The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-11-14
LOST THE sPRINTINe RECORD.

I
There passed through the gates of Fort
Sheridan the other day man with a
coal-black face and snow-white hair. His
bearing was military to a degree. not
| withstanding the fact that he hmped
painfully. His shoulders were well
| thrown back and his head erect and ear
ried with il probably unconscious sort Of
pride The limp in the gait, however, was
so marked that an observer, If he gave
| the subject any thought at all, would
! know that this negro would never run q
step in his life.
The name of this Fort Sheridan Wis
it0r was and is Henry Johnson. one time
Of Troop X, Ninth United States cavalry.
[ If certain OF the older officers and en-
! listed men of this cOlOred outfit of Uncle
sam had known that the thought that
this limping- ex-soldier would never run
I again had entered into an ol-IoOker S
mind, he probably would have said: NO.
/ Johnson never viii run again. but If he
| could have kept UP the gait that he once
I showed these 1O0-yard sprinting records
/ that we hear so much OF n this day OF
/ sports would be headed by another and
the name Of its holder would be Henry
( Johnson"
There isn't the slightest doubt among
! cavalry officers who have long memories
! that the worlds champion Splinter was
list to track fame when Henry Johnson,
| colored trooper, went lame Just twenty
two years ago this month. Johnson was
( in Fort Sheridan only as a casual visitor
I the other day. There are no cOlored
/ troops at the post, but this negro visitor
wore a little something pinned 10 his
vest that makes any soldier, black or
white, a welcome and hOnored guest at
4 any place where tents are pitched or
/ barracks are reared under the hutter-
! ing Stars and Stripes.
! In the month of November, 1879, a band
/ of Ute Indians surrounded a small COM
mand of United States regulars, COM
/ posed for the greater part Of Troop X,
/ Ninth colored cavalry. There was Tor 2
while the heaviest kind Of fighting and
| at close quarters. Finally the reds re-
/ treated a little way but still held their
! Gordon OF bravest intact The tempo
I rary withdrawal for a short distance did
not give the troops a breathing spell. for
they set TO work at once TO entrench-
/ They succeeded with their horses and inn
pedimenta, and by vigorous use of the
shovel in forming and in throwing up
/ fairly strong defense bulwark. After this
/ had been done small parties under cover
of the rifles Of their comrades went out
| to a considera ole distance from the en-
/ trenchment and there dug rife pits at
/ intervals in a circle about the inner and
| stronger defense. For soma unknown
/ reason the encircling savages allowed
/ these precautions to be taken by the
/ foe without much attempt at interior
ence, perhaps thinking that as they had
/ sure thing Of it anyway they might bet
ter attack later under cover of darkness
/ for your true savage has ever a whole
some regard for his skin and scalp.
Into these well-covered rife pits guards
were dropped with a plentiful supply of
ammunition and such little water and
! provender as could be spared. There was
one man in each pit. They were abso-
lutely protected from the front, and they
were put there to perform the usual duty
expected where troops are thus be-
sieged. Unless the Utes actually succeed
ed in getting into these pits, the men
there were safer than were those behind
the extemporized fertilization in the cen
ter. After the pickets had been placed
in the pits and the fatigue and posting
parties had returned to the central point
Of defense, the Indians drew it. The
red circle was drawn closer and closer.
and the bullets from the Ute rifles tore
through the frail parts Of the barricade,
and soldier after soldier was either killed
or wounded.
Three times the Indians were driven
OF. only to return again. They had lost
heavily, but seemed TO be reused 10
maddened pitch that made them needless
of caution. For the fourth time they
were sent hurting backward, and then
there came the awful necessity Of send
ing instructions TO the men in the out
lying pits. The space between the cen
trail defense and the outer guards was
as level as a bowling alley. The Utes.
when they had withdrawn for the fourth
time. were still within easy range, though
they had improvised cover for them
I 2 10 So Ia
the commanding officer as TO whether or
not communication was possible with the
pits. He did not in his heart believe that
any man could live to reach the first one
of the guards, let alone make the entire
circuit.
The captain commanding was Just
about to give over all idea OF attempting
messenger communication because of the
| deadly nature Of the errand, when Pri-
vate Henry Johnson came UP TO him,
saluted and said that he would like TO
volunteer TO make the round OF the
guards.
You can't do it, Johnson said his
commanding officer. It's death"
Yes. 1 can, sab: I'm sprinter. When
they shoots at me running sideways
round the ring they can't do nothing but
cut daylight behind my back. I've beat
everything in the regiment running. and
I beat everything in my state before I
listed"
The result Of this dialogue and some
thought on the captains part was that
a moment afterward a blue-cisd figure
was darting in zigzag lines strseht away
from the barricade toward the first rife
pit. How that negro did run, notwith-
standing the fact that he took a course
ike the fight Of a snipe when it is first
flushed. He simply tore. He had not
gone thirty yards before hundred
feathered heads were seen raised and the
faces below showing doubtless in sheer
amaZement at the sight of that flying
figure. Then rife after rife spoke vi
ciously, but Johnson. the Splinter. sped
on. He reached the first pit unscathed
and fell into il by the side Of the guard.
There he STAYED long enough 70
breathe himself and 10 turn over his
orders, and then from the pit. jumping
ike a ck-in-the-boX. came his stalwart
figure. There was no time lost in scor-
ing. Johnson was away for the next
hole at the first start. This time his
course was practically along The lines Of
fire. The bullets marked out much az his
way. but. as Il was said behind The bar
rlcsde They'll have 70 hold hundred
Yards ahead O. that buck 70 get him
No one thought IN the strain OF that
awful time 20 hold a watch on the
surinter. There never has been q DOUBT
since that the world records before ana
after were smashed There were eight
Of the guard pits. ard the race between
each was but repetition Of the last. TIE
Indians popping away all the while ~
the devoted messenger While The soldiers.
though with eyes ard hearts only for
their comra6e. did their best hy veLeys
% divert the savage IRE johnson left
the seventh pit and started Tor the
eighth Ills pace showed 30 sign u
abating Some of tse Indians. ia fo1-
loving the circG1E course 81 the black.