Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1906-03-22
A LONG SMOKE
lorIgInal.l


the like After eating good supper I
said TO the husband:
Come Jim; its time for you to tell
the story about yocr wedding night
you've heard that story annually for
ten years"
nine. lhis'll be the TENTH"
wei, If its part OF the festivities,
here goes. It's not mitch Of a story,
with only a horse for hero. When
Doll and agreed 70 got married we
were both living in the northeast corner
of New Mexico. Her father gave us Il
quarter section Of land OH the Canadian
river not far below its source. and |
| built house on it, | was deliye,! in
| getting some furniture Id bought at
Santa Fc, and on the wedding day. aft
er the ceremony. which occurred about
O'Clock in the afternoon. ! started out
to look for it, 1t was agreed that IL
didn't get back by sunset the family
were to 80 To the new house and walt
for me there
| rode my sorgcl horse, Pete, and
made for the road leading past the mil
| itary post. for that's the route by which
expected the furniture | met the
wagon numbering along and, locking at
my watch, calculated that It wouldn't
| reach the ranch before @ or 10 o'clock
Mt night. 1t was then about ~ hour be-
fore sunset. and heSitated whether to
90 back to my father-in-law'a or 10 the
ranch. | decided for the ranch. When
| reached it darkness had come down.
but full moon was rising. | was rid
ing through some timber, from which !
emerged in sight OF the house, when
! Pete stppped suddenly. His cars were
standiMS straight forward, and he trem-
! blcd all over. | couldn't see what trou-
blcd him Everything looked peaceful
enough at the house. 4 may had
| hired and in whose care had left the
| place v1s sitting in his chair on the
porch, with his |. els M on one of the
smoking supposed I could
| just see him by the light Of the rising
| moon Then 1t occurred to me that
since the place was not lighted the par
ty had not arrived and | would 20 and
meet them, I made one more effort to
get Pete TO move forward. but failed
! rode all the way without meeting
the party and when | reached Dolls
home found them all anxious for my
safety, for they had heard that Apaches
had been seen during the afternoon in
the neighborhood. Doll would have
doubtless thrown herself on my neck
and wept for JOY ut seeing me. only
she hadn't been married long enough
to do such things in company.
1t occurred to me that Pete had
smellcd Indians But they couldn't
have been at the ranch house, for the
hired man was sitting out unmindful
of them However, Mr. Gunthcr. my
wfes father: Tom Williams, Il man
working on his place, and | all took
Winchesters and started on foot for
the ranch When we ncarcd 1t we
skulked through the timber and came
out on the edge Of the clearing near
whore Pete had stopped The moon
was partly obscured by clouds, but
there was enough light for us TO see
that the hired man was still sitting in
the position in which | had left him,
which must have been an hour before.
l thought he was taking pretty long
smoke or something was wrong. While
we were wondering two dark figures
came out of the house-We at once rec
ognized them for Indians and, scrap
ing up some loose pieces of wood, put
them under the porch and set it afire.
II didn't propose TO have my house
destroyed. especially on my wedding
night, and whispered the order to crawl
quickly forward. The burning sticks
lighted up several Indians, who were
joined by half a dozen others from the
inside of the house. ! told each of my
companions which savage to pick off,
and, taking third myself. we all fired
together. Two of the Indians dropped.
and the others ran. More came dashing
out OF the house: but, our rifles being
repeaters, we pumped lead briskly. and
the Indians, not knowing how many
of MS there We're. ran away. was
pleased to see that they took their
dead and wounded with them. for I
didn't want them around on my we'd
ding night. AS soon as they were gone
we ran forward, kicked the kindling
from under the porch, and bucketful
of water put out the fire
Having examined the inside to see If
the Indians had put any fire there, we
approached the hired man. who through
all the melee sat with his heels on the
pillar apparently unmndful Of what
was going on. The first thing I no.
ttced about him was a bald spot on the
top OF his head for his hat was not
on it-and ! knew at once what it
meant. He had been scalped The
man was stone dead. He had been
placed as Il decoy.
About this time the furniture wagon
drove mp, and the man in charge, not
knowing what had taken place, began
20 unload Il. When be heard Of nv
/ narrow escape, ana consequently his.
he wilteE.
dol al | spent our wedding night
at her father's house. She declined to
live at TIRE ranch. which / sold 10
man who lost his scalp year later
We star J awhile ut the home Of Dolls
parents rl rs Doll wouldn't 90 on to
the ra. 2 : brought her here"