The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1896-12-28

Now that the opportunity seemed TO be
at hand i had no wish TO deprive them
of the excitement and glory of being
killed in real battle, and so, sat nod
ding in the cab of old 40 until the
flash of the bulls eye caused me to
look ahead.
THE report of the rifles in the hands
of the Indians had been answered BY a
dozen guns from the interior of the
building and Immediately a shower of
lead rained and ratified upon the
wooden doors from without. One of the
scouts picked the bulls eye lamp up
and placed it upon the work bench,
training the light upon the double doors
Immediately in front of my engine.
Our men knew how useless it would
be to fire into the sand-stuffed sides of
the building, and not caring to put
themselves into a position where they
could fire effectively above the vain
scoting, they very wisely kept close
to the ground and allowed the Sioux
to empty their guns into the sand.
Presently, hearing no sound from
within. the attacking party ceased fir
ing and began to prowl about the
building, searching for a weak spot
through which they might effect an
entrance. The fate of the three early
callers who had hogged it under the
door, kept them from fooling about
that trap for the remainder of the
evening. In a little while the whole
place was as still as the tomb, save
for the soft fiutter of steam from the
safety valve of the 40. Bear Foot
knew what was going on. Even though
he could see nothing, he knew that his
faithful followers were working his
release, and now when all was silent
he shouted from the coal tank to his
n hrao L hn ~,
Before the Pawnee scouts could pound
him into state of quietude he had
impaired to his people the particulars
of his whereabouts, and Immediately
the whole band threw themselves
against the front of the building.
The house fairly trembled, the In
dians surged from without and the
great doors swayed to and fro, threat
ening at any moment to give way and
let the flood of bloodthirsty redskins in
upon US.
Stand together called the captain
to his men.
Put on the blower and get her
hot I called to the fireman, for I
knew the frail structure could not
withstand much longer As often as
the fireman opened the furnace door to
rake his fire, the glare of the firebox
lit up the whole interior and showed
three dead Sioux near the door. One
of them lay across the rail. and
found myself specializing as to whether
the pilot of 40 would throw him off, or
whether / must run over him. Now it
seemed that the whole band had
thrown themselves against the building
and the yelling was deafening Above
1t all heard our captain shout: Get
ready, Frank
- I am ready said L.
All right said he shoot ii to EN-,
and l opened the sand valves and the
throttle. l have often thought what a.
temptation it was for those soldiers
to leap upon the engine and make their
escape, but. although they all under
stood perfectly what was going on, not
one of them took advantage OF this
last train out
Just as the Big Hoss' moved with
all her ponderous and almost irresist-
able weight toward the front of the
building, the double doors sagged to-
ward me like the head gate of a great
reservoir that is oyercharged and then
l hit 'em. The big doors, being forced
from their hinges, fell out upon the
redskins and they were caught like
rats in a trap. The pilot ploughed
through them, manning and killing a
score of them. and on went the 40 over
the safe switches which had already
been set for her before the fight be-
gan. The confusion caused by the
awful work of Big Hoss, which they
regarded as little less than the devil.
was increased when the Indians, who
remained unhurt. realized that the en-
CINE was making away with their chief,
for he had told them how he was held
a captive in the belly of the big
horse
All efforts for the capture of the
round house was instantly abandoned
and the Sioux as one man turned and
ran after the locomotive. The captain
in command of the scouts, taking ad-
vantage of the confusion of his foe.
and of the fact that his force was in
the dark building, while the Sioux
quickly massed his men at the open
door and began to pour murderously
wicked fire into the baf7ed Sioux. who.
like foolish farm dogs, were chasing the
70 out over the switches
''All the Indians who were crippled
by the engine were promptly, and I
thought, very properly killed by the
Pawnee scouts and the rest were driven
away with fearful loss.
1T was a desperately risky run from
Smoky Hill to Lawrence with no run
ming orders and due to collide with
a west bound special, or an extra that
might be going out to the rescue with
a train load of material, but the Off
Gals fearing that something might
arise which would cause us to want to
come in, had very wisely abandoned all
trains the moment the wires went
down and so we reached Lawrence
just before day without a mishap.
My first thought was of our cap
tive, Bear Foot, who had made track
laying dangerous business for our peo-
pie for the past three or four weeks.
but upon looking about l saw only four
Pawnees. and concluded that the fierce
fellows had killed the chief and rolled
him off.
." Where's Bear Foot?' I demanded.
Here said a Pawnee, who was
quietly seated upon the man-hole of
the engine tank. and he pointed down
During the excitement in the round
house at Smoky HILL the Sioux mad
made a desperate effort to escape, and
had been quietly dropped into the tank
where he had remained throughout the
entire run.
Nov, its one thing to stay in a tank
that is half filed with water when the
engine is in her stall, and quite another
thing to inhabit place of that kind
when a locomotive is making fly run
over new track. After much time and
labor had been lost fishing for the chief
with a clinker hook. one of the scouts
got into the tank, which was now quite
empty, and handed Bear Foot out.
When we had hailed him out and
placed him along side the depot where
the sun would catch him early, the cor
oner came and sat on him and pro-
nounced him good Indian"
CY WARMAN.
The whole Story