The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1921-04-29

story of the interesting periods of my
life and of my death. / cannot ex-
plain the phenomena can only set
down here in the words of an or
binary soldier of fortune chronicle
of the strange events that befell me
during the ten years that my dead
body lay undiscovered in an Arizona
| cave.
My name is John Carter; am bet
ter known as Captain Jack Carter of
Virginia. At the close Of the Civil
war l found myself possessed Of sew
eral hundred thousand dollars (Con-
federate) and 2 captains commission
| in the cavalry arm Of an army which
no longer existed. Masterless, penni-
less, and with my only means Of live
lihood, fighting, gone, determined to
work my way to- the Southwest and
! attempt to retrieve my fallen fortunes
In search for gold
l spent nearly a year prospecting
in company with another Confederate
officer, Captain James K. Powell Of
Richmond We were extremely for
tunate, for late in the winter of 1865,
after many hardships and privations,
we located the most remarkable gold
bearing quartz vein that our widest
| dreams had ever pictured.
AS our equipment was crude In the
extreme we decided that one of us
must return to civilization, purchase
the necessary machinery and return
with sufficient force Of men properly
to work the mine.
AS Powell was familiar with the
| country, as well as with the mechani-
cal requirements of mining we deter
| mined that 1t would be best for him
| to make the trip.
On March 8, 1866, Powell and
| packed his provisions on two Of our
burros, and bidding me good-by he
mounted his horse, and started down
the mountainside toward the valley,
across which led the first stage of his
journey.
I could see him and his little pack
| animals picking their way down the
| mountainside toward the valley, and
all during the morning would catch
occasional glimpses of them as they
| topped hog back or came out upon q
level plateau. My last sight of Powell
was about three in the afternoon as
he entered the shadows Of the range
on the opposite side of the valley.
Some hours afterward I happened
to glance casually across the valley
and was much surprised to note three
little dots In about the same place
| had last seen my friend and his two
pack animals. am not given to
needless worrying, but the more /
tried to convince myself that all was
well with Powell, and that the dots
had seen on his trail were antelope or
wild horses, the less I was able to as
sure myself.
Powell, I knew, was well armed
and, further, an experienced Indian
fighter; but too had lived and fought
for years among the Sioux In the
| North, and knew that his chances
were small against a party of cum
ming trailing Apaches. Finally 1
could endure the suspense no longer
and, arming myself with two Colt re-
volvers and a carbine, strapped two
belts of cartridges about me and
catching my saddle horse, started
down the trail taken, by Powell in the
morning.
Close upon dusk, discovered the
point where other tracks joined those
of Powell. They were the tracks of
unshod ponies, three of them, and the
ponies had been galloping.
/ followed rapidly until, about mid
night, I reached the water hole where
Powell had expected to camp.
| I was interested to note that the
tracks of the pursuing horsemen, for
such 1 was now convinced they must
be, continued after Powell with only a
brief stop at the hole for water; and
always at the same rate Of speed as
his.
! 1 was positive now that the trailers
were Apaches and that they wished to
| capture Powell alive for the fiendish
pleasure of the torture, so 1 urged my
horse onward ar most dangerous
pace, hoping against hope that / would
catch up with the red rascals before
! they attacked him.
/ had forged ahead for perhaps a
mile or more, and had passed through
a narrow, overhanging gorge just be-
fore entering suddenly upon the table
land, and the sight which met my eyes
filled me with CONSERVATION and dis
may. A e
The little stretch Of level land was
white with Indian tepees, and there
were probably half a thousand red
warriors clustered around some OBJ
ject near the center of the camp. /
was, of course, positive that Powell
was the attraction, but whether. /
thought or acted first 1 do not know.
but within an instant from the mo-
ment the scene broke upon my view /
had whipped out my revolvers and
was charging down upon the entire
army Of warriors, shooting rapidly,
and whooping at the top of my lungs.
Single handed, 1 could not have pur-
sued better tactics, for the red men.
convinced by sudden surprise that not