Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-02-24
DEFIED BAND OF INDIANS.
How Skunk johnson Withstood Fiji
teen-Day Siege Of Redskins In a
Cave

IneTe Is a cOnSlQeTaDle quantity Ol
real water at times in the Ninnescat
river, which circulates in Pratt coun-
, ty, Kan. In one of the bluffs over
looking this river there is a cave In
Inc themselves pirates or scourges OF
the plains.
The cave, which is commodious and
in two sections, was originally the
work of nature, but 1t has been improv-
ed by the hand Of man. In the stren-
uous times when hostile Indians were
a condition rather than theory 1t af-
forded a retreat for Skunk Johnson,
celebrated trapper and hunter of
those days.
). Johnson roamed over a large terri
tory and killed animals whose pelts
were valuable. These pelts he traded
for groceries and munitions Of war at
Hutchinson, then a struggling village,
now a large and prosperous town with
a municipal coat Of arms and board
Of trade. The cave was Johnson's
headquarters. 1t was admirably adapt
ed to his purposes, for 1t contained a
spring Of cold water and there was
natural flue leading up through the
rocks. When the winter storms ragged
he sat by the fireside he had built for
himself, and smoked and read old
newspapers.
One day in 1874 Johnson went to
Hutchinson to buy supply Of tobacco
and other necessaries Of life. The
storekeeper warned him that the In
dams were out, with blood in their
eyes, and, the settlers were flocking to
the village for protection. Johnson
had a profound contempt for Indians.
He urged that they were great bluff
ers; that they couldn't shoot straight,
and that they were false alarm gen.
orally. So when he left the village for
his cave his heart was free from care
and he beguiled the dull moments with
laughter and song.
After journeying several miles on
his trusty pony he found that he was
followed by twenty Indians, all armed
with deadly weapons. Johnson had a
contempt for two or three Indians, but
twenty in a bunch were serious prop
osition. He suddenly became homesick
for his cave, and urged his pony to its
best speed.
A long, hard race followed. He man.
aged to keep his distance ahead Of the
red men, who shot at him every now
and then to remind him that they were
thinking Of him and longing to tangle
their hands in his flowing hair.
Johnson reached his cave, turned his
pony loose and crawled into shelter.
He blocked the opening Of the cave
with rocks, leaving only small hole
| for the barrel of his gun. He had
scarcely made these simple prepara-
tions for a siege before the Indians ar
rived with the customary blood-curd-
ling war whoops, which have been 80
ably described by ]. Fenimore Cooper.
The red men tried to break down the
barrier at the entrance. Johnson's
gun popped derisively and red man
went to sleep with his fathers. The
Indian who stepped directly in front Of
the opening found that his death war
rant was waiting him, so the survi-
vors gave up experiments In that line
and tried the smoking out process.
They could approach the mouth of the
cave obliquely without danger; so
they gathered brush and weeds and
built a fire, and the smoke went into
the cavern and up the flue. This fue
saved Johnson from strangulation, but
he was far from comfortable. 1t Is dis
tinctly unpleasant to inhale smoke for
hours together.
Johnson endured this ordeal for two
or three days. Then he began to wish
the Indians had never been invented.
But worse was to come. The red men
discovered that the smoke was escap-
ing through a hole in the hillside, the
outlet to the fiue. 80 they set to work.
with admirable industry, to plug up
the hole. When this was done the un-
fortunate Mr. Johnson was seriously
inconvenienced.
The Indians, not being expert crafts
men, had made botch Of plugging the
hole. and some of the smoke got away.
or there Is no doubt that johnson must
have surrendered. AS it was, he held
out, coughing and wheeling, and haV-
ing a horrible time. Day after day this
disagreeable smoking process went on,
and Johnson was beginning to feel like
a cured ham. His sufferings were add
ed to by the fact that he didn't dare
sleep. A few winks now and then con-
stituted all the repose he had.
There was plenty Of water, but 1t
tasted like creosote. His food supply
ran out, with the exception of several
skunks which had been brought In
from his traps a day or two before this
adventure began. For days together
he lived on smoke and water and skunk
flesh and there is no doubt that he felt
pessmistic at times.
He never lost his vigilance or his
fighting spirit, however Every now
and then his gun would crack, and ne
never wasted any ammunition. An In
dian fell over dead whenever that gun
spoke. Then there would be a chorus
of barbaric yells, and the besiegers
would heap more brush on the fire, and
the unfortunate prisoner was driven TO
wish that he could hang his lungs on
a tree for half an hour.
This ordeal lasted for fifteen days.
During that period the intrepid old
hunter lived through his baptism OF
smoke. and had no thought of surren-
der. On the fifteenth day the Indians
received word from one Of their friends
that soldiers were coming their way
so they abandoned the siege. leaving
their dead behind. There were ten OF
1 these dead Indians lying around on
burial platforms when Johnson finally
emerged from his cavern so well
smoked that he would keep in any cli-
mate.
1t took him several hours to get