The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-06-16
HUNTING FOR BABY.
A Tragedy That Included Even the Little
Blue Ewes.

into the valley. HaIt q mile away on our
left and sitting close into the hill and sur
rounded with half grown trees was Bak-
er's cabin The Indians had "a hours the
start of rs. Signal fires had told us that
they had not gone up the valley, but would
they pass this cabin SO near the trail and
restrain their hand already stained with
blood? The main body might not halt,
put half a dozen warriors were force enough
10 wipe out the family.
We halted and looked for smoke curling
above the trees from the chimney, but
there was none. Under ii tree in a field
stood two horses, but no human being was
In sight Presently the horses caught
sight of US and neighed Did you ever
k.ear a horse signal his loneliness by "a
neighi It is SO lONg drawn, and there is
such a sOrrOwful quaIrr TO IL, that 1t seems
&c ring IN your ears fO1 days aftcrward.
Wounded horses used to neigh that way
on the battlefield after midnight, and you
may have heard the sound on the wide
prairie when a faithful team horse had
broken down and been turned out and
left to his fate.
We had a ~fOrCbOding as we drew near
the house. One of the heavy window
shutters wGs crcaking disnally on its
hinges in thu morning breeze, and the
shattered door told of the work of tOma-
hawks and battering ram. We knew the
spectacle which would greet us as we
stepped inside, but how many bodies
would there be? a settler who came rid
ing down the valley just then joined us at
the door Of the cabin and whispered with
white face:
1t happened yesterday morning. l
heard the firing, but dared not come down
to his help. There will be Baker, his
wife, a girl Of 10 and a baby boy a year
old-all wiped out!'
After q bit we went in. Man and wife
lay in the middle of the floor, the girl in
a corner. 1t was no need to bend over
them to see if life remained. Bullets and
tOmahawkS had made sure work Of it, and
three more Scalps had been added to the
belts of the renegade Indians from the res
ervation. We had carried the bodies out
doors for burial when the settler came out
and said:
Il have looked high and low, but can t
find the baby. 1t must have been here.
but what can nave become Of it,
We searched the house, but there was no
trace. The Indians would not have ham
percd themselves with Il baby when on the
warpath. If alive when they entered the
house, they wOuld have shown it no mercy
nor flung the little body out. b man
had a winchester, the woman Il revolver.
While they were firing from the broken
door they had been shot dow by warriors
who sncakcd up to the side window.
Look for the baby, whispered the set
tier. Baker tovCd that baby as his life.
He may nave carried it into the woods and
then been cut off before he could get back
to it,"
The hundred men Of us hitchcd our
horses, formed in Il long line and swept
through the thickctS III rear Of the house
quite up to the foot of the hills. There was
no sign of the child. Then the line swung
around to the right, and We swept back to
the east until clear of the bushes. We
were Just breaking clear when a cry was
raised, and a minute later the captain OF
the troop had baby in his arms and was
pushing through the men toward the
houSc 1t was dressed, but had no extra
covering, and it had rested under a thick
bush for "a hours. The men chcercd and
chccred as the officer sat down on the door
step with his burden, but he held up a
hand and solcmnly said:
Hush. mcn-hc'sd dying! We have come
too late!''
= the night, the lack of nOurishment or the
fcSrwhich must have come to its heart we
coul6Not tell, but within 10 minutes its
life wenf>2ut and with revcrential hands
the wee baby was laid beside those waiting
for burial. Just 6Gcffcre death came it open
ed its big blue eyes, Saked around at the
bearded faces bending foSSard' ana there
was a smile on its face as he light went
out. Faces were turned aside, S1 IL seem
ed a long five minutes before the captain