Plentywood herald. [volume] (Plentywood, Mont.) 1908-current, 1930-07-24
TRAPPERS PLAYED SOME THRDlL0M CANNES
WITH LIVES AS STAKES 0w PIONEER DAYS

when danger was imminent, Wander
burgh took six men and set out to find
the Indians. At a distance of six miles
from camp they found further Indian
sign which led them to believe the
party was composed OF only six or
eight. While crossing a small stream
following the Indians trail, which led
to some brush, they were fired upon
by the Indians from ambush and be-
came aware that they had encountered
a party of at least 100.
Three Of the hunters whirled their
horses and fled. Vanderburgh's horse
was killed beneath him, but extricating
himself he called to his men not to run,
and opened fire on the enemy himself.
Despite his commands two more of his
men turned their horses and fled and
a third was killed, leaving Vanderburgh
alone to face the charging Indians.
AS the reds approached him he killed
n with his rifle and was Just rails
ing his pistol TO shoot another when
he fell, riddled with bullets from a
volley fired by the Blackfeet.
Survivors Fortify Camp
The survivors returned to camp and
fortified themselves. spending a Sleep
less night, but without being ATTACKED.
The next day they packed up and
started for the cache at Horse Prairie.
When they came in sight of Beaver
Head rock which is about is miles be-
low the present site of Dillon, they
saw a large smoke, and thinking they
had encountered another and larger
party OF Indians, they turned and
headed for the Jefferson river, which
they reached after a l5-mile march.
The next day they sent out a scout
ing party which ascertained that the
Indians at Beaver Head rock were
Flatheads and Pend O'Reilles, friendly
tribes, and they made haste to join
them.
From Beaver Head a party of trap
pers was sent back to find the bodies
of Vanderburgh and the other mar
killed. The body of the second a was
found and buried, but VanderburghS
vas not. Afterwards a party of Flat
head Indians was sent to find and bury
Vanderburgh's body. They found his
bones, but reported that the Blackfeet
had stripped the flesh from his body
and thrown it into the river, and fur
thermore, had carried away the arms
of THE White Chief" as Vanderburgh
was known to them. These grisly me-
mentoes were later exhibited by the
Blackfeet at Fort Mckenzie on the
Missouri river as trophies of victory.
Bridger Is Wounded
Thus Bridger and Fitzpatrick had I'M
intentially led Vanderburgh to his
death, although they were no more
to blame than he. Bridger and Fitz-
patrick, however, were not to escape
,,~co,tLol alfho,,nh thoir nrootar nv
perience enabled them to avoid an m
buscade.
After leaving Vanderburgh's party in
the Madison valley, they encountered
one day a party of Blackfeet in a small
open plain near some rocks which
jutted out from the mountains. The
Indians and whites gathered in a cir
Gle and smoked the pipe Of peace,
Bridger, however, not being in the cir
Gle, but at some distance away. A
young Mexican named Loretto, with
Bridger's party, had with him his
Blackfeet wife and their infant.
He had ransomed the girl from the
Crows, with whom she had been cap
tive, and had married her. She recog-
nized her. brother among the Blackfeet
and was affectiOnately greeted by him
and the others OF the party.
Just then Bridger rode up with his
rifle across his saddle. The Blackfeet
chief came forward to greet him.
d ger, apparently suspicious of
treachery, cooked his rifle as if to
shoot. The chief grabbed the barrel
OF the gun and pressed it down so that
it was discharged into the ground, then
wrested it away from Bridger and
struck him over the head with it. At
the same instant two Indian arrows
struck Bridger in the neck and he was
dragged from his horse by the Black
feet chief, who leaped into Bridger's
saddle himself and led the Indians
into the nearby rocks.
The Indian girl, LOretto'S wife, was
! carried with them, nor would they let
her return to her husband. Seeing this,
young Loretto took the baby in his
arms and ran to his wife. He was not
harmed, but the Indians warned him
to leave if he wished to escape death.
At the earnest solicitation of his wife
he left the Indians and rejoined the
trappers. Later he left the fur COM
pany and went to live with his wife
and child with the Blackeet Indians.
He was afterwards employed as an
interpreter at m Of the forts below
the falls of the Missouri.
1t was n of the arroWheads shot
into Bridger's back at this time, that
DR.. Whitman removed from the old
mountain mans anatomy three years
later.