The Bozeman courier. (Bozeman, Mont.) 1919-1954, 1927-09-02
when the Indians Raided Their Neighbors

might be a murder, too, If the tracks
be covered up or the odium thrown
OF other redskins.
In the spring Of 1884, a band of Pieg-
n stole a number Of ponies belonging
to Chief Plenty Coos. On the way back,
they also picked up a number Of horses
belonging to farmers at Young's Point
and Park City. About a dozen settlers
who were joined by Plenty Coos and sew
eral Crows started in pursuit.
Four Of the party pushed ahead and
suddenly came upon the party Of four
indians early in the morning in h Hail
stone basin, north of Lake Basin. The
Indians were covered with guns and a
parley enSued as to whether they should
kill h Indians. Suddenly two OF h
Indians fired and killed the two men OPP
posite them who had dropped their guns.
These men, James Tate M G. Ames were
said to have been the two who stood out
against killing the Indians.
The other white men returned the fire
and one Indian was killed and another
wounded. Fortunately at this stage OF
the game Plenty Coos came up and killed
another Indian who proved to be a Pieg-
an and wounded another. The two live
Pigeans, both wounded made good their
escape on their horses but the stolen
band of ponies was r~ecaptured. However
the death Of the two men, one with a
small family n the other with relatives
in the community brought gloom and a
feeling of insecurity to the community.
An early chronicle of this fight speaks
of "Plenticous, the famous Crow"
In August, 1885, there was considerable
excitement along the Yellowstone over a
raid by a band of Piegans who drove off
about a hundre ponies belonging to the
Crows. A band of rs Crows started in
pursuit and camped opposite old juno
ton City where they INDUCED in a war
| l--- - 1911 ~oDIs1s-1 TAr fhnf~ on
counter with the Piegans. The x day
they swan the Yellowstone with their
horses loaded with supplies n started
northward but we're obviously in no II
ry to meet the Piegans.
Some of the whites were not so eau
tiOus concerning Piegans however. A par
ty led by Goulding killed three of the
Piegans. Anothe party led by the ole
Indian fighter, Liver Eating" Johnson
and Eugene Erwin struck off for the Bull
mountains to head off the party but the
results Of the expedition, if any, are not
chronicled.
In an editorial Of about the same time
the Billings Herald accused the IndiaT
agents of standing in with the thieves o.
their particular tribe and paying no at
tention to these forays by their wards
I. The only way to put an end to the dep
relations, the editor said was to xii
every thieving redskin who strays from
his reservation. He also advocates TIT
5 adoption of a detective system by tn
2 stOckmen to warn Of stealing parties ant
r to insure them a warm reception.
Raids by the Crows on their northern
= Indian neighbors were perhaps NATURAL
J, viewed with more leniency. In comment
ing on a raid by the Crows on a Siou
= band near Fort Peck in which a squaV
was killed and a number Of horses stoleT
f the same paper commented 1.-The Siou
e are excited but as they have few arm
o / and 1f+T1a npnVnTTnffinn fhnU are mt like
ly to retaliate. One good result will b
that the Sioux will not cross the Missoul
this year as they know the Crows are we
S armed, and consequently there will b
d fewer cattle killed"
The years 1886 and 8 8 seemed I