Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1893-03-12

life, but he had his loaded revolver in his
right hand and nyOwed his intention to
shoot himself right there II any of them
tried 10 approach him to take 1t away
He begged Of Captain Jim to tell the
truth to the boys that / can't live over
few hours at most The giant Jim was
in tears, his great heart breaking but be
could not truthfully answer Geery in the
negative, AMI tried 10 cheer the wounded
man up by declaring that oil the Indians
in the world could not drive us away
from him. Ge9ry would not listen TO
this plea, and said See, comrades,
Jim knows that ! am fatally wounded
and will die soon, but avoids telling me.
He would stay by nae and die with me.
| will not allow II. Remember / am not
committing suicide God knows / do not
want TO die. but / have Christians
rather than accept q sacrifice He had
put the muzze Of his pistol against his
breast while talking to us and saying:
God bless you all comrades" was about
to fire the fatal shot. when our leader
called out to him. while tears streamed
Gecry, don't, but n you will do II, don't
shoot yourself there. IL win only pro-
long your agony Put the pistol TO your
templp. If Won must do It." With the
rpmurk "Thnnks. jim, and may God
bless you all and take you safely out Of
this Geery placed the pistol TO his tenn
pie. while the men with weeping eyes
turned away with full hearts so as not
TO see him fire. lie pressed the trigger
and only the cap exploded. ! never
heard one sound 40 loud before and ! cx-
claimed TO him that this was n warning
to dcsst for Gods sake. He spoke
soiloguizngly as he cooked his pistol
again. IN these words. 81 know not what
to think of that miss; 1t never happened
before He engaged for a few seconds
iu mental prayer. and again pulled the
trigger that launched him into eternity.
The report OF the fatal shot was awful
and sent montnful thrill through every
one of us. We obeyed his wishes In
reference 70 burying him at once, aud
had scarcely covered the earth over his
grave when the pickCts announced that
the Indians We're approaching us aud
were within gunshOt, yet there was no
firing. We burned the brush on Geery's
grave so that the Indians would be
prevented from digging poor Geery up
for his scalp packed up. moved on in
single file out Of the gorge, and went hid
ing in the sage bush some six miles
away where we arrived in the night at
dcfensiblc spot.
The following day the party Travelled
twenty miles. They suffered for water
Bell especially. There was plenty In
sight. but IL was ut the bottom of great
chasms that we could not descend into.
We camped this night ia n bad canon.
because We could descend into the river
and get water On May is we travelled
fifteen miles. our course being very near
east We tried to cross the canon, but
could find no place where IL was feast
BILE 80 our route was continued. Shortly
after starting the captain cav q smoke
signal. Then lac saw another. Satisfied
that they were Indian signals he Leg us
all know of IL, 80 that We might advise
l. o.. VN.HtH IFAlF ltsm
were several very distinct lndinn smoke
signals gwen I'm the next hour, which the
captain knew were intended 10 gather
Indians together for an attack on us.
Yet there was no other route by which
the party could 20 except right NJ the
ridge and trail along which the signals
were given. In one OF the papers which
he left behind him, Captain Stuart has
told Of what happened In language that
! would not use about myself and Under
wood, but which may be copied from
memorandum about It,
The Stuart story runs us follows:
Reaching within half a mile of the
mountain, on the side of which the sig
nails had been seen, / saw that the trail
ran right along the edge of the Chasn,
the mountain to the left being quite
| rocky and steep, and at one place there
was q large perpendicular bunch of rock
almost hanging over the trail. Back of
seen the smokes. There was a faint
trail that ran behind this point. We MI
felt that we would have to fight our way
past this point SO we called halt FOR
preparation, all dismOunting except the
badly wounded who were TO bring M
the reHr All the extra ammunition was
packed on a mule and placed In the
| rear in lorks charge. He was armed
with Bells shotgun, and instructed TO
! lin the mule as soon az firing began in
front, so that our ammunition could not
bc lost by the stampede of the animals,
| aud we could fail back 70 the mule when
we needed q fresh supply.
felt that II would be much better to
| send one or two men on the dim trail
around behind the rocks, but did not like
| 10 order any one TO go, as they would be
| likely 10 receive the whole fire OF the In
| dians If they were there ~ we supposed.
! After we had prepared ourselves for bat.
| tie and had advanced a few stops, Sam
| ll0user came mp TO me and said:
',lim, II we all 20 under these rocks In
this way they will kill the last one of MS
| the first fire
| replied to this by saying; 81 know
| IL would be better 10 send two men above
| and behind these rocks, but us 1t would
| he certain death | don't feel like sending
| anybody, although | think IL would ena-
| BILE most of as TO get through. but | feel
that we might as well take the chances
| together"
III you think Il will increase the
| chances Of getting through. I'll GO was
| Hauser's answer, and sure enough, he
mounted his pony, cooked his rifle and
spurred OF. Underwood seeing him
start alone, said: IF Sans going, I'm
| going, too As his loft arm was useless,
| because of the wound he received ut the
night attack, he took his bride rein in
his teeth, and with his cooked revolver
IN his right hand spurred after H0user.
When they disappeared behind the
rocks a pung passed through my heart,
FOR felt that they would probably never
reach the other side, We all hurried
along, expecting every instant 10 hear the
firing nc Hauscr and Underwood and
then at ourselves, but we reached open
ground beyond whore they Joined us
without gun being fred Why the
Indians did not attack us Is a mystery
aud ] can only account for IL by sup
posing they failed to collect In time In
sufficient force 60 do so. None of us ex-
pected for a moment that we would get
through without a battle. and nc great
disadvantage, too but they are a super
suuous, cowardly set, and | believe they
are getting afraid of us, thinking our
Big Medicine Is very, very strong
for In the first place, they were amazed
10 find that they had not killed MS an in
the night attack, and our sallging ont
ana deiying them 10 come and fight the
next morning astonished them still more
besides, the calm and deliberate way in
getting ready aud moving slowly off,