Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-07-14

OTTUMWA
RADIO River, the first survey and abou
the first exploration of it ever made
and for all of the party 1t was a season
of extraordinary hardship always Of
scant water and short feed for on
beasts, much of the time in heat Dealt
Valley itself could not badly discount
And since our field was in then hos
tile Navajo country, and the expedition
was government affair, we had
cavalry escort, an escort that ultimate
ly gave us more trouble than the In
dians-or, rather, some of the escor
did.
Unknown to the lieutenant. among
the enlisted men of the escort were
three notorious bandits, enlisted unde1
assumed names in escape of pursui
for their crimes.
The worst Of them was known as
Johnny Behind the Rock" as cold
blooded an assassin as any those law
less days developed.
A few weeks before their enlist
ment, they had held up Mormon
wagon train on the road from Beaver
to White Pine, killing several of the
men, looting the wagons and. hard
pressed by the Mormons, had sought
service in the army for sanctuary.
But birds of their vulture feather
could not long repress their predatory
bent. much less abide the restraint OF
army discipline. and no more were we
weeks march south Of the Mormon
settlements and near the Arizona Dor
der than the three Of them dropped
into their old tricks.
They jumped one night with all the
mules II our pack-train, set the entire
expedition afoot, as far as transport OF
supplies was concerned.
And that was where, old Cox and
got into action again together land for
the last time, as it turned OUT. al
though the pursuit of them in that
terrible desert land was not diver.
sion we were hankering after.
Lieutenant Wheeler detailed US to
trail them and recover the mules; and
since neither of us had ever baked at
an order of our commanding officer in
the cid service, we thought it was too
late to begin.
Helped by the unlimited change of
mounts they were driving along with
them and since they had almost full
nights start Of us, we knew it was
useless to chase them at a racing pace.
So we took their, trail at an easy
Jog. much as if we were starting In to
walk down a band of wild horses, con-
fident of dropping in on them when.
ever they got far enough away to feel
safe in breaking their racing fight and
taking longer and less carefully guard
ed rest.
West they bore, and on after them
we followed, at the best pace our
horses could maintain and not wear
them out; on through Internal desert
heat, stifled by constant sand storms,
our lips cracked and swollen and
throats parched for the water we
seldom got; on for six days and nights,
with only such intervals of rest as our
beasts absolutely needed.
But at last one evening, from th(
bluffs above, we saw them pushing out
into Death Valley from the sink OF
Furnace Creek, and planned to strike
them at the midnight rest camp they
were sure to make in the desert.
The night favored us, with a quar-
ter moon that enabled us to follow
their trail at q good gait that had
brought us within less than mile of
them by the time they had lighted a
little fire to boil their coffee.
By half an hour later they had fallen
to us easy. Stalking them gingerly
through the darkness, the moon hav-
ing gone down. we actually stepped
into the freight and had them COW
cred before they realized trouble was
And when Cox quietly remarked,
"Mr. Johnny Behind the Rock, I be-
lieve," the thug growled:
mo; not this evenin'; it's Johnny
Under Rope, I reckon" and all
three quit, gave up, without any try
for struggle. Of which peaceful
surrender we were none too glad, for
they had given US such cruel hard
chase that we would have welcomed
an excuse to put them where they
could do no more harm.
BY the way those coyotes yelped and
whimpered by turns on the long re-
turn journey to Wheeler's camp.
think they would have found death a
relief from the punishment we gave
them.
With abundant fresh mules to shift
saddle to, we not only raced back with
scarcely any rest, but compelled the
three to make the entire journey with
out their saddles. each with hands
bound behind his back and dashed
astride of bareback mule. 1t was
Johnny on Saw Horse for our bandit
and his mates on that trip.
In fact, the Wheeler expedition was
the dryest and about the poorest coun'
terfeit of picnic it has been my mis-
fortune to get mixed up with. Few
weeks passed that some of us did not
get drilled in one way or another.
Late in the season, Lieutenant
Wheeler himself and Lieutenant Lock
wood, who later persisted on the De
Long arctic expedition, near the mouth
of the Lena River, had their turn
while we were working out the maze
of profound gorges west Of the Grand
Canon of the Colorado. WaterleSs