Waterbury Democrat., 1901-06-22
TEN YEARS TRIAL s7 A7 {
 ] Tbe Story of a Soldiers Struggle By Brigadier General $
 CHARLES KING +
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Copyright. 1901, by Charles King.


 kling. The ruddy glow of the orient
 heaven, the ,paling fires of the west
 ward stars, the serene, steady watch | light of the great planet, the pilot of
 the sun, high perched above the sharp | ly outlined ridge toward the turbid Missouri, all told of the speedy coming
 of ''the liking of day rejoicing in the
 east" Over the wide prairies of Hi
 nois, the rolling hills of Iowa, the slanting, dazzling sunbeams broke in
 glory, but even such glory failed to rend the pail of gloom and despond that Scovered the broad lands of the Red tsWater. A night of terror was changing to day of dread. The last news before the.wires themselves went down long, long miles away was that the train bearing the strikers re-en- forcements-sons, brothers, comrades, of the federated workmen of the Brent wood shops-bearing, too, the refugees, men, women and children, from ranch and farm and hamlet along the Niobra- ra, had left Charming Station at dusk and was held up or cut off somewhere west of ruined Rosebud-God and the Indians alone could tell just where. At 7:30 "Channing" had wired that the Sioux war parties were seen at dusk coming westward at the gallop, Good by," and at 8:30 the wires ceased to work west of Castle Butte, an isolated station nearly 30 miles east of the rav- aged settlement and full 150 west of Brentwood. For over 50 miles, as has been said, the line of the Big Horn par alleled the south border of the Sioux reservation, but farther to the west it pierced the old treaty lands along the White Earth and ran long leagues through the former hunting grounds of the Ogallalas, whose young men never lost chance of emulating any savage exploits of the Brules. Beginning at Brentwood, the strike spirit flew east and west along the lines of the Big Horn and the Seattle. Beginning among the illicit groggeries along the Mini Chaduza, the revolt of the Brules spread with the speed of wildfire through the Indian villages upon the Dakota border until it overwhelmed the power of the agency close at hand as we'll as those to the west in Wyo- ming. The first dash of the young braves was at the originators of the mischief the outlaws of the prairie, who discreetly fled, burying such of their stock in trade as they could not carry with them, all too easily to be trailed and dug up by the Sioux. Then, drink maddened and baked of their desires, the band had sacked the agen- cy, released their imprisoned brothers and swooped southward on the help less ranchers of the Niobrara. In fran tic appeal for aid the station agent at Rosebud wired west to Fort Robinson, since their usual protectors were now; far away along the Missouri. The an- swer was prompt, to the effect that the troops would start the instant train could take them, and then, alas, too late, it was found that in making up that big tspeciar' for the re-enforce- ments for the strikers they had sent away the one serviceable engine be- tween Frayne Station at the west and Brentwood. By the time the cars sent whirling from Frayne could reach Robinson every soldier was needed there, for the Pine Ridge Sioux had risen to a man. Robinson itself was threatened, while Rosebud Station, to the east, had been reduced to ashes. No wonder a pail had spread over Brentwood Scores of it's sons and many of it's daughters were scattered in little stations of the Big Horn or in farms and ranches all along that peril ous borderland, and the only words to reach the sorely anxious hearts at home came from terrified refugees at Castle Butte, declaring every ranch, farm and station burned and pillaged for over a hundred miles along the road, their hapless, helpless people ei- ther massacred or fleeing to the refuge of the sand hills to the south.
 And now, as Boniface had said, the strike was done. At the night before the wall had come from the threatened stations at the west, and men who at sunset were blocking the way against every car that carried troops were now straining every nerve to send them on. At o'clock, hurried aboard the wait ing train of the Big Horn in the Brent wood yards, the rifles went whirling away through the night, followed by the prayers. and tears of whole popu- face and re-enforced by full hundred stalwart men, strikers of the day be- fore, all armed, all bound for Rosebud and rescue of that imperiled train, with not one man in fifty of the mili- tary company, not one insten of the railway party, who had had any expe- rience whatever in Indian fighting Old hands of the road had had some long range skirmishes while track lay- ing. Some of the engineers assistants could tell stirring tales or the days or the survey, but only two or three of the rifles had ever seen an armed and mounted Indian warrior. Many hoped they might never have to. Yet hereI they were, 60 men who under proper leadership would give good account css : themselves in action against civi- lized foe, setting forth to meet the most scientific fighters in creation, and: Lieutenant Hunt lawyer and loyal citi- i; zen, frankly stated that he would bel glad to hand over his sword to any one who understood the business, and he'di take a rifle and a place in the ranks.l Oh, for Eric Langdon now!
 Sixty, 70, so miles they ran without either news or warning, the silent en-; gineer peering ever grimly forwardi LI. s1-I,L |, Il