The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1896-12-12
AFIREwATER SPRING
.,xovluAav PLANS OF WILD INDIANS
SANSO ~ eveRLy FRUSTRATED.

~tiOn h NJ, whisky and Saved the
wa. Of six Prisoners
o.. man happened to meet man
a s s"a served term or two or three
who n'u ~ nonitentiaries, hadn't served
in various 10 should have served and IS
seVera. - serve more before he is through
Likely '.a ya " Sc OF course that kind OF
with n,..i ;nteresting, and after time
man T So cot to talking under the mel
suIr influence of things made ior 'no
. lu~'s no was more interesting,
pu ,iwNon I was / 3 years younger tnah
an now, /" he said, II was out IN the
.,ountains of the west on a gOvernnnens
inO ''"rotion, where could make money
, IT, Cling whisky under post prices l
u,s always on the make and SO l Snug,
was - dozen or more gallons and had
ssom hid in cave ten miles or so out
tneln a Nv The cave was kind of two
Oh ie' ofrair the upper story being my
aols s. al" and there had my jugs OF liq.
'sS.I hid away, and from there carried
:: w. ont in smaller quantities Tor dis'ri-
II 1 Va' The lower part of the cave was
o Ou' t0at below the upper chamber, and
:: ~ ~. tSS mart was q basin Of water, which
nod H. dripped from the upper part: IL dld
pa at o Sr more than gallon of water.
NV I%now Il was easily exhausted, for l
,.ant many a night there, and found
there wasn't water enough to boil "a ket-
w aWell about the time I got IN my
,ooord installment Of fire juice the In
S;ans cot bad and began creeping In
,oward the settlements. l thought my
cave was unknown to the Indians as
ro,l az the whites, but it appears that
y wasn't. and one morning l barely had
time 70 slip ont of my down stairs room
and cot mn in the loft before 10 or IL or
tbe bloodiest looking braves you ever
cav souatted in front of my residence
and began holding a council of war. In
half an hour or more all of them except
one went away, and he remained to
keep watch.
6At noon three returned with five
white prisoners, and at 6 o'clock the rest
Of them came in with girl about a
Years old. Just what they were going
10 do was not apparent, and it WASH {
easy for me to find out, because when l
came down to point where l could see
WAS in danger of getting caught my
self did see enough, though, to show
me that the five white prisoners, who
were all old men, hadn't much chance
for their lives, but that the child would
be carried away. To save myself had
been my first thought, and now to save
these poor wretches was first.
"While l was debating what to do or
give it up as a bad job one of the In
dams went to the spring and got some
water. That was my cue. In minute
more Twas back up in my chamber. just
over the headwaters of the spring, and,
having turned the drip into another
channel, started stream of that kill
,at4Orod whisky down the shoot and then
slipped back TO watch the proceedings.
They were discussing when to kill the
prisoners-I knew enough Indian tc
know that. And when it was about dc.
termined to hold them over q day and
see if they couldn't pick up few more
and have real big time, another oil
them went over to the spring for water.
This time it wasn't so much water as il
had been. Whatever it was made the
ugly redskin give big 'Ugh' Of delight
and the others went over to him. Well,
tisn't necessary for me to 60 into par
ticulars
anybody, even reporter, knows
what becomes of an Indian or a dozer
@ them when there are unlimited guam
titles OF frewater at their disposal, ant
as soon as saw how the thing was go
ing hurried back and set another juf
Owork' Twas little afraid they NIGH
set ugly drunk and kill their prisoners
out evidently they hadn't had much Il
sa' that day, and the liquor was getting
N Jus work on empty stomachs. What
e,er was the cause, before I had any
"ea mat 1t was time for it the Who'll,
VI 'nem was full, and in few minutes
aiOie 'hey were lying around the littl,
Oasin OF the spring so drunk they coult
nOt move hand or foot.
Then 1t was NV time IN NAV Qua
.Orked up the liquor upstairs for anoth
Jay and went down stairs. Tier,
WSn much time for thanks, becaus,
0uioh know when the enemy Nigh
n maAe 1t unpleasant for Us. So 1 told tn,
r mIsvners TO take care of the Indian
Ia; LAM ! 'ook care of the little girl, which
.uu Dy taking her outside of the cave
S %ne'e she could breathe the free air O
s thoua once more. You see, / kind O
,b Eusnt they might like to attend {,
;oam themselves, he added apologet
Nally and stopped. eS'
9, ., anu oid they?" inquired the report
had 'no narrator seemed to think n
ai ieacned the end Of his story.
le,s, suppose they did, he replied. "a
sho" s wnen went back TO the cave
sjmm.a@ month later. when the war ha,
Of thoa' uown some, found the bodie
mif ,h.i INDIANS almost as we'll preserve,
that due ey mad been put up in alcohol
fol. v ur,n whisky of mine was SO power
sorrv JI . KNOW l Twas always kind O