The Roswell daily record. [volume] (Roswell, N.M.) 1903-current, 1905-01-14
! Real Heroine

ent dlrectiOnS, they among
scores of others, the frontier cabin of
Charles Thompson and Killed him and
his wife and carried of little Jimmie,
their ten-year-old son. into captivity.
There was a daughter. Mary. eight
e years old. who was fortunately
way from home. but two weeks later
she donned mans attire and set out
on horseback in the hope Of rescuing
her brother single handed. She had not
been riding two hours when she found
that twelve unt warriors had
taken her trail.
b girl was riding straight into the
enemy's country. and at shutdown she
decided to go no farther. As she
reached the creek flowing around the
east base of Thompson's fort. which Is
a hill standing by itself. she threw her
self off her tired horse inc took a long
drink and hen led the animal to b
crest of the hill. Fortunately for her.
there was a sink or basin at the top,
with many loose rocks lying about,
and in a short time she had done all
that a soldier could hav accomplished
under the circumstances. AS the In
dams came up they spread out to en-
circle the hill, but kept bac out of
rifle range. They had run their quar-
ry to earth and knew that she could
not escape them.
From dark to dawn the heroine was
not disturbed. and she afterward re-
lated that she slept fairly well. She
had a soldiers canteen full of water.
plenty of provisions and ammunition
and was not greatly dismayed over the
situation. When morning came the In
dams demanded her surrender, giving
her much praise and promising to es-
cort her TO one of their villages in safe
ty. This they would likely have done.
as II was in keeping with their orders.
but she did not propose to becom II
captive while able to fire a shot from
rifle or revolver.
At a given signal the twelve, who
were under the command of a sub
chief named Little Horse, rushed for
the crest of the hill, being on foot.
They gained it to find the girl strongly
intrenched and after q fight of two
minutes were driven off with the loss
of two warriors killed and one wound
ed. This last was the chief himself.
So well was the girl intrenched on
the crest of the hill that it was deemed
unwise to attack her again. and the
band sat down to starve her out. For
two nights and three days she held the
fort, ~wounding two other indians and
escaping their bullets, and then the
redskins withdrew, and she went her
way in peace.
From May until November Mary
Thompson secured the plains and dodg-
H. :rI ia -. lee md
liberty i'll peril every hour of the TWEEN
ty-four. The village in which her broth
er was held captive moved many times,
but she always located it anew and
watched for her opportunity.
1t came one night with the setting In
Of winter. In the midst of a raging
blizzard and after she had been hiding
in the hills for three days. she entered
the village and crept from lodge to
lodge and finally found her brother
fast asleep between two Indian boys.
1t took her an hour to do it, but she
managed to wake him up and get him
out of the lodge without disturbing the
others. Her horse had to carry double.
and they were sixty miles from the
nearest fort. So severe was h storm.
however. that after riding ten miles
they went into hiding in q rayine to
wait for a change.
1t was thirty hours before the storm
ceased. and the Indians at once began
to scout around to pick up the trail.
The snow lay two feet deep on the
ground. and with the horse carrying
double there seemed no show of es-
cape. A start was made as soon az
the weather cleared, and the pair had
made a distance of five miles when
they looked back to see the Indians
on their trail.
The same blizzard had caught two
companies of the Seventh cavalry out
on a scout. and they had been COM
| PEELED to camp In one of the ravines
and wait for the break The pursuing
| Indians were within half a mile of
the girl and her brother n would
| have o~verhauIed them in ten minutes
| more. when the cavalry suddenly ap-
| peared in view.
There were thirty-two. warriors In
the pursuing band. and they were cut
off before they saw the soldiers. When
they saw that escape was hopeless
| they dismounted and took cover ano
| put up a good fight, but only one of
them lived to get back to the village,
| while The cavalry had only two OF
| three men wounded on their side. One
| of the Indians was killed by the girl
| herself before the soldiers got fairly
| into action. and he made the sixteenth
| red man she had slain since leaving
| home in search Of her brother.
Among the Indian exhibits in the
| Smithsonian institute at Washington
and the Museum of Natural History
In New York are souvenirs of that
wipe-out. and among the Indians
met after tina war was Crooked Nose
the only survivor of the battle. He
was free to say hat had the girl and