The Press., 1914-10-07
he Overland Trail
 By M. QUAD Copyright. 1914. by Associated Lit
 erary Press.
By M. QUAD

In the old days of the Overland trail. the pony express and the numbering stagecoach stage stations had been erected at d distance of fifteen milea apart throughout the length of the whole trail. After the first thirty miles from the Missouri river no coach was safe from attack until 1t reached San Francisco. The Indians could not use fire as q weapon. nor could they carry a station by assault. but they captured many of them by trickery or siege. In no case was the life of company employee ever spared.
 Never were greater hardihood ana bravery exhibited than by the men se- lected to drive the coaches.
 As the stage toiled through the heavy sand of some strips of desert or met several miles of stony and uphill trail band of hundred yelling war riors would suddenly appear. The driver must fight as well as guide his excited team. It was when the over land company finally appealed to the government to clear its route through Kansas that General Custer was sent out with brigade of troopers. Custer couldn't hope to strike telling DloW against the hordes in the field, put ne laid his plans to open the route ana drive the Indians back from 1t.
 As we followed the trail to the west we picked up station after statlon' -ho1,,;,,rr orowSOmo sights
 Clusters whole command witnessed the arrival of the last stage from the west-the last for several weeks. From A hilltop three miles from the tra1l' with impossible gullies between, we saw the coach come up the trail with 100 Indians pursuing it. 1t was run ming fight, which aroused every man to the highest pitch of excitement, but we were helpless to extend aid. Through the clear air of a summer afternoon we saw the stage horses shot down and the coach Overtaken. The passengers made a brave fight to the last, but none of them escaped. 1t was night before we. had made our detour and reached the station, and the In dians had departed long before. They had captured the station two hours be- fore they attacked the stage.
 If this station had failed to hold out how would it be with Pawnee Flat, the next station to the west, and with White Horse, the next after that? The first was a four man station and the next relay of eight. As we rode away through the night not man had the slightest hope of Pawnee, though we knew it would have been defended as long as one of the four could lift gun. We reached it at about II o'clock. It was as we had feared. Over 2OO Indians had swarmed down out of the hills at daybreak the morning before, and, though they had lost a score of men, the dugout had been carried by assault and its defenders butchered We waited here half an hour to give the poor cOrpses burial and then push, ed on toward White Horse. It was not until we got within two miles of the station that our fears were relieved. Then we heard the reports of rifles and knew that the place was still holding out.
 The station was situated about mid way of long, bare hill. To the west of it was a coulee, or dry ravine, with banks twenty feet high. We had with us u couple of scouts, who knew every rod of the Overland trail, and when within mile of the station these men were sent forward to spy out the sta tiOn. They returned after awhile to report that Spotted Horse and about 15O of his dog soldiers" as the Chey- ennes were called, were laying siege to the station and had evidently occu- pied the ground for two or three days. The ground around the dugOut was so open that the Indians dared not rush" the place, nor was there any show to use d keg of powder without reckless exposure. With their allies holding the trail to the east. the Cheyennes had en- tered upon siege in hopes to starve the defenders out. Their war ponies and most of the band were lying up in the dry ravine for the night This ravine had no opening to the south and was therefore cul de sac.
 The first signs of dawn were in the sky when we saddled up, mounted, and the whole of us pushed forward, led by the scouts. for the mouth of the ravine We had the Spencer carbines. each with a full magazine. and as we got the order to charge each man began shooting When a carbine was empty it was thrown away and revolver used in its place. When the revolver was empty it was cast aside for the saber. Extended from bank to bank. we swept up the ravine, and we had nothing to do but kill. Taken by surprise. the Cheyennes thought only of getting away. The fight did not last above thirty minutes, and our loss was only three men wounded.
 Down in the ravine we harvested seventy eight dead Indians, and on the banks above the stage men counted up twenty-two more We got upward of 100 rifles. about 30 pistols, 130 ponies and d wagon load of miscellaneous stuff. Every Indian lying there was a dead one. Custer had said, 'Shoot to kill" and there was no wounded or prisoners. Among the killed were Spotted Horse. Big Moon and White Bird. and that fight broke the back bone of the Cheyennes. Their part in the war was to capture all the stations west of Burning Hill, but they had taken only Pawnee Flat. They never rode to war again. Within 4 week they were suing for peace. aud E,.. A1,, .@