Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1899-02-10
AN OLD INDIAN FIGHTER.
Has One Hundred Redskins
on His Record.


The great American Indian fighter,
famed in history and dime novel, is
rapidly becoming memory eo< the
past. With the tanning aud the thin
ring out of the Indian his occupation
has vanished. and if you discover one
to-day he is either very old man or
else a very untruthful one. especially
in California, where the hostile saw
age has not been seen in mapysyears-
One of the few authenticated Indian
| fighters OF California is jackson Farley,
commonly known as .'Uncie Jack, who
| tains OF Nendocino county.
Uncle Jack has passed his ninety
second birthday, and Will modestly adj
NIT the killing of 100 Indians. Only he
will not say that he killed Them;
an expression. by the way, that orig
| mated with him in the early SOS and
subsequently became official vernacu-
lar among scouts and cattlemen.
Between the years 1S49 and 1865 Uncle
Jack was engaged in almostaconstant
warfare with the Indians of Mendo-
elmo, Trinity and Humboldt counties.
He came to California from Virginia
venture and fortune, and in search of
revenge, too, for during the journey
across the plains his best friend died
from an arrow. and Uncle Jack fell
easily into the then common belief
that the only good Indian was a dead
one.
Trophies galore of the balance Of
that bloody journey he showed TO the
Call reporter. Scalps by the dozen,
chairs bottomed with Indian hide, ra-
zor strops of the same grewsome ma
tcrial, and countless bows, arrows,
tomahawks and firearms.
With neither wife nor child, only the
comradeship of big mastiff, Uncle
Jack arrived here in 1919 and settled
down to the business of stock raising
on the lonely mountain ranges of Men
docino.
From 1850 to 1856 there were no In
dian agencies established. and the ad-
vent of a white man was an imitation
to the treacherous instincts of the In
dian. Murder, arson and cattle and
horse stealing ran riot.
Farley went out one morning to in
spect his stock and found that 25 horses
and 100 head of cattle had been stolen
been killed and mutilated, its name and
tale hanging defiantly on the gate posts
of the corral.
Uncle Jack FASTENED back TO his
| cabin, where he secured extra ammuni-
ton and another brace of sixshooters.
Three friendly prospectors with an ex-
ira horse were in the peighborhood.
and they and Uncle Jack set forth in
pursuit of the thieves. Reaching a deep
canyon where one of the Eel river trib-
utaries came cascading down the noun
tain, they were about to water their
horses when they were struck by the
peculiar color of the water. 1t was
blood red.
This was enough to tell Uncle Jack
that the Indians were butchering his
cattle up the river and washing the
carcasses in the stream.
/ In a flash he and his companions
were riding up the trail, where they
soon met shower of arrows This was
in the day of the muzzle-Ioading Fifie,
and every one OF the return shots had ,
to tell.
Uncle Jack and his friends dfsmount-
ed and broke for cover. In the shelter
OF trees and bushes they poured a slow
deadly fire on the attacking red men.
As fast as the savages could reorganize
and surround the rifles of the white
men they would cut gaps in the savage
circle. Time after time the Indians
were repulsed, and finally, after five
hours of bitter fighting, their supply of Q
arrows gave out and they beat a re-
treat.
Uncle Jack recovered only remnant
OF his band of cattle and none of the
horses, but exactly 40 Indians, good
and dead" marked the quantity of his
vengeance. This was one of Uncle
Jacks most successful days. IL soon
became historic and was instrumental
in securing him a government scout
ship when the first Indian post was es-
tabiished in IS56.-San Francisco Call.
Jungle Mushrooms.
Those who have travelled much
through the damp junStes of India.
such as the Terai, cannot have helped
noticing the large amount of fungoid
growth, both terrestrial and epI-
phytical, that presents itself. much of
which is edible, but requires an init
mate acquaintance with botany to de-
termine between the poisonous and
uninimical. What were not long since
considered semisavage races on the
northeast frontier are the best guides
the uninitiated. however. can employ
to distinguish the two classes; so close
is the resemblance that it would be
dangerous for the ignorant traveller
to trust to his Owl unai6ed discrimina-a
ton, and if the services of human
nomad are not available the fungi
should be submitted to the enuaIIvgau