Barre evening enterprise. (Barre, Vt.) 1898-1898, 1898-05-09
SCARED THE RED MEN
HOW A CROWD OF CATTLEMEN BROKE
UP A GHOST DANCE.

Roman Candle Dombardrncnt Tbot
stamped-d ths Three Hundred Brave.
and star ed Them on Run That Last
ed Into the Next Day.
"Wo ncver called Rooney by the
name of Jack, although his Christian
nome was John, and in the cattle coun.
trv they was few men named after
Christ's chief disciple who was not
known as Jack. We always called him
Jobu Rooney. The last ever heerd of
him be wero living up in Nebraska, not
far from Ocallala, ON the south fork of
tine Platte, just after the stream leaves
the Colorado line, y
Thus discoursed former cattleman,
who is now pursuing peaceful and
commonplace life in Kansas City, the
oth,r evening. tie was talking of life
on The big cattle range in the days when
the fame of Dodge City, Abilene. Hayes
Cjry and Ellis was OH the wane as tough
toHns Ct Kansas and their upbuilding as
law abiding communities had begun.
ON them days" be continued, "our
on niugs for fun was less frequent than
n ianal holidays are at present. 1t was
mostly hard riding and lots of it, 1t
gives rs all sorter yearning to bust
Loose the ciuchcs and raise hell at the
fist onnortunity, and sometimes the
WAY VIC did it was as unique as they
was startlng> The time speak of in
this rcrticklcr yarn we was grazing
hic bunch ct cattle, mostly long horns, in
the Cherokee strip, alCng the north
fork Of the Canadian river, within
DAYS riding of old Fort Supply. The
0eaccs and some other tribes used to
come in there for their green corn and
harvest dances and have highfallootin
ole timcs in general We all remarks
this and sreNks Of it sorter soorntul be-
canso We did not like lnjuns much no.
bow When ray this, don't mean
that EocNcy was the one to put the
Quirt to lbe Iniups. He was overquiet
on the subject lie generally was peace
fuliike and ca NJ. He was thinker
Rooney was, and with some schooling
and u little politics would have been
great nan in the city | low
about this time the camp begins to
get sbcrt on grub, and some four or five
Of the boys was sent to Medicine Lodge,
across the Kansas line, with wagons to
bring back a supply of necessaries. Kan
sas was not a prohibition state then,
AID you could get most any kind IF
stimulant III Medicine Lodge-that is
~, |, nd A.
Ky, and suppose they also had beer.
In them days never could see the vir-
tines of beer,
AS | was saying, you could get
about any kind of liquor you wanted in
Medicine Lodge, and so we kept pretty
well wet. Rooney here displayed his
sagacity While we all had forgotten
all about them pesky Injuns he comes
in one day we was to leave and puts in
to the wagon about 20 of them big 70.
man candles that shoot ten times, you
know, each shot big ball of yellow,
red or blush flame,
What you going to do with them
Fourth Of July iiAngs now?' woall asks,
seeing rs how it was getting closer to
Thanksgiving.
"'Nover you MUD that, said John,
kinder winkine his eye southeast.
$50 veall was mighty curious during
tho trip back to the Canadian, but says
rothing. A few days after we gets back
them Injrna begins gathering for an
nual feast Of some kind, and then one
night they prepares for one of them
Dances Of course, all Of the boys what
could be spared wanted off to see the
monkey business of them redskins,
Then John Rooney, he called council
of war nnd urfoldcd the secret of them
roman candles what be bought at Med,
icino Ledge. lie tells all the boys, some
Is ir nuulcr, to stay with him, aud
leeds the vay to the timber where the
ghost dance was going on We all takes
cue ot them roman candles and no one
sppa5s a word or coughs or makes any
lond signs
when them 300 braves wssn-toaring
up the ground aud yelling at the height
Of the dance, we gets the word from
Rooney and lights up them candles
simultaneous, and they begin shooting
fire aud birthstone Into them ]uJuns
sure enough. The boys wasn't used to
shooting off them things and was about
half scared themselves at the devilish
Kissing snd the sparks, but them lnjuns
well, cant say what they thought,
but it WAS plain how they acted. Some
of EN- took to the other side of the
woods, some jumped straight up lot
went for the north fork of the Canadian,
running so fast it I'D take four men to
zee EN-, Stop then? Well, | guess not
They jumped right in and SWIM for
dear life. They never stopped to see
that the blamed fire had quit, and fell
lers working on the range the other
side If the fork said they saw them
running the next morning when they
was Just starting their day rs riding.
Tibet nights devilmcnt like to got
IS all into trouble, though, and the
most Of us discreetly struck out for
Kansas to avoid any unpleasant conse-
luencos But laugh-say. lpever laugh
ed 80 in my life. kansas City Star
A