The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-08-30
STOOD TO HIS GAME.
Nerve Enough to supply Family of Noun
tain Lions.

A tall, keen-eyed, ,broad-shouIdered, sandy
haired man, with countenance that be-
spoke quiet and reserved nature, strolled
out of the Hotel Lawrence this morning
and walked slowly up L street toward
Newspaper Row, says the Star. As he passed
the Press Club an Army officer stepped for
ward and shook hands with him cordially
and then rejoined his companions.
Do you know who that is - inquired
the military man. "No? Well, that's ex-
Special Agent Cooper, of the Indian Office.
Every ybody in the far West knows Jim
Cooper. He has nerve enough to supply a
whole family of mountain lions and have
enough left to equip several companies of
hard-ridiug Indian fighters.
During the stormy times at Pine Ridge
Agency several years ago Cooper was a
strong factor in settling matters with the
Indians, being present there as civilian rep
resentative of the Government. His fame
had preceded him to Pine Ridge from the
Tongue River Reservation of the Northern
Cheyennes, up in Montana, where he fol-
lowed career that was full of exciting ad-
ventures.
One incident that may give you some idea
as TO the character of the man occurred mp
on the Tongue River Reservation in the lat
ter part OF the SOS, when Cooper was tenn
porarily acting as the Agent there. Two In
dian boys, as young unmarried Indians are
called, about 10 or 20 years of age respect
lively, had murdered white man.
Cooper called the Cheyennes together, and
they numbered about 400 warriors at that
time and equally as many squaws, who are
pretty near as good as warriors when it
comes to ructiOn, and told them that the
boys would have to be brought in and de-
livered mp to answer for their crime. The
Indians said they didn't know where the
boys were, and Cooper very plainly told
them that they were lying. Then they
asked him how many ponies he would take
to let up IN the prosecution Of the criminals,
and Cooper said that he wouldn't listen to
any such talk as that, but that what he
wanted was the boys, and that he wanted
them brought in without any further palav-
eriDg or subterfuge or delay.
The father of the boys grew very indig-
nant at Coopers determined stand, and said
that the boys would come in all right, but
that Cooper was too big a coward to meet
them. This was the Indian way of chal-
longing Cooper to fight. He never WINGED,
but got mad in turn. He told the gather
ing that the whole Cheyenne tribe couldn't
oedAO hiIi1 anu Sb6b uO pIOpOoCu W SOb
those boys In spite of all of them and see
that justice was done, and dared the father
to let the murderers know what he said
Then he rammed few handfuls of ammu-
milton into his pocket, took up his rifle and
started out. The Cheyennes ranged them
selves around on the bluffs ard waited for
the fun to begin, ready to take hand in an
instant, if necessary. Cooper knew that if
he showed the slightest signs of nervous
ness or fear the Indians would make short
work of him, burn everything in sight and
go cavorting off the reservation. But he
grew mighty lonesome, for all the white
employees OF the reservation had become
scared and gone into hiding. He called on
the six or seven Indian police that were on
duty at the reservation to stand by him,
however, and took the precaution to send
one Of them after cavalry troop, think it
was Troop A of the 1st, that was eamped
down On the Lame Deer.
Pretty soon Cooper saw couple of Chey-
ennes in full war paint and regalia riding
like mad down the trail toward the Agency
They were the boys who had murdered the
old man. As they GENE within range the
Agent raised his rifle and plugged one of
them so good and hard that he rolled off his
pony and gave up the ghost without a sin
gle kick. The other one began eireiing
round and round for little while as Indians
do, getting ready for rush, and Cooper
awaited his opportunity to get q good shot
st him, when the cavalry troop appeared.
Then came the strangest part of the pro-
ceeding. That young Indian charged di-
rectly at the United States soldiers and
went right through it, wounding four horses
as be did SC. But when he had gone
through somebody whirled that troop around
and the result was that in less than three
wags of a sleeps tail Mr.. Indian boy was
rs full of holes as any piece of honeycomb
you ever saw in your life.
There was no more trouble at the Tongue |
River Reservation while Cooper was there, |
and the Cheyennes respected him. You |
mustn't imagine from this that the North |
,rn Cheyenne is a weak specimen of the |
indian. Those fellows at Tongue River are |
he same who were taken down to Indian |
Territory many. years ago and escaped and |
we're not overhauled or stopped until they |
lad gone north to within so or go miles of |
Pine Ridge, and the Government didn't try |
% get them to go back any more