Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1906-12-22
PRICE FIVE CENTS.

WAS d hAite-uid anu worn, ,DuL> price,
less to me. This incident some may
deem mere accident; but let some
one be placed in my situation on the,
wild treeless plains of Dakota, and he
would feel with me that 1t was a boon
granted by the Great Giver of good.
"On the third day, about ten miles
from the James river, I left Lieuten-
ant Freeman's rifle ON the prairie, be
coming too weak to carry it longer;
besides, it had been SO damaged by
rain that ! could not use it. I wrote
upon it that Lieutenant Freeman had
been killed, and named the course /
was pursuing. brought the pistol
into Camp Atkinson
while wandering 7 lived on cher
ries, roots, birds eggs young birds
and frogs caught by hand; all my am
munition having been spoiled by the
rain on the first day except one cart
ridge. That cartridge was for Smiths
breechloading carbine, and had a
| waterproof case. also had some
| waterproof percussion caps and a lit
tie powder, and with the pistol and
some dry grass started nice fire, at
| which I cooked young water fowl,
something like loon. This was on
| the second night. On the fourth I
| used the remainder of my powder for
a like purpose. The rest of the time
I ate my food uncooked, except some
| hard tack that I found in one Of our
old deserted camps on the Sibley trail.
| e remember one sweet morsel
more palatable than the fried hard
tack found in the ashes of an old
camp fire, viz, some dried meat
spared by the wolves, on the bones of
a dead buffalo.
! GAS near as I am able to judge, I
| travelled in the seven days at least
two hundred miles. / had ample
means for like journey in civilized
country, but for the first time in my
life, found money useless thing. My
bootleg moccasins saved me; for a
walk of ten miles barefooted upon the
bare prairies would have ruined my
feet making my further progress slow
and tortuous. The exposure at night,
l,eaI1sed- by lYing, in loWs.and wet PLACES,
in order to screen myself, was more
prostrating to me than scarcity of
food. The loneliness of the wild
prairies in a hostile Indian country,
terrible in itself, was made doubly so
by the droves of white wolves which
lowered at respectful distance in
| the day time, and howled closely
around me during the long hours Of
night; seemingly sure that my failing
strength would soon render me an
of the plains. But merciful Prov
dence spared my life by what seemed
a miracle"
The body of Lieutenant Freeman
was found on the 25th of July, by a
cavalry detail; guided by Chaska, the
Indian scout. An arrow had pierced
his breast, and the tomahawk and
scalping knife left bloody traces about
his head; cut down in the vigor of
pristine strength and manhood by an
untimely and merciless fate.
When Mr. Bracket reached Camp
Atchison, he learned that a mounted
! detachment had returned from Devils
| Lake bringing in to that fortified en-
| campment young Indian prisoner
! who had been captured on the lonely
shores of that great and mysterious
, inland sea. He represented himself
as being the siXteen-yearold son Of
the famous Little Grow. and was with
the old chief when he was killed near
Hutchinson, while leading a war party
along the frontier settlements of
Minnesota during the previous month
of July.
! The following statement was made
by the young ln1ian WARRIOR in refer
| ence to the manner of his fathers
death, and his own escape and fight
over the plains of North Dakota:
4 am the son of Little Crow, my
name is Wa-Wi-Nap-a, and I am six
teen years old. My father had two
wives before he took my mother; the
first one had one son, the second a
son and daughter. After taking my
! mother my father put away his first
two wives; and he had seven chill
| dren by my mother; six are dead, I
am the only one living now. The last
four wives of my father, including my
/ mother, were sisters.
Father went to. Saint Joseph,
| north of Devils Lake, last spring.
When he was coming back he said he
could not fight the white men much
longer, but would go below and steal
horses from them to give TO his chill
dren;; and We would then so away of
beyond the Missouri river,