The Eureka sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1902-current, 1909-04-03

hams. the tenderloins. the tongues and
tie choicest meat of each buffalo, In.
cluding the heads. which were after.
ward mounted and used for an adver.
tisement for the said road. loading the
wagon until 1t was full We would
then drive back to our camp or to the
end of the track where the men wers
at work. ard when the men would see
me coming with load of fresh mea:
they would say. "Ah. here comes Bill
with lot Of nice buffalo, For awhile
they were delighted with the fresh,
tender meat. but after time they
tired OF II and, seeing me come. would
say. Here comes this old Bill with
more buffalo" ard finally they connect
cd the name buffalo and Bill together.
ard that Is. where the foundation was
laid to the name of rBuffalo Bill"
which afterward | defended as n tiUe
with Comstock before the officers at
Fort Wallace with success.
killed buffaloes fer the railroad com
pany for twelve months. and during
that time the number ] brought into
camp was kept account of. and at the
end Of that period | had killed 4.2SD
bufaloes on old Brigham. This was all
accomplished with one needle gun, or
breechloader which | named "Lucre
tia Borgia."
During those twelve months | had
many fights with the Indians On sew
eral occasions they jumped myself
and little party while several miles
from the end Of the grade. We would
always prefer to have them jump US
after our wagon was loaded with buf-
falo hams. for we had rehenrsed our
little stockade so often that 1t did not
take more than a few minutes from
the time we saw them coming until
the mules were unhitehed from the
wagon and tied to the wheels. We
would make our breastworks around
the wheels OF the wagon by throwing
out the meat and would protect our
selves by getting behind the buffalo
hams. In this manner we held Off from
forty to sixty Indians on one or two
occasions until we received assistance.
I would make my smoke signals at
once. which the soldiers would in
stantly see and rush TO our rescue.
had five men killed during my con-
nection with the Union Pacific raii-
road. three drivers and the others
butchers.
Shortly after the adventures just
rccited had my celebrated hunt with
Billy Comstock. a noted scout guide
and interpreter. who was then chief OF
scouts at Fort Wallace. Kansas. Com
stock bad had the reputation for
long time Of being NEST successful
buffalo hunter, and the officers In par.
ticular. who had seen him kill buffa-
ioes. were very deslrous Of backing
him In match against me. Ii was
accordingly arranged that | should
shoot him n buffalo killing match. and
the prelimlnarles were easily and sat
lsfactorily agreed upon. We were to
hunt one day of eight hours, begin
ming at o'clock In the morning and
closing at o'clock in the afternoon.
The wager was $500 n side. and the
man who should kill the greater num-
DtT VI puAdiOtC Aibth hoiStPtSh "ao
to be declared the winner.
The hunt took place about twenty
miles east of Sheridan, and as 1t had
been pretty well advertised and noised
abroad a large crowd witnessed the
interesting and exciting scene. An ex-
cursion party, mostly from st. Louis.
consisting of about a hundred gentle
men and ladies. came out on a special
train to view the sport. and among the
number was my wife, with little Baby
Arta. who had come to remain with
me for awhile.
The buffaloes were quite plenty, and
it was agreed that we should go into
the same herd at the same time and
make a rum" as we called 1t. each
one killing as many as possible. A
referee was to follow each of us on
horseback when we entered the herd
and count the buffaloes killed by each
man. The st. Louis excurslonists, az
well as other spectators, rode out to
the vicinity of the hunting grounds In
wagons and on horseback, keeping
well out of sight of the buffaloes. 50
as not to frighten them until the time
came for US to dash into the herd,
when they were to come up as near
as they pleased to witness the chase.
We were fortunate In the first run
In getting good ground Comstock
was mounted on one Of his favorits
horses. while | rode old Brigham.
felt confident that l had the advantage
Of Comstock in two thihgs-frst. l had
the best buffalo horse that ever made
a track; the second, | was using what
was known at that time as the needle
gun, a breechloading Springfield rifle,
caliber 50-it was my favorite old
"Lucretia," which has already been
introduced to the notice Of the reader
while Comstock was armed with a
Henry rifle, and, although be could fire
a few shots quicker than ! could. yet
was pretty certain that 1t did not
sarry powuer ana Ieao enough TO do
execution equal to my caliber 80.
At last the time came TO begin tho
match. Comstock and | dashed into q
herd. followed by the referees. The
buffaloes separated. Comstock took
the left bunch and ! the right. My
great forte In killing buffaloes from
horseback was to get them circling by
riding my horse at the head of the
herd. shooting the leaders. thus crowd
ing their followers to the left till they