The chronicle=news., 1913-05-03
"Reminiscences OF
The Frontier Days

Generally speaking the noble red
man was as witlcss as II pumpkin and
had no more sense OF humur than his
Wooden brother in front OF cigar
store. Old Asaliubn. meaning til,
milky way. the war chief Of the Pen
natnka Commanchas. VIA quite Il
huniOrist. however. aud might con
sistently have been dubbed the Josh
BillingA among the abOrl Einals. lie
was big sort Of II fellow rs brave as
Il bull and was as fine II specimen OF
the genus lndicas as We ever saw. \
great many years ago while still u
young man Asahabn's band got Into
u fight with General Mckenzie +
Fourth cavalry near Fort McKaritt.
Texas. and got the worst OF 1t Is
usual.
In the miXup Asahaba was fright
fully wounded by the crease OF n
carbine bullet which plowed a fur
row along his spine In such II pecul-
lar way as to sever every rib from
the vertcbrac and the wonder Is that
he ever survived such u shock. As II
was he laid for three DAYS In u pud-
die of water before he was found
and carried In. The lpdian medicine
man swathed him tightly in n strip
of wagon canvas and packed him
back to their isle OF dreams on the
Wichita reservation al Fort Sill. "a
distance OF several hundred miles. lie
lived through II all and got rs strong
and husky as the stoutcst man In the
tribe
The Comanch.s never liked the
kiowas whom they designated an the
dog lnjuns. although on the other
hand the EiowaS were always bragg
ging about their prowess and were
wont TO rall Themselves by such ie-
rOcious names M bears. wolves npd
lions. One day Mt For; SUI when
Colonel Grierson was there with III.
Tenth cavalry Of buffalo soldiers. a
band OF kiowa chiefs who were In
clIncd TO be n ;riflc nawsty. as the
EnElishman would say. came TO the
conimandant and challenged him To
bring out his regiment and figh.
their braves man to man The col
oncl. OF course. could not do such an
absurd thing and In u clever speech
he told the kiowas that they were
NIL there as red aud white brothers
and that they should love each other
like children dwelling In peace and
getting along In harmony. The
chiefs snccrcd At this bi, Of felicity
and were evidently disgustcd with
the pifflc. Just then Ashaba. who
had been listening from within. came
out Of tic barrnckx md walking
right up to Gricrson said TO him
through tho inscrprcsce Joscs In tho
presence of the hated ki0was. You
are afraid tn fight ~ prairie dog.
Give me your Niger soldiers and I
viii lick the whole kiGwn nation. ''
aud he no doubt could have done so.
shortly after this episode Asliaha
distinguished himself in u desperate
wcr" holding u cOmanchc woman IN
rapiicc mt their village ON the creek
One 'lny whiic tn" kiowi chiefs were
n; the post seeking for something
and gcttin; nothing. Asliaba mount.
cd his pony with another Que trail
Ing aud struck oNt for the kiowa
camp several miles ,luwn tho creek
Arriving nt the village he called to
the Comanchc suuaw to mount the
lead pony and together they got away
rs slick as u whistle and went dircc,
to their own lodges some distance
away.
For years The Comanr;,,.s had tried
In u dozen raids to get this suuaw
and when the kiowa .hicftnins real.
izcd what had happened they wcr"
pretty hot under the chin. They
sworc all kinds o! dircful vcngcanc.
on Asahaba and threatened to massa-
ere all the other Pcnatakas. Tn.
next morning par,y OF chiefs. In
cludinR such well known braves us
aStania. Lone Wolf. White Horse.
Big Tree. Kicking BIRD and others To
the number Of ten or more appeared
NJ Ashabn's lodge aud demanded their