The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1903-01-09


Rock Island was surveying, think, but
there wasn't a mile Of road west OF the
Chickasaw line.
The case that Pepper made ont
against Banin came pretty near being
the priz. hard luck story with Bafln as
the victim. Baff!n was a trader in
those days and might have prosPzred if
he were not everIastingly burned out.
, What struck me rs singular was that,
in spite Of the numerous fires which fol-
lowed his Wanderings, Baffin never car
ried any insurance, never whined over
i his losses and never repudiat@d his
debts. But fire was not the only cause
of his nisfortunes. Whenever he
bought few cattle they would get
string halt or manned on somebody's
barb wire fence. If he put out crop
herd of ponies was sure to invade and
destroy it. Ill luck, according to Pep
| per, seemed to follow Baf1n till every
white man in the reservation except
himself believed that the young trader
had enemies among the Indians.
However, as I was not looking for
trade and had mind to prospect a bit
in the Wichita hills I put down Baf-
fms address and set out on horseback
for Cloudchief, near which Baffln was
then running a small post. His place
was about four miles up the dry fork Of
the Washita river. and there I found
him one March evening about all hour
before shutdown. In spite of the de-
Scriptions I'd had of him, was little
surprised to find him such Il splendid
looking fellow. He was sitting on =
key in front of his log house smoking
his pipe and gazing at me steadily as
came slowly out of the bare timber.
When I got into the clearing he stood
up, the shadow of smile lowering
across his sWarthy face, and said:
How do sir. Won't you come in?"
He was very tall, more than six feet,
his hair and eyes were very black and
brilliant: he wore thick, dark mus
tache. and though the evening was cool
he was in his shirt sleeves. \ true
frOntiersman, he said yer Y little,
though he was hospitality itself, and
seemed glad to hear me talk. I'm quite
sure that 7 took a great fancy to him
from the start, and think he liked me,
because he finally lapsed into an almost
laxative mood and told me n few 1ndi-
an legends of extinct tribes which /
cannot remember having heard any
whore else.
I was going to bod before he asked
me rather singular question, Did you
stop in any Comanche villages on your
way up?" and when I said no, 1 thought
he seemed rather relieved. We slept in
the store that night, I on a bale Of
coarse duck that made very good bed,
and he on the counter with his head on
bundle of brown wrapping paper.
The only other occupant Of the house
was an old Indian squaW, very With
cred and very silent. who seemed to
carry on the simple housekeeping pref
ty much as it suited her
I went away in the early morning,
after a coarse but wholesome breakfast
and Il rather cordial handshake from
Bafftn After three profitless days Of
prospecting I came back to find that
the log house had been burned in my
absence Nothing but few mounds OF
vet smoudering ashes marked the
IICtt. I'lllill wac SUM- ti'A w.
any trace of life at hand.
In Cloudchicf T asked about him, but
nobody knew more than that he had
been burned out during the night and
that he had bought cart from some
Wichita Indians and started for the Ca
madam River country. l met MIN
twicc after that at Talnga and once at
Watonga. but though we got along IA
mously together, he always eVaded any
questions about his misfortunes. He
had given up any idea Of trading for
the future. and ut that time showed eX-
traordinary interest in mining, | told
him all I knew. warning him OF the
precarious chance Of finding any con-
siderable mines lin the Wichita. where
I had so often failed hut advising him
to turn his attention to coal or Oil, or
even to asphalt, indications of which
had found in many accessible localities.
He showed a particularly keen inter-
est in asphalt and its possibilities, lis
tening with wide-eyed delight to my
decription of its uses and values in the
big cities. Though he never told me
till later, I was already sure that he
had never been in the States. but he
was so keen for information. so anhl-
tinus for work, so apt in grasping ideas,
that I never could make up my mind to
believe that he had any Indian blood in
him.
When | left him that time his mind
was fully made up to go prospecting for
asphalt, and, sorry as I felt for him, l
couldn't help admirng the splendid OPP
timism which seemed to surmount all
hts strange i'll luck and lead him AL
ways on to new enterprises. l gave
him two or three addresses where let
ters might reach me during the next
wear. and promised in case he should
find a considerable deposit of asphalt to
retoin him, and if possible unite with
him in the business Of acquiring leases
and developing the property
was in Pittsburg late that summer,
when I got a long letter from Batfin,
dated at Ardmore, in the Chickasaw
country, telling me that he had found
great and hitherto unknown deposit
of asphalt in the Black Hills above
ITALIA and seven miles to the northwest
nv the trail. 1t was nearly six weeks
later, after days mean riding. that I
got we'll up into the rocky hills into
which the trail had led me. I had a
pack mule besides my saddle pony, for
| didn't know how Baffin was situated,
and I had stopped with the intention Of
frvinor soma hapOn for NV dinner when