San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1895-07-21

replied the old scout I'm not afraid Of
'em. I'll take the Ind an woman along,
and I'll exchange her for Mrs. Geisel
and tho baby.
SIN a short time Brown started on
his Grand The Indian woman was
with him We watched him as long as
we could see him. Final y he approached
the Indian position and displayed a
white flag The Indians knew well
enough what that meant, and they sent
a chief out to meet him. This chief
proved to be man of intelligence and
of pretty good character for an Indian.
He recognized the amenities of the stu
alton and promised to deal fairly. just
the same old Brown would not permit
him to come nearer than 90 feet to the
spot where he and the Indian woman
were standing. Brown told this chief
that his business was to exchange an
Indian woman for Mrs. Geisel and the
baby, and that if any harm were done
to Mrs. Geisel or the child or to him
every Indian in the tribe would be
killed as soon as the soldiers could come
from the south He also said Mrs Gel
sci was to be brought out to meet him
by one Indian, and that if two came he
would not consent to the exchange.
These terms were agreed to and carried
out to the letter. The same Indian
brought Mrs. Geisel and the baby down
to the meeting place, and the exchange
was made.
"I'll never forget the scene which we
witnessed that afternoon, continued
Congressman Hermann, when old
Brown came down the mountain side
carrying the wee baby in his arms and
leading poor Mrs Geisel, still attired in
her torn and tattered nightdress, by
the hand. A great shout went up in the
settlement, and a party of US rushed out
to meet them and escort them to the
fort in triumph"
Congressman Simpson In q Shipwreck.
Storm and shipwreck led Jerry Simp-
son to make his first public speech. 1t
was away back in 1878. Jerry was in
command of the barge ]. n Rutter,
which, in tow of the steamer V. 81
Ketcham, left the port Of Chicago Oct.
80 and ran into what is remembered to
this day as one of the worst storms that
ever swept over Lake Michigan.
"The nor'wester struck us off Point
Betsey," said Jerry Simpson, in telling
the story to some of his congressional
friends last winter. "The seas began to
run mast high. We went ON with diff
Guilty till about midnight, when the
hawser between my boat and the steam
er parted in the strain. The barge i'm
mediately swung into the trough of the
sea and broke her steering gear. She
was well nigh unmanageable, but Or
dered out the anchors, and we succeeded
in dropping them and in getting hold
some miles off Ludington. A lifeboat
tried to reach us from the shore, but
was unable to do so on account Of the
heavy sea- Next morning the storm had
moderated to some extent, and a govern
ment tug came out to us from Luding-
ton, bringing with it barge with
which to save some of our cargo.
"Then the tug carefully approached
us on the lee side and put aboard 81
men who had been brought out to trans
fer our cargo to the barge. I set them
to work shifting the load in order to
help the vessel ride out the waves, when
the storm broke out again with redou-
bled fury. Our anchorage gave way,
and we were set adrift. The waves
rolled over us, and I knew that if we
did not run aground pretty soon we
should founder, and there was not much
choice of evils. Our cargo consisted of
$4,000 bushels of rye, and any sailor
will tell you that is about the slpperi-
est and most treacherous sort Of cargo
a skipper can have in his hold in rough
weather. The rye kept running to one
side till our ship was frightfully listed,
and, in fact, the water was standing
ankle deep upon the lee side of our deck.
The seas were now running pretty high,
and it looked as if we were in tight
fix. Iordered the longshoremen to take
to the rigging and to hold ON with
death grip in order to avoid being
washed away. In few minutes the
crew and I had to do the same thing.
We climbed into the upper rigging with
the seas boiling through and over our
poor craft below us. felt particularly
sad when I saw my trunk and all my
best clothes go floating by. By this
time the ship was pounding very hard
on the bottom, and as every big sea
struck her I thought it would be the
last and that she would break in two
and go to pieces.
"Fully 5000 people were gathered
ON the shore watching our struggle
against the elements and wondering if
we should be able to reach the shore
alive Twenty-four hours we stuck to
the rigging, and pretty dreary work it
was, you may imagine, but we knew
the gallant crews of the life saving serv-