The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-01-26
WILL We'd A PALEFACE
DAUGHTER OF GERONIMO TO MARRY
A YOUNG TEXAS RANCHERO.
She Saved His Life ut One Time, and
Now They Are Engaged-HOw
1t All Happened.

Special in st. Louis Post-Dispatch.
A daughter of old Geronimo, the most
bloodthirsty and relentless foe that has
been raised UP in the path of the all-con-
Quering white man in the settlement of the
West, is to marry of the palefaces
against whom her father battled so long.
She won the love and lifelong devotion of
her future husband by the manner in which
she fearlessly offered her own life in order
to save his.
Lola, the Red Rose of the Forest" as
her people call her, will marry Houston A.
Ward, one of the wealthiest and most &C
complished young men in southern Texas.
And this happy elimination grows out of
singularly beautiful romance, one scene of
which is blood-curdling and exciting enough
to form the nucleus of a highly successful
melodrama. 1t was while flying for life
from a prairie fire and a herd of stampeded
steers that the love of the young couple
was first revealed, and in such dangerous
surroundings was their troth plighted.
Houston A. Ward, who is certainly eager
to become the son-in-law of one of the most
notorious Indian chiefs that ever shed blood
on the borders of Arizona. is the son of old
Shanghai Ward, famous mustang king of
the Rio Grande country. The old man died
a few years ago, leaving his only son a
splendid fortune in lands, mustangs and
cattle. Young Wards boyhOod was di-
vided between Texas and Illinois. He usual
~ spent the summers on his fathers ranch
and the winters in the north, where he at
tended school. AS a result of this simple
career he possesses fine education, and he
is rather proud of certain trophies won on
the Fairgrounds and diploma won in the
ciassrooms of the college at Champaign,
Last summer the grass was scarce in the
Rio Grande valley, and Houston Ward
shipped some four or five hundred head of
cattle TO the Indian Territory. Finding
abundant pasture lands, the young man
remained for some time in the vicinity of
Fort Sill, where he made the acquaintance
or the pretty Indian girl who will soon
become his wife.
The gallant Texan frequently sought the
company of the dusky belle of the border,
often dancing and riding with her, but he
now says that he did not know that he
loved her until one evening he found her
fingers in his hair, and, upon opening his
eyes, in fame and smoke, he felt the earth
trembling beneath his feet, while his ears
were filled with the noise of a cyclone.
IN DEADLY PERIL.
Houston Ward had been riding about over
the prairie, looking at his cattle. and. be-
coming tired. he dismounted and lay down
on the grass in the shade of a tree, leaving
his pony to Craze at will. He soon fell
asleep and his pony wandered off to mingle
with a large herd of cattle and big drove
or horses that were not far away.
The grass was very tall, and most of 1t
was dead and dry. Either some careless
cowboy dropped a match or a spark from
hunters gun set the prairie on fire. A
strong breeze was blowing from the north
and, as usual in such cases, it looked as if
the flames increased the commOtion in the
a WlndStOrm driving
idly spreading fire before it. The great
herd OF Texas steers stampeded the in
slant they scented danger and started
south, believing with terror. The horses
caught the contagion and mingled with
the flying steers snorting as if a pack of
panthers were at their heels. There were
about 500 full-grown Texas steers in the
herd and seventy-five or eighty head of
horses; This moving mass of frightened
animals started straight toward the tree
under which the sleeping Texan was lying,
unconscious of danger.
Old Geronimos daughter. mounted a
magnificent horse, was riding across the
the animals stampede. No one knew
why she happened TO be there or how she
knew the handsome young Texan was lying
under the lone tree asleep.
She saw the maddened nerd, driven by a
sea of fame, rushing furiously onward to-
ward the place where young Ward was ly-
ing and, knowing that his horse had
strayed away and that no earthly power
could turn the living wave of terror aside
she struck her morse with her whip and
rode straight toward the rapidly approach
ing herd.
When she reached the tree the front rank
of the mad steers was not twenty steps
away The flames were leaping in the air
over the backs of the animals in the
and the wind was blowing cloud Of smoke
and dust above them. Horns were cracking
and horses were neighing Ward was just
beginning to move when the Indian girl
bent over the side of her quivering horse
I'm ouick!'' she shrieked 1.-The world Is
on fire."
He sprang TO his feet and. comprehending
the situation at a glance, he flrst thought
of ascending the tree, but, doubling wheth-
er he could perform the feat. he yielded 10
the girls hand and quickly sprang upon
the horse behind her.
JUST IN TIME.
AS the noble animal turned, the horns of
the steers crashed against the tree and
several OF the big brutes fell headlong,