The sun., 1897-06-27
BACK FROM THE BADLANDS
ADVENTURES oFA PARTY OF TREAS
URE HUNTERS FROM DEADWOOD.
bays Of wandering In the TtmheF without
Water ana with Little Food-fAsrses stau,-
peded b. undians-No Treasure Pound.

DRApwoop, S. D., Juno H. On tho 22d Of
May last n party Of Deadwood PEOPLE. influenced
by the story told by IN old Indian who had been
here In attendance on United States Court, left
for point in tho bad Lands in search Of a for
tune which, II was claimed vas buried with tho
remains OF an Indian chief Winding Hawk
at ono time in tho carl, sixties the foremost
warrior In the Sioux nation They have TO
turned, and with them brought nothing but woe
and complaint, and n thorough belief In the dis
honest and trcacherous nature of the noble red
man. They had been TO q considerable expense
IN fitting ont and preparing for their trip. and 81
,onflde-. was every member Of the party that 1t
would result successfully that they were lavish
In their expenditures and II was one OF the best
equipped expeditions that ever left town.
The party, which consisted OF Sol Star. Mayor
Of the city of DeGdwood; John r. wils1n. States
attorney; Jean p. Decker. one Of the best-known
newspaper men in the Northwest; w. Fl. Bon
ham. editor OF the Deadwood Tines Pioneer;
W. F. Robertson, local agent OF the B. and n.
Railroad Company In Deadwood. returned to
the city last Tuesday morning. all OF them
showing plainly the effects OF their trip and
some Of them in such mental and physical con-
dition as to excite pity. Tho trip had been
harder one than they had thought for. and dan
gers which they had not dreamed Of arose to
dismay them. Your correspondent had inter.
thsr tSss ssfes in eTsry particular nc Their
supply OF provisions stolen, lett without guide
n country the seriilty Of which even puts S tS
desolate of regions, Death Valley OF Califor.
nia.Arizona;, threatened and abused by muir
derous band OF Indians; their horses taken
last day OF May until their weary feet struck
Tns Se mouths of Rspd and sprns
creeks, where both streams empty their water.
civilixatlon between The wilderness in which
they had been wandering and !he city OF Rapid.,
their adventures would furnish material sum
They arc ali men of courage and physically
are tor werel capable of any exertion, but the
steal and mental ,powers during the past four
former ] ui seivss. Mr.. Decker. who is at present
confined to his room suffering from blow
infsUas SSWSser Sss n gang Of c1tshro%ts While
attempting to prevent the stealing OF the party,s
only ;sms1ns pssEa mule snd had as, Sn ssD se
not but wonder at the folly Of men accredited
with their intelligence partictr0tins in such an
SaSdsSps sy sy wen: ; 'arossG s dangers they
snsoun'essd the suffering b5hsy 1nasr-eni .so-1
nature which should convince the people Of
and iha, along its borders stiil iurk those dan:
gers which made history in the settlement OF
the M hs G hat as spent S the
West. / have had soule strange ant ] ray cay
startling experiences. but for downright hard
SUI the Trip rip from which have just returned
stand. our pre-eminen,iy as the monument OF
You remember in what glee we left hero.
Vistoas OF the gold cached by that old coffee
.ese some Of s bos Looking
It, and know that one night Sol Star dreamed
tina; he had found ii. He suddenly jumped
or than old Winding Hawk ever gave vent to,
bsssn 20 r!,n his fingers through an imaginary
sentsi startling appearance seated on the grass,
with only short undershirt on, laughing and
% Would do With III 1a Sis share hare Of the money While
his dream was funny in its counterfeit OF the
oar guide Wse We we're s Many miles Sss
froin the spot where the grave was said to be
You know , h9w superstt:ous Indians u!ns1 are
be saw star acting as be did, the Indian thought
him crazy, and without waiting to take any o.
re. yei.ins tha, il Was bad medicine to 60 any
further; that the ghost Of the Indians who had
q great deal OF talking an,, coaxing we finally
induced the old fellow 10 stsI with us Bu
was con.innalIy making me licins to keep oh
evlt L,p spirits, T.: ,,o. ~, ,,x ,,,,r r,,,
of mention that occurred until we began to en-
ter the Bad Lands. After Llat we had excite
HRd esPssTenee Psaes oe en%yfh TO ssy ysy Sny
him. commenced TO get nervous and uneasy
He told Us OF tee danEr: We were in Of teDJ
ing the place and Be promised no end to the va
rieEy. OF lortures We would be put to II cap
Saa To rhls none of te'Uo us would T sten
had gone to too much trouble and expense {
give up at this stage Of the game and were dc
terIIdned 20 go on. The cause Of the old VII
laIn's behavior at last dawned upon Us. Fl
either ss. never % knew The piaess where windiE y
wnen pinned down TO it acknowledged himsel
Lost. At tirst soma OF the boys were for KILN;
.lfI Av,N NnaE Nh.ra s,Es
@ 9S. OH nay u AGREED I the tRs, 0Sfs WStey should % sta
with US and care for the horses Whether hi
6sns made TO &c 'e Of Pae
whether an Indian's hereditary disinciination /
be honest asserted ttseh ! do not know, but tn
uecentuared BY the ,disappehr rance. Of great def
Of our Grub t o 'qhdFF srss1 OF ws4RS
passaarIy protd Fortanstey, Ts1 the old q tG!s NE
taking aTs only the two that belonged to him.
ready for the final search that was to make U
all rich. Having arrived at n point where fu
ther travel with wagon was impossible, W
dd was 50 e The M and
them. so that II Whitley or any Of his friend
cached our surplus stock of provisions and wit
only such articles OF food and shelter as were al
soluteiy necessary 10 our existence. packed O
to lose as little lime a. possible We had
rough map made by old White Horse and a gel
u
had to travel In order to get where We erpectG
to find an Indians bones keeping guard over
sack full OF gold In trying 10 wind our va
oyer u hign butte the hot,e that Robertson wa
riding slipped and rolled down the steep sif
fully 900 feet to the bottom. Luckily for hin
Robe 'taon managed to get out OF the sadd
and thereby saved his life. for the horse VIZ
killed. and Its rider would certainly bA,
shared the same fate had ho been carried alon
This mishap forced Us TO throw away the grea
er part OF the load of one OF our pack horse
which given 10 Robertson TO ride.
"When daylight at last began to show Il
spot in which we found ourselves was reyeale
81, all Its indeacribable horrors. On all sid
hills, mounds and buttes OF the most fantast
shapes reared themselves skyward. Not a ve
tigc OF anything akin TO vegetation was to
seen. Nothing but desolatiOD and ruin 10 a,
full - to seem the fgment OF diseased brai
presented itsef wherever the eye rested ever
where only heaps OF asbes cinders, and scor
that told OF the fierce fires that raged there ag
ago. Not drop OF water was to be had 4
man or beast, and the inLenAe panRs of thir
began 10 Assert themselves. Eating what ltt
we could, we pushed on again, stopping on
long enough now and then to give a few IL
iucnts' rcet To our JHded and worn animals
"Often we had 10 double on our steps in ord
to get around some butte that would sudden
arIhe in front of us to stop our further prOgre