The Lake County times. [volume] (Hammond, Ind.) 1906-1933, 1907-01-11


searQhers found never a trace. not a
bone, not key, not knife. not a but
ton which could be identified as his. +
Like the smoke which swallowed him +
up. he had disappeared completely ana /
forever.
Is he alive? l cannot tell.
But this know:
Years afterward Sidney Blair. head
of our engineering department. was
running a line, looking then. as we are
looking yet, for a coast outlet.
He took only a flying camp with |
him, travelling in the lightest kind Of I
order, camping often with the cattle !
men he ran across.
One night away down in the Pan
handle they fell in with an outfit driv.
ing a bunch OF steers up the yellow
Grass trail Blair noted that the fore
mas was q character-a man of few
words, but Of great muscular strength,
and. moreover. frightfully SCARED.
He was silent and inclined to be mo
rose at first, but after he learned Blair
was from MeCloud he unbent bit
and after a time began asking ques-
tons which indicated a surprising ia.
milfarity with the northern country
and with our road. In particular, this
man asked what had become Of Bucks
and. when told what big railroad
man he had grown, asserted. with a
sudden bitterness and without in any
way leading up to it, that with Bucks
on the West End there never would
have been a strike.
Sitting at their campfire while their
crews mingled, Blair noticed in the
flicker of the blaze how scanned the
throat and breast of the cattleman
were. Even his sinewy forearms were
drawn out of shape. lie asked, too,
whether Blair recoilected the night the
barracks burned, but Blair at that time
was east Of the river and so explained,
Though he related to the cowboy incl
dents of the fire which he had heard,
among others the story of Fitzpatrick
and Siclone Clark.
"Ana Fitzpatrick is alive, and ST.
clone is dead,' said Blair in conclu-
sion But the cowboy disputed him.
You mean Clark Is alive and Fitz-
| patrick Is dead" said he.
NO" contended Sidney, "Fitzpat-
rick is running an engine up there
now. | saw him within three months"
But the cowboy was loath to convic-
ton.
Next morning their trails forked.
The foreman seemed disnclined to
part from the surveyors, and while the
bunch was starting he rode long way
with Blair talking in random way
Then, suddenly wheeling, he waved a
goodby with his heavy Stetson and,
galloping hard, was soon lost to the
north in the ruts Of the Yellow Grass.
When Blair came in he told Neighbor
and me about it. Blair had never seen
Siclone Clark and so was no judge as
to his identity, but Neighbor believes
yet that Blair camped that night way
down in the Panhandle with no other
than the cowboy engineer.
Once again, that only two years ago
something came back to us.
Holmes Kay, one of our staff of sur.
geons, the man, In fact, who took care
of Fitzpatrick, enlisted in Illinois and
went with the First to Cuba. They
got in front of Santiago just after the
hard fighting of July 1, and Holmes
was detailed for hospital work amore
Roosevelt's men, who had suffered Sc
yerely the day before.
One of the wounded, a sergeant, haC
sustained gunshot wound IN the jaw
and in the confusion had received
scant attention Kay took hold OF
him. He was a cowboy, like most O.
the rough riders, and after his jaw
was dressed Kay made some remarl
about the hot fire they had beer
through before the blockhouse.
I'D been through hotter before
ever saw Cuba" answered the rougl
rider as well as he could through hi
, bandages. The remark directed Kay
attention to the condition of hi
breast and neck, which were a mas
of sears.
where are you fromY' aske,
, Holmes.
Everywhere"
! where did you get burned tina
way?"
"Out on the plains'
"How?'
But the poor fellow went off into
: delirium and to the surgeons amaze
ment began repeating train order:
: Kay was paralyzed at the way b
: talked our lingo-and a cowboy. Whe
he left the wounded man for the nigh
/ a To lon hi
! closely the next day, but the next da
orders came to rejoin his regiment 6
. the trenches. The surrender shifte
a things about, and Kay, though b
! made repeated inquiry, never saw th
: man again.
! Neighbor when he heard the stoT
was only confirmed in his belief ths
! the rough rider was Siclone Clark.
a give yeu the tales as they came to n