The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1900-09-08
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4
! A SHORT STORY
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BATTLE ON THE PLAINS.

! Kipp, Mont, Aug 22-"If it hadn't been
for my stepmother,' said old Henry Bur
! goyne, as we sat on the porch the other
evening, Il suppose 1 would have been
hoeing tobacco and corn down in Missouri
to this day. She used to abuse and knock
me around at every opportunity. Finally,
the worm turned. One daV she told a
whopDing lie, blaming me for something
one of her own children had done, and
my rather gave me trounclng. That
night when all were asleep / stole away
on my little black mare, taking only my
rifle and ammunition, and the next morn
ing at Sunup | approached the town of st.
Joseph 1t was May 1, 1863, and I've never
boon back there nor seen any of my rela-
tives since.
well, near the outskirts of the town l
found a great camp of emigrants yokinG
up their bull teams and preparing to start
for the West In less than fifteen min
utes | had a job TO help drive the loose
stock, taking the place OF man who had
backed out at the last moment.
The whole train, consisting OF thirty
seven yoke teams. or, in other words,
about $50 bulls, sixty wagons and all the
freight was owned by Colonel Vaughn,
Major Owens and 10 Paryentran. three
old DlainSuen and traders, who surely
knew their business. Besides the forty
odd bullwhackerS, herders and other men
in their employ they had picked up sixty
adventurous characters who wished TO
try their fortunes in the Great west, 1ur-
nishing them food and transportation Tor
their bedding, etc, and in return they
agreed to stand by the train to the last
against the hordes OF Indians then infest-
ing the overland trail from the Missouri
to the Rockies.
TO the federal government ours was
most suspicious outfit. We We're all heaV-
lily armed, trailed two cannon ana MAD
several wagon loads of ammunition. II
was suspected that We would try to join
the Confederate army by going west ana
then swinging around TO the South, ana
al n
the authorities to allow us to start Even
when far out on the plains we were
stopped at every fort we came to, some
times for days, and our record ssl,lss
ed We were all from Missouri or further
south, which didn't help matters much;
1T was not until we arrived at the
edge of the buffalo country that we began
TO see signs of the Indians and the atroci-
ties they had perpetrated along the trail.
And as we slowly advanced we began TO
see the red devils lowering about on our
TANKS in tWos and threes, ana niue Dallus
of a dozen or more, but they dld not mo
lest US Our time had not yet come
The evening before we arrived at FORT
Cotton an emigrant train, consisting OF
some seventy families, overlook US. lneTe
were about 300 of them in all, mostly
women and children. They corralied
right beside US, and it did our bachelor
outfit good to hear the laughter and IghI-
prepared the evening meal After sup
per there was a general exchange OF VS.
it's and after sizing up their outHl anu
noting how little prepared Iney We're "
make their way through the hostlle coun-
try ahead. Colonel Vaughn advised the
leaders of the party not to attempt 10 go
on alone, but to travel with US, VINO Were
fully able to protect them. But 10 lHlS
they would not listen; they had morse
and mule teams, able TO travel twice as
far in a day as our slow-golng puils,
and they wanted to get to virginia ClIy
before the great stampede OF miners is
-, OF no them
ever been over the trail before, and they
were as ignorant of the ways and W1les
Of the Indians as their women were.
well, the next morning, long before tor+ Wa
had voked up the other party started
or and were soon lost to sight IN the
clouds of dust raised by their tram. we
made a long drive that day, ana IN Inc
evening camped at Fort Cotton. Inc
other outfit. we were told, had passed
there about midday, although the COM
rnandant at the post had warned them
that it was very dangerous Tor lhelh "
proceed alone. c..o.,
we came to Plum Creek, and there, Just
beyond the stage station, overlook tle
marty but none were allVe 10 greet us;
Their mangled corpses, their Durheu anu
still smoking wagons, told only too pam
" what had befallen them. me zone
tender of the stage station, secure IN ms
fortified cabin, had seen 1t an put, DuJ hi a.
been powerless to render aid. Early IN
The morning, he said, as the men were
watering their stock, a Dand OF at least
100 Sioux Indians had suddenly swoopeQ
down on the little encampment ana IN
less than five minutes had murdered eV-
cry one, save four young women, whom
he had seen carried away after the IN
dams had finished plunderlng ana purh-
In the wagons. IL,
THAT was the most terrible sight |
ever saw. I'm sure the scenes on great
battlefield could never be SO distressing
There we found infants and young emil
dren who had been swung around by the
heels and their heads battered into shape
less pulp against wagon tires. women
old and Young. stripped of their clothing.
scalped and brutality mutilated, were "
ing about in all directions. Some appar-
emily had been thrown into the burning
wagons. suffering a more fearful death
than by the bullet or arrow. Broken
trunks and boxes and their contents were
scattered all around. Sacks of provisions,
7our. coffee. sugar. had been cut open
and were trampled into the earth Evil
IDENTIFY the attack had been so sudden