Mexico weekly ledger. (Mexico, Mo.) 1855-1956, 1900-02-08
Mexico County Thursday February 1900

was q small hole tnat went down as
smooth and straight as II 1t had been
cut By q diamond drill. "Mike,'' said
/, .ithat dog is half way down to China
by this time and l think you had bet
ter climb out Of there and quit making
fool Of yourself . But Mike would
not give 1t up until l had handed him
the rsmrod, and when he found that
he could not touch bottom with 1t he
concluded to quit and went back to
camp, badly disgusted dhrkey. After
that tried shooting the dogs through
the heart and got every one that /
shot. I think I killed fourteen and
when l took them to camp Mike
dressed them nicely and salted them
down for breakfast. Late that after
noon / was feeling SO badly that !
thought It best to take dose OF pills,
but every time l tried to swallow one
my stomach would rebel, and up 1t
would come. Mike laughed at me
and said: uGimme dat box and let
me show you how TO take 'em; likes
lem and can take de- whole box and
c1aw dem up like Gingerbread "All
right,p said /, and / handed him the
box. BE took 1t and poured half Of
the contents into his hand and then
tossed them into bis mouth and
ohewed them into powder. Then he
swallowed them at Q single gulp and
smacked his thick lips and said they
we're good. "Well," thinks l, "old
fellow, II you don't think different
before morning then ! don't know
beans when the sack is wide Open"
When / awoke at daylight the next
morning Mike had the prairie dogs
all fried crisp and brown aud break
fast ready. The flesh Of the prairie
dog is dark, like that OF the prairie
chicken, but It is sweet and tender
and we enjoyed our breakfast very
much.
When we were eating our breakfast
/ noticed Mike lying on his buffalo
robe and l thought he was asleep,
but when / went to wake him l found
that he was very much awake and,
what was more, he was the siokest
niEger l ever saw, and when asked
him how he felt he said: $50 away
and lemme alone; fore dc Lord, Tse
sick, and I'se sick enough to diel"
When we left that camp We travelled
over q range of rolling hills until we
reached Ash Hollow, striking it about
Ave or six miles above it's mouth.
This hollow, as II was called, was
many miles In length and looked like
q great fssure made by an earthquake,
as 1t probably was. The walls on
either side were almost vertical and
from 100 to 150 feet high. 1t was
natural passway through range Of
high and very steep hills, and all Of
the emigrant trains passed through 1t.
Near the mouth Of Ii / killed the
grandaddy OF all the hares and l
think 1t would have weighed fully 30
or 36 pounds. IL made good square
meal for nine hungry men. In 1854,
the following year, Ash Hollow was
the scene Of one Of the bloodiest and
most terrible tragedies that ever oc-
CURED on the plains. The Sioux In.
dians were hostile that year and MUIR
dered q number OF emigrants along
the Platte River. Gen. Harney, who
was stationed st Fort Laramie at that
time, took his troopers and went
down the North Platte, fully deter
mined to teach the red devils o lesson
that they would never forget, and one
fiue morning he rounded up 300 In
dians In Ash Hollow. Well, when
HaFnoy got through with them every
one Of those Indiane-except % or 30 |
who climbed up a narrow fissure In |
one OF the walls and made their es- |
cape-was good Indian, l. e., dead
one.
The next day lot of Indians came |
to Harney's camp 10 sue for peace and |
he told his interpreter to tell them |
that II they would go back to their
homes and live peaceably he would |
let them 60, but II they failed to do |
90 he would wipe the last one Of them
from the face of the earth. He also |
told the interpreter to tell them that |
he knew all about that crack In the |
wall and that he had left IL unguarded |
so that few might escape to tell what
happened. Then he turned aside to |
one of bis officers and said: "That's
q lie, for II l had known that that |
crack was In the wall I would have |
killed every d--d one of 'eml"
Gen. Harney was grim and rough |
old soldier and q fighter from the |
ground up. he thoroughly under
stood what Indians really are, and he
knew that with ell Of the Christianity, |
civilization and education that we
might be able to hammer into their |
heads for q thousand years, we could
no more change their natures than we
could change leopard's spots. He
believed, as do, that the only good
Indians are the dead ones, and he
knew that they will always remain |
as they always have been-nothing |
but poor, miserable, wretched, filthy |
and murderous brutes.