Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1895-06-06

and Knocked over her fourth man be-
fore weapon was raised against her.
The Indians were armed only with
muzzle loading rifles, and as soon as
they had the weapons in hand they
opened fire in return.
The woman replied, but at the same
time backed toward the door. In the
course of three minutes dozen shots
were fired but none of them took eff
feet. She had but one cartridge left
in the gun when an Indian leaped for
ward, knife in hand, to seize her. She
shot him dead when only ten feet
away and retreated into the house.
In couple of minutes she had the rifle
recharged, and then looked out to see
three of the FIVE remaining Indians
getting armfuls of hay from the stack
to pile against the cabin. The other
two had their rifles leveled on the door
and window on that side of the struc-
ture. There was a small window on the
other side, and Mrs. Sexton crawled
through it and dropped to the ground.
The first the Indians knew Of her
presence outside was when she shot
down the foremost of the trio carrying
hay across the yard. This left but
four alive.
At first they ran away, but after
leaving the cabin quarter of a mile
behind them they decided that the
woman must be killed at all hazards.
They, therefore, returned by them
selves, hoping to surprise her. Mrs.
Sexton had remained outside the house
and on the alert. She managed to
keep track of the movements of three
of the Indians, but the fourth crept
up under cover of a ditch and had a
fair shot at her at a distance of 100
feet. The bullet cut the waist of her
dress under her left arm, but did not
touch the flesh.
As Mrs. Sexton saw the smoke
above the ditch she left the shelter Of
the cabin and advanced upon the In
dians. Her action ratified the buck,
who had not vet reloaded his rife, and
he rose up to run away. From dis
tance of fifty feet she fired and tum-
bled him over with a bullet in his
back. He was mortally wounded and
paralyzed from his hips down, but
lived about five hours. The three re-
naming Indians took refuge behind
the stable, which was about fifty yards
away, and the woman took up a posi-
ton at the corner of the cabin. Ten
or dozen shots were fired at her with
out effect, and then one of the bucks
carelessly exposed himself and was
shot through the left lung and died
in ten minutes. Only two were now
left out of the band of ten.
They probably agreed that their
best chance was to make a rush upon
the woman, for that was the expedi-
ent adopted They did a foolish thing,
however, IN firing upon her before the
rush, as they had only their knives to
depend on when they left cover. She
stopped one Of them almost as soon as
he stepped out. The other turned to
the west to run away, but stumbled
and fell, and as he got up he received
a bullet in the back and pitched for
ward to die within five minutes. y
quarter of an hour later two white
men and three Indians, who had been
attracted by the firing, rode up from
the south. The woman was found
seated on the doorstep with the Win
chester lying across her lap. She was
pale and trembling but by no means
on the point of fainting away. The
only redskin left alive was the man
she had shot in the ditch, and he II
was who gave the particulars OF the
attack. The ten bucks had come
there with the full determination tc
kill and rob and burn, and his only
regret was that they had failed to
carry out their programme. lie spoke
in terms of highest praise of the wo'
mans bravery, but lamented the fact
that his bullel had not laid her low.
As soon as the news of the tragedy
reached Gray Wolf, chiefof the tribe
he had the bodies of the ten flung to-
gether and burned, and their rifles
ponies, and whatever other persona
property they possessed were given tc
Mrs. Sexton. In addition, she wa
presented with 800 acres of land and
formally adopted by Gray Wolf as
his sister, and SO long as an Indian re-
mained in that locality she was looked
upon with the utmost awe and rever
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