The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1906-10-31

their canvas covers cut up into breech-
cloth and the -four with which the car
aTan was loaded emptied from its
sacks on the prairie.
Young MCGEE was attacked by Little
Turtle himself and knocked to the
ground by one blow Of his tomahawk.
AS he lay there, partially stunned and
bleeding, Little Turtle fired two ar
rows into his body, pinning him to the
earth. Then, in transport Of tiend-
ishness, he took Roberts own pistol
and shot him, the bullet lodging in his
backbone. Not quite satisfied that he
had made a good job of it, he stopped
over the boys PROSTATE body and, run
ming his knife around his head, lifted
sixty-four square inches Of his scalp,
trimming it off just back Of the ears.
Believing his victim to be dead by
that time, the chief abandoned him,
but others Of the band in passing hack
ed him with their knives and poked
holes into him with their long la1ces.
All the others in the train were long
since dead, killed outright, and their
bodies mutilated.
After the savages had completed
their work they rode, whoopin5 ana
yelling, away, and the troops that had
witnessed the whole affair from their
vantage ground came upon the scene
to investigate and learn whether the
Sioux had been properly met or not by
the i'll fated men Of the caravan. The
officer in command was very properly
court martialed and dismissed in dis
grace from the service He never gave
any satisfactory reason for his outra-
geous and cowardly conduct.
The only part the troops took in the
affair was to bury the dead. When
they attempted to put young MCGEE
under the ground they found a very
lively corpse, despite the fact that he
was scalped and had received fourteen
distinct wounds. any one Of which
would have terminated the life OF an
| ordinary man.
After intcrring the dead the soldiers
fastened to Fort Larned, thirty miles
distant, where young McGee was
| placed under the care Of the post sur
geon. 1t was three months before ne
| was able to be moved from there.
| During that time he had fair COM
| mand of his mental faculties and was
sufficiently strong to tell all the Incl
| dents Of the attack.
The owner Of the caravan, who had
| remained in Leavenworth, on hearing
what had befallen his property put IN
a claim for big damages from the gov
ernment and was awarded a sum
| which made him independent for life,
but he persistently refused to do any
| thing for the sole survivor.
McGee's claims were laid before the
| president, and in October, 1864, Mr..
! Lincoln sent him letter and pass by
special envoy, directing him to come to
Washington as soon as he was able to
| travel and stating that he himself
| would see that McGee's wrongs were
righted.
When McGee had recovered sufd-
ciently to move about, his mind, which
had been remarkably clear up to that
time, began to cloud, and he became
possessed Of a mania to hunt Sioux to
the death. In one Of his frenzied spells
the pass and the letter from President
! Lincoln were stolen from him, and
neither the president nor the army took
any further notice Of him.
For a dozen years after receiving his
| injuries MCGEE was wanderer, and
when it was discovered that Little
Turtle had been wiped out it was said
that the biggest notch on McGee's gun
| barrel commemorated the full measure
Of his revenge, long mark for the
chief and nine shorter ones for the
subordinate headmen who had bitten
| the dust at the command Of the un-
erring rifle that never failed to execute
it's mission when pointed at Brules
breast
After Little Turtle had been sent to
the happy hunting grounds McGee's
mind began to regain its normal equ-
librium until at last he once more be-
came perfectly sane.-Kansas City
Star.