF the cattle to the old range we made
two camps, one at the mouth of Battle
| creek and another on the main road
{ about mile farther up the stream.
We were about twenty-six miles from
the nearest town.
Two months passed without Incl
dent, but one day band of renegade
Flathead Indians, evidently on a hunt
ing expedition, pitched their tents near
our lower camp. ! was curious to see
the red men, so we rode down and had
talk with them. One of the bucks
was in bad humor. having been inn
prisoned for trapping beaver He
vowed vengeance, and said no white
man could keep him from trapping,
and. by way of argument, held up some
| recently taken skins. I did not like
the idea of their being so close to our
camp, but the boys laughed at me- ]
| noticed there were about a dozen OF
them and they had about sixty horses.
Another thing that struck me was thai
the dissatisfied buck rode horse that
had cow bell around its neck An
old man named Morgan had ranch
near our upper camp and by not very
singular coincidence had a milk COW
that wore a bell.
THAT night Morgan came over to
the tent to discuss the arrival of the
Indians. He did not like their pres
ence, having been through one of two
raids He mentioned one occasion
which ended IN the death of fourteen
Indians and the battle occurred on the
| spot where he were camped. They
were Flatheads, too. The conversation
| that night was full of Indian expert
| ences.
THE next day, as luck would have
it, was election day. The boys all want.
ed to vote and had to 60 to town to dc
1t. l was not of age and my heart sunk
when they told me they would be gone
over night and had decided to leave me
in charge of the camp. l hid nv fears
but my spirits were not raised when the
boys admonished me on leaving "to
look out for Indians"
| ut was nearly midnight before ]
could muster up courage enough to &C
to bed and abandon myself to the
mercies of those Indians. Everything
| had ever read or heard of their crimes
came to my mind, and Morgan's real
istic descriptions were worst of all.
What if the memory of their fourteen
dead brothers should incite them to
vengeance? / wondered. Before roll
ing myself in my blankets / loaded the
magazines OF three rifles, cooked them
all, and laid them in easy reach. NV
fear was beginning to abate when ]
caught the sound of faint tinklinQ OF
bell down the creek. My blood frozc
within me and cold chills iran up my
back / lay still and listened.
The sound grew nearer and
soon recognized the trample
of many hoofs. l sat up and
grasped one rife and laid another
across my knee. l resolved to sell nv
! life dearly Closer and closer came the
Indians They could not be more than
| thirty yards off. Suddenly the bell
stopped tinkling and the trampling OF
hoofs ceased. They were dismounting
! md would co0r, Ia ry,,a,, 49,.
an agony of terror impossible to de-
scribe. There alone. at the mercy of a
dozen Indians. The moments that
passed seemed hours. Finally, in des.
peration, I spraIg up and ran to the
door of the tent. / fired two shots in
the air. uttered yell, and jumped out
of the tent, The scene that met my
eyes was the most blessed one / ever
saw. It was a herd of cattle led BY
Morgan's cow."-Chicago Inter-Ocean
Queen Natalie of Servia and hel
husband have amicably settled Their
differences and mutually retaken the
| marriage vows The romantic version
of the story sets forth that the queen
on one of her regular visits which the
authorities allow her to make to hel
son, met her husband through the in
PREVENTION of the boy king, and directly
the allegiance of the deposed king fol-
| his early love returned. The beauty o.
| this charming romsnce is rather dimmed
by the rumor that the Russian govern
ment, desiring Queen Natalie's infu
ence in Servia. revivified this early love
with Russian gold.
1