The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-09-17

country, and Carson could not find any
trace of him. Two years after that, how
ever, he heard that Reed was in the City
of Mexico, and, being engaged In work
he could not leave, he sent me, in COM
pany with young Spanish lad, 900 miles
across the trail to pay the money. Mr..
Reed thought 1t very strange that man
should take all that trouble to pay
debt.
Carsons great influence with the In
dams was due, in the first place, to his
being honest with them. They be-
lieved what he told them. If, for in
stance, Carson knew that a party of
emigrantS were coming over certain
trail and went to any tribe Of Indians
and told them "hands off those white
people. or the scalps of your bravest
and best shall be taken," the redskins
knew that he meant It.
In these days Carsons name stands
forth as killer of Indians, relentless
Indian hunter but I know of an instance
where, in a fight with Comanches, one
of them had his leg broken and was left
on the field by his companions. Carson
took him into camp, dressed his leg,
carried him with the command to Bent's
Fort, made him crutch, and after
ward turned him loose, without APP
parently expecting a word of gratitude.
This is only one of many kind acts done
by him.
1 was with him when he got his death
wound. There were four Of us In the par
ty-Jim Blidger, Jim Beckwith, Carson
and myself. We were trying to cross
the West Gallatin river, branch OF thu
Little Missouri river, about thirty miles
west of where Bozeman City, Montana.
now is. We were on trapping eXpedi-
ton, and, as was customary In those
days, we had with us extra horses which
were tied to make a string that Is,
the pack horses were tied to the saddle
horses, and the rest of the animals were
tied to the others tails. This was done
to keep them from getting lost AMI
serving as a sort of defense against the
Indians
Carson took the lead. I was second.
When Carson had almost reached the
opposite bank there came a sudden flight
of arrows and the second pack horse was
almost shot down. Carson leaped from
his horse to cut the dead animal loose,
and as he turned to mount again, an ar
row struck him under the left shoulder
blade. He said nothing, but climbed up
on his horse and we got out of the water
as quickly as we could. AS soon as we
got to higher ground we dismounted, eX-
pecting a general attack l turned to
Carson and said: "Uncle Kit, let us
pull that arrow from your back. "All
right" he said, but be careful and don't
break it off" He never f1inched, al
though 1t took good strong tug to pull
the arrow from the wound.
The Indians bothered us no more that
day. That evening we made camp. Car
son took off his clothes and we exam
ined the wound and found 1t a much
worse one than we expected. We had
nothing to dress the wound, with the
exception of balsam of the white fir.
Late that night severe rain storm came
up and we were drenched. Carson con-
tracted a bad cold. From there until we
reached Fort Hall 1t rained almost con-
tinually, and Carson received drench-
ing every day and suffered toward the
fourth week with high fever. There
was no physician at Fort Hall. We
reached there on the fifth day. Carson
was too Ill to go to Salt Lake City to
receive medical attention, and we re-
manned at Fort Hall the rest of the win
ter.
In the spring Carson had so far recov-
cred that he was able to go to his old
home near Santa Fe, N. M. During the
entire trip Carson never complained of
his ailment. After remaining home
short time his condition became worse
and he was taken to Fort Union, N. M,
where a Spanish physician, Jose Lavair-
70, who was known and liked by Car
son. lived. He remained there nearly
four months, but became no better. Dur
ing this time he would lie on a sofa I'M
til he could no longer stand the inaction,
and would then arise and walk around,
never complaining of his illness, but al
ways joyful.
Five minutes before he died Carson
was sitting on couch telling the doctor
of one of his hunting trips in South
Park, Col. An abscess had formed inter
nally, the result OF his wound, and while
telling the story it broke and he dropped
back on the couch. AS he fell he threw
up one hand, eXclaiming in Spanish,
"Adios a medico. When the doctor
reached him he was dead.
w. r Drcnnan