The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1911-03-16
DEFIED BAND OF INDIANS.
How Skunk johnson WithstOod Siege
of Red Skins in Cave.

There is a considerable quantity of
real water at times in the Ninnescah
river, which circulates in Pratt coun-
ty, Kan. In one of the bluffs over
looking this river there is a cave in
which the small boys play and mag
inc themselves pirates or scourges
of the the plains.
The cave, which is commodious and
in two sections, was originally the
work of nature, but it has been i'm
proved by the hand of man. In the
strenuous times when hostile In
dians were a condition rather than a
theory it afforded 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 struggling viii
lage, now a large prosperous town
with a municipal coat of arms and
board of trade. The cave was John
sons headquarters. 1t was admir-
ably adapted to his purposes, for it
contained a spring of cold water, and
there was a natural flue leading up
through the rocks. When the winter
storm 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 tobac-
co and other necessaries of life. The
storekeeper warned him that the In
dians were out, with blood in their
eyes, and the settlers were flocking
to the village for protection. John
son had a profound contempt for In
dians. He urged that they were
great buffers; that they couldn't
shoot straight, and that they were a
false alarm generally. So when he
LETT 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 20 Indians, all armed
with deadly weapons. Johnson had a
contempt for two or three Indians,
but 20 in bunch was serious prop
osition. He suddenly became home
sick for his cave, and urged his pony
to it's best speed.
A long hard race followed. He
managed 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 shell
ter. He blocked the opening of the
cave with rocks, leaving only a small
hole for the barrel of his gun. He
had scarcely made these simple
preparations for a siege before the
Indians arrived with the customary
blood-curd1ing war whoops, which
have been so ably described by j.
Fenimore Cooper.
The red men tried to break down
the barrier at the entrance. John
sons 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 warrant was waiting him, so
the survivors 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 flue saved Johnson from
strangulation, but he was far from
comfortable. 1t is distinctly un-
pleasant to inhNe 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 escaping through a hole
in the hillside, the outlet to the flue
so they set to work, with admirable
industry, to plug up the hole. When
this was done the unfortunate Mr..
Johnson was seriously inconvenience
ed.
The Indians, not being expert
craftsmen, had made botch of plug
ging the hole, and some of the
smoke got away, or there is no doubt