Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-19
COWBOYS r0rfiE RESCUE.
| How William ROsnmund Wns Scalped
and His Wife Saved.


and His Wife Saved.
F. W. CaIkins In Youths Companion.
On the morning Of July 3, 1873. was sit
ting in the shade Of our adobe ranch build
ing on the bank of the South Platte, when
1 noticed a man staggering along the dusty
trail to the north of the, horse corral
Some drunken pilgrimr from Julesburg,"
l thought; for although Julesburg was
nearly one hundred embes distant, 1 knew
that more than one tramp had there
bought enough "taDgfefoot" to keep him
drunk until he either reached Denver or
lost his scalp on thu way
1 regarded the man lazily until he came
so near that his head. and features began
to take definite shape. Then 1 saw, with
alarm, that his hatless head was literally
the color Of blood, and that his shirt-front
was marked with dark streaks. I got up
and hurried to meet him. To my horror,
upon a near approach, / discovered that he
had not only been wounded in tn. head,
but had been actually scalped!
will not attempt to describe his fright
full condition. Yet he had full control of
Els faculties, and began rapidly telling his
sad story as l put my arm about him to
steady his walk.
He had been travelling toward Denver
from the east, driving light wagon, which
contained only himself, his wife and few
household articles and provisions. They
had camped on the river. about two miles
below our ranch, the night before. About
daylight, just as they were getting break
fast, they had been pounced upon by
party Of mounted Indians. who rode out
from the mouth of gulch close at hand,
and opened fire upon them.
Il was frying a pan Of bacon" said tina
nan-his name was William Rosamond-
when suddenly I heard them yelling. /
looked up, and just got glimpse of them
a n 7 Shn han
began firing, and l felt what might have
been a stroke on my head, and no more.
When l woke up 1 was the way you see
me. The wreck Of my wagon was there.
but my vile and horses were gone. And
SO l staggered away, and here l am; and
whether l ought to thank God 1 didn't sec
my wife lying there dead is more than I
know. l suppose they've carried her away
a prisoner
At the sight of the poor man there was
In me a fury of desire to punish the fiends
who had SO mutilated him; and when he
begged me to go at once to the nearest post
for help to rescue his wife said: There's
no need. AS there were only twelve or fif-
teen, We'll try it ourselves
Rouse! rouse!' I shouted 10 my men in
the hut. Fortunately, there were in 1t
five Of them asleep.
They reused instantly and were as sur
prised, Mortified and fierce as myself at the
dreadful plight Of Rosamond. While l set
about washing and dressing his wounded
nsdu tney DOlteu some 1OOu anu Colee,
saddled horses, and declared they would
follow the Indians anywhere if only their
trail could he struck and kept.
The bullet, found, had struck Rosamond
on the temple near the left eye, and had
not penetrated the skull, but had passed
around under the skin and come out be-
hind the ear. The scalping knife had
hared the skull on top in circle about
four inches in diameter. 1 soon had the
wounds dressed and bandaged; then. at his
urgent request we left the man to care for
himself.
With two days ration in our saddle
bags, and an extra pony for each of us, we
galoped away in pursuit of the Indians,
and soon found the wreck of the wagon
beside the trail, some two miles from the
ranch. '", I'D
After thorough search for some dis
lance on every side, we became satisfied
that Mrs. Rosamondl had been taken cap
tive. Then took the trail of the ponies
of the Indians, and of the two shod horses
they had captured
AS this trail led US across the sandy val
ley to the north, we judged the party to be
Cheyennes or Sioux, for Arapahoes or Co
n,anches would. most likely, have taken
the opposite direction.
"Bow-Legs," our expert tracker, form
erly a pony express" rider, rode in adj
vance at jog trot over hard ground, and
at gallop across the frequent sand tracks,
all the time leaning forward. with his face
teside his ponys neck, and his eyes follow
horses And So about noon, he led us up
to tho high land which formed the divide
between the Platte and Crow creek. The
day was clear, hot and fortunately devoid
of that haze or mirage which so often pre-
walls in that region.
Now, boss said Bow-Legs. get out
your glass and take squint down across
bout fifteen or twenty miles ahead The
Indians have only been riding at jog, and
they ought to be in sight
AS / was superintendent Of large
roundup" 1 always carried in my saddle
holsters signal service glass of first-rate
my binocular happened to catch the saw
ages Just they were going over a ridge.
! had time to count sixteen horsemen and
a number Of led animals before they disap-
peared.
"Only sixteen of 'em- said Bow-Legs
Good enough! Wen make things warm
for them"
He had, In fact. stood off" thirt cen alone
on one occasion. On anoth ar he had whip
Pea nine Utes single-handed, and had
chased the four survivors several miies-so
much did his new breech-loader overmatch
their bows and arrows and inferior guns.
AS our Indians were going north, we were
confident they would camp OH Grow creek,
and we logged easily after them. They
evidently had no fear of pursuit, as they
wsre travelling in squad and going leis-
rrely In fact. such isolated outrages as
the one they had just committed usually
went unpublished in those days, and they
probably thought their crime would not
soon be discovered, as they had assaulted
the Rosamonds on an old trail that was lit
tie used
At o'clock that afternoon we were eau
tiously trailing within canyon which led
through the breaks or bluffs of Crow Creek
valley. After we had ridden for some two
hours down the arroyo, which deepened
and became quite rough as we advanced,
Bow-Legs pronounced the trail very fresh
At last he halted just he was on the
turn of a sharp corner, and motioned for
us to gallop up.
AS we joined him he gave a wild yell and
dashed the spurs into his horses TANKS
Following close in his wake, had the val
ley of Crow creek burst suddenly upon nv
view, and 1 saw that the Indians had pick
eted their ponies and pitched a couple of
tepees on the banks of the stream, some
three hundred yards away. Straight at
their camp we charged.
When first saw them they were scatter
Ing in dash for their ponies We dug
spurs into our animals and flew at them
like rockets. Each of us carried a re-
volver and Winchester carbine with if
teen shots in It's magazine.
The evident CONSERVATION of the Indians
and their rush for their horses took all no.
tion of fear out of us. We went straight
for them. and began firing before half of