The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1894-10-27
oRouARD's RIDE.
A Hundred Miles in Four Hours and Ten
Minutes-The Newspaper Men Beaten
for Once.

Minutes-The Newspaper Men Reaten
for Once.
NOW, when records are being made and
broken and feats that app oach the mar
We ols are being recorded. a bit of realism
that cannot but interest everybody will not
come amlas or be out of place, says the
western Stock Breeder. The subject of
thls pr1et sketch, Frank Grouard, chief of
scouts, United States army, is at present
residing at st. Joseph. When 10 years of
age he was captured by Sitting Bulls band
Oh hostile Indians and kept prisoner wifi
the sayages for five years and nine months.
during which time he was forced to enter
INTO all the customs and undergo the horri-
Die self-tortures of the aborigines. Being
oorn on one of the islands in the South Pa
CHIC Ocean he inherited the bronZed COM
plexIon so peculiar to people tropical
climates. Sitting Bull, contrary to the op-
position of the head counselors of the Sioux
nation, adopted him as his brother, gave
him the name of Standing Bear, and pro.
tected him against the plots of Sioux to
murder him. In 1876, just at the breaking
out of what is known to frontier history az
the "Sioux wal" Grouard made his escape
from the Indians and found his way into
the he'd Cloud agency, then situated about
one mile from where Fort Robinson, Neb.,
is now located. General George Crook, the
most successful campaigner against the In
dians, took Grouard into the government
service and afterward in speaking of him,
said: Il would sooner lose a third of my
command than Frank Grouard." 1t was
during his service with Crook, as chief OF
scouts, that Grouard made the phenomenal
ride referred to at the head of this article
II miles in hours and IL minutes
During the early part of the 1876 cam
pa1gn the newspaper correspondent had.Ie-
peatedly beaten OUT or ''scooped'' the gov
eminent on news, and it caused a great
deal OF dissatisfaction and annoyance at
army headquarters. Genral Crook deter
mined to put an end to the slow work of his
| courlers. and after the battle OF Slim Buttes
gave Grouard the official dispatches with
| instructions to get them to the nearest tele-
| graph station ahead of any newspaper re-
| ports regardless of expense. The command
| was camped on Willow Greek, some distance
| from Whitewood City, when the couriers
| started out, Grouard carrS ing the Official
dispatches and another scout the war cor
respondents special, dhe latter acting as
| courier unknown to Grouard, who sup
\ posed he WAS on his way to Whitewood to
assist the quartermaster in securing sup
plies for the half-famished soldiers. On
the morning after his arrival at Whitewood
Grouard started early for Deadwood, and,
on riding up to the livery barn, was aston
ished to find the government mule the other
scout had been riding hitched there Upon
| inquiry he discovered that the scout whom
he supposed to be at Whitewood with the
| had IL,
the barn at Deadwood and hit the trail for
! Custer City. 10l miles distant. 1t was then
| 1890 in the forenoon. Grouard jumped up
on the feetest horse he could secure and
started to overhaul the newspaper courier.
At the end of twenty-five miles the first
| horse fell dead. Securing another, he
started off again, and in making the re-
manning distance changed animals six
! times, killing three of the horses. He over
/ took the other scout some distance from
Custer City, reaching the latter place at
2.40 p m, four hours and ten minutes fl ON
| the time of starting. Grouard had to be lift
/ ed from the saddle, and was unable to get
| out of bed for three days thereafter. The
nearest telegraph station was Fort Lara
nie, and he secured couriers to take on he
| official dispatches at once, and beat out the
| man who ha tried to outried him by three
| days. Few men could have made that ride
under the most favorable circumstances,
| for it resolved itself into feat of physical
/ endurance; but the record of that ride is
i preserved in the government archives and
i is easily proven. The trip cost the govern
! ment something over $500, but the news Of
4 the battle of Slim ButJes was known all
! over the United States before tho news
1 paper specials made their appearance.
and the War Department officials were pei
fectly satisfied.
Grouard has had remarkable career of
peril and adventure, but with the charac-
teristic shyness of the genuine Western
hero has avoided newspaper notoriety. 1t
is understood that Joe De Bartin, news
paper man of st. Joseph, No., has succeed
ed in getting full account of Grouard's
life, and adventures and will soon publish
it in book form.