El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-09-16

and best shall be taken," the redskins
knew that he mesntit.
In these names Carson's name stands
forth as a killer of Indians. q relentless
Indian hunter, but I know of On
instar ce where, in a fight with Conan
chas, one of them had his leg broken
| and was left on the field by his COM
dressed his leg, carried him with the
command to Bent's Fort, made him
crutch, aud sfterward turned him
loose, without apparently expecting
word of gratitude. This Is only one of
many kind acts done by him.
was with him when he got his death
wound. There were four of us in the
party-Jim Bridger, Jim Beckwith,
Carson and myself. We were trying
branch of the Little Missouri River,
about thirty miles west of where Boze-
man City, Montana, now is. We were
on q trapping expedition, and as was
customary in those days, we had with
US extra horses which we're tied to
make q "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 gettisg lost, and serv-
ing as q sort of defense against theO In
dions.
Carson took the lead. was second.
When Carson had almost reached the
opposite bank there came q sudden
flight of arrows and the second pack
horse was almost shot down. Carson
lesped from his horse to cut the dead
animal loose and "a he turned to mount
again, an arrow struck him under the
left shoulder blade. He said nothing,
but climb bed up ON his horse and we got
out of the water as quickly Is we could.
AS soon as we got to higher ground we
dismounted, expecting q general at
tack. 1 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, although it took good
strong tug to pull the arrow from the
wound.
The Indians bothered US no more
that day. That evening we made
camp. Carson took off his clothes and
we examined the wound and found it q
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 all
drenched. Carson contracted bad
cold. From there until we reached
Fort Hall it rained almost continually
and Carson received q drepchipg every
day and suffered toward the fourth
week with a high fever. There was
no physician at Fort Hall. We reach
ed there on the fifth day. Carson was
too i'll to go TO Salt Lake City to re-
cefve medical attention and we re-
NAMED at Fort Hall the rest Of the
winter.
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
q short time his condition became
worse and he wac taken to Fort Union,
N. M. :, where Spanish physician, j ose
who was known and liked |
by Carson, lived. He remained there
nearly four months, but became no
better. During this time he would lie |
on sofa until he could no longer |
stand the inactiop and would then arise |
and walk around, never complaining of |
bis illn ess. but always joyful.
Five minutes before he died Carson |
was sitting on the couch telling the |
doctor of one of his hunting trips in
South Park, Colo. An abcess hsd
formed internally, the result OF his
wound, and while telling his story it
broke and he dropped back on the
couch. AS he fell he threw up one
hand, exclaiming in Spanish, 'Adioa,
medico." When the doctor reached
him he was dead.
w. F. DRANNAN.
RroU IT,