The evening bulletin. [volume] (Maysville, Ky.) 1887-1905, 1896-08-29

care, however, to keep out of range. There
were at least 2,000 warriors present
Through my fleldglass most Of them looked
to be naked. A few had rifles and pistols,
but the weapons were principally spears
and arrows
Conspicuous among the red riders was
man mounted on a large gray horse. He
Sireoted the movements Of his warriors by
means OF q mirror or other bright SUD-
stance fastened to the end Of his lance.
But what most impressed me about this
man was the fact that he wore an officers
dress coat, and when he was not signaling
his braves he was blowing cavalry bugle
with vigor of lung wholly In excess Of
his skill
We were In the presence Of the confeder-
ated braves of the plains, and the leader
was Roman Nose, with bare legs, an old
plug hat Duncan Graham's coat and the
cavalry bugle presented him by General
Hancock when two months before the
white men and red men on the Kaw swore
"to be brothers while grass grew and wa
ter ran"
wish I had the time to tell how the
pledge came to be broken, but we subse-
quently learned that irresponsible white
men were the first aggressors.
Without losing a man or a horse we
reached the quarry, where we found that
three men had been killed and five or six
wounded.
Placing the dead and helpless in the
wagons used to carry stones to the fort, we
were about to make our way back, when
one of the wounded called out piteously:
For Gods sake, don't leave Tom Ryan
back therel He's my brother!'
This Tom Ryan, as l afterward learned,
had served as a lieutenant in Kansas
cavalry regiment during the war. He was
at this time q powerful man of 40 and in
charge of the wagons.
When the Indians first appeared, Ryan
mounted his horse and rode out to see what
the presence of so many warriors meant.
He was cut off from the quarry, and every
man but his brother Dan believed him
dead and scalped.
1t was hard to leave man behind If there
was chance of saving him, but the SIM
plest could see that our own safety, as
we'll as that of the men with Beecher, Hale
and Lea in the fort, depended on our get
ting back as soon as possible.
We had half decided to retreat, when
wild yell and hoarse shout came to our
ears from the cottonwoods down by the
Smoky hill
On the instant every man turned in the
direction of the sound.
Up from the river galloped bunch of
four horsemen. The one slightly in the
advance was Tom Ryan, the wagon mas
ter. His three pursuers were Cheyennes.
There was band of 200 Indians within
reach, but they must have felt certain that
their companions were equal to one white
man. for they remained spectators while
their wild yells and laughter told they
were enjoying the sport.
A number of dismounted rlflemen hur-
ried out to help Ryan, whose horse appear
ed to be failing.
We could hear the taunts Of an Indian
who had brought his horse close up on
Ryan's bride arm but the triumph of the
savage was brief The white man suddenly
tightend his rein and dexterously wheeled
so as to bring the Indian to the right
Then came jet of silvery smoke, the crack
of pistol, and the Indian fell dead, while
the mustang galloped into our lines
Troopers and quarrymen sent up wild
cheer and it required restraint to hold
them back. Had they gone to Ryan's aid,
every Indian within sight would have been
down ON us
While disposing of the foremost Indian
tho others had gained on Ryan They were
so close to him, and their positions were
changing so rapidly, that our best shots
were afraid they might hurt our friend, yet
more nervous men could not resist the i'm
pulse to fire.
Suddenly, and when within about 300
yards of the quarry, the three horses went
down in q heap, and the next instant the
three men were on their feet
1t was now a duel to the death, with all
the odds against the white man.
With n swinging blow of his rifle Ryan
felled the smaller of the Indians, but be-
fore he could repeat the blow the other