Five Mile Beach weekly journal., 1913-06-20
A Woman S
Vigilance
By CARROLL H r

America has placed Tar ID Lno Dack-
ground the stirring events OF Indian
warfare that lasted from the first occu-
pancy of the continent to the annihila-
ton Of General Custer and bis III fated
command. Yet this last great event
of the long struggle with the aborigines
Of the country occurred but . genera
ton agone.
There stfll lives a woman more than
ninety years Of age who passed through
one of these Indian events At twenty
she was married to a lieutenant In the
army on duty In the east, but who had
been ordered to a small fort IN what
was then the far west Immediately
after the wedding tho couple started
for the officers station, pursuing their
way by canal ~stagecoach and. lastly,
an army supply wagon
At that time there were white men
In that region who were worse than
the Indians In that they often melted
the latter to pi1lage and bloodshed-
They were not the settlers, but q class
of desperadoes that are always found
lounging about the skirmish line of the
advancing army of civilization
Mrs. Lieutenant-we shall call her
Wliittlesey-found herself In a one ON
pany post, and, the companyB captain
being absent and her husband being
the ranking officer. he "a comman-
dant Indeed, there was but n other
officer there. and Mrs Whittlesey was
the only woman among some sixty
men Indians now and again would
come into the fort and their appear
ance was quite enough to a a wo-
man out of her senses, for of all the
names most appropriate to these peo-
ple-Indians. redskins, savages-he last
Is the most appropriate They looked
savage and acted savage. were fierce
IN their natures and made themselves
hideous to correspond with what they
were.
One day a. dirty white man chad In
skins came into the fort and, claiming
10 be a settler, told a pitiful story of
a wife and children at some distance
from the garrison who were having a
hare time. His little girl had been
shot by an Indian with a barbed ar
row and the father wished TO cut 1t
out. Would the surgeon let him have
some chloroform?
The surgeon gave him the chloro-
form. telling him how TO use It and
the precautions he must take. Then
the man went away.
Though the redskins were at peace
with the whites. Mrs. Whittlesey
would not trust them. Eha did not
4 co1sider tbs post 2ree from Munger ct
attack at any time. It was nothing
more than a biockhouse or stockade
with a raised platform for the sentries
to pace upon and little towers with
loopholes from which they might fire
upon an enemy If attacked
One night Mrs. Whittlesey stole out
of bed, leaving her husband asleep,
and, putting on some clothing. she
went out to inspect the guard. She
found n sentry nodding and another
fast asleep She took the ~sleeper's
musket and awakened him TO see him
| DEAl SO1VICA b1 q WOAlAh Will Lis
gun.
Mrs. Whfttlesey told her husband In
the morning that she had gone out and
found the guard unwatchfuL Though
knowing that sleeping on post is death
to a sentry, she made no definite
charges. The commandant endeavor-
ed to arouse his guards to greater eff
| 44oS.o~x H.,A Ato <.&r@.k1 xrn-n Char4 Heed
and discipline soon relaxed again.
Mrs. Whittlesey, being a woman. was
discredfted in the matter, and her hus-
band told her 30 make no more visits
to the guards lest she put him. as
commandment. In a ridiculous position
One night the lady, not having a
mans confidence in the peacefulness
of the Indians, got steaithily out of
bed and went to ssure herself that
the guards were awake She found
three of the four noddin&. while the
fourth had sunk down unconscious.
bis musket lying beside him. But
what especially attracted her attention
was a strong odov Of chloroform-
1t was this odor that led her 10 sus
/ pect an especial danger and TO make
an observation Rising ON tiptoe, she
saw a dark body moving toward the
fort Selling the unconscious sentrys
gun, she ran 10 the nearest tower and
through the narrow slit left for firing
sent a bullet into the coming warriors
Her shot was a twofold advantage
II showed the Indians that their Dill
ing had been detected and reused the
garrison The former hesftated a few
minutes then continued their advance.
sending arrows and bullets against the
stronghold
Men came pouring up from below
In their night clothes. among them the
rommandant. He saw fire fash from
one Of the towers and the next mo
ment his wife came out. blood drip
ming frnm hor rfoh4 arm. She eHr0on