The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1903-11-22


sent his blankets forward by the other
teams, found that-they' had been appro-
priated by one of the teamsters, who had
concluded that we had delayed our de-
parture from town till the following
morning AS he was in delicate health /
gave him my place with Hauser In the
wagon, and taking bunalo rope,
stretched myself upon the ground beside
the wagon.
II could not sleep for the cold, which
was sufficiently intense to form two
inches of ice in the wooden pals used by
the Mormons and about o'clock In the
morning, thoroughly chilled, I arose, took
my gun in my hand and walked brlskly
back and forth before the camp. Fnolng
that this exercise did not greatly increase
my comfort, I went down to the bank OF
the creek thirty yards distant and com
menced gathering dry willows to make
fire.
while thus employed I strayed down
the stream about twenty rods from the
camp. Suddenly heard confused muir
muir of voices which at first thought
came from the camp, but while walking
toward it, found that it was from a diff
ferent direction. Curiosity now overcame
all thoughts of cold. dropped the arm
full of sticks had gathered, and carefully
disentangled the little copse of willows
which sheltered me from view, peered
through, and saw in the dim moonlight
three footmen approaching on the other
side of the stream. The thought struck
me that they might be campers in search
of horses or mules that had strayed.
Discovers Outlaws Rendezvous.
1T walked noiselessly down the stream
to point where I could obtain through
a vista an unobstructed view, my trusty
gun held firmly in the hollow OF my hand.
The three men approached the opening
through which l was gazing, and L now
discovered that their features were con-
cealed by loosely flowing masks. no
longer doubted their identity pur-
pose. Some little noise that 1 made at
tracted their attention to the spot where
l was standing. They saw me, and, per-
ceiving that 1 had recognized Them
! changed their course and disappeared be-
yond a clump Of willows.
my first impulse was now to return
to camp and arouse the men, but l con-
Guided not to do so unless 1t became
! necessary. My thought was that II L
reused the camp and no suspicious char
acters were discovered, l would be
laughed at for raising a false alarm. One
of the Mormons, as 1 passed by him,
reused himself sufficiently to ask me why
was up so early. 1 replied that l was
watching for providers.
| Determined to see the end of the mat
! ter and having the brush for cover, in
few minutes l returned to the bank of the
creek, and followed it down thirty or forty
rods till I came to a ripple where the
water was not more than six inches deep.
| Stepping into the stream 1 waded noise
| lessly across.
"The opposite bank was about two feet
1 high, and covered with willow thfcket
| thirty width Through this
crawled to, the opening beyond, where was
/ the moist bed of former stream, Its
| banks lined with willows; and in this
| half-enclosed semi not fifty feet
| distant from where I was lying, stood
| four masked men. One of them had been
| holding the horses-four in number-while
| the others were taking observations OF
| our camp.
MY approach had been so noiseless that
they were unaware of my presence; but
| my sudden emergence upon their hidden
| rendezvous was so startling to myself,
| that almost fancied that the rapid beat
| ing of my own heart might reveal my
| place of concealment. After a brief con-
| suItation, they hurriedly mounted their
| horses and rode rapidly off towards Ban
| mack.
| "These men, we afterwards ascertained,
| were Henry Plumnler, Buck Stinson, Ned
| Ray and George Ives.
| 1.-The fortunate change in my lodgings
| and the GOODNESS of the weather and con-
| sequent sleeplessness, saved us from an
| attack whose consequences may be better
! imagined than described.
| Reach Salt Lake in Safety.
1--WE made the Journey to Salt Lake
i city in safety; but from the frequent
inquiries made of us while there concern
ing others who had attempted the TRIP
before us, we concluded that many had
fallen victims who left the mines with
better prospects of escape than those
| which encouraged US.
cit was the common custom of Mormon
freighters to extend their days journey
ing far into the evening. Plummer was
cognizant of this fact, and there can be
no doubt that his purpose in presenting
Hauser with the scarf was that he might
! single him out from the rest of the party
| after nightfall.
at is a coincident that Plummer, Stin-
son and Ray were hanged on the sue
ceeding anniversary of Hauser's birthday
Jan 10, 1864, at Bannack, on gallows
erected the previous year by Plummer
and on which, as sheriff, he hanged one
John Koran, convicted of the murder o.
Kelley.