Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1899-08-25
WITHOUT A TRAIL.
WeII-Known scouts Who Now t1na
Their Occupation Gone.
(Omaha World-Herald)

WeII-Enown scouts Who Now tina
Their Occupation Gone.
Omaha WorId-herald)
About the most pitifully cherries men
in the West nowadays are those VINO
have given the greater part of their lives
to scouting for the army and occasion
ally for a cattle company or band OF
miners, who have endured a generation
Of savage hardships and have braved all
the dangers OF the plains, and now, griz-
Zled and gray. realize that their occdpa-
ton is gone forever. There are scores OF
the old fellows in the Territories. Several
hundred of the younger scouts nave De-
come vaqueros, sheep-herders, express
messengers, and guards, cattle-men, rail-
road-men. miners, and prospectors. Eiec-
tricity and railroads principally have
made scouting obsolete, and since the
Apaches in the Southwest and the Sioux
IN the Northwest have been beaten into
peaceful relations with the white settlers
there has been no demand for the SCR
vices OF the old-time scout. In every
town Of any size in this region one may
see some OF the veteran scouts-poor IN
purse, tattered in person, loafing about
the saloons. telling visitors from the East
Of the glories Of the frontier before
civilization and railroads spoiled II all
and half-heartedly building hopes of the
day when something Unexpectedly may
transpire and scouting may be called into
demand again.
EARLY SCOUTS JARED WELL.
The earlier scouts. like Kit Carson and
Jim" Bridger were originally trappers
and hunters, born and reared in Missouri.
Tennessee. and kentucky, who had
fcndness for adventure. They had pushed
their way across the border OF civiliZd-
ton Of those days. and had gone upon the
plains Of Kansas. Nebraska. and Texas
for big game and excitement. The Next
can war of 1Si7 and the movement Of
troops through Texas and along the Rio
Grande brought scouting into the army
service. When the era Of ORLEANS and
excited gold-seekers headed toward Cali
forna began i'm 1919 there was a great
demand for scouts az very profitable
wages. Hundreds Of young men with a
smattering Of plains life. an experiences in
firearms. and a little knowledge of Indian
ways became professional scouts No en-
igration-train would leave st. Joseph, Mo.
or LeavenwOrth, Kan, on its journey Of
four or ave months 10 the Pacific ocean
without an accompanying scout or guide
for az least part Of the way. As the chain
OF army garrisons was extended out upon
the plains the War Department employed
more and more scouts for the troops, and
scouting became a sort Of science Of the
plains in which there was competition
in experience. During the Apache and
Sioux wars in 1871, 1878. and 1879. the gov
eminent had about 1900 scouts on the
army pay-rolls. Then the Indians who
had adopted white mems ways. became
scouts, and tbs pursuit Of the white men
waned fast.
THE IDEAL SCOUT.
The requisite of good scout was. first
OF all, an iron constitution. He expected
10 remain in the saddle days and nights
in Succession, TO sleep for weeks at a time
wherever night overlook him. His
sole concern so far as physical dlscom-
fort was concerned. vas for his horse
or broncho. PrivatlOns that would quick
ly break down men used 20 confning
employment and indoor life were nothing
70 scouts. They have gone for weeks
without cooked food, because they were
secretly trailing in an Indian country
and dared not make a fire. Hunger and
thirst were common privations. They
have slept on bleak and barren spots
where bitter winds blew and dust and
sand filed the air. with their horses
picketed near. without even a protecting
blanket over them, only 70 get up at
dawn and pursue the ride sixty or
seventy miles further. Ii is wonderful
that these plainsmen could endure this
life longer than a few yeays.
Courage IS another requisite for a good
scout. Some of this courage may be
border bravado. but there have been
such constant opportunities 10 reveal the
mettle Of a scout that none could con-
ceal his true self very long. There have
been published countless highly romantic
stories OF the bravery OF scouts in
prairie fires, in stampedes OF buffalo, in
facing a shower Of bullets and a storm
OF feathered arrows. and the majority
of these romances are founded on fact.
One may hear about any garrison on the
western frontier to-day veracious stories
OF deeds of bravery by long-haired I'M
tutored scouts that rival the widest
fiction.
SOME ARE HEROES.
The scout must also have quick COM
prehension and a good memory for details
OF a country. Scouts Wnchel and Flani-
gan, who led a troop OF cavalry into an
Apache ambush among the Dragon
mountains in Southern Arizona in 1875,
and who instantly ordered the soldiers 10
whirl about and seek safety behind the
lava powders. while they che two scouts
dashed into the open and received the
deadly charge intended for the troops
showed as much courage and quickness
OF comprehension as legendary heroes
ever did. out on the barren. sun-baked
and wind-swept plains the scout must
know where water is TO be had. even
though he might not have been that way
b. several years. General Custer said
that the four scouts who led his troops
In the Indian campaigns OF the later COS
could smell water forty miles away, even
when the sun was witherngly hot and
the soldiers and horses were almost over
come.