Griggs courier., 1897-01-15
[FIREWATER SPRING

u Aaooi3ssaARv PLANS or WILD INDIANS
clENERLY FRUSTRATED.
1Esw 6nuexaer ea . Gevssanane Rsss1.
saEssA laid Out Baad o6 Red Devils
!H1tA Fsesy Rod whisH nd ssved tAs
Lavos e SIX Rriso.ers.
A Star man happened to meet 4 man
Who had served q term or two or three
n various penitentiaries, hadn't served
several he should have served and is
likely to serve more before he is through
With himself OF course that kind of a
man was interesting. and after time,
when he got to talking under the mel
lowing influence of things made for the
purpose, he was more interesting.
sWhen I was Is years younger than
! am now.' he said. 81 was ont in the
mountains Of the west on a government
reservation, where could make money
BY selling whisky rnde- post prices. I
was always on the make. and sol snug
gled in dozen or more gallons and had
them hid il care ten miles CT SO out
of reach. The cave was a kind of two
story affair, the upper story being my
secret. and there hsd my jugs of 'liq-
ucr h:a away, and from there carried
it cut il smaller quantities fer distri-
button. The lower part cf the eaye was
20 feet below the upper CHAMBER. and
in this part WAS basin Of water, which
bad driaped from the upper part. 1, tiia
not contain Eo-e than gallon Of water.
knew ls was easily exhausted, for I
spent many q night there, and fccnd
there WASH 'swater enough: to boil ket-
tie with
.'Weis, ahcat the time got in 1oy
secoEd instaI.nent Of fire juice tie In
dians got bad and began creeping in
toward The settlements. I thought my
care was unknown to the Indians Us
we'll as the whites, but it appears that
it wasn't, and one morning barely had
time to slip out of my down stairs room
and get up IN the Loft before 1Oor 12 of
the bionaiest locking braves yea ever
saw souatted in front of my residence
and began holding a council Of war In
half an hour or mere all Of them except
one went away, and he remained to
keep watch.
Eat neon three returned with FIVE
white prisoners, and at G clock the rest
of them came in with girl about 4
years old. Just what they were going
to 60 was not apparent, and it wasn't
easy fer me to fild out, because whe;i
came Gown to point where could zee
I Was in danger of getting caught my
self. I did sec enough, though. to show
me that the i've white prisoners. who
were all cid men, hadn't much chance
for their lives, tlt that the child would
be carried away. To save myself had
been Eng first thought. and now to save
these pcor w1etches was first.
While was debating what to do CT
give it up as q bad Job one Of the In
dians went to The spring ard got some
water. That was my cue In minute
mere Twas back up in my chamber. just
over the keadwaters cf the spring, and,
having turned the drip into another
channel, started stream Of that kill
at 40 rod whisky down the shoot ard then
slipped back to watch the proceedings.
They were discussing when to kill the
priscner-l knew enough Indian to
know that. And when it was about de-
termined TO hold them over a day and
see if they couldn't pick up few more
and have q real big time, another of
them went OK er to the spring for water.
This time it wasn't SO much water as it
had been Whatever it was made the
ugly redskin give big sUgh!' of delight,
and the Others went over to him. Well,
it isn't necessary fer me to go into par
ticulars
Anybody, even reporter. knows
what becomes cf an Indian or dozen
of them when there are unlimited guam
titles of frewa:er at their disposal, and
as soon rs saw how the thing was go
ing hurried back and set another Jug
TO work. Twas little afraid they might
get ugly drunk and Kill their prisoners
but evidently they hadn't had much to
eat that day. and the liquor was ge.ting
in its work on empty stomachs. What.
ever was the cause, before I had any
idea that it was time for it the whole
of them was fall. and in a few minutes
more they. were lying around the little
baain cf the spring so drunk they could
not move, hand or foot
'.Then it was my time to play. and I
corked up the liqucr upstairs for anoth-
;er dky and went down stairs. There
wasn't much time for thanks, because
we didn't know when the enemy might
make it unpleasant for Us. So told the
prisoners to take care OF the Indians
while I took care Of the little girl. which
! did by taking her outside of the cave,
where she could breathe the free air of
heaven once more. You SEE, I kind OF
thought they might like to attend to
things themselves, y he added apologet-
ically and stopped.
And did they:" inquired the report
er as the narrator scanned to think he
had reached the end Of his story.
j 81 suppose they did, he replied. SAT
least, when went back to the cave,
about month later, when the war had
simmered down some, found the bodies
nf them Infiians almost nc we'll prnca.vo,a