The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1896-12-09
INDIANS.
The Colonel Tells the Story OF n
Des peratc Battle,
TIlETEXAS RANGERS CAN SHOOT
rn''"Ahn"oHns Agn,ns, Comauch,.,-rhs
Former Had u Cnnnibsl Feat ,h,t
IEht-Tradiiion OF, h Y rlb e-s,r,Liur
Ftaiures ofthe Fight.

IInhtCF nhtth!lOn OrRtntc troops on tho
whole frontier and had my camp on
tho Deer Fork Of the Urazos," says
Il writer In l~larpcr's magazine. "rhc
ComanchcS kept raIdIng the settlement.
They would come down quietly. work.
Ing well into the white lines. and then
10 back a-runnlng driving stolen
stock and killing and burning. |
thought l would give them some OF
their " medicine. | concluded to
give them n fight.
I took two wagons. one hundred
rangers and one hundred and thirteen
Tahnahuacan Indians. who were
fricndlcSs. w struck a good Indian
tran on the stream which led IN TO the
Canadian. We followed It til 1t got hot.
| campcd my outfit in such a manner
as TO conceal my force and sent out
my scouts, who saw the Indians hunt
buIalo through spyGlasscs. That night
We moved. | sent Indians to loCata
the camp. They returned before day
ana reported that the Indians were
Just a few miles ahead, wherelt We
moved forward.
AT dlybrcak. I remember, I was
standing in the bull-wagOn road lead
Ing to Santa Fc and could see the Ca
madam river In our forthwith eighty
lodges Just beyond. Counting four men
Of lighting + to a lodge. that made Il
possible three hundred and twenty In
dams. Just at sun-up an Indian came
across the river on u pony. Our ludi-
ans below raised a yGll-thcy always
Set excited. Tbs Indian heard them
Il was very still then.
THE Indian rctrcatcd slowly and be-
gan 10 ride In a circle.
From where | was I could hear him
pun like 4 deer-he was blowing the
bullets away from himselt-he was n
medicine man. | heard five shots from
thc Jagers with which my Indians
were armed, The painted pony OF the
medicine man Jumped ten feet in the
air. It seemed TO me and fell over on his
ridcT-thcn i've more JlSers went OF,
and he was dead. | ordered the Tahun-
hulcans out In front md kept the ran
gers out or sight. because | wanted
10 charge home and kind OF surprise
them.
Pretty soOn | got ready and gave
thc word. We charged. At the river We
struck some DOGGY ground and i!oun-
dered around considerable, but We got
through. We raised the Texas yell and
away we went. l never again expect
TO hear such 4 nolsc-I never want to
hear it-what with the whoOps OF the
warTlors-the screaming OF the women
and children-our boys yelling the
shooting and the horses Just a-miXIn'
up and ~a-stampcdin' around" and the
colonel bobbcd his head slowly rs he
continued:
One OF my men didn't know n buck
from a squaw. There was An Indian
woman on a pony With five children.
He shot the pony-it seemed like you
couldn't see that pony Zoe the little In
dams. We went through the camp and
the Indians pulled Out-spreadinE fan
like and we %a-runninG them. After a
long chase l concluded to come back.
l saw lots OF Indians around IN the
hila, When l got back | found Captain
Ross had formed my men In line.
What time in the morning Is IT, l
asked. Morning, ~ says he, ITS
l o'clock And so It was.
Directly l say an Indian coming
down n hill near by. and then more
1HdtarS-tnl K seemed like they wasn't
ever going 20 get through coming. We
had struck n bigger outfit than the
first one. That first Indian he bantrrrd
my men to come vi slnHle-hand"d and
fight him. One after another he wound
ed five OF my Indians. | ordered my In
dams to engage them and kind OF get
them down In the Hat, wherc | could
charge. After some running and shoot
ing they did this and | turned the
rangers loose. We drove them.
The last stand they made they kill
~ TnE. ~ ~ Isl8n,g w.NVt-lA9 "a r.,
ger. but left seven OF their dead In 4
pile. Il was nearly nlghttall and ! dis
covered that my horses were broken
down after fighting all day. l found It
hard TO restrain my men. they had got
so heated up, but [ gradually with
drew 10 where the fight commenced.
The Indian camp was plundered. In
Il. we found painted buffalo robes with
beads hand deep around the edges
the finest robes 1 have ever seen-and
heaps ot goods pluHdercd from the
Santa Fe traders. On the way back I
noticed 4 dead chief and IA for i
moment astonIshed 90 find pieces OF
flesh cut out OF him; upon looking at a
T~ahuahuaCIn warrior, I saw IA pair OF
dead hands tied behind his saddle.
That night they had n cannibal feast.
You see. the Tahuahuacans say that
the first ore Of their rae was brought
into tn. world by a wolf. How am /
10 live?' said the Tahuahuacan. The
same as We do said the wolf, and
when they were with me that Is just
about how they lived. I reckon it's
necessary 10 tell you about the old wo-
man who was found in u lines. She
was looking at the sun and making In
carnations. accusing us out generally
and clcvnting her voice. She said che
Comanches would get wen FOR this
days work. | directed my Indians 10
let her alone, but ! was informed after
ward that Is just what ttsay didn't do"