Kansas City daily journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1892-1897, 1895-04-18
KILLED TEN REDSKINS.
TuI STORY or "ISDIAS MARY's'
WINNING TIGpr
single Handed She iought and laid Low
u Murdcrous party Bent on killing
Her and per Husband 4 story
of rsriy Days In Idaho.

. ~ ~ everybody. She was always referred
to as Indian Mary" II was not because
ay sy nav wrEr fT IN an Se Ne% Yok Pr Pres 6at
| because OF the adventure in witch. single
| dian Warriors III q fair hEht The fertile
section OF Central Idaho known as Kamas
range Of mountains to about thirty miles
! soAth OF the Malade river total dis
J lance Of ninety miles. while the average
| breath Is about eeventN.hve. one of the
| ilrst settlers On the prairie was Colonel
| sexton whose wife Mary was, they moy,
| speak several Indian dialects and had
many times acted as Interpreter when
| knew him to De fair man and respected
When the colonel took M his land on the
an2vS an} , VIA, he PAID 70 The geNye,rnmeittt,
| named RED Rock, who took dislike to the
colonel for some reason OF other. aud hus-
their cabin when they were warned to
i2ok out for him N the Indians ahou,
and SO very little attention was paid TO
the warnings. one September day In iSG3
Red Rock called together nine young
strong and uGly-tempered and suggested
That they 20 and wipe out the Sexton fam
start them on The ten left camp under
pretense OF going on a hunt and then
claim. They expected TO find the colonel
working in the field. but ii SO happened
that he left home early In the morning
for a ride of twenty miles on a matter OF
business. When 1t was found that the
husband was absent II was determined
10 kin tho wife and burn the cabin.
Mrs. Sexton had accidentally observed
the approach Of the Indians and their de-
little woman, being scarce, five feet high
and weighing only ITO rounds and the red
men l9okT4 upon p0 her & as hIardy bar w9rG than
rifle and a revolver at home, and when
the, Indians entered the cabin the woman
had these Weapons at hand, though not
in sight. There We're three rooms in the
cahin-sittinG room. kitchen and bed room.
The Indians left their firearms, outdoors
ton seated In the bed room door with
some, work in her hands. ,,-,,
something to eat This was mere pre-
tense. The woman replied that she would
stances, and as game was plenty, they
must furnish their own food. on top of
this she ordered them out. of the house.
and added that the colonel would report
their impudent conduct to the chief Her
defiant attitude gave Red Rock the excuse
he wanted. and drawing his hunting knife
from its sheath. he said:
I'VE have come here to kill you! When
the colonel returns he will find YOU roast
white folks and Will never be friends with
AS he ceased speaking Mrs Sexton rose
up. seized her WINCHESTER which was
standing Just inside the door. and at once
opened fire on the crowd. Her action was
so quick and unlocked for as to produce
panic. Realizing that her life depended
on her own efforts, and that Red Rock
was the leader Of the gang she pulled
his tracks. Before the others could get
out of the house she had dropped two
more. The seven Indians ran for their
guns as soon as outside. the door. Mrs.
Sexton had seen them hiding their rifles.
and sne followed them toward the spot
and Knocked over a fourth man before
weapon was raised against her. The In
dians were armed only with mu2ze load
ing rifles, and as soon as they had the
turn.
The woman replied, but at the same time
backed toward the door In the course
or three minutes dozen shots We're fired,
but none Of them took effect. She had but
one cartridge left in the gun when an In
dian leapei forward, knife in hand, to
seize her. She shot him dead when only
ten feet away. and then retreated into the
house. In couple of minutes she had the
rifle recharged. and then looked ont to
see three Of the. five remaining Indians
getting armfuls of hay to pile against the
eled on the door aud window on that side
of the structure. There was a small win
dow on ne other side, and Mrs, sexton
ground, The first the Indians knew Of her
presence outside was when she shot down
across the yard This left but four alive.
IN At i nFSI they ran away, but after leaving
,he M cabin quarter Of mile behind them
killed at ali hazards. They. therefors,
.wittly returned. each by himself. hoping
outside the house and on the alert. She
managed to keep track of the movements
OF three of the Indians, but the fourth
crSpt up under cover of a ditch and had
a fair shot a her at a distance Of 100 feet,
ne bullet cut the waist OF her dress under
her leit arm, but tid not touch the flesh.
AS Mrs Sexton saw the smoke above the
dltch she LETT the shelter of the cabin and
adyanced upon the Indian. Her action rat
mot
rlue and he rose up to run away. From a
distance of hfty feet she fired and tumbied
hips down. hut lived about five hours The
three remaining Indians took refuge behind
away, and the woman took up a position
al the corner OF the cabin. Ten or a dozen
then one Of the bucks carclessly exposed
hiaseif nm Ell, qnd was shot through the left lung
n nw i,.f ,aft o Nj M zen mn bihmnIGs m only two We're
They probably agreed that the best
chance chance vas vas , TO- make rush, upon, the
nripg qpon her, before The rush, as they;
they left cover. She, dropped one OF them
almost as soon as he stepped out. The
other, turned to the west to run away, but
stumbled ana fell and as he got up he re-
ceived bullet in the back and pitched for
ward to die within five minutes. A quarter
Indians, who had been attracted by the
firing. rode up from the south. The woman
was found seated ON the doorstep with the
winchester lying across her lap, She was
pale and trembling, but by no means ON
the point of fainting away, The only red-
skin she left alive was the man she had in
the ditch, and he il was who gave the par
ticulars of the attack. The ten bucks had
come there with the fun determine ton 10 |
Kill and rob and burn ana his only regret
was that they had failed to carry out their |
programme. He spoke in terms of highest |
praise Of the wOmnn'S bravery, but Ia
mented the fact that his bullet had not |
laid her low,
As soon as news Of the tragedy reached
Gray Wolf, chief of the tribe. he had the |
bodies of the ten flung together and burned |
and their rifles ponies and whatever other |
property they possessed were |
given to Mrs. Nton. In addition she was |
with 800 acres of land and for |
mally adopted by Gray Wolf as his sister, |
and so long as an Indian remained I'm that |
locality she was looked upon with the ut |
most awe and reverence. That white |
woman should not only come off victor i'm |
such fight, but wipe out ten Indians in |
addition, was considered "A miracle by all |
red men and a wonderful thing by ali |
whites. and up to the day of her death |
Mrs, Sexton received homage above any |
man or woman in the territory. Ten years |
after the fight, when the colonel was re- |
moved by death, over fifty Indians made a
Journey of 200 miles on foot to symDa athiZe
with her and look upon his grave The
'ahin and stables were long since removed
as changes for the better occurred, but on
he site of the former the traveller will To-
lay find heap of stones and a sign bear
ng the legend;
Here occurred the fight in which :