Herald and news. [volume] (West Randolph, Vt.) 1878-1943, 1903-06-18
The La st of
theTonkawas
BY JOHN II. RAFTERY.

ITO BEGIN at the beginning, must
say that / had a very poor opinion
Of Sylvester Baiiin until met him. In
deed, heard of him quite accidentally
at Chickasaw, where Tom Pepper, one
Of the old-time drummer" 49, he's
dead these six years-told me what he
knew, or rather, what he didn't know,
about Bafiin. 1t was in the old days
before the government was half ready
to open up the Kiowa and Comanche
country. and the few travelling men
who got into the traders had 10 drive
in by wagon. The Rock Island was sur
veying, | think but there wasn't mile
of road west of the Chickasaw line.
The case that Pepper made out
against Baflin came pretty near being
the prize hard luck story, with BAT
fin as the victim. Baflin was a trader
in those days, and might have pros
pered if he were not eyerlastingly
burning out" What struck me as
singular was that, in spite of the nu-
merous fires which followed his wan
behring's, Bafiin never carried any in.
surance, never whined over his losses
and never computed his debts. But
fire was not the only cause of his mis-
fortunes. Whenever he bought few
cattle they would get string-halt or
manned on somebody's barb wire
fence. If he put out a crop herd
of ponies was sure TO invade and de.
stroy it. Ill luck, according to Pep
per, seemed to follow Baflin, till every
white man in the reservation except
himself believed that the young trader
had enemies among the Indians.
However, as i was looking for
trade, and had mind to prospect bit
in the Wichita hills, put down BAT.
fms address, and set out on horseback
for Cloudchief, near which Bafiin was
then running a small post. His place
was about four miles up the dry fork
of the Washita river, and there / found
him one March evening about an hour
before shutdown. In spite Of the de.
scriptions Id had of him, was little
surprised TO find him such a splendid
looking fellow. He was sitting on a
key in front of his log house, smoking
his pipe and gazing at me steadily as
| came slowly out of the bare timber.
When | 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 imp"
He was very tall, more than six feet.
his hair and eyes were very black and
brilliant; he wore a thick. dark mus
tache, and though the evening was
cool, he was in his shirt sleeves. A
true frontiersman, he said very little,
though he was hospitality itself and
seemed glad TO hear me talk. I'm
quite sure that | took a great fancy to
him from the start, and | think he
liked me, because he finally lap-edinto
an almost talkative mood and told me
few Indian legends Of extinct tribes
which / cannot remember having
heard anywhere else.
was going to bed before he asked
me the rather singular question, did
you stop in any Comanche villages on
your way up" and when l said no. I
thought he seemed rather relieved
We slept in the store that night. l on
a bale OF coarse duck that made a very
good bed, and he on the counter with
his head on bundle Of brown wrap
ping paper. The only other occupant
OF the house was an old Indian squaw,
very withered and very silent. who
seemed to carry on the simple house
keeping pretty much as it suited her
went away in the early morning
after a coarse but wholesome break.
fast, and a rather cordial handshake
from Batiin. After three profitless
days of prospecting l came back to
find that the log house in which |
had so lately been a guest had been
burned in my absence. Nothing but
few mounds of vet smolderipg
ashes marked the place. Baffn was
| gone, nor was there any trace Of life
at hand. In Cloudchief / asked about
him, but nobody knew more than that
he had been burned out during the
night, and that he had bought a cart
/ from some Wichita Indians and start
ed for the Canadian river country. 1
met him twice after that at Talora
and once at Watronga, but though
we got along famously together, he
always evaded any questions about
his misfortunss. He had given IN
any idea of trading for the future.
and at that time showed extraordi-
nary interest in mining I told ht,,
all knew, warning him of the pre-
carious chance Of finding any consid-
cradle mines in the Wichita. where
had so often failed. but advising him
to turn his attention TO coal or OIL. or
even to asphalt, indications Of which
l had found in many accessible loeali-
ties.