The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-04-30
BREAKFAST BROUGHT QUICK.
A Pioneer Colorado Scout Writes of
 Early Days on the Plains.

A Pioneer Colorado Scout Writes of Early Days on the Plains. l Charles Christie, the pioneer scout and ! plainsman, who now leads the peaceful /! life of one retired from the strife of life, | has received a letter from F. A. Gilbert, who was prominent actor in the early days of the west. Gilbert now lives at | Cadmus. Kan, and the first letter he 1 has written Christie since their meeting thirty years ago is full of narratives of the exciting days when Colorado was the scene of strife waged by white men
 on Indians and on the rough country. | The old scout, who now lives in Den yer, has a history of his own that reads l like a romance. It was in 1856 that he
 first passed through the country upon which now stands Denver. Previous to | that time, in 1850, he went over much of the western country in the employ of the American Fur company. For years | he was a government scout and guide,
 and he was engaged in many hot fights with the savages who infested the plains.
 | Christie was with the relief column of Colonel Carpenter which was sent to
 Beecher Island to save from annihila- | ton the small force of General For sythe, which had withstood the assaults
 of one thousand Indians for days. His
 record is emphasized by the scars of
 seven bullet wounds, the thrust of a
 lance, and two marks left by arrows
 which entered his body.
 hn yurftpc
 known on the frontier as Louis A. Me-
 Laughlin This name he took because of the determination of the members of
 a gang of thieves he assisted in break ing up to shoot him on sight. In part,
 his story of the old days Is as follows
 Don't you mind the time when you
 and the nigger Sergeant helped the old scout out of the trench at the island,
 with hole in his breast If you forgot him, he never forgot you. Of Course, I knew you then as Moorauha Charley (Roman Nose Charley) I went entire ly by the name of Mclaughlin, and only
 Generals Custer and Sheridan knew my real name.
 T have written to Johnny Stillwell since I got your letter. He was one of the best posted men in the outfit, and if he and had not protested the entire
 Forsythe expedition would have ridden into q trap and been massacred the night before the fight on the island be- gan. We knew for two days that we were biting off a chew that we could not get away with, and we urged Forsyth to give 1t up, but he went right on.
 "All that saved us when we finally did roy yv,Y, tbo+ tva 1y6ra ,,oor fha ie,1opd and could get water. The Indians could not get near us either, or it would have been short shrift for the entire outfit. General Forsythe wanted to whip them with fifty men armed with carbines and revolvers. We'll we whipped them, or rather we made a good defense and killed lot of Indians
 You say you were with Jack Carbin when he was killed Well, Jack and I were together good deal, and remem- Der many experiences we had. I re- member once we were ordered to carry dispatches to Fort Harker just after the Medicine Lodge treaty. We concluded, after delivering the dispatches to go down to Ellsworth and get a square meal. We went to the Commercial House and ordered the best they had.
 "The walters in the place seemed kind of dilatory, and we told them two or three times to hurry up But they did not seem to care. Jack sought to wake them up. Pulling his gun, he said
 "I'll bet five dollars can shoot the top off each bottle in that castor" The castor referred to was about thirty feet away. He began shooting, and did shoot the top off each bottle Then he delivered lecture to the hotel people and the meal came out mighty quick"-- Denver (Col.) News.