The people's journal. (Pickens, S.C.) 1891-1903, 1896-10-29

wherc tho mountain streams, springing
from rocky beds not long pistol shot
apart, flowed rippling away, tho one to
tho Missouri and tho gulf of Mexico,
tho other to the Colorado and that of
California. Frayno was but Il huge
stockado in the early days of tho civil
! war, but tho government found it i'm
portanG from 4 stratcgical point of
view even after the railway spanncd
the Rockies and tho cmigrant and tho
settler no longer tlvldged tho weary trail
that, bordering tho Sioux country, be-
came speedily u road Of fire and blood
second only in its terrOrs to the Smoky
Hill route through "blccding Kansas. "
Once IL was the boast Of the DakOtus
rs 1T has been fCr generations Of their
enemies, tho A1%arakaS, Or Grows, that
they had never shed tho blood Of Il
| Tnlto man., Settlers of the old days
used to tell how the Sioux had followed
them for long, long marches, not to
murder and pil!uTc, but to restore TO
them itCins lost along the trail or ami
ln"iS StrHyCd from their little herds.
! l'ut there Can.O ;ll end to i'll this
when, resisting an unjust demand, the
Sioux being fired upon, r@taliHtrd. From
the day OF tho Grnltan massacre beyond
Old Laramie there had been no real
peace with the lords Of the northwest.
They arc quict only when subducd by
force. They havo brokcn the crust of
their environment time and again and
burst forth in the sccthing flame Of a
volcano that is ever bubbling and boil
ing beneath the fcCt OF tho fronticrsnlan
to this day.
Ard SO Erayno was maintained rs Il
military post for years, first us Il stock
atic, thcl as Il subdcpot of supplies, gar
rlSoncd by four companies OF infantry
and four OF cavalry, the former to hold
tho fort, the latter to scour tho neigh
boring country. Then, as time wore OH
and other posts were built farther up in
the Big Horn, Eraync's garrison dwin-
died, but there stood upon its command
ing blutf the low rows Of wooden bar
racks, tho parallel rows of double sets
OF broad pi;2Zzacd quarters where dwclt
the officers, the long. low, log rivctcd
walls ct thC cOrralS and cavalry stables
on the fiat below Here oddly enough,
the Twelfth had spent lively year Or
two before it went 10 Arizona. Here it
learned the Sioux country and the Sioux
go well that when, II few years back,
the ghost dance craze swept over the
plains and mountains like tho plague,
tho old regiment was hurried from its
sunShiny stations in tho south and mus
tered onco again, four troops at least,
within the very walls that long before
had echoed to it's trumpots. Here we
found them in tho midst Of the Christ
mas preparations that were turned so
suddenly into summons 20 the field, and
here again, three years later stin, head
quarters and six troops now. the proud
old regiment is still at Fraync, and
Fcnton, "vicc Farrar, killed in action
with hostile Indians" holds tho con-
mand.
y ssood soldier j. Fcnton, IL brave fcl-
loW, trilc rough ut times, like the
simple plains bred dragoon he is, but Il
! gentleman, with Il gentle heart in his
breast tor all tho stern exterior. Wom-
cn SAID of him that all he needed to
mako him perfect was polish, and all he
needed to give him polish was q wife,
for at "a tho griZZlcd colonel was a
bachelor But Fonton had had his TO-
nance III early youth. Ho had loved
with all his big heart, SO said tradition,
Il New York belle and beauty whom he
( knew III his cadet days, and who, SO
rumor SliC, preferred another, whom
snu married bv!Or" the wuY, and many
u garrison belle had since set her cap
for Lcuion and found him faithful TO
his early love. But, though the ladies'
often HpcGUiHtCd as TO the identity OF
the WOMAN who had held tho coluncl's
heart in bondage all these years and
blocked the way for all successors, no
ono of their number had ever heard her
namo or ever knew the truth. One Off
Ger there WAS in the Twelfth who, liko
FcntOu himself, was Il confirmed bach
clOr and who WAS said to be possessed
OF the whole story, but there was no use
asking Malcolm l.culc to tell anybody's
secrets and when Fcnton came to
Fraync, promoted to the command SO
recently held by Il man they all loved
and honorcd, il was patent to everybody
that he felt sorciy, as though he were
an uSu?pcr. FcntOn WIS many long
miles away with another battalion OF
tho Twelfth the day Of the tragic battle
on the Mimi Pu$a, and it was long
months thereafter before he appeared at
rcgimCntal headquarters, and then he
brought with him IS his hou&ckc"pcr his
maidcn sister Lucrctia, and III Llicro-
tia Fcnton--thc drcami"st, dOwdicst,
kindlicSt, QuaintCSt middle aged pratt
tier that over lived, moved and had hcr
being in the arny-thc Ladies OF tho
Twelfth found SO mlirh 70 make merry
over that they we'll nigh forgot aNd for
gavo the unilattcrimS indifference TO
feminine destinations OF her brother,
tho colonel.
When Fcnton came the Enlrars,
widowed mother and devoted daughter,
had been gone somo weeks. The shock
OF her husbands death had we'll nigh
shaken Mrs. Ealrar'S reason, and for
months hor condition was indeed de-
plorablc Tho next summer the FarrarS
spent at West Point. 1t was Wits first
class camp, and Will was cadet captain
or tho color company, and capital
young officer despite II boyish face and
manner, and then Jack Ormsby. who
never before had "taEcn much stock in
| Dn., L.. ly,I en-