The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1896-06-18
81 thought 50, else you would know

Ssa -A5el1iOuSAGE6O, clSo you WO1lu KNOW
something Of me and my ranch, he
replied, swallowing the smoke and
blowing it out Of his nostrils.
How long have you been here ?''3sGt0
& Well, settled here in the latter
part Of some seven years ago. and had
a pretty comfortable time Of 1T till the
red devils spoilt ALL
How was that?'
We'll, stranger, to make long story
short, came here with my wife and
three children from. Nevada in that
year, and set up a sort Of trading post
mere. Things went on very well for a
considerable while; business was good
with Travellers miners, and now and
then the Indians. Every one who came
TO the ranch went away satisfied. and
every hlng went on the square. didn't
know as l had an enemy in the world,
and I'm sure never injured man, wo-
man or child till five years ago. One
day our little girl Minette had a bad
tooth, which set in to ache so bad that
took her with her aunt about twenty
miles up the Platte to a government
stockade, to get the surgeon to extract
the tooth, which he did, and we came
back the next day. What do you sup
pose we saw when we got here?''
what was lt?'
"A smoldering ruin! Excuse me.
stranger. said the man, covering his
face with his hands,; Il don't tell this
story often! Destroyed-wife and two
children stolen away--an gone!'' he
SObbed
What did, it L camp -.,.... ~
THE red devils had been here. They
knew 1 was absent, so they stole what
they could carry off, and burned the
rest. There was nothing LETT
standing. My first step was to get
a half-dozen men I could rely upon aud
to follow their trail, to get hack my
wife and children. We overlook the
devils. They would not parley or +
should have tried peaceable menas, in
order to- insure the safety Of my wife
and wife and children. No; they show
&C. fight at once. And uring the scrim-
mage broug bit out my wife and killed
and scalped her before our very eyes,
then dashed out the brains of my two
children. That was pronouncing their
cWn doom! There were but fifteen of
the gang, and we killel thirteen of them
within twenty-four hours, two only es-
Gaping after we had pursued them near
~ hundred miles.
I'VE buried the mutilated bodies Of
my dear wife and children, and came
back to this spot. The first night lay
OH the ground and tried to pray, but it
was no USE I couldn't do it. The next
morning l swOre an oath that T would
be fearfully avenged upon the hated
race of treacherous devils. I took
solemn oath wherever and whenever l
saw an Indian I would shoot him like
wild beast: I rebuilt this ranch, pref
ty roughly as you see, burt securely.
can resist a whole cloud of redskins
for tWentyfour hours, and pick them
off through these loop-holes. I have,
as you see, plenty or arms" pointing
to a half-dozen Spencer's seven-shoot-
ers, and as many excellent revolvers
hanging in a rack on the wall; land
never go about without a pair of these
fellows" pointing TO his belt, in which
were a couple Of Wesson rifled revolt
vers.
"They will pick me off one of these
days, but I am making minced meat
of them in the meantime, and Minette
will sell her life dearly when the time
comes. You saw her shoot just now
I have taught her so that she can fire a
rifle or a revolver better than most
marksmen; and last fall, when the red
skins made a raid upon us, and I got
some fine practice before they beat a
retreat, she shot a chief dead in his sad
die out Of that loop7hole. >
: In vain were the moral axioms ad-
duced, and the arguments tending to.
show that vengeance is mine, saith the
Lord" In vain I pointed out to the
man his better duty to the brave and
Intelligent child, whom he was rearing
under such terrible auspices. Though
l really felt and seriously so, what I
said to him, it was worse than useless,
seeming only to- confirm him in the
course he had laid out for his fixed aim
in life. His provocation was terrible,
but his present career seemed to me to
be more SO. .. 49,
'The redskins are getting scarce
about here. They know that I will
shoot them at sight, and that I can kill
farther than any. man west Of the Mis-
souri, with my rifle. This was their IA
vorite ford, but they abandoned it alto
gether some three years since, after
losing, at different times, over thirty
of their chiefs at the crossing. They
have paid dearly, but they haven't half
paid yet for the murder Of my wife and
children"
The deep large black eyes of the from
tiersman had been all on fire while he
told his tragic story, which is we'll
known to travellers by the North Platte
route. His cheeks were sunken and his
body extremely thin, but he was all
muscle and -vigor. sE .--,...
"Will you take a little more punch,
stranger?'
.No. thank YOU
won't you have some dinner, strnn-
ger?' Z.
my people will be expecting me back
to camp at noon," said as I prepared
to depart.
AS I went by the small narrow coun-
ter, which formed the bar of the ranch
I observed a long pine stick hung up by
a string against the wall, and nicked
apparently by a pocket knife. Hawk
Eye Jack noticed that I regarded it
curiously. and took it down and handed
it to me. After moment he said:
''You observe those notches cut in
the stick----each one represents the life
of a redskin. When shoot one, ] cut
"a notch. If YOU count these notches