Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1912-05-30
SOME NEW SIDELIGHTS
UPON CHARLIE COLLINS

ID. T.. to the attorney general. COM
planning that it would be impossible to
secure Il jury to convict them on nc.
count of he sparse populations; an"
that Judge kidder. the only court or
ficer in the district, could not leave
the more populous southern counties to
travel the 1,5O0 miles through Iowa
n Minnesota, to reach Pembina Z"
try the cases.
Gold Is Found.
In 1874 Clusters exploring party
found gold i'm the Black Hills. On tho
port from French Greek. telling of tho
discovery. news of which reached
Yankton Via Bismarck and ST. Paul on
the 18th. Intense excitement pre- waited,
and the citizens of Yankton n SiouN
City began arrangements TO reap
rich harvest from the gold seekerS
who must pass through their doors on
the way to the d1ggins. Sioux City
championcd the Nebraska way, Wt'ie
throughout tho press of the nation
Yankton advertised its route. Wy
railroad to Yankton. then by paiatiai
steamer t" Pierre. from whence a
! short three days overland trip would
land the gold seeker at The mines
! Meanwhile Charley Collins was not
lazy and was making more progress
by way of Rrule City and White Xiv
er. ever establishing 81 recruiting office
i'm Chicago. ON the 9th all this expec-
| tation Was crushed by General Phil
Cheridan's famous order to General
Terry. instructins him, in confornaAnce
| with the obligations of h Indian.
treaty. 'Stlould companies now organ
| izing at Sioux City and Yankton tres
| pass upon the Sioux reservation, you
are hereby directed to use the force at
/ your command to burn their wagon
trains, destroy their outfits and arrest
tl,o l.,nJo,.c rCv,finiOu them at fhN nn:Ar-
est military post i'm the Indian country.
| Should they succeed i'm reaching the in
| terror, YOU are directed to send SUCH
force of cavalry after them as will ac-
| complisll the. purposes above named
His Expedition.
Indignant mass meetings followed at
the settlements. and Charlie Collins
go. returned to Sioux City, where he
sent out to the Associated Press that
he intended to abandon his expedition;
but i'm fact he never gave up. ard on
October 6. 1874. a party. &c men. one
! woman and Il 9-year-Old boy, organized
by Collins and under the leadership OF
his partner. Captain Russell. set out.
bound ostensibly for O'Neill, and guild
ed by John Gordon. from which the ex-
petition afterwards took it's name, who
had same knowledge of the country.
Collins remained at his post on the
Sioux City Times. They appear to have
followed the Keya Paha to its source.
crossed the White through the Bad
Lands. passed the headwaters OF the
Teton and reached the Cheyenne at the
mouth OF Elk creek, and the foot hills
near Sturgis on December 3. After
some rambling they struck the trail of
Custer made in midsummer, followed
it to within a few miles OF the present
Custer City. located for the winter and
stockaded ON French creek. where a
quantity of nuggets and gold dust was
collected as an evidence of good faith:
and on February 6. an exceedingly cold
morning Gordon and Whitcher mount
cd their horses and began The several
hundred miles trip to the settlements
at Yankton. which We're reached
March I.
Their story and the exhibition of
''colors" through the town into indie
s~criiDale excitement, and Collins came
hot foot from Sioux City to welcome his
returned heroes. After Il short s%ojourn
in Yankton. Collins ndu the gold
finders to Sioux City in "a bunting dec
GRATED train. he himself seated on the
COW catcher, waving his arms and yell
ing and singing like Il maniac.
Collins pops up occasionally ut other
places in early territorial history, and
the south Dakota Historical society is
exceedingly anxious to secure further
authentic information concerning this
eccentric characters operations in Da-
EOta,