Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1895-01-25
BILL CODY ON BEARS,
EXCITING STORY OF THE DAYS OF
THE PONY EXPRESS.

I1ie FAMOUS Scout and Indian Fighter
Goes on q Hunt For Bruin and Has q
Lively Time With Horse Thieves-How
He Outwit.ed Them In a Race For Life
Il have not yet exhausted the subject
Of the pony express, - began Colonel Will
Nam f. Cody. LET me tell you of one
of my bear stories. Captain Slado of the
express had taken a great fancy to me and
had made mo a kind of supernumerary
rider who only went when it was necessa-
~, So I had a good deal Of time on my
hands. To put III my time I would fire.
quently go hunting for bears.
"One cool autumn Gay l took an express
pony, a good riflo and q pair of revolvers
and started for the foothills of Laramie
peak. I rode along until 2 o'clock in the
afternoon. Although I knew from the
tracks in the snow that bears were in the
neighborhood, I had not succeeded in find
ing any. Feeling hungry, I shot a sage
hen, tied my horse to a tree and built a
fire, ON which I proceeded to broil my
chicken. After a good dinner and a short
rest l started out again. AS my friends
all knew that I had gone out for bears, I
thought that I would rather spend all
night in the place than go back empty
handed.
Might came on, and still no bears. 1
decided to camp u Shooting a couple
more sage hens, I hunted up an empty
place i'll the tim Der near a little mountain
stream. Here l d~ismounted. I made all
preparations to build u fro when I was
startled by hearing not far off tho neigh
OF a horse. Where there is a horse there
undoubtedly must be a man. But what
sort of a man was he? Was he white or
Indian, al honest man or a crook That
was the question 1 determined to solve
before l let him know l was in the neigh
,orhood. So l tied my horse to a tree,
and taking my rifle with mo I crept oau-
tiously up the stream.
II had not gone moro than 400 yards
when, turning the benz in the stream, l
came in sight of a dozen horses grazing.
On the opposite side of tho stream Il light
was. shining high up on tho mountain
bank. l wadcd across, and cautiously APP
preaching the light I soon found that it
came from a dugout, or cave, in the bank.
Soon I heard voices. Then 1 could dis
tinguish words and found that they came
from white men who spoke my own lam
guage. 1 concluded that they must be a
party of trappcrs, SO I boldly walked up
and knocked at the door. Instantly the
voices were hushed to a whisper. Then
Of them called out:
"'Who's there?'
"A friend, Il white man. I replied.
A 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 I 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. 1t was said that they had
robbed and murdered a ranchman and
Como off with his horses.
Il acknowledge that my heart failed me
for the moment, but I gave no outward
sign of the fact. I determined to chat
with the men for a few moments, to toll
them rs 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 arc
you, and what are you doing herc?"
- came from Horseshoe station this
morning. l replied. L am searching for
bear, and as I did not find any 1 decided
to camp out and stay here all night, but
hearing your horses neigh I came up hero.
Are you alone?'
"'Quite alone
"'Where is your horse?'
~ left him down the stream
"'Well,' said the captain, we will go
down for it
"That vas exactly what I wished to
avoid, for if they were to get my horse
they would cut me off from all possibility
Of escape. l had a shrewd suspicion that
they were a party of horse thieves, and
that l would find them ugly customers.
mo, captain l said as cheerily as 1
could. I will leave my gun here, and I
will go back for my horse and stay with
you all night if you will give me the &C
c~ommodations.'
u thought that if I left my gun behind
ME they would be sure I would come back
for it. My real intention, however, was
to sacrifice it and get away from that spot
as quickly as possible. The rutfians evil
IDENTIFY saw through my plan, for two of
them spoke up and said, We will so down
with you to get your horse, and you will
leave your gun behind you
There was nothing to do but to con-
sont. After all, 1 thought to myself, +
will be better off with two Of the scoun-
drels than with the whole party, and 1 de-
cided in my own mind to look 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, I will
lead it,
"'All right, said 1, with assumed care
lessness. I have a couple of sage lens
here that killed for my supper and break
fast. I 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, I dropped
one of the sage hens.
Twill you kindly pick it up?' I said to
the man who was following me.
He stopped down. Instantly I knock
Cd hin 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
or than he. One shot, and he fell to the
ground in his death agony. I jumped
upon my horse and urged him to race for
his life. From the noise behind me I could
dimly make out that the shot had been
heard by the men in the dugout; that they
had rushed out in q body and had learned