The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1899-11-18


then the man with the red beard DELHI
erately picked us two kids up-one under
each Sarn-and threw us overheard into
the dangerous, swirling eddies Of the
Missouri He roared with delight when
our two heads bobbed to the surface,
and he seemed to be immensely tickied
to note our Intellectual efforts to reach
the skin again, Intellectual on account or
the sWiftness of the current. The other
man was apparently more humane. for
he said to our tormentor, the fellow with
the red beard: @.f& Ii
=" Better let 'em in again, H1te.
They re gettin' weak 8 81
3tThe red-bearded man sculed DOWN
stream bit after and permitted us:
to climb into the, stern sheets of the
skif, weak and pretty nearly played out.
Then he rowed us back tosthe shore. He
had taken off his coat and rolled up the
sleeves of his hickory shirt: A big blue
and red snake was tattooed In coils
around his brawny right forearm, and
beneath the snake, in big letters of red,
: was tattooed the name. Wood Hite.' We
lost no time in dressing and getting
away from the two men, once.,swe got.
ashore. The red-beaTed man was Wood
3Ffite. one Of che most desperate and cruel
members of the James gang. A LeaVen-
worth paper published picture of Hite
few months later in an illustrated ar
tfcle recountfng in rather admfring terms
Tire iODDcrleS VI Tie gang, anu lIiy
brother and l surely did do some shiver-'
ing when we looked at the cruel devils !
mercy in the middle Of the Big Muddy "a
few months before. gIzr3 ti.4e
.eIn the early spring Of 1875 8 man
named Askew, who lived near Kearney, 1,
No. and who had reason to be in mortal ]
fear of the gang, because he had given I
shelter to the detective who in the pre-
sceding January, had thrown a bomb inte.
the home Of Mrs. Samuels, the James 4
boys mother, came to Fort Leavenworth 1
ina fruitless effort to get the command
Ing officer Of the post to send squad of il
regular army soldiers to protect2hinn in l
his Kearney home from the vengeance 1
Of the gang. Askew took dinner at our,
house on one of the days he was in .
Leavenworth on this errand. Three days .
after his return to Kearney he was shot !
dead on his own doorstep. j
i@'One midsummer afternoon in 1876 my |!
mother, who was at that time young
and handsome woman, and nervy besides, /
as bet1tted the wife of an army officer, |
was driving alone in sidebar buggy on
q very wild road, called Sherldan's drive, I
back of Fort Leavenworth At sudden
turn in the road the horse. a scary. ner-
vous> animal that had been In the cavalry, /
came smack into a. prairie vulture that .
was feeding upon dead blacksnake lying
across the road: The vulture flew into j
the:air' with a tremendous Tapping Of
wings, and the crazy horse took fright, ,
bottled, and, with his body almost touching |
the ground, started on q dead run, bound |
eoraany old place. The road was narrow
and ctrcuitous, with heavy trees lining !;
ftaatsboth sides, but as say, my mother
was "a dead game young woman. !s.he |
footrests close to the dashboard wraPpedi
the reinsi around her strong arms couple !
Of times, and just began to saw on that
|frenz&ed horses month. The saving |
didn't edo any good, and she admitted
afterward that after the brute had raced
for two miles without q sign of letting !,
lown-she began, to grow nervous, especial !
ly,as there were a lot of high bluffs over-I
looking Salt Creek valley not far ahead. |
The horse was still jumping along, Hex
etty-spiit at a ,two-minute galloping
gait, when, at another sudden turn In the
road, where my mother was absolutely
certain that she would be dumped, a man
suddenly shot out of the woods, only ten
feet ahead Of the flying horse He waved
his arms rand yelled and the horse eased
up suddenly, but when the man attempted
to grab the bride close to the bit the
brute plunged and reared and severely;
bruised the chap who had turned up
In the nick Of time. The mans shins
were so badly mauled that he could bare
ty walk, and my mother, after petting the
horse and cooling him down, invited the
stranger, who was gray-haired yet young !;
looking, to step into the buggy with her
and tibe driven, to her physicians ONCE
In the city, where he could have his
bruises treated. The man, a quiet,
rentlemanly chap, thanked her and ac-i
cepted the offer and she drove him to.
a DR.. Van sDyne's Office in down town
Leavenworth, where she gave MN into
the keeping Of the doctors assistant al
few days later DR.. Van Dyne passed by
our house In his buggy, and dropped IN.
| how ron -.
az Il ,ook here my friend said the doctor
To nv father .fhOw long have you been
permitting your wife to drive around with
members of the James gang?
st.AIy father looked puzzled as the doctor 4
regarded him blandly. Then the doctor
told him that the man who mad stopped
the runaway horse and who had been
driven to his Office a few days before 1
h,,5 INV mother was no other man on earth
than SCleH Miller, one of the most des- I
pefnte members of the gang OF FRANK
and Jesse James. Not two months later
Cleil Miller was killed In the streets OF
Northfield, Mimi, in the disastrous att
tempt the James gang made to rob the
bank at that place.
"Not long after that Il was sneak1ng !
horseback ride a vicious horse of my
fathers, that had been condemned out Of /
a cavalry outfit on account Of a vile
temper. The horse was "a. born bOlter, 4
rode him cnce in a while. He was a bit \
afraid Of the beast, In truth. His boys,
of course, were absolutely forbidden to go l
near the brute, but we used to sneak
rides on him occasionally. Just the same.
We couldn't get at saddles or brides, 4
because my father locked them up when 4
ne was away, but / used to snake the i
brute out Of the barn and ride him with
out saddle or bride, and nothing but a.
halter to hang on to. When he'd bolt. I'd
take couple Of twists on his name. as
lad often seen the boys Of the Nez Perez i
tribe do with their fractions ponieS. aud
Gang on like grim death. The horse never
succeeded in ditching me up to the time
any father got rid Of him. On this occas-
ion was, as usual, riding with the halter
alone. a barefooted kid, and letting the
horse take his own course. as I had to, In
fact, being without means OF guiding him.