Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1895-01-16
BILL CODY ON BEARS.
EXCITING STORY OF THE DAYS OF
THE PONY EXPRESS.
The Famous Scout and Indian Fighter
Goes on q Hunt For Bruin and Has q
Lively Time With Horse Thieves-How


Lively Time with Horse Thieves-How
He Outwftted Them In Race For Life.
Il have not yet exhausted the subject
Of the pony express began Colonel Will
liam f. Cody. LET me tell you Of one
Of my bear stories. Captain Slade OF the
express bad taken great fancy to me and
had made me a kind of supernumerary
rider who only went when it was necessa-
ry. So / had good deal OF time on my
hands. To put in my time would fire.
qnently go hunting for bears.
lone coo, autumn day took an express
pony, a good rifle and pair Of revolvers
and started for the foothills Of Laramie
peak rode along until O'Clock in the
afternoon. Although / knew from the
tracks in the snow that bears were in the
neighborhood, ! had not succeeded in find
ing any. Feeling hungry, shot sage
hen, tied my horse to tree and built
fire, on which I proceeded to broll my
chicken. After good dinner and SNORT
rest started out again. AS my trends
all knew that had gone out for bears, 4
thought that l would rather spend all
night in the place than go back empty
handed.
might 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. l MADE all
preparations to build a fire when l was
startled by hearing not far off the neigh
Of horse. Where there is horse there
undoubtedly must be man. But what
sort of q man was he9 Was he white or
ri
was tho question / determined to solve
before let him know was in the neigh
borbood. So | tied my horse to tree,
and taking my rife with me crept eau
tiously up the stream.
II had not gone more than 400 yards
when. turning the bend in the stream,
came in sight of a dozen horses grazing.
On tho opposite side of the stream light
was shining high up ON the mountain
bank. waded across, and cautiously APP
preaching the light / soon found that it
came from dugout, or cave, in the bank.
Soon / heard voices. Then / could dis
tinguish words and found that they came
from white men who spoke my own Ian
euage concluded that they must be
party Of trappers so / boldly walked up
and knocked at the door. Instantly the
voices were hushed to a whisper. Then
ono of them called out:
who's there|
"'A friend, a white man, replied.
can uncouth looking man opened the
door and invited me to come in. The
light then revealed dozen other occu-
pants of tho room OF an equally repulsive
apuearance Among them L recognized
two men who had once been teamsters in
the train Of Lew Simpson, had been dis
charged few months before and had then
disappeared. 1t was said that they had
robbed and murdered a ranchman and
gone off with his horses.
II acknowledge that my heart failed me
for the momenG, but l gave no outward
sign of the fact. 1 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 tho fellow
who appeared to be the leader, who are
you, and what are you doing hcreg'
81 came from Horseshoe station this
morning, / replied i am searching for
bear, and as l did not find any l decided
to camp out aud stay here all night, bus
hearing your horses neigh came up here
Are you aloneS'
"'Quite alone.
Where is your horseY
al left him down the stream
Well, said tho 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 i had a shrowd suspicion that
they were party of horse thieves, and
that / would find them ugly customers.
:" No, captain, | said as cheerily as l
could. i VIII leave my gun here, and l
will go back for my horse and stay with
you all night If you will give me the &C
Communications,
II thought that if left my gun behind
mo they would be sure would come back
for it. My real intention, however, was
to sacrifice it and get away from that spot
as quickly as possible The rutlians evil
IDENTIFY saw through my plan, for two of
them spoke up and said, 'Wewill go down
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 de-
cided in my own mind to lock out for the
first opportunity of giving them the go
by. When we came up TO the horse, one
of the men unhitched it and said, will
lead it,
"'All right, said 1, with assumed care
lessness. I have u couple of sage hens
here that / killed for my supper and break
fast. / guess | will take them along
II picked up the hens and followed
the man who was leading the horse. 1t
had now become quite dark. l put my
hands in my pocket and drew out my re-
volver The gang had omitted TO search
me. Then, as if by accident, l dropped
one of the sage hens.
"'Wil you kindly pick it up?' said to
the man who was following me.
HE stopped down. Instantly / knock
ed him over the head with the butt end of
the revolver. He fell senseless. The crash
startled the man in front of me- and he
wheeled round quick as a flash, with his
hand upon the revolver But l was quick
er than he One shot, and he fell to tho
ground in his death agony. l jumped
upon my horse and urged him to race for
his life From the noise behind me could
dimly make out that the shot had been
heard by the mon in the dugout; that they