The Colorado statesman., 1923-06-02

over the prairieS to the mines.
On the trail to the Powder river
was built Fort Phil Kearney. While
the troops which were ordered to the
new post were on the march overland
scout came riding into the column
as If he had death at his heels. Col
onel Fetterman was in command, and
after hurried talk with the scout the
two rode forward, leaving the column
at halt.
Officer and scout skirted a patch OF
timber and came to the banks of
small prairie stream from which the
view was unbroken for miles. To the
front at a distance of about 400 yards
they saw a solitary Sioux warrior
standing on little hillock with his
spear thrust into the ground at his
side, while from the end OF the weap-
ons handle fiuttered bit of colored
cloth.
That Sioux warrior solitary on the
plain with the bit of colored cloth at
tached to the handle of his spear sup
plies one of the chief bases for the
suit of $7Oo,OO0.OO0.
1t needed but little frontier knowl-
edge on the part of Colonel Fetterman
and the scout to make the interpreta-
tion of that signal easy. 1t was the
Sioux sign of warning that there must
be no trespassing on the lands over
which they held dominion and for
which no negotiations for ceding had
been begun. Red Cloud, the chief, had
ordered the warrior to display what
was at once notice and a menace.
and later he took terrible vengeance
because his warning had been spurned.
Red Clouds Vengeance.
Colonel Fetterman rode back to his
command knowing well what the sig
nal of the planted spear and the fiut-
tering pennant meant, but he was UNI
der orders from the War department
and, soldier-like, he was determined
to disregard the Sioux signal. He
pushed on hard with his men. The
Indian sentinel had vanished, but he
had left his spear with its rennant to
stand as a forbidding sign. Not an
other Sioux was seen on the march to
the new post. but the scouts knew that
Red Cloud was not far off and was
bidng his time.
Not long after the occupation of the
fort detail of soldiers was sent out
to cut and to bring in needed timber.
The detail found itself surrounded bv
Sioux Indians. A courier broke through
the encircling line and reached the
post. Colonel Fetterman rode out with
part of his detachment to the res
cue of his timber-cuttlng party, but he
was compelled to leave greater part
of his force at the fort to protect the
women and children.
Fetterman and his small command
reached the wood-cutting party. The
Sioux swarmed to the attack and not
fit escaped death.
Twenty Years After Langley.
Twenty years interviewed between
the successful flight of the first heav-
ier-than-air machine known as Lang
ley's Folly" and that of the To, which
made the nonstop journey from coast
to coast in about twenty-seven hours.
In the Smithsonian institution in
Washington in an honored place Lang
ley's Folly is shown to visitors. MOI
far from 1t is memorial to the ur-
discouraged inventor who in the face
of ridicule and something approaching
contumely persevered until he proved
that heavier-than-air machine, mote I
driven, could be made to fly under di-
rection and to carry weight.
1t has been suggested in Washington |
that, If the To is found to represent |
the beyond which nothing" in air
planes, 1t be placed side by side with
Langley's Folly to accentuate and to
prove that the people may scoff, hut
that a courageous man with an idea |
still can point the way to highest I
achievement.
1t is thought here that the perform
ance of the To proves many things
of service to a nation in peace and
war. The punitive possibilities of
which can travel nearly 5000
miles without a stop are said to he
service is concerned, the trip of the
To opens up field of possibilities
so extensive that man as yet cannot
visualize nor readily understand all
that may be done.
Air Travel Held to Be Really Safe.
Already In Washington trunk lines
of airplanes are seen for the carriage
of passengers and freight, in limited
numbers and quantities 1t Is true,
across the great distances of the coun-
try from city to city. Naturally enough
there still is the element of the fear
of most people to embark upon air
voyages. The civilian population ap-
parently yet has to be educated to
overcome the dread of mir travel. Army ,
and navy men Of all countries over
came 1t long ago, Notwithstanding the
fact that years from the time of Lang
ley's Folly to the present day contain
n ,rol,1minni1a record of death and dis.