The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-05-04
BATTLING WITH REDSKINS.
Two Whites stood on 5000 In
dinns for Three NnYs.

Charles Gates is an old-tme Indian
fighter He used to reckon his dead
Indians by the cord. lie has fought
more Indian battles than any man On
earth or under it. lie has just return
ed from a trip to the north, and said,
according to the Sa', Lake Herald:
H'The most interesting part OF it was
that | went back to the place where
Bill Hanks and me stood of 5000 In
dians for three days one time back in
the late COS. There were II of us at
first, put only three Of us lived to
tell the tale. The spot is some 80 miles
from BlaCkfOot, Idaho, near where the
roads fork. The Indians sailed into us
one afternoon, and made things lively,
! tell YOU. We dragged the wagons to-
gether in a circle, killing all the horses,
and strung them around for breast
works and bade the painted fiends come
on. and they came. Why, it fairly rain
ed Indians. We kept shooting. and 50
did they until night came on, when we
discovered that Bill Hanks, myself amt
Jim Defoe were all that were left of
us. We knew that we could not hold
out. 50 we drew lots to see who would
go for help, and Defoe won, and crawl
ed out He told us when he got back
that he crawled nine miles through tho
darkness before he dared rise up
why did he crawl so far?" asked
Dan NiCkum, who was a listener.
Because he didn't get through the
Indians for nine miles, answered
Gates, with dignity. There were more
Indians there at that time than waa
ever gathered together at one time
before or since. Wen, sir, for three
days me and BIZ sat there in that Cir
Gle and moved down Indians. When
the soldiers did come we were mighty
glad. / tell you. After the fight was
over they counted, and found me and
'Eilr had killed exactly 1000 Of the 5000
which first attacked us. The soldier5
killed the balance.
How could you tell which ones You
killed and which ones the soldiers kills
ei?" asked Nickum again.
simple enough" said Gates. "Ry
the freshness of the corpses. When the
corpse was over day old we credited
it to our account"
But how could you tell the freshness
of a corpse"
"Oh, that's dead easy. OF course you
! don't have to know, ana so longs the
| Indians are not likely To trouble us
| again there's no use in telling you now,
| for the information would not do you
| any good. But man that is used to
| killing Indians can tell a CORPSE any
| time and just how long il has been
| dead. Even if that wasn't the case.
we had another method, for we never
| shot an Indian except right through the
| head. Didn't want to spoil the hide"
What on earth would voa do with
| an Indians hide asked Nickum. ..t
cut 'em into slices and make razor
! strops of EN-; that's what we always
! did with Indian hides. We used to shiD
! bales of Indian hides to Europe every
| year That's whore / got my start"
That must have been as hard a
| fight as you ever had, wasn't it?r
Yes, sir, all but one. Was i'm a
harder fight than that down I'm Arizona
one time. Lost more men. The In
dians came onu by surprise, and killed
dans came on us by surprise and killed
capped to tell the tale" Aud then Gates
engaged himself in a race for street
car