The Meeker herald., 1921-12-03

my, New York; Is a chapter In which ram
s-Face tells how he ran 800 miles on snow
in blizzard In three duys-by far the most
4rkable run in all history.
what n discussion that chapter has raised
Lver the West For the West will never get
Dgh talking about Custer and the batt'e Oh
Big Horn River, June Is. 1876.
Nv, of course, anyone who has ever trase'eu
nowsboes and has been In a South Dakota
rd hos n posItiyo opinion as to the truth OF
Indians story. incidentally the worlds record
ii hundred mile run Is 10 20 30. However, the
of Observation-Disclosures serves a double purpose:
hikes interesting reading and 1t has brought
Some reliable facts concerning the iegeho ths'
Sioux chief boosted that he would kill Custer
pat his heart-and actually did carry out MS
rortiing to the story told to Colonel shieias
he Sioux in December 1873 or 1874 whlie
. cred with portion Of his tribe at the Stand
Rock aRency about IS miles south OF Bis
k. Rain.n-the-Face got into an alteration
al four white men and killed two Of them In
1efepse, as he claimed. He was captured, TAX
q the agency, and thrown into jail, "A TEN.
Z nv, unfinished log structure without hoor.
. were six or eight inches Of snow on the
nd that had blown In through the openings In
|8xaIs, and the prisoners "only means OF keep
From freezing WIS to keep walking constantly
Ii the room" This cruelty to Indians was prac'
g on the orders Of General Custer then In COM
"a Mt Fort Lincoln. near Bismarck General
Ter ordered that "if nlive, Rain-ln-the-Face
sSld be thrown Into jail and punished as severe
- possible, pending the time when the court
Hal could be convened and the cuprit dis
Ia of In legal way. And this meant OF course
h he would be hung or shot" When this order
y read to the prisoner. "Itain-in-the-Fnce swore
keance on General Custer rs the author OF MS
brings. He swore that II he ever got out he
Id kill Custer In a hand-t0-hnnd fight. II pos
~, and IL not, then at longer range; Tint ne
ID cut his heart out and carry 1t away rs
hy."
lkme time before the Custer massacre, Rain
SeFnce escaped from his prison with the as
nee Of two friends. who "handed him pair
how shoes and blanket In which piece OF
buffalo meat was rolled" The buffalo meat
out MS he adjusted the blanket. and so he
led out Into the desert In the midst OF
Ing blizzard. ut nightfall. with only one
ket without a mouthful Of food, without
kpon of any kind. when the temperature was
. pbly forty degrees below zero and the wind
blowing thirty miles m hour" HE told me
sAtory Of his great run and I will tell 1t to
NJ his own words as nearly as can recall
reports Colonel Shields:
u fsked him, through an Interpreter. Where
> 4Du go when you escaped from the jail at
angling Rock? He said:
VI went to the camp Of my friends. at the base
Woody mountain, in Canada
= How far ls, thatT 1 asked
eThree hundred miles rs the crow fies.'
" How long did 1t take you to make tho rum
:" Three days and nights
'"Lo you mean to tell me that man can run
hundred miles In twenty-four hours. on snow
ces and another hundred In the next twenty
10 and another hundred in the nextr
ale said. 4 did It,
" How often did you sleep on the wayr
III didn't sleep at all. knew dared not sleep.
dared not even sit down to rest, for II l had,
'der the terrible fatigue and hunger and strain
on' ~mcn suffered. would have lost conscious
Dss stupor would have oyertnken ma and l
ould have frozen solid In half an hour / was
'e.ns from the persecution, the wrongs, the out
ges inflicted on me and my people By the white
En-. wss going to my friends and had deter.