Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-21

aHu rang up lue Sup0TluIouueAI OI tue
 Big Horn. A quavering voice answer ed that the superintendent wasn't there. ''Is that train in with those peo- pie from Rosebud and the other sta tions?' asked Boniface, and people be-
 gan edging up to the desk to listen.
 What? I don't hear you,' said Boni-
 face again. "Isn't ini Why, they said
 they were due before dark. Where
 were they when you last heard? What? You haven't heard? Lines cut? Had to wait for women! What
 women? don't understand
 By this time half the men in the 1ob-
 by had gathered about the desk. What
 was that about women? No women were needed. It was no place for them here. They should be at their f1resides, taking care of the children and the household while husbands and fathers | hurried down to help the cause of Brentwood. Here was the seat of war, here the heart of the battle, here
 must the fight be won or lost again. | And the unions had summoned all who could possibly come, even from the far
 Black Hills, to haste by special train
 and join their brethren on the battle
 line For over 50 miles the Big Horn
 paralleled the southern verge of the big Sioux reservation. Just across the Da-
 kota boundary it lay, and half the west | bound freight the road carried beyond the Red Water was for the agents or
 the traders at Rosebud, at Pine Ridge, | Sheridan and certain other points of
 distribution and supply. Around those guarded lines, winter and summer,
 there ever lowered dozens of dissolute
 whites, seeking to prey on the red man.
 Pirates of the plains were these fel- lows, reckless and outlawed, and more than one hideous outbreak of the Sioux had been traced to their nefarious | deeds. Whisky was their stock in
 trade, and many an untutored savage
 in exchange for bottle had parted
 with robes, rifle and pony as well as
 his senses. Conflict was frequent.
 Troops were few. There had been bad
 blood between the Indians and certain
 settlers along the ChaduZa all summer. Tn September two herders were found
 scalped and mutilated just one week
 after Spotted Elk and Iron Voice, two young braves of the Brule tribe, had been slain in drunken row with a
 party of prairie tramps not ten miles from Rosebud. The agent said he
 could restrain and control the Sioux
 provided the governor would take charge of the settlers, but settlers have votes, Indians have not, and the gov
 ernor would do nothing to intimidate the sovereigns of the soil The mur- derers of the Indians, though well
 known, were still unwhipped of jus tice and bragging about the frontier saloons of their cowardly deed. The commanding officer of the little cavalry post not far from the Rosebud agency wired that the Indians were dancing night after night and holding big pow VOWS. There was trouble ahead for | somebody. The dispatch reached Wash | ington the day the Pinkertons and train | loads of outside workmen were dump | ed into the ditch, the very day, more over, that brought the appeal for | troops to protect property and open | the roads. The answer to the frontier
 fort was telegram ordering the post, with it's women and children, to be left
 with suitable guard'' while the com mandipg officer. with all availatSe men | Che had only three troops of cavalry, dfOTd8luS Oo GEGCllNO GdCllI, tO
 at once to Banner Butte, the western | terminus of the Yankton road, and
 there take the train for Omaha. This left the fort to be held by the post | quartermaster and some 23 men, when
 runners came, with troubled eyes, to
 say the Sioux would '.jump' before the
 setting of the sun.
 Much of this had been told in the To-
 cal papers, but so engrossed was every
 body in the strike that little attention
 was paid to it. Like a thunderclap
 from clear sky, therefore, fell the
 next announcement from the lips of
 Boniface as he turned, with almost
 ashen face, upon the silent throng.
 My heaven" he said, "the Sioux have
 swooped on Rosebud Station and scalp ed every soul in the place! There was
 no train to bring the troops from Rob-
 inson."
 "How about that other train-the
 special with the men?" gasped burly
 engineer.
 Gut off somewhere back of Rosebud. | Only a few of them have guns, and
 they're praying for help. The rifles
 are ordered there as fast as cars can | take lem. The strikes off"
 Gro Be Continued)
 | N