The Lamar register., 1910-04-20


American officer.
Yes. SIR" responded the policeman
They're bad lot Where is your escort sta
tioned?"
why. Scott's having his horse shod. and I guess
Murray's over getting drink They'll be along In
a minute"
And when presently Scott and Murray came
pacidy the scene that troop of cavalry sat on
their horses and watched the band of Indians they
had carefully guarded. depart over the yellow
prairie under the charge Of three men
The American officer watched them dwfndle to
a dot across the level Then his feelings found
speech. WELL I'm damned" he said And the
troop rode away
Again. old Pie-a-pot and several hundred of his
tribe we're making serious trouble along the raft
road then under construction. and the mounted po-
lice promptly rode out to the Indian village with an
order for the tribe to break camp and take the trail
to the north. away from the line
When the policeman explained the order to him.
Pie-apot laughed and turned away The other In
dams jeered and discharged their guns In the air
The two policemen sat still
II will give you Just is minutes to comply with
the ORDER said the sergeant quietly.
When the is minutes were up he dismounted.
walked over to the chiefs tepee. and with calm de-
liberation kicked out the key-pole OF the lodge.
bringing the whole structure down-poes. war bon.
nets drying SKINS kettles and ali-in a misceliane-
GUS heap.
Pie-a-Dot did some deep and rapid thinking
gesture to his young men would have sent a hun
dred bullets Into each Of the quiet. unrufned men
who systematically going through the camp.
kicking out the key-poe Of each tepee. But the In.
dians OF the northwest had learned that sooner or
later Justice was done by the mounted police. and
Pie-apot 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 the attempt Of Sergt. Cole
brook TO arrest fugitive Cree Indian named Al
mighty Voice.
Almighty Voice had stolen a steer. and Sergt
Cnln
the prairie to arrest him. The policeman In
structed the tell the Indian that they
had come to arrest him. and that he must 90 with
them. The Cree replied: Tell him that II he ad.
vances will kill him"
Instantly the half.breed covered the Indian with
his rife. but Colebrook promptly ordered him to de-
sist. for Almighty Voice must be taken alive. Then
he rode deliberately forward upon the muzzie Of
the Cree's rife. and. sooner than submit to the
shame OF arrest. Almighty Voice fired. year Ia
ter. however. the Indian surrounded In a pit
where he had taken refuge. The police brought up
their field guns and shelled the pit killing Almighty
Voice and thus avenging Sergt Colebrooks death
The outcome Of this incident served to prevent Sc
rious trouble with the Indians. who all In q
more or less sulky and unsettled mood at the time
How greatly the Indians have come to respect the
Just and impartial administration Of the law by the
mounted police was shown when one Of Mecasto'a
band escaped from the guardroom at Macleod after
having been tried by the police charge Of thief,
and convicted When he returned to Mecasto's
camp the chief who had attended the trial at which
the fugitive was convicted had been deeply i'm
pressed by the impartial nature Of the proceedings
and by the fair administration Of Justice that he
promptly delivered him up again at the fort gate ia
the officer In command
Perhaps the greatest achievement which the po
lice undertook was accomplished when they
persuaded Sitting Bull and his band Of between
five and six thousand hostile Sioux to return and
surrender to the United States authorities when
they had taken refuge in Canada after the memor
able massacre of Gen. Custer and his command
Commissioners from the United States had visited
Sitting Bull and had negotiated with the chief fol
his return and surrender to no avail The police
however. by infinite tact and diplomacy. and be
cause In their previous transactions they had wor
the confidence Of the Indians Of the northwest. al
length succeeded In inducing Sitting Bull and his
hostile braves to return peaceably to the United
States an exploit Of which any body Of men might
be proud
When the Boer war broke out England called fol
the mounted police to help her there. One-third Of
them. practically the pick Of the force. went out
Very few OF them ever came back. Many were of
Tered commissions. and some accepted. Wherever
there Is trouble. there the mounted police are the
answer to the problem. as they have been in west
ern Canada Tor 80 years, from the time OF the Rie
rebellion up to to-day.
The story OF the mounted has its shadows Mer
grew tired Of the loneliness and deserted at times
men who had lost allzlove. hope ambition-quietly
went away Into the wilderness and blew out thei
orains. The life was unsettling; men could mo-
leave 1t and take up clerical work or farming, be
cause adventures are not built that way.
But. shadows and all, the story OF the Canadian
mounted police is one Of the most gorgeous tale
since the days Of the Spanish Main. And the spir
1t OF the force is best embodied In that messag,
found scrawled on the orders OF a policeman VIII,
persisted In a blizzard while making his way will
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"