The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1897-01-16
FORT DOUGLAS NOTES.
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Among the enlisted men of the Twenty
fourth infantry is d man who has so dis
/ tinguished himself for bravery as to have
! been recognized by congress and awarded
medal of honor. This man is private
Benjamin Brown of H company.
On the 18th of May, 1889, while serving
! as sergeant in company c. he was in
charge of Il detail of II men who were
escort-ng Paymaster Wham from Fort
Grant 10 San Carlos agency. In the boot
OF the ambulance was carried the money
/ 10" the payment of the troops and
! amounted TO 500 600.
About J O'Clock they had reached a
/ place near the Cottonwood creek, a dis
lance Of IS miles from Fort Grant The
/ road at this point was Cit on the side of
4 mountain. On the right was the pre-
cipitOus side OF the mountain and on the
left was deep ravine, a hundred or more
feet to the bottom.
At this point the sergeant who was
riding on the ambulance with the driver
saw a large boulder in the middle of the
road. II was impossible to go around it
or 10 turn back. so Brown had the am
bulance stopped, and ne reported the
state of affairs to Paymaster Wham, also
telling him that he believed the rock had
bee.c placed there purpCsely. The pay
master secuted the idea and told him to
have the men remove it.
Brown still persisted in saying that the
boulder had been placed there for the
purpose OF stopping the wagon carrying
the money However, he gave the neces-
sar-- commands, and the men. who were
on the escort wagon, just behind the am
bulance. got down and prepared to roll
the obstacle from the road.
But before it could be moved there was
a Voley of sharp reports and a storm of
bullets battered about their ears. The
men jumped for their rifles and the fight
began in earnest. The asSailants had the
advantage of il. as from their fortified
position on the crest of the hill they
could pour deadly FIRE upon the handful
OF unprotected soldiers. The first vouey
killed one of the mules in the ambulance
ard wou1ded a soldier by the name of
Louis
The driver of the ambulance endeavored
10 get past the boulder by driving over
il. but the wagon got fast On the rock,
and most of the mules We're killed by the
bandits. One of the robbers came from
his cover, and seeing Brown about so feet
away. fired point blank at him, but the
bullet only cut through his hat. Brown
took his revolver Che had no rifle held it
in both hands and fired, and the would-be
assassin fell, shot through the breast.
As Brown turned 10 fire again, 4 bullet
struck him in the left side, going through
and lodging in the. right side which
caused him to fail. Recovering himself
he attempted 10 reach a small clump of
blackberry bushes which grew near. but
he had proceeded only little way when
- was shot through the arm just as he
>. IS on the point of shooting. This last
s.,ot brought him to the ground. and he
lay lace GOWN IN z Seni-cONSclOuS cOnul-
ton. Several bullets cut the ground very
close to him, but only one more struck
him. which was in the shoulder
The firing ceased when Brown lay on
the ground, apparently dead. and the
bandits secured the money and made
away with it. Not a man who was in
the fight was left standing-every one
had been shot PayInaster Wham and
his clerk. a Mr.. Gibbons. escaped in the
earl. part of the encounter, so were I'M
harmed.
Brown was too weak from loss of blood
to move from where he last fell, so all
the long afternoon he lay in the hot
burning sun. Brown said that he suffered
more from the terrific heat and from
thirst than he did from his wounds
When night came he still lay where he
fell and the temperature of the air
changed TO such a degree of cold that he
almost froze. AT ii O'Clock. after lying