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


tire by General Hancock and his staff, to
whom the dashing Custer and six troops of
the Seventh cavalry from Fort Hayes acted
as an escort
At this time the Kansas Pacific railroad
was about to send several corps of engi-
neers toward the Pacific, and as the sue
cess of the survey depended from the start
ON the friendliness of the nomad tribes
this council was called to secure it.
Roman Nose, chief of the Arapahoes,
was by all odds the most prominent and
picturesque figure among the Indians
After the treaty was made Roman Nose
took a fancy to a cavalry bugle and the
! full dress coat of Lieutenant Duncan
Graham, and the general, to make the
compact doubly sure, gave him these arti-
cles
Confident that the Indian war was over
! for that summer at least, the engineer I'D
vance proceeded from Salina, Kan, then
the farthest western railroad point to Fort
| Wallace, near the Colorado line.
General Hancock went on to Wallace
where Captain Keogh was then in com
mand, and he took the troop with him to
Denver, thing Hancock would not have
done had he the faintest suspicion that the
Indians had already violated the treaty
and were then numbering white men along
| the Kaw and the Smoky Hill rivers.
Lieutenant Beecher, a nephew of the ia
nous clergyman, was at that time quar-
termaster ut Wallace He was killed by
the Indians few weeks after this, but in
the meantime he was busy getting up the
necessary buildings, and for this purpose
had opened quarry of magnetism lime
stone. This quarry was on the southern
edge of the military reservation, which the
engineers were then laying out, and some
30 civilians were employed in getting out
stone.
After Keogh left with General Hancock
the uniformed fighting force at Wallace
consisted of about 80 men, under command
of First Lieutenant Bell.
One morning early 1 was startled by
hearing the beating of the long roll fol-
lowed by the hoarse shouting of excited
men. Then came loud rapping with the
butt of a carbine on my cabin door, and an
Irish sergeant shouted:
"Get up at once, STRIP
What for9' / asked.
"The Injuns are about the fort in
swarms. They are attacking the men in
the quarry cabins. just hear the yelling
of the devilSP'
BY this time was up and dressing. The
sergeant went on, and looking out the lit
tie window at the back saw clouds of
horsemen galloping over the rolling plains.
Many a time before this / had been
startled from weary man s sleep by drum
or bugle, and awoke to the fierce yells of
Drawer men, and the rafting, irregular fire
of vedette or skirmisher that always struck
me as weird prelude to the opera of death,
but was never so completely demoralized
as on this occasion.
l dressed, strapped on my pistols and
threw myself into the saddle, Beecher hay
ing thoughtfully sent me good mount
"We must save the men at the quarry"
said Bell, who rode up at the head of his
little band
IF you take so many men from the
fort, said Bennett, the post scout and in
terpreter, 1.-THE Indians will sweep in here,
for there's no defense and only about rs
civilians. 1t looks to me like suicide"
with 20 men in the main building, the
only one they can't fire." said Beecher,
'Ill contract to stand off 1900 till Custer
sends or brings help from Hayes; so wade
In, Bill Seei The red dogs have fired the
building over at the quarryp'
Up against the rising sun black smoke
pillars rose, and through this the centaur-
like savages plunged like demons born of
the fire.
Riding beside Bell, and with our heavy
American horses leaping the buffalo wal.
lows and plunging into the prairie dog
holes, felt that our men were hardly a
match for an equal number of the wild |
horsemen In our front
The night before the rolling plains were
black with buffalo. This morning it |
looked as II thousands of mounted Indians |
had taken their place.
Beyond Pond creek and few hundred |
yards from the quarry we dismounted, and |
a single volley from the spencers of the |
troopers opened up wide path to the front. |
was now in position to take in the