The Idaho Springs siftings-news., 1910-04-23

American officer
yes sir" responded the policeman.
They're bad lot. Where is your escort sta
toned?"
The trooper smiled family under his mustache,
why Scott's having his horse shod and guess
Murray's getting drink They'll be along in
a minute"
And when presently Scott and Murray came
pacidy on the scene. that troop of cavalry sat on
their horses and watched the band of Indians they
had so carefully guarded. depart the yellow
prairie under the charge OF three men.
The American officer watched them dwindle to
dot across the level. Then his feelings found
speech well. I'm damned" he said And the
troop rode away
tribe making serious trouble along the rail-
road then under construction. and the mounted po
lice promptly rode out to the Indian village with an
order the tribe to break camp and take the trail
to the NORTH away from the line.
When the policeman explained the order to him.
Piea-pot laughed and turned away. The other In
dians jeered and discharged their guns In the air
The two policemen sat still
"l will give you just Is minutes to comply with
the order" said the sergeant quietly.
When the Is minutes were up he dismounted
walked to the chiefs tepee. and with calm de
liberation kicked out the y-poe of the lodge
bringing the whole structure down-poles. war bon
nets. drying skins. kettles and all-in miscelane
heap
Pie-a-pot did some deep and rapid thinking.
gesture to his young would have sent a hun
dred bullets into each of the quiet unrufIled mer
who systematically going through the camp
kicking out the keypole of each tepee. But the In
dians of the northwest had learned that sooner Of
later Justice done by the mounted police. ant
Pie-a-pot never made that gesture. He gave in
and in sullen silence the camp collected its scram
bled effects and turned their ponies heads north
Not SO fortunate was the attempt OF Sergt. Cole
brook TO arrest fugitive Cree Indian named Al
mighty Voice
Almighty Voice had stolen steer. and Sergt
Colebrook, with a half-breed companion rode across
the prairie to arrest him. The policeman In
structed the halfbreed to tell the Indian that the
had come to arrest him. and that he must go witt
them. The Cree replied Tell him that if he ad
vances will kill him"
Instantly the haf-breed covered the Indian witt
his rife. but Colebrook promptly ordered him to de
sist for Almighty Voice must be taken alive TheI
he rode deliberately forward upon the muzZe o
the Crees rifle. and sooner than submit to thu
shame of arrest, Almighty Voice fired. A year la
ter, however. the Indian surrounded in pi
where he had taken refuge The police brought vi
their field guns and shelled the pit killing Almighty
Voice and thus avenging Sergt Colebrook's death
The outcome of this incident served to prevent sc
rious trouble with the Indians. who were all in
more or less sulky and unsettled mood at the time
How greatly the Indians have come to respect thu
Just and impartial administration of the law by th'
mounted police shown when of Mecastoi
band escaped from the guardroom at Macleod afte
having been tried by the police on charge OF thef
and convicted. When he returned to Mecasto'
camp. the chief who had attended the trial at whic
the fugitive convicted had been deeply i'm
pressed by the impartial nature of the proceeding
and by the fair administration of justice that h.
promptly delivered him up again at the fort gate t
the officer in command
Perhaps the greatest achievement which the pc
lice ever undertook accomplished when the
persuaded Sitting Bull and his band of betwee
five and six thousand hostile Sioux to return AM
surrender to the United States authorities whe
they had taken refuge In Canada after the memor
able massacre of Gen. Custer and his command
Commissioners from the United States had visite
Sitting Bull and had negotiated with the chief TO
his return and surrender, avail. The police
however. by infinite tact and diplomacy and be
in their previous transactions they had wo
the confidence of the Indians of the northwest. a
length succeeded in inducing Sitting Bull and hi
hostile braves to return peaceaby to the Unte
States an exploit of which any body of men nigh
be proud
When the Boer war broke out England called TO
the mounted police to help her there. Onethird O
them. practically the pick of the force. went out
Very few of them ever came back. Many were Of
fered commissions and some accepted, Whereve
there is trouble there the mounted police are tn
answer to the problem. as they have been in west
ern Canada for 80 years. from the time of the Rie
rebellion up 10 to-day.
The story of the mounted has its shadows Me-
grew tired of the loneliness and deserted at times
men who had lost all--ove. hope ambition-quietl
went away into the wilderness and blew out thei
brains. The life was unsettling; men could no
leave 1t and take up clerical work farming. be
cause adventures are not built that way.
But. shadows and ALL the story OF the Canada
mounted police is one of the most gorgeous tale
since the days of the Spanish Main And the sp
It of the force is best EN- mbodied in that messag
found scrawed on the orders of policeman VIII
pershed in blizzard while making his way wit
dispatches to distant post In his last moment
with numbed hand he had written: Lost. hors
dead Am trying to push ahead Have done m
best"