Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-10-22
NOTHING LEFT BUT BLOOD.
How YelIoDstone Bill Killed q Bis
Band of Indians.

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How YelIorstone Bill Killed q Bis
Band of Indians.
Martin Francis Walker, known to all
the Indians and trappers of the west as
Yellowstone Bill, is now a resident OF
Minneapolis where his home is in a cave
on the east bank of the Mississippi river.
No tradition tells the history of this cave,
says the Denver News There it was even
when Father HennepiD first gazed on the
falls of st. Anthony; there it is today.
As interesting as the cave are its occu-
pants, Mr.. and Mrs. Walker and equally
interesting is the collection of relics of
frontier life-of skins, minerals, lariats,
wild horses, rifles, etc. Here many win
tiers are spent, and the summers are given
up to overland travel
Yellowstone Bill was born in Titusville,
Pa, in 1889 of American parents. Or
naturally wild and rowing disposition. he
left his home at an early age. For four
years Yellowstone Bill followed a circus,
winding up his career with a duel with an
acrobat whom he had thrown in a wrestle.
The acrobat got mad and challenged him
to duel. Young Walker accepted and,
having the choice of weapons, selected
inch daggers. The battle was fought at &c
O'Clock in the morning in the dressing
tent. Both men had bad contracts on
their hands. Walker received four gasheS
in his side and fought until the blood ran
from his boots. They were removed to a
hospital and lay side by side for weeks.
Recovering first and aided by a kindly dis
Sosed doctor, Walker skipped out at 2
O'Clock in the morning, leaving his enemy
to his fate.
Yellowstone Bills life on the plains be-
gan just after this incident, in the early
sixties. In company with Charles Coville
of New York city and William and Frank
Bailey he started out on hunting and
trapping expedition through Idaho, Mon
tana, Wyoming and Arizona. Then he en-
listed as n scout under General Reno and
while with him earned the name of Vel
lowstone Bill. His experiences with the
Indians We're many and varied and includ-
ed narrow escapes too numerous to men
ton. ''I'n tell you one I'll never forget,
he said and added:
at was while 1 was with Coville and
the Baileys. We struck what is known as
the Yellowstone valley. 1 left the party
one afternoon for a cruise around, and
got into little canyon. You go through
gap about three feet wide, closed at the top,
and you find yourself in canyon of about
20 acres, walled in by high, solid, perpen-
dicular rock, the only outlet being the gap
where got in. / was cruising all around
the place, and the first thing knew saw
o bunch of about 20 Indians come in the
gap. They had mo and had me right
There was only one way to get out and
they Were 90 to /, the worst odds 1 was
ever up against. ] saw n hole in the side
of the rock about three feet up. In Invent.
The little cave ran six feet in the rock and
then turned squarely to the left for an
other six feet and there stopped. was
stuck tight. The Indians had rushed up
meanwhile and closed the hole. They had
me dead to rights. / played a waiting
game. So did they. They built a fire in
front of the little hole so that the ref1ec-
ton shone in the cave, lighting it up, but
1 was protected in the second chamber.
Finally put my hat on my gun and stuck
il out just far enough for them to see it.
Every last one of them fired at it, those
that had guns and those that had arrows.
dropped the gun and the hat fell, and
they supposed 1 must be dead Every last
one of them rushed pellmell into the
hole, filled it full, climbing over each 9TH
er in n wild scramble to be first to get the
scalp which they regarded as a prize. /
jumped into them with my Ratchet, slash
ing right and left and laying out several
of them. They were too surprised at the