, 1900-07-21


broke off, reaching UP to a shelf and
taking down a b%lue-bound book, "Pll
show you."
After turning the leaves for a mo-
ment he pointed out a paragraph.
There's the man. His name was
Bell; l don't know whether he is liv-
ing or not. | see he was retired"
The paragraph ran thus: Private
James Bell Of Company E, Seventh in
fantry-For gallantry in voluntarily
carrying dispatches from General Ter
ry, then at the mouth Of the Big Horn
river, to General Crook, headquarters
on Powder river, through a country
infested with Sioux Indians, after
| scouts had abandoned the attempt as
hopeless"
The veteran read on a few moments
and then a great cha! ha! hal" rang
out. ooh, this Is too rich!' he ex-
claimed. Just listen to this" and he
read from the newspaper article:
"'Grouard was guide for this party,
and by chance had his attention drawn
far across the lowlying hills toward the
Rosebud, where he saw, as he said,
some strange signal fires. The officers
of the party scanned the country with
their glasses, only to laugh at the idea
of this ~half-native scout being able to
read a message in the smoke of a few
fires some fifty miles away. Grouard
was positive, and said that Clusters
division vas even now in conflict with
the Indians, who were outnumbering
him and contending with victory on
their side
Imagine seeing the val signals from
the head of Powder river-the signals
and smoke of conflict at the mouth of
Rosebud, hundreds of miles away and
beyond a range of mountains! He
would have had to gaze through at
least forty miles of solid rock. Did
you ever hear Of anything like it? Oh,
I won't read any more of it. There's
| NJ uoCi l loO utlClls dDSuiu, lCpOS
%terous!"
But he did glance over toward the
end Of the article and again he held up
his hands and shook his head. Great
guns, look at this cock-and-bull story
about Custer being found with only a
single bullet hole in his head, and how
| II uyac r1atr that ha ho1 a0Dn ,ttta1
suicide rather than be tortured by the
enemy! 1t is worse than nonsense.
l know it, for l was on this same
slaughter field three days after the
massacre. I was under Terry, and 1t
was his command that buried the dead,
and this yarn about Clusters suicide Is
preposterous a that other yarn ex-
planning why he was not scalped.
81 happen to have Custer just
about a month before the massacre,
and he and several others Of his staff,
in preparation for the warm weather,
had had their hair close cut, moved
down to an eighth Of an inch in length
by n Of those machines the BARRIERS
have, and he could not have been
scalped except by the aid of tweezers
And that about a single shot in his
forehead Is just as groundless. I did
not see him, though I did see many Of
his command on the day of the inter-
ment. I was sent by Terry with my
scouts to keep back the Indians while
the burial was in progress, but 1 was
told by brother officers that night how
poor Clusters body was riddled with
bullets and sticking full Of arrows,
lying where he fell, in the reclining
position in which he habitually slept.
This story Of Grouard is indeed won
derful," concluded Captain Varnum,
"but, on second thought, 1 should not
be surprised. These old scouts are all
alike. They are fond Of telling big
stories, impossible things, whereas, II
they could be only induced to confine
themselves to the literal truth, their
narratives would be far more thrilling.
1 nave ~ uouUl ludl lulS ITOudTu Wds
a brave man and a good scout and nc
doubt passed through perils that were
little less than marvellous, but the
things related here are. In the main,
huge absurdities, and the facts he cites
are SO jumbled that they have no Sc
quence and are valueless as an account
of the massacre.
"The true tale of that terrible battle
will never be told. The Indians have
given various versions Of 1t, but you
know what Indians are-the most ver-
satile and ambitious liars that ever
drew the breath Of life-yes, 1 even ex-
cept the scouts" added the old warrior,
with a slow smile.-Denver Post.
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