The morning news., 1897-08-29
TORTURED THREE DAYS.
EXPERIENCE OF AN Old PROSPEC-
ron AMONG THE SIOUX.

/
Memories of the BIack Hills War.
Joined Clusters Cavalry as a Scout
and Fought BravcIy-Captured by
the SIOUX and Subjected to HOrri-
Bile TOrtures-NarrOwly Rescued
From Death on n Hill.
From the San Francisco Examiner.
George Benjamin spent three days In
he'll: the hell Of Calvin and the old theolo
CUES. where one torture followed another,
where the only sounds were the snrieks of
the agonized and the mockings sof the
fends Yet BENJAMIN was a brave, good,
true man, and his slfferings, which were
such as no man ever endured and surviv-
ed, were brought upon him only because
of his gallant nature and of his desire to
help others and avenge unreliable cruel
ties.
Benjamin is the only surviving white
! man of those who went into battle on the
Little Big Horn with Custer on July Il,
1876. And the hell he lived in was the
camp of the Sioux, into whose hands he
had fallen after that tragedy, and with
whom he remained until he was recap
tured by Buffalo Bill and wild Charlie.
He fought as bravely as did the men of
Leonidas at Thermopylae, or the Light
Brigade. whom Tennyson immortalized.
What he suffered words ana pen can never
make known in all the hideous, revolving
details For all this. it is at once sup
posed that a grateful nation has made
some attempt at recOmpense; has brought
ease to his latter days; has removed the
fear OF want for those dear to him and for
himself; that the valor he showed and
the agonies he endured, the dozen or more
honorable scars he bears, would enutie
him TO at least few dollars a month pen
sion. But no. Because he was a volun-
tcer and fought from a sense of duty, and
not for Sl3 month. he has ever since been
Obliged to earn his living and that of his
wife and children by the hardest kind OF
manual labor though every movement oil
his mangled person still causes MN pam.
Not many men in this condition would
have the heart to win their bread oy daily
toll Ills feet have not whole pone IN
them: he can walk only on his heels, and
each steD he says is as painful as
toothache His skin on back and breast
bleeds at the slightest touch. from raw
ages which never heal made by red prai-
rie ants while he was bound naked on one
! Of their hills His tongue is partially
paralvzed because of the playfulness OF
squaw. who seized him by that organ
with rough wooden pincers and dragged
him about the camp.
Bur his story is too terrible to tell in
all its details In its essentials it is here
with given and into il goes the hope OF
| the writer that it may come to the atten-
! ton of some one in power, whose sense
| Of right may he aroused enough to see
! that George BENJAMIN receives some relief
from nation that should be proud TO
count him among its sons.
From the time he was 9 years old, Ben
| iamin's life had been one of hard work in
! his mothers home in Wayne county,
| Pennsylvania, for his father had been
! killed in the war In 1873 he found him
! self in Denver. He worked in various
| mining camps and when the Black Hills
! excitement broke out he formed a pros
! pectug copartnership with Frank Stone
| and Curly Kelly, two well-known Col
orado miners, and off the three went to
/ the mines.
In the latter part of June, 1875, they
found their supplies running low, and
started for a Mrs. Fosters ranch, on
| Dirty Woman creek. One night. when
they had gone into camp, Kelly and Ben
| iamin started off after game, leaving
| Stone to get supper. When the two re
turned the pack beasts We're slaughtered,
| the kit gone, and Stone was staked out,
| naked, cut and mangled beyond recogni-
| ton. The horror of his death was told
by the agony depicted on his dead face
SIOUX exclaimed the two; no further
| explanation was needed. Benjamin and
| Kelly struck out at once for the Foster
ranch. and when they reached it the fear
| some sight that met them unnerved them
| further The ranch house and cabins
We're burned. the horses and cattle wan
tonly and cruelty slain and manned, and
| the men and women lay about staked TO
| the earth, done to death by all the most
| ingenious and revolving ways that the
| vilest Imagination could desire.
There was no time 10 lose then. The
! Indian Sign" was fresh. their campfire
| still smoldering, and they were liable to
| return at any moment, so on the back
| track for Cheyenne went the two men.
| 4 short distance away they met detach-
| ment of Clusters scouts ana were asked
TO join the force. The commander knew
that the Indians outnumbered his men,
and they had picked up half a dozen or
more cowboys and prospectors who vol
| unteered 10 see the scrimmage through.
Benjamin. after thinking the matter over
| conceived il to be his duty to help fight
the wretchcs who had caused all the
| havoc, and he was given a troop horse.
! Kelly declared he had had enough and
| decided to continue his way TO Cheyenne.
! His mutilated body was found some days
later only Few miles trOm where he had
| bidden his comrade farewell.
Banjamin led the troop back to the Fos-
| ter ranch on Dirty Woman creek and
( there a small band of Sioux was found.
| They were In camp. most of them dancing
about the mutilated body on the tree. In
| a few moments there was not one left.
creek, squaw. or pappoose, and the poor
body of the white woman was cut down
and buried. The scouts soon Joined the
Seventh cavalry, under Clusters command.
| As near as Benjamin recalls, they broke
their main camp on the morning Of July
| 10 ana moved down 90 the south about
| three miles, Custer expecting Reno TO join
/ him from that direction.
The camp is described as being on bit
Of rolling prairie, just below the junction
OF Dirty Woman creek ana Cow Fork. At
about o'clock the Indians showed them
selves on all sides There was a brief
command 60 surrender "A briefer refusal.
ana the bullets darted out to meet the
| whistling arrows.
The man who tells the story the only
| man who lived ia the group after sunset
| that day SAYS that he was with a band
of thirty Old troopers and the cowboys.
They saw the light was hopeless, but