Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-12-06
A BLACK SQUAWMAN.
HENRY FEARN, CoLoRED, LATELY OF
THE NINTH CAVALRY.

THE NINTH CAVALRY.
The Five Notches on His Ride stock-A
Close Game In which His Pair Won.
The Figh. With Indians at DEVILS Bowl.
Now . Member of the Kiowa Tribe.
Henry Fearn, colored man living near
here on the ranch of White Wolf, the
Kiowa chief, is known wherever there In
In Indian band in the far west and Is well
romed wherever there is company OF the
Ninth or Seventh regiment OF cavalry.
He is SO years old and feet tall, with
huge hands and feet, and stoop In his
broad shoulders that betokens enormous
reserve strength On the stock OF his
rife are five notches. Each one records
the death of a human being other than an
Indian. NO one, not even Fearn himself.
knows how many Indians he has killed.
Fourteen years ago Fearn enlisted In
the Ninth cavalry, regiment made up
wholly of colored men. He was assigned
TO the troop commanded by Captain
Moore The Ninth cavalry was then In
the southwest. Times were hot. and the
Indians gave the regiment plenty to do
FtdTu GOS q ASPaeotAoAA 10 - @~N->
less. fearless soldier He was the best shot
among the men. One day, at the close OF
a lively campaign, word reached the Ninth
cavalry that the paymaster was on his
way to JOIN them and was waiting S0
miles away for an escort. A noncommls-
stoned officer and three privates were de-
tailed TO so to the paymaster and guard
him on his ride to the regiment. Fearn
was one of the four men selected. A ser
eeant who had long disliked Fearn was
placed in charge of the detachment. The
other privates We're close friends OF the
sergeant AS the four men rode out of the
post Fcarn dropped to the rear.
'RlGe up, commanded the sergeant
."This will be hard ride for us all and a
last ore for you perhaps, he muttered In
an unCertone.
Last how" asked Fearn.
''Wait ard sec, " was the reply.
So the men rode along. Fearn hung
back or rode out on the side, where he
could vat h Tie three men. His carbine
Law across bis saddle bow. The butts of his
big cavalry pistols rubbed his hands as he
held TIE rcins Fearn understood that a
relaxation Of vigilance meant death
When the watering creek was reached, the
men dismounted in silence.
"Ridc on, Fearn. We will catch you, !"
said one of the men,
Fcarn said nothing, and finally the men
rode on together. As they neared the sta
tion whcro the paymaster awaited them
one of tho ,nen turned suddenly on Fearn
and raised his pistol He was too slow.
Fcarn's two hands went up, each grasping
q pistol. and when he ceased firing three
riderlcss horses followed him into the sta
ton, where he met the payInaster alone.
1t was close game, Fearn says as he
tells of it now, 'but my pair beat three
odd hands. "
When the Pine Ridge trouble broke out
four years ago, four troops of the Seventh
cavalry went up into the territory to bring
the Indians into submission. The Ninth
cavalry also went out Fearn's troop,
with another under Colonel Guy " Henry,
then major, met the Indians near big
basin known as DEVILS Bowl.
"It was the hottest fight was ever IN, y
said Fearn. 1--WE were sitting about on
the rocks drinking our coffee, when sud
denly from behind rocks and trees and
bushes burst a storm of bullets. We
jumped to the charge, but there was moth
ing to charge on except rocks. A pun or
smoke would float out from behind rock
or tree, and that was all we could see
They fought us back foot by foot down
the hill until they got us on an open much
like log chute. No sooner had we rallied
along this than there was terrific ex-
plosion upon the hill, and shower Of
stones and sticks and tent pins pounded
down on u.s. The Indians had captured
an old cannon and had loaded it with any
thing they could lay their hands on. We
Jumped for cover. Suddenly everything
grew quiet We waited, but all was still.
In about ten minutes the old gun doomed
again. A tent pin struck me OH the shoul-
der, and glancing off killed the man be
hind me-
Major Henry divided us into two
squads. One squad held the ground, fight
ing like mad. was in the other squad.
We crept single file up the hill about 100
yards. Then we turned sharp to the left
and opened out in skirmish line. Then
we faced about and marched toward our
own men, But the Indians were between
us. We had them front and rear.
II was right beside Major Henry. He
was cool as a cucumber. We crept along
OF alOub lbO NlliiouU eCsibS q wv
man. Suddenly Major Henry stopped and
nodded his head forward. We halted and
looked ahead. There was u big bowlder,
and lying flat behind it in & hollow in the
earth were over 40 Sioux. They knew
nothing of our presence. Quickly we
brought up our pistols, every man with
one in each hand. Major Henry nodded
again, and line of fire lit the woods.
The Sioux yelled and sprang forward, but
they ran right into our other squad. Then
it was that they fought
Have you ever met an Indian face to
face when he was war crazy2 No? Then
you cannot realize what a fight we had. 1t
was man to man. There was no chance
for the Sioux to jump behind trees. We
closed right in. Our other squad, too,
pushed toward us. Negro and Indian
grapplcd and struggled, each for his life.
Don't tell me that the coiored man won't
fight just You get him started, and he
will go right through with you to the end,
| saw negroes lying hacked and torn shoot
, last shot n,ln fall back dead We held