Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-08-13
TALES OF THE SANTA FEE TRAIL ARE
RELATED BY JAS. KING, A FORMER SCOUT

were CHARTERED in tents. There were
no stockades at this place, such being
deemed unnecessary by the presence
Of the troops, but the officers quarters
were made Of rough logs notched to.
gether with clapboard roof
The bridge was also toll bridge,
and the rates were the same as at
Little Arkansas river and Cow creek.
The bridge was a rude but substantial
affair. There was no piling, but there
was mudsill on top Of the ground on
each bank of the creek and four
stringer5 were laid from one sill to
the other. These were fastened to.
gether by auger holes being bored
through both stills and stringer and
then heavy wooden pins being driven
into the auger holes. The floor con-
sisted of split logs hewn on one side
and these were also fastened to the
strlngers with wood pins. 1t was at
this point that the overland stage
company put most of the hay used on
, the route west of Running Turkey.
! Here also the United States govern
ment put up q goodly quantity Of hay.
the same contractor putting up nay
for both parties and afterwards ball
ing quantity of it SO 1t could be
! easily transported to the different sta.
tons along the trail.
-. Shown Gruesome Relies.
The Parkers were early western
trappers, guides and Indian fighters.
The older one of them had a piece OF
gun barrel on which there were 50
notches and he said that every notch
represented a bad Indian converted
into a good one. Stanley the wagon
master made bargains with Parker for
the transportation of all his stock In
trade, Indians ponies included, to the
Leavenworth commission house on our
return trip. He insisted on Stanley
and myself staying over night with
him instead of sleeping in our wagons.
We accepted the invitation and was
up with the October dawn next morn
ing. He showed us all through his
ware rooms and his different processes
of tanning. AS the Arkansas river was
fairly we'll timbered at that point and
heavy timbered further down it furn-
ished good beaver trapping and Parker
had the finest selection of beaver
skins that the eye ever beheld. Before
we retired for the night Parker said
he would show us souvenir the next
morning before we left. He kept his
word and after solemn promise to
always conceal and never reveal he
took us into his private apartments
and after securing the door through
which we entered he took from a
niche in the wall an old rusty key
~ rs ~
quated iron box from which he took
CHASTITY relics which once formed part
of the anatomy of some noble redman.
Each relic was wrapped in buckskin
and each piece was accompanied by a
memorandum in Parker's handwriting
giving its history.
First come q we'll preserved skull
of a former scalp litter; then come the
bones of a hand, then of a foot, then
a lower and upper limb, also arm bones
of all kind. He then dug up out OF
their long resting places specimens
of arrows of every Indian tribe in the
west. He finally came to small buck
skin sack which he held up to the
light and smilingly reminded us Of our
promise which was again freely given.
ne Jucu uicW IL I'LL lAc ooNh q SAheAAi
package, unrolled 1t and handed the
contents to me. I examined 1t while
he was taking others from the sack
and when he turned to me and asked
If | knew what it was. I answered in
the negative. He then asked Stanley
who answered as I did. He then in
formed us while pointing to the other
81 that lay on the bed, that they were
all scalps and that he had taken them
with his own hands.
This was my first look in on a grue-
some bunch of Indian topnots but
examined each one in detail! 81
the memorandum attached to each one
of them. The hair was still In a state
of good preservation but the skin to
which 1t chung was in most instances
shriveled to about the size Of an
American silver dollar
Parker had been pioneer school
teacher on the north Texas border In
an early day and his wife had been
killed and his younger brother captur'