The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1898-05-11
SCARED THE RED MEN
HOW A CROWD OF CATTLEMEN BROKE
UP A GHOST DANCE.

Roman Candle Bombnrdment That
Stampeded the Three Hundred Braves
and Started Them ON "a Run That Last
ed Into the Next Day.
I'VE mover called Rooney by tho
name of jack, although his Christian
name was John, and i'll the cattle coun-
try they was few men named after
Christ's chief disciple who was not
known as Jack. We always called him
John Rooney. Tho last ever heeId of
him he were living up i'll Nebraska. not
far from Ogallala. ON tho south fork of
the Platte, just after tho stream leaves
the Colorado line.
Thus discoursed former cattloman
who is now pursuing peaceful and
commonplace life i'll Kansas City, the
other evening. Ho WAS talking of lifo
on the big cattle range III tho days when
the famo of Dodge City, Abilene, Hayes
City and Ellis was ON the wana ms tough
towns of Kansas and their upbuilding as
law abiding communities had begun
In Thorn days, he continued, "our
openings for fun was less frequent than
national holidays are at prosont 1t was
mostly hard riding, and lots of it. II
gives us all IA sorter yearning to bust
loose the oinehes and raise hell Mt the
first opportunity, and sometimes the
way wo did it was rs unique as they
was startling Tho time | speak of in
this pertioller yarn we was grazing IA
big bunch of cattle, mostly long horns, in
tho Cherokee strip, along tho north
fork of the Canadian river, within IA
days riding of old Fort Supply. Tho
Osagcs and some other tribes used to
como i'll there for their green corn and
harvest dances and have highfallootn
ole times in general. We all remarks
this and speaks of it sorter scornful be.
cause we did not like lnjuns much mo-
how. When | say this, | don't mean
that Rooney was the ono to put tho
quirt To tho mjuns. lie was ovorquiot
on the subject. He generally wns peace
fullilie and cam. Ho was thinker,
Rooney was, and with some schooling
and u little politics would have been IL
great man III the city | low.
About this timo tho otmp begins to
get short ON grub, and Some four or five
Of tho boys was sent to Medicine Lodgo,
across tho Kansas line, with wagons to
bring back a supply of noeessaries, Kan
sas was not prohibition state thon,
and you could get most any kind of
stimulant i'll Medicine Lodge-that III
to say. they had rye and bourbon whs-
Ky. and | suppose they also had bocr
In thom days | neyer could sec the vir-
tues IF beer.
AS ] was saying, you could get
about any kind Of liquor you wanted i'll
Medicine Lodge, aud SO we kept pretty
we'll wet. Rooney here displayed his
sagacity. While we all had forgotten
all about them pcslty lniuns he comes
in one day we WAS to leave and puts in
to the wagon about 20 of them big ro-
man candles that shoot ten times, you
! hHgw, rseh shgt u plg nna - yellow,
red or blush flame.
- What you going To do with them
Fourth Of July fiXings new wenll asks,
seeing NJ how it was getting closer to
Thanksgiving
=" Never You mind that, said John,
kinder Winling his ego southeast
So we all was mighty curious during
the trip back to the Canadian, but says
nothing. A few days after we gets back
them lnjuns begins gathering for an
nual feast of Some kind, and then one
night they prepares for ono of thom
dances OF course all of tho boys what
could DO spared wanted eff to see the
monkey business Of them redskins
Then John Rooney, he called council
Of war and unfoldcd tho secret Of them
roman candles what he bought ut Med
icino Lodge He tells all the boys, some
- i'll number, To stay with him, and
leads the way to the timber, where the
ghost dance was going on. We all takes
one Of thcm roman candies and no ono
speaks word or coughs or makes any
loud signs.
When them 800 braves was tearing
up the ground and yelling at tho height
Of the dance. wo gets tho word from
Rooney and lights up them candles
simultaneous and they begin shooting
fire and birthstone into them Injuns
sure enough Tho boys wasn't used TO
shooting off them things and was about
half scared themselves at tho deyilish
Kissing ard the sparks, but thom lnjuns
well, | can't say what they thought,
but it was plain how they acted. Some
Of en- took to the other sido Of the
woods, some jumped straight up, lot
went for tho north fork OF the Canadian.
running 80 fast il nd take four mon to
see EN-. Stop then? We'll, guess not.
They jumped right in and swum for
dear life. They never stopped to SEQ
that tho blamed fro had quit, and fell
lcrs working on the range tho other
side Of tho fork said they saw them
running tho next morning when they
was Just starting their days riding.
"That nights depilment like to got
us all into trouble, though, and tho
most Of US discreetly struck out for
Kansas to avoid any unpleasant conse-
queneos. But laugh-say, Inoyer laugh
| cd 50 in my life. kansas City Star.