Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-06-25
FIELDS OF ADVENTUR RE.
THRILLING INCIDENTS AND DARING
DEEDS ON LAND AND SEA.


''It was IN 1863 and 1864, when the
Civil War was the hottest, that made
some money smuggling cotton from
Texas across the Mexican border, u
said David G. Develley, Of New Or
leans.
1T was in May, 1864, that, with q
train of six four.mule wagons bound
for the Rio Grande with cotton. my
outfit was jumped by the Comanches
a hundred miles south of San Antonio
There were ten men of us all told, and
seventy or eighty Of the Comanches.
We saw them in time and corralled
our wagons, with the mules safe be-
hind them, and stood the Indians off,
Bat there was one man named Nor
ton, a young fellow who had come
along with our party for the sake OF
adventure, whom they captured. He
had gone out for antelope and was q
mile from the wagons when the In.
dians swooped down and cut him off.
He ran for it and gave them chase;
but his horse tripped in a badger hole
and threw him, and that settled his
fate. He fought for his life and
emptied couple Of Indian saddles,
and as the Comanches closed round
him we all prayed that he might he
killed on the spot. But when the In.
dians scattered out and rode toward
us we saw poor Morton among them
astride a pony, his feet tied together
under the animal with one of the In.
dians leading the pony by lariat.
''We were kept pretty busy for about
three hours, the Indians circling us.
lying along their ponies sides so as to
show us no mark except foot, and
firing their guns and arrows from un.
der the animals necks. We well
protected by our wagons and none OF
us was hurt: and after we had killed
four ponies and wounded an Indian
or two the Comanches had enough oil
it and drew of. But they did not &C
away. They only went well out of rifle
range, and then they stopped and
cooked their supper, showing that
they meant to stay with us longer.
Before sunset they scalped poor Nor
ton in full view of us, and an Indian
rode toward the wagons parading the
scalp on n lance.
"There was no possible way for lis
to rescue the captive from the In.
dians. From behind our barricade
we could see them making their prep
arations to torture him. They gath.
cred armfuls of last years dried grass
and buffalo chips before sundown,
and stretched Morton upon his back
on the ground, with his hands and
feet tied to stakes. When darkness
fell they built a fire upon his chest
and held up torches of dried grass
that we might see. His shrieks came
to our ears and we could see his
writings by the light Of the Indians
torches. Elsewhere it was pitch dark,
for the night was cloudy and there
was no moon.
"We endured this sight for few
minutes, and then one of our COM
pany could stand it no longer. The
best shot IN our outfit was Bill White
head. He could do wonderful shoot
ing with long, muzzle-Ioading rife
of the pattern known in the South as
buck rifle, and which carried round
bullet weighing twentyfour to the
pound. He looked to the printing OF
his piece, laid his hat on the ground,
and, without word, began to crawl
under wagon out from the corral.
"What are you going to do, Bill?
I asked.
"'You wait and see' he answered,
'and il I don't come back it's all
right
"We had no men to spare where We
were, and Bill was the best man
among us-but let him go, only say.
ing:
"'Be careful, Bill. Don't go so fal
away that you can't get back
'He was out of sight in minute,
crawling away in the darkness
through the long grass. Ten, fifteen,
twenty minutes passed while we
looked and waited. We could see the
captive in his agony, and, between the
Indians yells, could hear his shrisks.
Then somewhere near the Indians u
flame spouted from the grass, and as
the report of Bills rifle cam e back to
our ears the shrieking ceased sud.
denly and Morton lay still upon the
ground. There was commotiOI
among the Indians, who for few mo
ments seemed completely ratified. BY
the light of the torches they dropped
and the dreadful fire upon poor Nor
toms body we could see some Of them
firing toward the spot where the rifle
had flashed, and others darting toward
the place where their ponies were
tethered. Their guns flashed nearer,
arrows whistled toward the wagons,
and we could catch the hoof-beats OF
ponies on the run toward us as Bills
tall figure loomed suddenly ill the
darkness and he fell breathless be.
tween two wagon wheels, still clutch.
ing his rifle. We pulled him into the
corral, and then for few minutes had
q lively time beating off the Conan
ches, who were all about us, frantic
with rage. An Indian will seldom
give battle in darkness, always choos,
ing an hour in which there is some
daylight; but the Comanches were SC
furious that it looked at one time as il
they would storm our barricade, in
which case our show would be slim
one. But they thought better of it
and drew off, though twice again in
the night they crept up through the
grass and sent flight of arrows into
the corral. Bill was fighting, with us,
at the end of the skirmish, and when
it was over / asked him about his ex.
perience over at the Indians camp.
"I reckon / spilled their fun with
Norton was all / could get him tc
say, and he never could be induced tc
utter another word on the subject.
"We looked for another attack from
the Comanches in the early dawn, but
with the break Of day We saw that
they had gone. Evidently they
!