El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-04-11

interpreter and forage master. He
/ returned with the army TO the United
A Notable Sort OF Fellow.
] In printing the Hughes ohronicIiugs
and simplifying them. William Elsey
Z LonneleT, OF Topeka, kan in his
l volume OF -DOniphan's Expedition
1907" makes the following additional
/ reference to Kirker:
Meredith T. Moore saws. that at the
south end OF the Tornado. above Bra
tito, man appeared on the west bank
! OF the Rio Grande and called over 10
! me army BE was questioned by the
/ Officers, VINO finally ordered him 20
I cross the river to the encampment,
/ which he did, bringing with him some
/ half dozen Delaware Indians He
! proved TO be James kirker. He was
: dressed as froutiersman Of his day
l-1rlnged buckskin bunting shirt and
breecheS- heavy broad Mexican hat
and huge spurs, all embellished and
ornameuted with Mexican finery. He
/ was mounted on q fine horse. which
he regarded with great affection and
10 which ne gave the most careful at
tention. In addition to q Hawkins
rifle elegantly mounted and orna-
mented with silver inlafd on the
stock, he was armed with a choice as
sortment OF pistols and Mexican dag
said Mexico Didn't Pay Up.
He said he had been living some
years in Mexico in the service Of the
governor who contracted TO pay him
so much each for Apache scalps he
might take In hunting down these
Indians he had employed a force OF
30 10 90 DelaWares- Some time before
war was declared between the United
states and Mexico the governor OF
chihuahua owed him 1000 for In
dian scalps, he said; and instead Of
paying him, had repu0iated his claim
and threatened to arrest him and his
DelaWares and throw them into
prison. Most Of the Indians had re-
turned 10 their own country. bat he
with those he could find. had set out
for the American army. Some Of the
llelaWares went on home by way OF
santa Fe; others remained with the
army and went home by way OF New
Orleans.
James Peacock says the Delawares
came with Kirler. Some OF them had
seen the Qualifications at Sacramento.
and one OF them in conversation with
Peacock drew in the sand with a stick
q plan Of all the works and map Of
the locality n which they were sit
uated.
MexIeans rs Fighters.
Kirker told Peacock that the Mex
leans reminded nm OF his first ef-
forts TO trap birds when he was a
little boy; that they had constructed
LAelE 4orLlAlca u ons on the theory that
the Americans would walk into a
trap set in plain view. when by de-
ploying TO the right the trap might
be avoided; that the Nexicans ex-
pected the Americans would march
along the road in the ravine upon
which all their a-+illery was trained.
Peacock took the Indian to Doniphan,
Tor whom he drew designs Of the
Mexican Qualifications. and gave
description OF all the surrounding
country. And the American army did
at Sacramento exactly what the Della
ware suggested TO Peacock that Il
would do-turned TO the right and
avoided the Mexican artillery.
The fact that IT was the Delaware
who had a knowledge OF the Next
can Qualifications would indicate that
Eirker had not recently been at Chi
huahua or Sacramento. Moore says
Eirlzsr was absolutely fearless; that
he was q fine rider, well accomplished