Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1896-11-02
A PRINCE OF THE PLAINS,
KIT CARSON WAS THE IDEAL
FRoNTIERSMAN AND SCOUT.
Brave as Lion, Modest as Girl
Anecdotes About the Famous
Scout-Bringing Game Into Camp.

been my fortune to know in
" timately, during a checkered
life of forty on the great
plains and in the Rocky Mountains,
Kit Carson was the prince. He was
brave, but not reckless. Perfectly
unseltish, he was q veritable exponent
of genuine altruism. AS true to his
friends as the needle to the pole, he
would fight for them, and die for
them, if needs be. He died at Fort
Lyon, Col, on May %, 1868, during
q short visit to the post, where he had
favorite son residing. Early on the
morning of that day, while mounting
his horse in front OF his quarters. an
tured, from the eff OF which. not
withstanding tina best medal lssist-
ance was rendered by the iurgeon of
the fort, be died in few moments. l
was stationed at Fort Harker, Kan,
at the time of his untimelv taking of,
says Henry Juman in the Detroit Free
Press, and had received letter from
| him IA week before, in which he in
formed me that he was on his way to
make mo long promised visit. His
remains, after reposing for some time
at the fort, were taken to Taos, SO long
his home in New Mexico, where suit
able monument was erected over them.
AS an Indian fighter Kit Carson was
matchless. The identical rifle, which
never failed him, aud was used by him
for more than thirty five years, he be-
queathed just before his death, to
Montezuma Lodge. Z. and A. NJ,
5aute Fe, of which he was a member.
Under the average height, Carson
was rather delicate looking in his
physical proportions; he was, how
aver, quick, wiry man, with nerves
Of iron and an indomitable will. He
was full of caution, and possessed an
impertur bahility in the moment of
great danger that was something
grand to witness.
Kit, years before he became famous,
fought a duel on horseback with no.
;oriously pompous braggart, Cana
lian- French trapper. He escaped
With u bullet wound behind his left
ear, the scar of which he carried to his
grave, but he "winged" his antagonist
md forever stopped his boasting.
Kit Car,on was the most reticent
nan concerning his own adventures |
ever met. 1t required the greatest
strategy to get him to converse on the
ubiect at all. though he was splendid
company excepting when one wanted
lim to talk about himself. [ am re
minded OF characteristic anecdote
.elating to his dislike to telling any
hing OF himself. 1t was in July, 1866.
3. i. Maxwell, the owner of the i'm
nense ranch in New Mexico which
still bears his name, on the fourth of
that month determined to celebrate
The day at his own fine home. By the
premature explosion OF an old cannon
brought into reauisition out OF its
hiding place underea group OF elms,
where it had lain since the march sof
General Kearney across the plains to
conquer New Mexico, Maxwell so in,
ured his thumb that the army surgeon
1t Fort Union decided that the wound
I'd member must como Oft. | invited
lim to make my quarters at the fort
ais, where he could have the operation
Iuietly done, aud / also asked Carson
10 come with me to assist me in caring
or and entertaining him during
ais stay. One morning, while
= Kit was there, one OF the officers
vent down to the suffers store,
which was us we'll the postofice, for
our mail, the coach which brought it
] rom the Missouri River having arrived
!. . few minutes before. While waiting
: Tor the letters to be assorted, the Of
icer's eye chauced to rest on copy
Of one of the cheap illustrated journals
wing on the counter. He would not
ordinarily have noticed such sheet,
out his attention was attracted to it by
l full page woodcut, adorning its out
,ide, one of those sensational and i'm
probable scenes for which journals OF
. is character are notorious even to.
) lay. 1t represented an opening in
. the forest, in the foreground of which
> > stood an immensely tall man dressed
! n buckskip, one hand holding huge
l life, while the other grasped the
: waist of woman who was elegantly
. ittired-tho conventional woman o
: such sheets-in laces and Aounces. Ii
: front of this impossible woman, lying
y dat on the ground, were seven or eigh
3 dead savages, presumably killed b.
the remarkable hero IN defense of tn
. more remarkable woman. The legen'
. at tho bottom of the crude sketch, il
Il arge type. related how Kit Carson
at some time in the remote days of hi
youth, had accomplished the might
Q deed. 1t so amused the officer that h
y bought copy of the paper an
brought it to my quarters, showing
i to all OF US in turn. When Kit go
9 hold of it. he looked at it intently 10
y few seconds, read the legend, the
d banding it to Maxwell, smilingly re
II marked: "Well. gentlemen, that tina
o may be true, but 1 amt got no recoI
I lection of it.
t The absurd illustration drew K,
" out, and he related several amusin
. . anecdotes which had occurred durin
" his eventful career of forty years o
70 the plains and in the mountains, on