Cañon City record., 1904-01-21
FRONTIER SKETCH.
A Thrilling Pioneer Experience In
1.-THE Winning Of The West.

marked the predatory warfare that in
The Middle Ages WAS carried on for
generations between the clansmen of
Scotland and the lowlanders Of Eng
land. The heroism Of the clans and
The vAlor Of their enemies has been
rescued from oblivion and worked into
the very wrap and wool OF the litera-
tsre Of our language. The strenuous
life Of the pioneers Of the West offers
opportunities for a great national epic,
- their heroism in the course OF its
reclamation from snvagery was no less
heroic than the adventures of the wan
dering Ulysses on his return from the
Trojan war, which Homer wrought in
70 the undying literature of mankind.
Among the many thrilling stories re-
lated OF these modern Argonauts the
following will not be without interest
70 our readers
In the early spring OF 1875 a party
headed by Deadwood Dick Clark in
vaded the Sioux reservation on Med
ieine creek just east of the Black Hills
n search for gold. One particular
night was wild and gusty with scud-
ding clouds above, which now and then
obscnred the moonlight and below the
plain Was checkered with patches of
snow-all conditions favorable for Il
stampede OF the stock. They had four
men on guard around the camp and
one in the ciral but they were tender
feet and the reds. who had been hound
ing the party all along like pack of
coyotes. seemed TO know i, for they got
in their favorite trick Of stampeding
the stock which constituted the OF
teams. The whites were lying around
swapping yarns when Jack Diiiabo.
Who stood up to stretch himself. re-
marked: II wonder what those burned
fools are riding among the cattle for"
Then he realized what was the matter,
grabbed his gun and gave shot.
The boys all rushed down to the cor
with them twenty-obe or two head of
Oxen but no horses. As soon ms pos
sible some Of the boys took the trail.
which was hard Ito follow on account
Of their inability to see IL except where
10 crossed the snow but the bucks cir
sled round. doubled and got away.
Next morning fifteen of the party
started out. A few miles from camp
they came upon three or four reds
dressing n critter that had dropped
from exhaustion and further on found
. similar party performing the sam-
duty. In both instances the Indians
mounted and got out Of range while
the trail OF the cattle lead right into
the bad lands.
They followed them TO the jumping
OF place and Oscar Ward. who owned
most OF the cattle, remarked "we
don't want those cattle-I don't be-
lieve we've lost any, anyway" They
set out to follow the trail, however,
and spresently came onto the cattle
without a sign OF an Indian anywhere.
They started to drive the animals out
Of the baked country, but had not gone
very far when zip-thud came n bullet
and one Of the oxen dropped. At the
first shot Jack Smith, Frenchy. Jim
Williams and GillArd stampeded and
disappeared but The rest Of the boys
stayed by the cattle. II was not five
minutes though until every blamed
ons Of them was on the ground for the
reds, II they couldn't have live stock.
were bound to have beef. or course
the men dismounted and with the beef
earcasses for barricndes made things
decidedly interesting for every buck
that showed his topknot.
For several hours they kept up a nice
little fight. killing several Sioux, prob
ably because they at first sized up the
white men ns tenderfeet. George Ward
was the only man killed. He had been
putting up good fight against two or
three bucks but suddenly Oscar and
Clark noticed that it was quiet over
his way. They looked over and saw
him lying dead with big Sioux max
Ing sneak to lift his hair. Oscar got
Mr. Sioux which was some satisfaction.
After few hours the boys made
running fight and aside from several
unimportant brushes with the Indians
the remainder of the trip was unevent-
ful. The party finally reached Rapid
City April Is. about the time OF the
Deadwood creek excitement and short
ly after She town Of Crook City was
laid out.