The Winslow mail., 1898-08-20
III Frontier Cragedy


of Lieut., Col. Henry Carroll, com
manding the First brigade of the cav
airy division, recalls to the memory OF
western people frontier tragedy in
which himself and troops under his
command played prominent part.
In the latter part of The summer of
1890 a young man named Hugh Boyle,
whose home was at Champaign, ILL.,,
arrived in the vicinity of the Tongue
River reservation. Mont, to visit with
relatives, who were old settlers in that
region. On the evening of September
6, of that year, the young man, while
on his way on horseback tq aid his
uncle in herding cattle, was Waylaid
on the long and isolated road by two
Cheyenne Indians, afterwards discov-
cred to be Head Chief and Young Mule,
and foplly murdered by them. Because
of his failure to appear at his uncle's
home it was believed that some acci-
dent had befallcn him, and diligent
search was Immediately instituted.
The following day the horse ridden
by him was found, still saddled, graz
ing by the roadside. After searching
for nearly three days the only trace
of the youth that could be discovered
was his hat. which was found filled
with earth in q depression or "run." !"
An examination of the hat revealed a
hole in it which was clearly made by a
bullet. Blood spots were also notice
able around the hole.
Satisfied that murder had been
committed, the Indian chiefs were
called upon to assist in unraveling the
mystery and bringing the murderer or
murderers to justice. At that time
Tongue River agency was temporarily
in charge of James A. Cooper, of Win
field, Kan, then special agent of the
interior department, who afterward
furnished the writer with the details
of the remarkable incident. On Sep
tember 0 American Horse, a subchief,
discovered the body, and at once noti-
fed Special Agent Cooper.
The special agent, accompanied by
Maj. Carroll, then of the First United
States cavalry, and a number of In
dians, guided by American Horse, pro-
ceeded TO the spot where the body had
been discovered. The place where it
was found was in 'break" between
two peaks near the top of mountain
only four miles from the agency. The
body had been carefully secreted. and
would never have been discovered by
casual passer-by. 1t was taken to
the agency in an army ambulance,
which had been provided for the pur-
pose, and given 2 proper burial. Boyle's
relatives were notified, and two of his
brothers afterwards arrived and re-
moved it to their eastern home.
The special agent and party made
careful examination of the vicinity of
the spot where the body had been
found, to determine whether the foul
murder was committed by Indians or
whites. Foot prints made by mocca-
sins or bare feet--it was hard to de-
termine which, SO indistinct were the
marks-were found in the fresh earth,
and at several points leading to the
spot.
American Horse, after brief ex-
animation of the foot prints, withdrew
in silence to ore side. Upon being
pressed by Mr.. Cooper to give his opin
ion as to who could have killed the
young man and left the tracks, Ameri-
can Horse finally said that he knew
who did the deed and gave the names
of Young Mule aad Head Chief as the
guilty parties.
The police and friendly Indians to
the number of about 25 Immediately
commenced a search. Previous to
their departure the special agent had
issued orders for every Indian belong
ing on the reservation to come into the
agency, and all obeyed the order ex-
cept the two murderers. This fact set
tied any doubt that there might be as
to who the guilty parties were. Fri
day noon following, after diligent
search, the police returned, bringing
tidings that no trace of the fugitives
could be found. Saturday, September
13, ration Gay, after the rations had
been issued to the assembled Indians,
all of them were called to the agents
office, where they were told the neces-
sity of promptly bringing in the two
murderers, as the whites were becom-
ing enraged at the delay, and were
making all sorts of threats against the
Indians.
The famous chief Two Moon, who is
the head chief of one of the five bands
on the reservation, acted as spokes-
man for the Cheyennes, and stepped
forward VIXEN the agent had ceased
speaking. He stated that his people
had held council and were prepared
to satisfy the law, from their stand
point, Their proposition was that the
agent take 80 ponies in payment for
the death Of young Boyle. They in
tended that the ponies should be ac-
cepted and sent to the relatives of the
murdered boy as compensation for
the death of the young man. The Of
fer was promptly rejected, and they
were given to understand that the
white mans law could not be satisfied
in that manner,
The father of Head Chief made an
eloquent plea for his son, but it was un-
availing. Seeing the agent was de-
termined not to accede to their propo-
sition, and that nothing that the In
dlans demanded would be accepted,
the father of Head Chief strobe up to
the agent, and with eyes glittering vi
ciously, said;
u had hoped that the matter could
be settled with the ponies. l see you
are determined not to accept them.