The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-04-28

masters Scalp, While White DeS-
peradoes WayIaid Him for His
MOney-To-day n Place in the Pay
Corps Is Comparatively sinecure.
Sineeure.
From the Hartford Times.
Uncle SANS new paymaster-general is
typical Indian fighter OF the old school
I that is now fast dying out. His life has
/ been full Of adventure and the stories he
/ tells go 10 show that the business OF an
\ army paymaster twenty years and more
/ ago was one OF many perils and no little
/ excitement.
In those days" said Gen. Stanton
at the Ebbitt house last evening. "Arlzo-
ma. Wyoming. Washington. oregon and
/ Montana were fun of Wild Indians. The
paymaster. in making his periodical trips
! from one army post TO another, was obliged
/ to travel great distances by wagon or on
| horseback. Such pilgrimages were through
rough country. where dangers often
lurked on every side. There were not
only savages to fear but equally Zero
| cious despera does-white outlaws who re-
garded the peripatetic fiscal agent of the
government as most suitable prey. Ac-
| cOrdingly, a military escort was common
ly required TO insure the safety OF the
money, which was carried in the shape
Of greenbacks for the sake of convenience.
have often had whole troop of caval-
ry for . guard.
up 10 1874 the whole country to the
north of the North Platte river all the
way to the British line was hostile The
/ North Platte was a temporary geograph-
] ical division between civilization and saw
/ agery. The Indians were constantly cross
! ing the river from the north side and
] m = Hxr he Of
| the army had opened up all of that great
! region, adding a young empire TO the
available territory of the United States
an empire larger than France. Now.
| where so short time ago was a vast
wilderness. inhabited by fierce tribes. YOU
will find railways telegraphs, schools,
and hundreds of thousand of head of cat
tie.
"On one occasion / was going from
Camp Apache toward Tucson, across the
| Latana range and the Cordilleras. IL was
| winter, and the wagon train had difficulty
| in making any progress. As we We're
climbing the mountains during the after
noon, going very slowly, we got stalled
| and came to halt My ambulance was
in the rear. got out 10 see what the
| matter was, and presently, when the pro-
cession started again, thought / would
| light my pipe before resuming my place
in the ambulance. ! took out my pipe
and tobacco pouch. filling the former and
| igniting It at leisure, for the wagons were
moving away at a snails pace, the last Of
them having just turned around the tail OF
appeared from my view.
| Remembering. however. that in such
a country 1t was dangerous to he out of
! sight of ones train, ] started TO follow as
| soon as l got my pipe lighted. Happen
! ing to look back along the road, ] saw
ten or dozen Indians coming on the
dead run toward me- They We're not more
than forty or fifty yards away and there
| was no possibility Of my escaping. SO ]
a lance ten feet long, which he brandished
IN his hand. / said to myself, I'm a
goner,' as he reached me and held the
lance balanced with the point toward my
breast. Positively, ! could feel the weap-
on going through me, IN Imagination. II
j had shown any sign of fear, / should
nave been killed at once But l looked
the man square in the eye without NOV
ing, and after few moments / saw the
point of the lancesturn slowly upward.
The savage extended the butt toward me-
and, taking the lance, I put IL over my
shoulder quite as if It were a matter OF
course, and followed the wagons. soon
| Overtaking the train. Myrcopper colored
friend, who had decided that / was a
pretty good Indian myself, went with us
TO camp, and | gave him a part of my
supper that night
'The most notable adventure. perhaps.
that ever befell paymaster was that Of
Maj. j. W. Wham, who was on the way
from Tucson to Fort Grant with money
for the garrison of that post. He had gone
about nifty miles on the journey when he
had to pass through narrow canon.
! There great stone was found in the
middle of the path. 1t looked as IL IL had
rolled down and blocked the passage by
accident, but the fact was that II had been
placed there by road agents. High up on
the sides of the gorge the robbers had con
cealed themselves among bushes, lying IN
wait for the expedition. When the men
! who accompanied the paymester had dis
mounted and were trying to move the
stone away the road agents opened fire
/ and wounded several of them. There was
| nothing to do but to seek safety in flight.
and the desperadoes carried off S24 100 In
currency. They. were never caught.
hax 1-a1 trer.
in momentay expectation of being at
tackled. On one occasion--it was in 1873
| was on the. way from Green River to
Fort Washable, when ! was notified that
ArapahOe Pete was going to take me in
| Pete was a bad man of great notoriety
and his band numbered about thirty Of the
worst sort of desperadoes some OF whom
were deserters from the regular army
With this prospect in view, l went ahead
! as far as the Big Sandy river where we
got supper. had only three men with me
| The stage driver wanted to remain there
all night. but l ordered him to hitch up,
and we continued our journey by moon.
light. it was cold as blaZes, ] remember
but / got up on top Of the stage to keet
a lookout.
IT had only a small amount Of nnora,, q,
my charge-about 5000 I think-but #
was enough to pay Arapahoe Pete for the
trouble he would have in wipine ont ca
weak party. We drove twenty-five n1iles
to the Little Sandy, where was the nex,
stage station, and thence twelve miles
further TO Pacific Springs. At that roint
we found a stock-tender. who as we won,
away. remarked to my driver, Good nv
l shan't see you again. They win take Won
in over by Sweetwater' Sweetwater was
! fifteen miles distant. Nevertheless. we
I drove off, got to Sweetwater In safetv
! and reached South Pass at daybresk ~.
terly used up. We had been too quick n,
: Arapahoe Pete. who struck Pacific Springs
! just an hour after we did.
: In 1881 / was making a trip to Fort
/ Niobrara which was distant I53 miles
from the railway terminus. The country
was infested by Doc Aiiddleton's gang ~
: horse-thieves and all-round despera does
? They knew that l was coming and mad
? made a plan to intercept me. Now. not far
from the fort was an exceedingly disrep1I.
table resort which was frequented bv All
sorts Of tough characters. IT CHANGED thai
blacksmith from the fort spent a NIGH
at this place, which was known az The
Hog Ranch. There he overheard a CONVEX
sation in which the story of the Mot n
take me in was revealed. The blackemifl
spoke on the subject to the comma nding
officer at the post, who was rather do1Ibf.
full but decided to take no chances. So he
sent Lieut.. Cherry and twenty men down
the road TO meet me.
Il found Cherry and his men at Rome
Greek, where now s the town Of Aims
worth. on the Fremont and Elk Horn
} Railroads.&c. miles from the fort II Was
10 D. m, and The night was dark AZ q
stack of black cats. / said Wharf tbo