Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1913-02-24
ROMANTIC CAREER is ENDED.
Death Of John Howard, Scout, at
Springfield, Mass.

ago III the England of his birth, cousin
OF the present duke of Norfolk and al
lied by blood relation to many of the
p!eudest houses of Europe. and for 20
years chief scout in the Indian-fight =
ing armies OF our western plains, died
yesterday morning at the heaven Kel-
ly home in Brightside of paralysis, the
effect of a tomahawk wound received
in his daring Indian service. Mr. How
ard, as he has insisted upon styling
himself ever since coming to the Unit
ed States in the midst OF the Civil war
had been resident of Springfield only
for the past three years, coming here
with his wife, Mrs. Edith L. Howard,
who maintains 4 masseuse parlor at 81
Maple street. Few people here knew
his story. The old man Of - had the
rctieence that goes with good breed
ing, and the wisdom to accept fortune
as it came to him without comparing
the estates Of the present to those of
former time. To the few visitors at
his bcdsde-he bad been almost total
iy paralyzed since 1904-he was merely
a finely cultured old gentleman re-
tanning even in his terrible infirmity
some Of the unquenchablc spirit that
had made him the righthand man of
Gems. Sheridan, custer and Miles in
their last campaign against the Indi-
ans of the West The secret of his
lineage he kept hidden and it will come
to admire him fer the things he had
accomplished.
John Howard was born in Greystoke
castle, Cumberland, in June. 1910, the
son Of Lord Edward Howard, a young
er brother Of Henry Howard 14th duke
OF Norfolk The Howard family is one
Of the three or four Oldest in England.
Under the name Of Hereward they are
found leaders i'll the county affairs of
Norfolk and possessed of a landed es-
tate as far back as $50, in the days of
the old Anglo Saxon kings. Many of
their members distinguished them
selves under the governments Of the
Norman and Plantagenet kings, until
as 4 reward of the services of Lord
Thomas Howard in the wars of the
Roses, the dukedom of Norfolk was
created for them by King Edward "
in 1413 The 18th duke Of the line
Henry Fitzalan Howard. a first cousin
of the man who died yesterday. is the
present relying duke &c Norfolk
Among the famous deeds Of the How
ard family was the gallant fight of
Lord Thomas Howard, in command of
the English sloop Revenge, against the
- Spanish ships of the line ut the time
Of the Spanish Armada. an exploit of
almost unparalleled heroism. which
Fennyson has justly celebrated in his
famous Ballad of the Revenge This
Lord Thomas Howard was a collateral
ancestor of John Howard who died
recently.
Civil War and Indian Service.
John Howard received the usual ed
ucatten of the English boy of noble
family He made an excellent record
al Elton, and later took his bachelors
degree at oxford, supplementing this
with a service of several Years in the
English army in which he was an Of
ficer in crack regiment. But the
opportunities fer the younger sons of
younger sons We're limitea then as
now, and Sir John Heward-such was
the familys nobility that he received
the title on becoming of age-feeling
the pressure of the family tradition of
achievement, resolved to cast his lct
IN the service of the new republic
where, in the dark DAYS of the Civil
war. military career was not a mere
round of pink teas and regimental
dinners. Accordingly he broke the
old home ties, not without Il wrench.
for his proud relatives could not SYM
pathize with the rowing ambitions of
the young soldier, and in 1862 took
ship for America. In February. 1863,
without taking advantage of his pre-
viOus military experience, he enlisted
as a private in the 156th Illinois vol
unteers, then forming In Chicago. For
the remaining two years Of the war he
was attached to Sheridan's corps in
the army of the Potomac, where he
served with credit the arms of the re-
public.
Mr.. Howard apparently broke off all
relations with his kinsmen when he
took what was in their eyes the I'M
pardonable step of leaving her males
tS s service. In 1889 he lost all the pa
pers relating to his connection with
the house of Howard in the fire which
almost DESTROY ed Seattle Wash. The
156th Illinois was mustered out of ser
vice in September, 1853, but Mr. How
ard, who had by that time attained the
TdIk OF sergeant, ai once IeeDilSIeQ III
the regular army H,s AGILITY as a sol
der and mis- general culture had al
ready brought him to the notice of
Gen. Sheridan who secured in May
1856, his appointment as a government
scout in the Sioux Indian service near
the Little Big Horn In South Dakota.
For almost four years he lived with
the Indians without their suspecting
his purposes So well did this scion of
the English nobility adapt himself to
the customs and ways of the savages
that they adopted him into their tribe
and gave him the Indian name sig
nifyipg "the bear who rushed into the
woods in memory Of an suspicious
occasion when ne tore after a brave
who was spying on his camp and fair
" Rugged the marauder to death, bear
fashion, when he caught him in a
nearby thicket. During his years
with the Indians Mr., Howard, who
was already a skilled linguist in sew
eral of the European tongues, master
ed the widely differing tongues of the
Sioux, Cheyenne, Nez Perez and Black
feet Indians.
Some of the exploits of Mr. Howard
during his western service are worthy
of the pen of James Fenimore Cooper.