The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1904-12-03
4 Rl)St TO SAE THE FORT
lOriRinaI1

Fort y. was a blo.khOnse, u store aud
IA few dwellings. The Apaches came
dDwn 50 suddenly that we had no tiuIe
10 prepare. We divided the
blorktiouse and the store There were
several Thousand dollars worth OF
@0'"is. including provisions. in the store,
besides ammunition, which it wasn't
advisable 10 let the Indians have. The
binding stood about 2W yaI1is from
The lIiOckiioIse, and u path had been
WORN w the two. I was in the
bI"rkhouSc With the eight men and the
WouuCII and children. There were seven
mrn i'll the store. This comprised all
the I"opl" IN Tho place. The division
OF force was all right, but the division
uf ammunition WAS all wrong. IiIat In
The fort had been Sufered. To run low
There was pirnty in the tore. but no
time. TO move il. You S'r. Il man came
gallppinS in To give warning. and ten
minutes later down came the Indians.
Ii WAS about noon MlIrn the attack
began. and by 4 O'Clock there wasn't a
pound of powder left to us in the block
house. We had kept mp our spirits till
we learned of the deficiency, several Of
the women doing good service at the
looptu,lcs and altogether making IL so
hot for the red devils that they didn't
dare make {; rush across The open. But
when the ammunition gave out we
were seized with Il sudden fright. I'll
admit that my mind cot IN the butch
cry OF the women and children that
was sure 10 come. and | couldn't get 1t
off. There was but one thin. To do
some one must make Il run for the
store aud IL run back with ammunition.
OF course there wasn't ono nance In ten
Of his getting through either way, but
he might make til" ont trip even II lie
bad to drag himself in with bullet holes
in him AMI tell tIIcm What We needed.
| Signal? Great Scott Don't you sup
pose the indians would understand II
signal And when they did that would
b.. the end of us.
Well. We had two Iruilrcrs in the
place. the Gor,lonS They kept the
store. Jim Gordon was with us in the
hlockllnusc with the t;orIun women
aud children. and Holm WAS nj tlie
store. John WAS the husband and IA
Their lin was Il barlriur. John in
u w 'fAb III 'iE 'ii'' ''l' AN
looked otter The property. Jim Gordon
was d perfect deer at running and
had practiced a Zig2ag motinn on pur-
pose Ia dodge Indians and their fire.
He volunteered TO try "a run for the
store He started Just III lark. when a
mist was rising from the ground There
| was II rainfall of lead poured at him,
but he had made half the distance be-
fore hc fell The darkness came on,
and we knew for certain the Indians
would steal up AMI get poor Jim.
During the night we were at the
mercy of the redskins if they had only
known it. made up my mind to try
a skuIk through to the store. for we
felt sure the attack would be renew
ed at daylight. Soon after midnight ]
crawled out and got over some twenty
yards when | saw the dark forms of
Indians Keeping watch between the
two wings of our little army | crept
to the left to circumvcnt them and had
made a considerable distance when
down in a depression in the ground Il
party Of them suddenly lighted a fire,
and near by. bound to n tree. | saw
| poor Jim Gordon He wasn't dead. but
was as white az a corpse. The indian
blocked the way I was going. so | turn
ed, but found them everywhere. and
finally. coming To 81 clump of thick
bushes. | lay concealed. There wasn't
much chance OF my getting through.
and | confess the sight of Jim Gordon
rather took the starch ont OF me.
| lay hidden TIL daylight. and h In
dams then began 10 make preparations
for n rush. IT was plain they were go
ing TO attack the blockl:orsc. possibly |
because they had divin"d from lin
GouIun'S attempt that the garrison was
ia need of something. Just as they |
were about TO start Il figure came from |
the store and walked very slowly to-
ward the Indians. wlo were mostly |
located near the tree To- which lin
Gordon was secured One mr. two shots
were fired at the figure without ap
parent effect. The chief then stopped
any more shooting. Perhaps he thought
n messenger was coming la bring II sur
render. | was wondering at the slow.
gllo tlike movement Of tlr advancing
figure when | noticed II cOmmIotion
among the Indians. Several or them
ran HiI luphFu III JIM 'FpT'i'u. iHeH L
ran back to stare ut the figure. which
| could now SEQ was white aS ashes in
tho face. Then one after another the
Indians started back. apparently ter.
ror stricken. and 10y the tine the spec
trail figure had come near enough for
me- 10 distinguish " IO it WAS nearly all |
Of them had fed.
Ion may he sure | wondered what II
was that made them get away so fast.
An Indian isn't such a foot as to he
dnpcd simply by q man playing ghost.
When ! saw that the figure was John
Gordon ii WIS all explained ! told
Won that .Inlin and jim Gordon were
twins. didn't J.? No? Only brothers?
Well. they were twins. sure enough. |
and could scarcely be told apart. The
Indians concluded that John was the