The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-01-26

was on his way to St Joseph to spend
Christmas with Frank GrOuard, an
other Indian scout, whose home has
been in that city during the past six
or seven years.
Gaunier was best known throughout
the west as Little Bat" and fifteeE
or twenty years ago was considered one
of the best men in his line in the world,
He knew the Sioux as no other men
know the intricate details of the BUSH
ness they follow.
He was one of the bravest men liv-
ing. said GrOuard before he started
to Crawford TO attend the inquest and
funeral of his friend. Il recall hun
dreds of times when death stared him
In The face, and his escapes were al
most miraculous. Under such ciTcum-
stances he was the coolest man / have
ever known.
Perhaps the closest place he was
ever in was directly after the Custer
massacre when he went out with Lieu
tenant Sibley and twenty-five picked
men to find out which way the Sioux
We're moving.
we left camp on the evening of July
8, 1879, and went toward Tongue river.
along the foot of the mountains. We
Travelled most of the night. and about
daylight the next morning Little Bat
saw an Indian looking over the hill
at US. We knew that we were close
to them and that we might expect
trouble.
Il went with Little Bat at daylight
to a butte a short distance away, and
we looked over the country with our
glasses. A few miles away we could
see hundreds Of Indians moving in the
direction of Tongue river. and we knew
il meant death to US if we did not get
away. We summoned the soldiers at
once and made for the mountains.
THE Indians struck our trail in a
short time. We knew it wnen one of
them began riding his horse in a circle
and waving his blanket They came on
very fast after that.
The party coming toward us was a
war party and / learned afterwa rds
that Sitting Bull was along. We struck
into the trail that leads up into the
mountains from Dayton, but before
we reached the mountains the Indians
were within half a mile of us.
There must have been 400 of them.
and half of them made for the trail
that goes UP from Twin creek, to head
US off there should we try to escape
by that route.
Little Bat went on ahead to watch
the Twin creek trail, and / hurried
the. soldiers along. I Joined Bat after
time, leaving the soldiers behind.
They did not come up and I went back
to them, finding that they had stopped
to eat.
Bat killed the first Indian that came
up the trail. and then came back to
US. he told the soldiers it was prob
ably the last meal they would ever
eat. Their stopping there had caused
us TO be cut off by not passing the Twin
creek trail before the Indians got there.
Just as the Indians appeared We
sent the soldiers into a little grove of
#n=T.l
horses, locating the men a considerable
distance away.
John Finerty, a Chicago newspaper
correspondent, was with the scouting
party, and was thrown by his horse as
we were making for the timber. We
thought he was killed, but he was
not hurt, and Bat showed him into the
trees.
I'VE had to leave the horses there
and see them killed. for the Indians
kept firing at them all the time We
had instructed the soldiers not to fire
a shot. and 1t was our intention to not
IRE, but when we went to the edge OF
the timber Little Bat made one of the
best shots ever made in the west. He
killed two Indians at one shot. 1 saw
him do il.
The Indians were on their horses.
circling pretty close to the timber As
we did not return their fire. two OF
them became very daring. One of them
was Little Antelope, a Sioux chief, who
was beginning to be known in the tribe.
He was a blood thirsty devil. He was
riding straight toward US and the other
Indian was behind him when Little Bat
fired
1T was such a good shot that he
could not resist it, The Indian that
was behind fell first, and Little Ante
lope dropped over on his horses name
hn faT
ran out and held him on his horse,
guiding il back We learned afterward
that both were killed instantly.
There was washOut running
through the grove, and we sent the
soldiers down into it. BY watching
several hours for chance we crawled
out through that washOut and went
into the mountains, where we Travelled
several days in the direction of camp.
About 10 O'Clock that day we saw
a man on the hill in front of US, and
found by looking at him through a
glass that he was a soldier. A few
hours later we reached camp. and had
hard work to prevent the soldiers from
eating enough to Kill them. They had
lived on wild turnips several days.
Little Bat lived the rough life of q
scout, but he was as true as any man
living He never went back on a
friend and never was guilty Of a mean
act He was a French Canadian, and,
] have heard. though not from him.
that he belonged to a wealthy family
and could have lived a life Of ease had
he desired.
There was no better scout in the
west in the days when there was work
Of that kind to be done. He was one
Of General Crooks trusted men. and 1
have heard the general say that he
would rather lose a third of his COM
mand than Little Bat"