The Bourbon news. [volume] (Paris, Ky.) 1895-19??, 1906-10-05

On the afternoon of July 1S-it had
been an excessively hot day-the cara
van went into camp at an early hour.
The eScorting troops stacked arms
about half a mile distant, but in full
view of the train. The men should
have kept a good lookout for sur
priSes-prObably did in a way-but
there was a feeling of security in the
knowledge that a regular attack by
savageS is rarely made until the early
hours of the morning, when sleep is
heaviest.
About O'Clock, however, a band of
Brule Sioux, under the lead of Little
Turtle, descended from the sand hills
Z in all the fury of a tornado. uttering
their wild war whOOps and of all the
. small army of men employed by the
caravan young Robert MCGEE alone
came out alive to tell the story of the
massacre. Every individual was shot
dead and Scalped as he lay or sat at
the mess table. The mules, of course,
went to swell the herd Of the Savages,
but the wagons were destroyed by fire.
their canvas covers cut up into breech-
cloth and the -four with which the car
AVIAN 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 fiend-
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, rum
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 pO1ed
holes into him with their long lanceS.
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, whoOpng and
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 martaled 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 interring 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 he
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 pr ,Jerty put in
a claim for big damages from the gov
eminent and was awarded sum
which made him Independent for life,
but he pcrsiStently refused to do any
thing for the sole survivor.
McGeeS claims were laid before the
president. and in October, 1864. M.
Lincoln sent him letter and a 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 suffi-
GENTLY 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 We're 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 a 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 I'M
erring rifle that never failed to execute
its mission when pointed at a Brule'S
breast.
After Little Turtle had been sent to
the happy hunting grounds McGee's
mind began to regain its normal equi-
librium until at last he once more be-
came perfectly sane.-Kansas City
Star.