The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1912-05-29
At the Hands of a Blood
thirsty Indian.
DESCRIPTION OF THE BATTLE
Of the Little Big Horn, Which
Resulted DiSaStrOuSly
TOOur Soldiers.
SOMETHING OF "YELLOW NOSE~

Who killed General George A.
Custer in the battle of the Little
Big Horn, June 20, 1876? The be-
lief firmly prevails among the old
warriors of the Southern Cheyenne
Arapahoe tribes in Oklahoma that
Custer was slain by Yellow Nose, a
Ute Indian now living on his allot-
ment on the North Canadian river,
near the town of Geary, Okla. The
Indians have believed this for thir-
ty-five years. Yellow Nose, who is
not a boaster, merely says that he
killed an officer, whom other In
dians say was Custer. Yellow Nose
had never seen Custer prior to the
| battle.
This man, whose tribesmen so
resolutely declare he took Clusters
life, is now about sixty-fve years
old and well preserved, save that
he has been blind for many years
from a blow across the head in the
Little Big Horn fight which event.
ually destroyed his eyesight. His
body Is SCARED With many wounds
received in the battle. He will OPP
en- his shirt and show you a hard
ened spot where a bullet tore
through him when McKenzie's men
gave battle in Powder River Can
yon. Yellow Nose was peering over
an embankment, not suspecting
that danger was near at hand, when
he was shot from ambush.
When Yellow Nose was four
years old he was captured from his
people by the Northern Cheyennes,
one of whose women he married.
He was a scout under Gen. Lawton
at Fort Robinson, and later was
given similar employment at Fort
Reno. In the plains country he
met the French-Cheyenne scout,
Edward Guerrier, and their friend
ship brought Yellow Nose to Okla
bona in the early seventies. There
was a constant passing to and fro
OF the Northern and Southern In
dams in those days.
Yellow Nose tells a circumstan-
tial story which old warriors in Ok
lahoma support with their own tes-
timony as evidence that he was the |
man that killed Custer. 1t was i'm
possible for soldiers to shoot with
steadiness and accuracy, many pull
ing the triggers while their guns
pointed straight above them. Ri
derless horses stampeded in every
direction, leaving their dead be-
hind, and they were caught by In
dams and taken across the river.
Yellow Nose had never seen Gus
ter. He twice encountered the man
whose body was found after the
battle and Unidentified by the In
dams as that of Custer. yellow
Nose had shot a trooper and in &C
cordanee with Indian custom, was
running forward to strike the body
with a stick, which in the Cheyenne
language is called "koos." The SOL
der called for help when he saw
his enemy bearing down upon him,
and several mounted comrades
rushed to his rescue. One of these
men fired at Yellow Nose at such
close range that his eyes and face
are still speckled with the powder.
The bullet missed Yellow Nose,
his horse in the neck.
Yellow Nose was struck a heavy
glancing blow across the forehead
with a gun barrel, binding him
for a moment and filling his eyes l
with blood.
The same man who had fired at
him was next seen by Yellow Nose
at a small mound on the ridge AMI !
on foot, with about 80 men gather
ed round him. He was bareheaded /
and armed only with a pistol. AS q
the Indians bore down upon this b
group, a number of the soldiers ap-
parently lost courage and ran to
lower ground, close to the base of