The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1899-10-08

that he held down for several years. It
was the custom after leaving Harler, the
border of the Indian territory, to put out
all the lights and pull down the blinds,
so that the train might not be seen by
the Indians Without headlight, Jim Cur
ry would sit at the throttle, and at
lively rate pull his train across the dan
gerous country into Hayes City.
JIM CURRYS BAND.
In 1868 the Indians became worse than
ever and the whole country was in fever
of excitement. Curry left his engine and
organized a band of scouts known as
Jim Currys scouts. In August of that
year he fought the memorable battle of
the Republican" one of the most ia
nous battles in the history of Western
Indian wars. Curry and his band of fifty
men were surrounded on an open plain
by Chief Roman Nose and 5000 warriors.
Escape seemed impossible. Drawing his
men up into a small circle, Curry order
ed all the horses killed. Behind the bar
ricade formed by their bodies the men
dug trenches, and, protected only by
these rude works. Curry and his men for
eight days kept back the horde of red
skins During all that time they had
nothing to eat but the flesh of the horses
they had killed the first day. The sun
Shone down with scOrching heat, but they
managed to procure a, little water by dig
cling q well with their knives On the
first night of the siege two of the i'm
prisoned scouts stole out In search OF
aid The next night two more followed
them, for fear that the first might have
been killed or captured Late In the art
ernoon of the eighth day reinforcements
came, and the Indians were routed. 1t
was In this battle that Lieut.. Tony For
sVtbe now Gen. FOrSythe. received eight
wounds.
After the Indian war Curry returned
to Hayes City, and, although he became
very popular, soon made a reputation as
q dangerous man. One day while playing
a game of poker with gambler named
Gilmore he became incensed and threat
ened to shoot Giln1ore's tongue off. Gill
more jumped up from the table and ran
out of the room, pursued by Curry. Gil
more turned and said: For Gods sake,
Jim. don't shoot" but as he opened his
mouth Curry thrust the barrel of the
gun in and pulled the trigger. The ball
cut Gilmore's tongue off and lodged In
the back of his neck, failing, however,
to kill him.
HE ENCOUNTERS WILD BILL.
"The story that Curry once backed
down Wild Bill Is not correct" said an
old-tfmer in talking about the dead man.
BILL and jim were old acquaintances
One day they met III Paddy Welch's sa-
loon. Curry said to Bill; This town is
rot large enough for both of us Come
out on the sidewalk and | will fight you
a. duel to see which of us stays. Bill re-
piled: No, jim, you and | are old-tme
friends. I do not want to have any trou-
BILE with you. l will not fight you duel.
but whenever you want TO shoot, com
mence.' That was all there was to it.
Both lived in the town for some time
afterward, although each kept his own
end
Many stories are told of Curry while
running the saloon in Hayes City. At
one time the Thirty-eighth infantry,
colored, was being massed there and Cur
~ became involved in 4 dispute with a
band of the soldiers. Single-handed he
Jumped into the crowd and began TO ham
mer right and left with the butt end
OF his revolver, when 1t went off, shoot
ing him in the mouth. Some of his
friends came to his rescue and that night