The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-01
BUFFALO BILL AS A BOY.
E ariy Experiences of the Famo Is Scout
Upon the Plains.

Early Experiences of the Famo Is Scout
Upon the Plains.
Speaking of runaways," said Col.
William F. Cody,"do you know that
was runaway boy myself"
ayes" continued the Colonel, it was
in 1857. / was then lad ten years OF
age. living with my parents in Eastern
Kasas. / had no reason to run away
except for wild squirt of adven ture.
l joined freight train that was going
across the prailies to Salt Lake, 1,4oo
miles away 1t was not freight train
in the modern sense, but lot OF wagon
drawn by oxen. We had hardly got into
Utah when the Mormons attacked us,
burned our wagons and stampeded the
cattle. 1t was desperately cold winter.
We managed to find our way to Fort
Bridger. Here We had nothing to eat
except mule meat. and very little OF
that. We almost starved and froze to
death. Next spring we started out to
walk back to the Missouri River, and.
we footed IL every inch of the ], 400 miles.
That was my experience as runaway.
"But it in nowise disneartened me.
| Next year / killed my first Indian.
This was the time OF Albert Sidney
Johnson's campaign against the Nor
mons, then in open revolt against the
| National Government. This, you will
remember, was in 1886, / Joined lot
| of herders, who were driving beef cattle
across the plains to Gen. Johnson's re-
| lief,
"The two Mccarthy brothers. Frank
and Bill brave boys both of them
were in charge of the expedition. We
started from Leayenworth, Kas Moth
! ing startling happened until We reached
Plum Greek on The South Platte River,
$50 miles to the west. 1t was noon, and
we decided to camp here for dinner.
"We unhitched our cattle and placed
! them under charge of three men. While
! the cook was preparing dinner most of
| the men had stretched themselves out
Under the mess wagons and one to sleep.
Suddenly there were yells and shouts
and the sharp crack OF rifles. The In
dians were upon us. The sleepers woke
up to find that the three herdsmen had
been killed, that the cattle had been
| stampeded, and that the Indians were
assteady, now.' cried Bill; let Jus
| fight to the last, or not mar will es-
cape. Now fire..
sIn a jiffy every man had his rifle to
his shoulder. Bangl Bang! The Indians
1 Wavered. Nov break Tor the rIYer!"
sang out Frank.
"Off we went at the top or our speed,
and succeeded in reaching the water.
| There was high bluff along the banks,
which acted as breastWork. we
skulked behind this, and started to wade
down to Fort Kearney. thirty-fiye miles
away. The Indians were still in pur-
49, ,bnyu md
! his face above the bluff rife ball would
whizz past him. Soon the Indians began
to be weary. Seeing no more OF them
for some hours we began to hope that
they had given up the pursuit.
| LAS the youngest and smallest of the
| party / was naturally in the rear. 1t
was about 10 o'clock at night now, and
we were huging the bank pretty closely
/ when heard noise above me on the
| bluff. Looking upward caught sight of
an Indians head peeping down. In
stinctively put my rife to my shoulder
and blazed away. With a whoop the In
| dian fell back. | was SO excited that l
dropped my gun and went hallooing
up the bluff and found the Indian lying
just behind it,dead, with bullet
in his forehead.
"Three years later I was the assistant
wagon master on great OK train which
delivered freight between the Missouri
river and Fort Laramie. Wy, 70 miles to
the west. We would start in the fall,
unload our stuff, and return with our
| wagons before the winter set in. We
had unloaded and were preparing to re-
turn hoIneward when the commanding
officer at Fort Laramie came UP and
| consulted with my boss. He said there
was young lady at the fort, u friend
of an officer there. She lived in St.
| Louis, and wanted to get back there / be-
| fore the winter set in.
AS this was the last train until spring,
he asked whether it would be possible
for lis to take her along with us.
"sDo you think said ne that it would
he safe for young girl only eighteen
years old. TO trust herself to a lot of men
who are generally considered to be I'M
couth and rough?
afraid of lis she hsd better not go; but
| will guarantee that we will land her
safe and sound at the Missouri river. ]
have nice little fellow who drives my
wagon, and will put her directly under
his charge
81 tell you was proud when the boss
asked me if would drive it back. was
not only the girls driver. but her guard,
her protector her mentor. But was
very shy in those days, aud only dared
look up at her from under the brim OF
my bat when 1 thought she wasn't look
ing. At first she was even more scared
than was, not of me, of course, but
of all the strange, wild men who sur
rounded her. 1t did not take long for
her to get over this, and then she be-
came so sweet and winning that l., too.
gradually lost my fear of her. She could
talk to me by the hour, asking me TO tell
stories about tine wild life of the plains.
Every now and then I would jump down
and pick bunch of wild flowers for her.
Of these she was passionately fond, and
she would thank me SO gracefully that
would think was tire happiest boy
in the world.
"She sang and played the guitar beau
tifully. 1t was touching sight to see
those wild, uncouth OK drivers swarm
around the prairie schooner to listen tc
her. 1t was the greatest happiness ,oi
their lives. There was not man in the
outfit who would not cheerfu have
laid down his life for her. Th' called
her the angel of the train. i was
an awfuliy tough customer amu.- tnem,
called Bill something. forget the rest
of his name, but better known among us