The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-05-15
HIS STURDY LOYALTY
EXCITING CAREER OF THE ONLY
TEXAN WHO VOTED FOR
LINCOLN
HAS BATTLED WITH INDIANS

Well He Defended His Home-Be-
came n Soldier In the Union
Army-A Terrible Trudge of
Many Days Across the Hot Sands
OF Mexico.
Out in the hills of Western Texas, not
far from the tanned city of Caldwell,
man and his wife live quietly, waiting
the end after over eighty years of as
stormy life as comes to those on the
frontier They are hardy mountaineers
and their lives have been filled to rep,e-
ton with deeds which are called heroic.
sJol:n JOY is the name of the husband
His wife is not less sturdy and heroic
tLan he
John JOY cast the only vote for Abra-
ham Lincoln cast in Texas, so it is aid.
He stood by with his pistol In his hand
and saw that the vote dropped into the
proper box. He has battled with Indians
and has many scalps to show how well
he defended his home. In the early days
OF the civil war he was busy guarding his
home. Later on he and several compan-
Ions travelled nearly 1000 miles on foot
that they might join the federal army.
Mrs. JOY kept the home ranch, fgh ing
the Indians herself, killing one chief dur
ing a raid on the little settlement Now
in their old age they are living peacefully
in western Texas, still of the same polit-
zeal belief that they held forty-years ago.
JOY 5 father was a Virginian and a
soldier of the revolution. The family
Were always poor mountaineers. In the
early days they emigrated to Arkansas,
where they lived until 1850. Here the old
soldier of the revolution died, while his
son John. under Gen. Zach Taylor, was
fighting MeXicans. In 1850 John Joy
started, with a long train of Arkansas
people. across the plains towards Cali
fornia, taking the southern route. They
got lost on the plains and finally con-
cluded TO go to the mountains of western
Texas and remain until the next spring.
They settled on the Guadaloupes, and be-
ing pleased with the fine climate and
great abundance of game they located
lands and improved small farms
BROUGHT UP UNDER ARMS
The young men of this colony grew up
I'm a school of arms Whenever a full
moon rode the sky the terrible Mescala-
ros were almost sure to make a raid on
the settlement. There was hardly a
young man among these people who had
not killed an Indian, and many of the
women were proud of the fact that they
had made an Apache warrior bite the
dust. Every young girl In the settlement
knew how to handle a gun or a pistol.
John Joy was then in the prime of life
and his ability to endure fatigue, coupled
with his remarkable courage and GOODNESS
under fire, soon made him leader even
among set of the most valorous of In
dian fighters. He has in his possession
nearly hundred scalps as modest tro-
phies of his prowess on the warpath.
Early in that famous campaign which
elevated Abraham Lincoln to the presi-
dency of the United States Mr.. Joy de-
clared that he was opposed to negro
slavery, and often publicly proclaimed
that he intended to vote for Mr.. Lincoln
for president. On the day of the election,
accompanied by some ten or more Of his
Indian fighters, he rode to the nearest
voting place, which was nearly 100 mics
away and in a section where the aboli-
ton candidate was regarded a little less
than fiend incarnate.
VOTES FOR MR.. LINCOLN.
Dismounting from his horse he walked
to the window of the little building where
the citizens were holding the election and
asked for a Lincoln ticket. Surprising
that he was playing a practical joke.
everybody laughed uproariously but
when the crowd found that he was in
earnest he was quickly surrounded by
armed men. whose faces wore threat
ening look
One of the judges said to Mr.. JOY: "If
you want tC vote for old Abe you will
have to get out of Texas. You can't put
in any vote of that kind here"
We'll, shall try my best said Mr.
Joy, and, drawing a piece of paper and
a pencil from his pocket, he wrote:
81, John Jo a citizen of Texas--a Mexi-
can war veteran-defender of the from
tier and the son of a soldier Of the re-
volution. cast my vote for Abraham Lin
coin for president of the United States''
Handing the paper to one of the Judges,
he stood his ground for a moment with
his hand on his pistol and then coolly
turned away and mounted his horse 1t
required a great deal of courage to do
that.
When the war broke cut the troops
were withdrawn from the frontier and
the Indians raided the settlements in
swarms John Joy was in the saddle
nearly all the time at the head of COM
pany of his neighbors trying to protect
their homes and their women and chill
dren from the scalpng knife of the rncr-
CHESS Apaches.
GOES TO THE ARMY.
Every effort was made to induce JOY
to join the southern army but he le-
fused to be governed by other than the
union sentiment that was strong within
him. Finally his life was threatened and
upon more than one occasion he narrowly
escaped being made a prisoner
hi
more than two years his brave wife said
to him one day: John, between the
Apaches and your other enemies I am
afraid you will lose Your life 1 expect
you had better go and join the union
army [ and the boys and girls will be
able to- stand off the Indians"
This was exactly what he wanted to
do, but he hesitated to leave his family
on the frontier. and then the question s
to how the federal lines were to be
reached presented itself After consult
Ing with bis neighbors he selected nine
Oh the hardest and bravest men in the
community and they gathered several
hundred head of their cattle and started
across the plains right through the heart
of the Indian country In the direction of
the Rio Grande. They were hardly ont of
sigft of the Guadalupe mountains he
fore the Indians began to appear on the
hills, and after that scarcely a dav
passed without an exchange of shots he
tween the cattlemen and the Apaches
1t was terrible march, Water was
scarce and the hot sands were blazing,
but after enduring incredible bardsbir.,
and fighting many battles they reached
the frontier Of old Mexico without 4he
loss of man. Here they were fortunate
enough to sell their cattle, and. paclying
their gold, blankets and provisions on an
old burro, they started down the Rio
Crapde fhe dirac4io,, wv