The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1914-03-04
CUSTER SURVIVOR
LOSES HIS PLACE
Daniel A. KanIpe Was Bearer
Of famous Message.
FORMERLY REVENUE RAIDER

Change of administrator Has De-
prived Him of His Position-Tells In
Ride to Captain MeDousal-Was
Feared by Carolina Moonshiners.
Asheville, N. C.-Changes in the in
ternal revenue service made by the
Wilson administration have retired
from Uncle Sans payroll one OF the
most picturesque figures in North Caro-
lima, Daniel A. Kanipe, a former rev.
enue raider, who Is said to be the only
American survivor of the Ill fated force
under the immediate command of Gen
eral George A. Custer. Mr.. Kanipe
has the distinction of having carried
the last order issued by Custer just
previous to the massacre ON the Little
Big Horn river in Montana in 1876.
Mr.. Kanipe has retired to his home
at Marion, near Asheville, since the
change of administration has deprived
him of his place as a revenue raider,
but his name is still a word to c~onjure
with in the districts where corn liquor
is made without paying tax TO the
United States government. AS a raid
er Mr.. Kanipe was probably the most
feared man i'm the Asheville district,
one of the largest in the United States,
and the same courage that sent him
serenely on a mission through a III
try infested with hostile Indians has
caused him to venture into dark cor
ners Of the mountains In search of IL
licit distillers.
Kanipe was born at Marion and was
raised on a farm, but ran away from
home at the age of nineteen to enlist
in the army, walking across country
to Lincolnton, where be enlisted In
Company G., Seventh regiment, United
States cavalry. The company IA
commanded at the time by Captain V.
Il. Hart. Before long the young man
was promoted TO q sergeantcy and at
tached as a scout to the command of
General George A. Custer in the cam
paign against the Sioux Indians under
Chiefs Sitting Bull and Rain In the
Face. He was with Custer on the
morning of June 25, 1876, at the Little
Big Horn, when the Indians were be-
ginning to close in around the little
band of American soldiers.
II had the fastest horse in the serv-
ice" Sergeant Kanipe says, land he
could single foot faster than most cav
airy horses could run. Captain 0ater
Major Thomas III. McDougal, in com
mand of Troop B, was about five miles
away in charge of the pack train car
rying our spare ammunition and ra-
tons.
General Custer ordered me to find
Captain McDougal and tell him to
bring up the pack train with all speed,
as he General CUSTER believed that a
great battle was about to be fought.
With this last order of General Gus
ter's / slipped away from camp on my
horse, Yankee Mike, and after sneak
ing past a number of Indians inc out
running a bunch that discovered me
and gave chase, / made my way to
Captain McDougal's camp and deliv-
cred the order.
I'VE started at once to the relief of
General Custer, but by that time he
was surrounded by Indians, and 1t re
quired two days of hard fighting to
make our way across that five miles
Of territory. While / was gone and
while We were fighting our way back
30 Clusters position Sitting Bull and
Rain In the Face, with their 1000
Sioux devils, surrounded his force and
after a hard fight butchered them.
when our relief force reached the
spot where the heroic Custer had made
his last stand we found the bodies Of
my former comrades lying in twisted
heaps, just as they had fallen under
! the blows of the Indians. Some Of
them had mercifully been shot, but
many more were lying with crushed
and shapeless bodies and heads bat
tered in by the war clubs of the In
dams.
II had seen service before that, and
| saw service afterward in the cam
paign against the C~heyennes i'm Ne
braska, but l neve saw a battle I'm
which l thought the Indians were re-
paid for the massacre of General Gus
; ter and his heroic troopers.
. 1.-TWO other men escaped from the
massacre, | think, a Grow Indian scout
named Curley, who have since learn
ed is living in st. Louis and whose
Indian costume probably helped him to
slip away while the battle was raging,
and an Italian trumpeter named Mar
tine, who have heard has been seen
in Buffalo. How he managed to es-
cape have never been able to learn"
Mr.. Kanipe after leaving the army
secured a position as deputy internal
| revenue collector. His most cherished
, possessions are the old faded blue uni
form which he wore on that memora
Bile ride for Custer and the saber and
pistol he carried as a member Of the
! Seventh cavalry.
3 French Mint Obliges Gamblers.