The evening herald. [volume] (Shenandoah, Pa.) 1891-1966, 1895-02-07
BILL CODY ON BEARS.
EXCITING STORY OF THE DAYS OF
THE PONY EXPRESS.


express had taken great fancy to me and
lad made me kind of supernumerary
,ider who only went when it was neoessa
ry. So l had a good deal of time on my
hands. To put in my time I would fire.
luently go hunting for bears.
lone cool autumn day took an express |
pony, a good rife and pair of revolvers
and started for the foothills of Laramie |
peak. l rode along until 2 O'Clock in the |
afternoon. Although l knew from the |
tracks in the snow that bears were in the |
had not succeeded in find. |
ing any. Feeling hungry l shot sage |
hen, tied my horse TO a tree and built a
fire, on which l proceeded to broil my
chicken. After good dinner and a short
rest started out again. AS my friends
all knew that had gone out for bears, l
Thought that l would rather spend all
night in the place than go back empty
handed.
"Night came on, and still no bears. l
decided to camp out. Shooting a couple
more sage hens, hunted up an empty
place in the timber near little mountain
stream. Here dismounted. made all
preparations to build fire when was
startled by hearing not far off the neigh
of horse. Where there Is horse there
undoubtedly must be a man But what
sort of man was hef Was he white or
Indian, an honest man or crookt That
was the question l determined to solve
before let him know 1 was in the neigh
borhood, So / tied my horse to tree,
and taking my rifle with me l crept eau
tiously up the stream.
81 had not gone more than 400 yards
when, turning the bend in the stream,
came in sight of a dozen horses grazing
On the opposite side of the stream light
was shining high up on the mountain
bank / waded across, and cautiously ap
preaching the light l soon found that it
came from dugout or cave in the bank
Soon / heard voices. Then l could dis
tinguish words and found that they came
from white men who spoke my own Ian
guage l concluded that they must be u
party of trappers, SO boldly walked up
and knocked at the door. Instantly the
voices were hushed to a whisper. Then
one of them called out:
"'Who's there?
"A friend, white man, l replied.
''An uncouth looking man opened the
door and invited me to come in The
light then revealed "A dozen other occu
pants of the room of an equally repulsive
appearance. Among them ! recognized
two men who had once been teamsters IN
the train of Lew Simpson, had been dis
| charged a few months before and had then
disappeared IL was said that they had
robbed and murdered ranchman and
gone off with bis horses.
] acknowledge that my heart failed me
for the momeDU, but | gave no outward
| sign of the fact. / determined to chat
with the men for a few moments, to tell
them as little as ! could about myself and
take the earliest opportunity of leaving.
" Well, young man, said the fellow
who appeared to be the leader, who arc
you, and what are you doing hereS'
O. 4 came from Horseshoe station this
morning, replied / am searchinT foi
bear, and as l did not find any l d2c.led
to camp out and stay here all night, but
hearing your horses neigh came up here.
Are you alone2
"'Quite alone
" Where is your horseY
% L left him down the stream.
Well said the captain, we will go
down for it,
THAT was exactly what wished to
avoid, for If they were to get my horse
they would cut me off from all possibility
of escape had a shrewd suspicion that
1
that would find them ugly customers.
q No, captain, said as eheerily as
could. i will leave my gun here, and
will go back for my horse and stay witt
you all night if you will give me the &C
oommodations.
Il thought that If 1 left my gun behint
me they would be sure would come bacl
for it. My real intention, however, wa
to sacrifice it and get away from that spo
as quickly as possible. The rufians evi
IDENTIFY saw through my plan, for two o
them spoke up and said, We will go dow
with you to get your horse, and you will
leave your gun behind you.
There was nothing to do but TO con
sent. After all, thought to myself,
will be better off with two of the scoun
, drels than with the whole party, and 1 de
clded in my own mind to look out for tn
, first opportunity of giving them the g
by. When we came up to the horse, on
of the men unhitohed it and said, 4 vii
] lead it,
can right, said l, with assumed care
lessness. Il have a couple of sage hen
here that / killed for my supper and breal
fast. l guess will take them along.
II picked up the hens and followe
the man who was leading the horse.
had now become quito dark. l put m
hands in my pocket and drew out my r'
yolver. The gang had omitted to scare
+ me Then, as If by accident, l droppe
!, one of the sage hens.
/, "'Will you kindly pick 1t upY' ! said
n the man who was following me-
He stopped down. Instantly l knocl
ed him over the head with the butt end
the revolver. He fell senseless. The crat
startled the man in front of me, ana
n wheeled round quick as a flash, wlth u
hand upon the revolver. But was qulo
le er than he One shot, and he fell TO u
y ground in his death agony Jump
upon my horse and urged him to race
rs his life From the noise behind me cou
re dlmly make out that the shot had be-
heard by the men in the dugouti that tn
As had rushed out in body and had learn
81 the story from the man l had knock
down and had started in pursuit OF N
a. They were on foot, but in that rough a.
~ wooded country man could make J
~ way quicker on foot than he could
4 cot crai