The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1924-02-15
CAPTAINS OF
ADVENTURE
Ry ROGER pOCOCK
BIZ Merrill ompan
BY ROGER POCOCK

of the pony express, and in that service
Billy was counted hero. He Is out
| classed by the Cossack Lieutenant
peschkov, who rode one pony at TWEEN
ty-eight miles day the length Of the
Russian empire.
But, to turn back to the days of the
boy rider.
zone day." he writes, "when I gal
loped into my home station l found
that the rider who was expected to
take the trip out on my arrival had
gotten into drunken row the night
before, and had been killed.
pushed on /. entering every relay
station on time, and accomplished the
round trip of three hundred twenty
] two miles back to Red Buttes without
single mishap, and on time. This
stands on the record as being the long
est pony express journey ever made"
One of the station agents has story
to tell of this ride, made without sleep
for meals. News had leaked out of a
large sum of money to be shipped by
| the express, and Cody, expecting rob-
bers, rolled the treasure in his saddle
blanket, filling the official pouches
with rubbish. At the best place for an
ambush two men stepped out on the
trail, hating him with their muskets.
AS he explained, the pouches were full
of rubbish, but the road agents knew
| better. mark my words" he said as
he. unstrapped, you'll hang for this"
Wen take chances on that, Bill"
IF you will have them, take them -
With that he hurled the pouches, and
as robber number one turned to pick
| them up, robber number two had his
gun-arm shattered with the boys revOl-
yer shot. Then, with yell, he rode
down the STOPPING man and, squirting
hard, got out of range unhurt. He
had saved the treasure, and afterward
both robbers were hanged by vigil
lantes.
Once, far down a valley ahead, Cody
saw dark object above boulder d.
rectly on his trail, and when it disap-
peared he knew he was caught in an
ambush. Just as he came into range
he swerved wide to the right, and at
once a rifle smoked from behind the
rock. Two Indians afoot ran for their
ponies, while dozen mounted warriors
broke from the timbered edge of the
valley, racing to cut him off. One of
these had war bonnet of eagle.
plumes, the badge Of chief, and his
horse, being the swiftest, drew ahead.
All the Indians were firing, but the
chief raced Cody to head him off at
narrow pass of the valley. The boy
was slightly ahead, and when the chief
saw that the white rider would have
about thirty yards to spare he fitted
an arrow, drawing for the shot. But
Cody, swinging round in the saddle,
dashed out his revolver and the chief,
clutching at the air, fell, rolling over
like ball as he struck the ground. AT
the chiefs death-cry a shower of ar
rows from the rear whizzed round the
boy, one slightly wounding his pony,
who, spurred by the pain, galloped
clear, leaving the Indians astern in a
ten-mile race TO the next relay.
After what seems to the reader
long life of adventure, Mr.. Cody had
just reached the age of twenty-five
when a series of wars broke out with
the Indian tribes, and he was attached
to the troops as a scout. A number of
Pawnee Indians who thought nothing
OF this white man, were also serving.
They were better crackers, better In
terpreters and thought themselves bet
ter hunters. One day party of twen-
ty had been running buffalo, and made
a bag of thirty-two head when Cody
got leave to attack herd by himself.
Mounted on his famous pony, Buckskin
Joe, he made a bag of thirty-six head
on a half-mile run. and his name was
Buffalo Bill from that time onward.
That summer he led a squadron of
cavalry that attacked six hundred
Sioux, and in that fight against over
whelming odds he brought down a
chief at a range OF four hundred yards,
in those days very long shot. His
victim proved to be Tall Bull, one Of
the great war leaders of the Sioux.
The widow of Tall Bull was proud that
her husband had been killed by so IA
nous a warrior as Prairie Chief, for
that was Cody's name among the In
dams.
There is one very nice story about
the Pawnee scouts. A new general
had taken command who must have all
sorts of etiquette proper to soldiers.
1t was all very well for the white SEN
tries to call at intervals of the night
from post to post: post Number One,
nine O'clock, alPs well r. post Num-
Der Two. etc."
But when the Pawnee sentries
called, go to h, don't care" well,
the practice had to be stopped
OF Buffalo Bills adventures in these
wars the plain record would only take
one large volume, but he was scouting
in company with Texas Jack. John Nell
son, Belden, the White Chief, and so
many other famous frontier heroes,
each needing at least one book volume,
that I must give the story up as bad
Job. AT the end of the Sioux campaign
Buffalo Bill was chief of scouts with
the rank of colonel.
In 1876, General Custer. with force
of nearly four hundred cavalry, per-
ished in an attack on the Sioux, and
the only survivor was his pet BIO,
scout, Billy Jackson, who got away at