, 1900-02-17

cident of the campaign. He was KILL
ed on the 9th of September, 1t was just
two weeks, after we had struck the
surprised the Indians and in great on
fusion had driven them from their
"tepees" into a n~eighboring ravine.
From this point of vantage they were
giving us no little trouble. There was
concealed in this ravine about twenty
five warriors under the celebrated
American Horse. They were securely
hidden by the breaks of the ravine,
and it was evident hat they were del
termined to fight to the death.
But first let me describe White to
you as he has been portrayed by Cen
eral King. He says of him He was a
man little known east of the Missouri,
but on the plains he was Buffalo Bills
shadow. For years he had been Cody's
faithful follower-half servant, half
"pardner." He was Bills "Fidus Acha-
tes:" Bill was his alteration. They had
been boys together. and the hero wor-
ship of extreme youth was simply in
dress, his gait, his carriage, his speech
everything that he could copy; he let
his long yellow hair fall low upon his
shoulders in wistful imitation of Bits
glossy brown curls. He took more care
of Bills horses and guns than he did
of his own; and so. when he fnally
claimed, one night at Laramie, the
right to be known by some other title
than simple Jim White-something de-
scriptive, as it were. of his attachment
for Cody and lifelong devotion to his
idol Buffalo BILL a grim quartermas-
ter, Morton, of the Ninth infantry,
dubbed him Buffalo Chips" and the
name was a fixture.
We'll, as l started continued the
major, the Indians were making it
warm for us. General Crook directed
that a concentrated fire be made upon
the ravine. Night was approaching
and he desired that we should get the
luuldhS Jul VI lIt idNlht. We ~ III
working away and it was beginning to
look bad for the redskins. Presently
| caught sight of Chips" on the east
ern crest of the ravine. Something in
his movements attracted and held my
attention. He was alone and was cau-
tiously making his way, on his hands
and knees, to the mead of the ravine.
In an instant, | OWNED his object.
There was a large tree at the head of
the ravine. Its foliage was heavy and
| knew that Chips was making for
this tree with the purpose of climbing
into it. so that he might look down in
to the ravine. He wanted to see if he
could ascertain the number of Indians
and how they were located. Slowly he
raised up and caught hold of a low
limb. and with a quick movement
swung himself up. ] saw him climb
slowly up until he was where he could
see. He must have spied an Indian,
his rife to his shoulder. | felt my eyes
glued, as it were, upon Chips" Then
he deliberately drew his bead and at
the same time partially swung his
body forward. expected every mo-
ment to see the flash from his rifle and
| mentally made thu calculation that
in a few moments there would be one
Indian loss in that ravine. Suddenly
Chips" gave a yell that could be heard
above the firing. He threw up his
hands and fell to the ground. One of
the Indians had sent a bullet into his
brain. 1t had struck him squarely in
the forehead and his death was in
Simultaneous.
1T was in the same fight that brave
trooper Connolly met his death. He
was a magnificent specimen of u cav
airy soldier. He was the terror of his
troop, and all the men were afraid of
him for he could whip six of them at
once. We soon discovered that if we
were to succeed in dislodging the In
dians we must get their women out, for
1t was evident hat the warriors were
determined not to give up. From the
top to the bottom of the ravine was a
distance of fifteen feet and the women
and children were upon the lower
break of the ravine. Connolly volun-
teered to jump down and bring out one
of the squaws. He made the jump but
as he did so one of the Indians from
the top of the opposite break fired at
him. The bullet struck him in the left
knee cap and shattered the leg. How
ever, the brave fellow managed to grab
one of the squaws by the hand and
was dragged up by the other soldiers.
He was almost fainting from the loss
of blood and it was found necessary
to amputate his leg. He died that
night from the shock of the operation
and the loss of blood.
THE women proved to be one of the
favorite squaws of American Horse.
She was sent back to tell her cher
that If he would come wi his life and
that Of his followers would be spared.
There was only n Indian left to come
out. | shall never forget him. He was
very tall, and as he came forward to
shake hands with General Crook he
bore himself with a proud air and stood
very erect. He had made a good fight
and it was evident that he was proud
of the fact. We found that the Indians
had fred all their ammunition.