Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1898-03-25

o'clock at night the desperate. Struggle
continued, and the soldiers. t3Sked Jail
night Strengthening their bHssSt works,
using knives,aasin cups sand plates in
stead Of. spades and shovels. In the
afternoon of the second day the supply
of water had been exhausted, and the
wounded begged piteously for it. And,
finally, Terry. ame in sight, and Lieuten-
ant bradley 500 afterward reported
that he had discovered the dead bodies
of Custer and his entire command.
DR.. Porter was in that wild rush for
the ford made by Reno and his cons
mand, passing and being repasse1 by
painted savages in their quest for scalps.
And as soon as the command had
reached the bluff, a barricade of stores
and dead horses was made, and Porter,
began his succor and relief of the
wounded. He was a very young man
and the only one of the s%urgeonspre-
naming. DR.. Lord and DeWolf having
been killed. The Number of the
wounded who required treatment rapid
ly increased from ten to fifty and all Of
them had to be treated by the single
doct6Es aMiths such assistance as could be
rendsfadssbbY some Of the slightly wound
ed. Officers of the command who sur
vived were earnest in their praises Of
the wesksof the gallant young doctor.
He worked with the GOODNESS of the
oldest veterans, stunning no da1ter,
and leaving nothing undone which
might alleviate the. sufferings of the
wounded. When the forces of Terry ar
rived the wounded wea borne to the
steamer Far West, and from there
brought to Bismarck, a distance of 900
miles. One of the old timers in this
city, in speaking of the arrival of the
Far West with its burden of wounded
and it's gloomy tidings of massacre,
said: II remember the occasion as we'll
as though it was yesterday. It was
early.in July,a very warm night, and
many residents of the city we're sleep.
ing out of doors. A bright moonlight
shown over the city, and it must have
been at q little beforel2 O'CLOCK when a
friend of mine, who had been the first
to learn of the arrival Of the boat,
walked. me up with the statement;
"Custer and his entire commend have
Been massacrcd." 1t was incredible.
We had seen the expedition start out
from Fort Lincoln full of confidence
and serene Of their ability to defeat the
Indians and could not realize that sucn
a disaster had befallen them. But in a
few moments the news spread through
the city with alarming rapidity, al.
though it was the dead Of night. PEG.
pie came running from their houses
half dressed to make inquiries. Soon
there ensued a tumult and hundreds d
people crowded around the wharf
where the boat had landed. There wal
room in the minds of the crowd for nc
other topic. All else was forgotten but
the massacre of Custer and his gallant
men. And then the unloading of The
wounded from the vessel, the Thousand
inquiries with which the boats crew
and officers, the surgeon and Others
were besieged. And then went out or
the wire the first statement of the mas
sacre, which was to carry sadness te
the brave hearts of thousands. A con.
sultation was held among those in
authority as to how the announcement
was to be made to the widows of the
officers and men at Fort Lincoln
widows who had been widowed for ten
days and did not yet know of their
widowhood. The grief and lamentation
at the fort when the sad news was told
all, these were incidents of the dieas.
ter that would have made an incompar.
able background for the word painting
of the novelist"
Bismarck Politics.
A correspondent of the st. Paul
Pioneer Press elucidates upon the Bis