Arizona silver belt., 1901-03-14
RELICS OF MASSACRE.
SKELETONS FOUND IN A CAVE
sneoialto the Chicago Record.

special to the Chicago Record
 Bandera. Tex, March 1.-The dis coyery of skeletons of twenty-SiX men in cave in the Chicos mountains, about seventy-tiye miles southwest Of Alpine, Texas, has aroused much inter est. It is asserted by Charles Monta- que, a well-known pioneer citizen oi Bandera, that the skeletons must be those of band of brave Texas soldiers who were massacred by the Indians in that locality iL 1861. These soldiers belonged to MT. Montague's company and he is very familiar with the tragic event, which he narrates as follows:
 Company 0, 2nd regiment Texas volunteer riflemen, under the hecommand of Capt w c. Adams, were ordered to Fort Davis. Texas, in 1861, about the latter part of August or the early part of Sepetember. Upon reaching the fort We found only four or five men there, all members of Walkers company of the same regiment. who told us that few days before our ar rival the Apaches had stolen some beef cattle that had been kept near the fort. Lieut.. Mays, the command ing officer of the fort, took fourteen men and Mexican guide and went on the trail after the Indians toward the Rio Grande.
 -Four or i've days later the Mexican guide arrived at the fort in an eX- hausted condition and reported that Lieut.. Mays and all of his party had been killed by Indians. He said that they followed the trail of the Indians and at sundown one evening they dis covered the camp Of the Indians. The tepees were situated in canyon and the guide begged the lieutenant to attack the Indians at once, before they had been discovered. Lieut.. May s declared that it was too late to do anything that day and that he would not make the attack until morning The guide declared that he urged Lieut. Mays to make the attack at once or beat retreat, as he knew from the signs that the Indians were in large force. Lieut.. Mays refused to heed the advice of the guide.
 He concealed his men in a nearby canyon and before daylight next morn ing left all the horses and with hs fourteen men attempt to crawl upon the Indian camp. Just as they reached it the Indians rose up on every side of them.a and d desperate tight took place. The last the guide saw of Let. Mays one arm was hanging useless by hls side and with the pistol in the other hand he was still fighting. The guide when he saw that massacre was iu- evitable crawled into a hole between some rocks on the side of the canyon and remained there concealed all day. He saw the wild orgies and heard the weird cries of the Indians as they cele- brated their victory.
 When night came the guide crawl ed out of his hiding place and after d long journey through the Chicos noun tains, living on roots and whatever he could ind, he finally reached Fort Davis. AS soon as Capt Adams heard the guides account of the massacre, he took thirty picked men and the same guide and went to the battlefield. They found signs of the terrible fight, but the only thing belonging to the brave soldiers who were killed was a few buttons that were scattered over the ground. What the Indians had done with the bodies of Lieut.. Hay $ and his men was never learned. Capt. Adams followed the Indian trail to the Rio Grande and across the river about eight miles into Mexico, when losing all hope of Overtaking the flee ing redskins, he returned to Fort Davis
 'l believe that those twenty-slx bodies found in that cave are those of Lieut.. Mays and his fourteen men, the other eleven skeletons probably being those of Indians who were also killed in that desperate battle"