The Wallace miner. [volume] (Wallace, Idaho) 1907-current, 1913-01-02
Speakin' of
Widders
Weekly Short Story.

back as 1901. 1t was written under
. date of 1907 from Henderson county,
. Kentucky. by my grandfather, then Is
. years of age. to his mother living in
'. Ohio:
Dear Mother-Since | wrote you we
; have had considerable trouble with the
Indians. One morning a man named
Boone came in from the south and said
a party of redskins were coming up,
burning houses by the way and MUIR
dering the settlers. We at once set to
; work to enclose the house in fort. OF
course. having little time, we couldn't
build much of protection.
trees within rifle shot, take the trunks
of the saplings and stand them up in a
circle, burying one end i'm the ground.
Inside we built a rude platform, on
which a man could walk around the
house and keep an eye out for trouble.
We got the thing finished--such as it
was-before we heard anything of the
Indians Then one night we heard
: shots to the south, lasting about half
an hour, then saw a red glare. The
Harbeson family were the only ones
living in that direction and we reckon
ed they had been attacked. all had
been killed and their house burned
Pretty soon we saw forms on horse
back in the dark coming to us and we
all got ready to defend ourselves. They
came galloping along straight for us.
We knew Indians didn't come that way
and held our fire. Then we heard a
mans voice call out "Frends.' and
the Harbesons came up.
We took them in and they told us
they had defended their home till they
saw they would be overpowered, then
ran out the back door and, hidden by
trees, reached the barn and got away
on the horses without the Indians
knowing it, | was mighty glad to see
Elizabeth, who tainted and fell in my
arms as soon as she got inside our
,stockade.
! We didn't see an Indian that night
or next day, but | knew the redskins
were all about us. They were watch
ling us from ambush. | felt pretty sure
they would not attack us openly, for
that's not their way of fighting. True,
we had only nine men and two boys,
though the women were ready to do
their part, but the red devils didn't
know how many we had and they
don't like stockades anyway
On the second night after the Harbe-
keep watch, while we all slept with our
rifles ready beside us. He could see
so far on all sides that an Indian
couldn't shoot him without coming
over an open space, for, as you know,
the house is on the top of a hill. What
were our surprise and horror in the
morning to find Jims dead body on the
platform behind the stockade. He had
been shot. No one was in sight, the
only living thing we could see being
bear about mile away walking slow
ly toward clump of trees He was
just within range, but we didn't shoot
him. all our powder and ball being
kept for the Indians.
The next night was Thursday and
John Harbeson insisted on taking the
watch. 1t was awful in the morning to
see him lying dead, the same as Jim
| Hawkins. Two of our men had been
killed, leaving only seven. If they
killed man every night they'd have
us all in q week. What we couldn't
understand was how the savage could
get within range, for the moon was
more than half full and every night
was clear A sentinel at the fort could
see long distance.
We were more terrified at this mode
!of warfare than any other the Indians
could practice. Something must be
done. ! proposed as soon as 1t was
dark to crawl out in the direction from
which both men must have been shot
land lie in the bushes to watch. So
about the time the others were going
/; to sleep Sam Turner went on watch,
and crawed out, keeping behind low
bushes as far as | thought best and
lay in a little hollow where the grass
Twas long.
/ About o'clock In the morning. when
! / was having to pinch myself to keep
awake I saw in the moonlight bear
leave the same wood ! saw the one go
into the morning Jim Hawkins was