Cameron County press. [volume] (Emporium, Cameron County, Pa.) 1866-1922, 1903-09-24


ings.
\ man of austere mold was the new
maior-one of the old Covenanter
type, who would march to battle
shouting hymn tunes, and TO Christ
mas and Thanksgiving chanting dole
full laws. lie hailed, indeed, from old
Puritan stock; had been a pillar in
the village church in days before the
great war, and emulated StOnewall
jackson in his picty, if he did not
in material prowess. Backed by To-
cal, and by no means secular, influ-
cnces he had risen in the course of
the four years war from a junior
licutenancy to the grade of second
in command of his far eastern regi-
ment; had rendered faithful services
in command of convalescent camps
and the like, but developed none of
that vain ambition which prompts
the seeking of 1.-THE bubble reputa-
ton" at the cannons mouth. All
he ever knew of southern men in
antebellum days was what he heard
from the lips of inspired orators or
read from the pens of very earnest
anti-slavery editors. Through lack
of opportunity he had met no south
erner before the war, and carried
his stanch, Calvinistic prejudices to
such extent that he seemed to shrink
from the closer contact even then.
The war was holy. The hand of the
Lord would surely smite the slave
holding arch rebel, which was per-
haps why the Covenanter thought it
work of supererogation to raise his
own. He finished as he began the
war, with unalterable conviction that
the southern president. his cabinet
and all his leading officers should be
hung and their lands confscated to
the statc-or its representatives.
He had been given a commission in
the army when such things were not
hard to gct-at the reorganization in
&c, had been stationed in ku KluX
district all one winter and in a sani-
tarium most of the year that fol
lowed. lie thought the naticn on the
highroad to he'll when it failed to
impeach the president of high crimes
and misdemeanors, and sent Han
cock to harmonic matters in Louis
lana. He was sure of il when the
son of a southerncr who had openly
fiouted him. was sent to West Point
He retained these radical views even
unto the twentieth anniversary of
the great surrender; and. while de-
voutly praying for forgiveness of his
own sins, could never seem to for
give those whose lot had been cast
with the south. He was utterly non
plussed when told that the young of
ticer, languishing in hospital on his
arrival, was the son of a distin-
guished major general of the con
federate army. and he planned for
the father most frigid greeting,
until reminded that the former ma
.ior general was now a member of
congress and of the committee on
military affairs. Then it became his
duty to overlook the past.
The general had to leave for the
front without seeing Mrs. Hay. More
than ever was it necessary that he
should be afeld. for this exploit
showed that some of the Sioux, at
i''N'H'H IitlNt NbN i'pnt iIDlll tiit main
body and had circled back toward
the Platte-Stabber's people in all
probability. SO. sending Crabb and
his little squad across the river to
follow a few miles, at least, the trail
of the wagon and its captors, and as
certain, if possible whittier it had
zone. he hurried back to Frayne:
sent messengers by the Laramie road
to speed the cavalry, and orders to
the colonel to send two troops at
once to rescue Hay and his niece;
sent wires calling for a few rein
forccmcnts, and was off on the way
10 Bcccher, guarded by a handful
of sturdy "doughboys" in ambu-
lances, before ever the body of the
second victim was found.
And then, little by little, it trans
pired that this mysterious war
party, vcnturing to the south bank
of the Platte, did not exceed half
dozen braves. Crabb got back in SO
hours, with five exhausted men.
They had followed the wheel tracks
over the open prairie and into the
foothills far to the northwest, em-
boldened by the evidence of there
being but few ponies in the original
| bandit escort. But. by four in the
afternoon, they got among the
breaks and ravines and. first thing
they knew, among the Indians, for
zip came the bullets and down went
two horses, and they had to dis
mount and fight to stand off posi-
BILE swarms, and, though owning they
had seen no Indians, they had proof
Of having felt them, and were war
ranted in pushing no further. After
dark they began their slow retreat
and here they were.
And for seven days that was the
last heard, by the garrison, at least,
of these most recent captiyes of the
Sioux. Gentle and sympathetic wo-
men, however, who called on Mrs.
Hay were prompt to note that
though unnewed, unstrung, dis
tressed, she declared again and
again her faith that the Indians