The Coolidge examiner., 1934-06-15

the saloon who we're already awake and dressed.
to the windows with their big buffalo guns in
their hands
I'VE were scarcely inside before the Indians
had surrounded all the buildings and shot out
every window pane" Billy Dixon says. For the
arst hair hour the Indians were reckless and
daring enough 10 ride up and strike the doors
with the butts Of their guns" And Andrew John
son has recorded how the savages backed their
horses up against the doors OF the buildings
and tried 20 push them In. showing a willing
ness TO hgh, at close quarters almost unpar
alieled In Indian warfare
But the steady FIRE OF the buffalo hunters soon
discouraged this and after beating OF several
attacks the white men had a chance to take
stock Of their losses Strange TO say. there we're
only three The two shadler boys. asleep In
their wagon outside the ssockade. had been
killed and scalped Their big Newfoundland dog
had evidently put up a nght for he was also
killed and "scalped"-a piece OF hide having
been cut from his side Billy Tyler. one OF the
defenders OF the Leonard and Myers store. was
killed early In the hghtlng and except for some
minor wounds these were the only casualties.
Time after time the Indians charged. but as
their ponies were knocked down by the heavy
slugs OF lead from the buffalo guns and more
and more of their warriors were killed or
tai had been a false prophet SO the charges
ceased. During one OF these lulls a young Co
manehe. gorgeously appareled in war bonnet
and scalp shirt and mounted on a fine pony.
made lone charge toward the buildings In
the face OF a hot FIRE from the hunters. Riding
up close 20 one OF the buildings. he leaped from
his pony thrust a six-shooter through a port.
hole and emptIed H. He then attempted 10
retreat but was shot down This daring war
rlor who had hoped 10 make a great name for
himself by his lone charge was Peah-rIte. the
son OF Horseback, one OF the leading chiefs OF
the Comanches.
By late afternoon the Indians had given up
hope OF wipIng out the defenders OF Adobe
Walls and began TO withdraw. After an anxious
night OF watchfulness the buffalo hunters dis
covered the next morning that only few Indians
were lingering around the place and they were
soon driven or by some long distance shots
During the second day hunters from some OF the
outlying camps made their way unmolested into
Adobe Walls and that night one OF Them Henry
Lease was sent 10 Dodge City for help.
On the third day a party OF about Is Indians
appeared on high blum east OF Adobe Walls.
but they were quickly dispersed by a shot from
Billy Dixon's rife which knocked one OF the
savages from his horse. II Is this incident mat
gave rise TO one OF the oft-repeated myths
about the Adobe Walls affair different accounts
OF IL placing the distance OF the shot all the
way from a mile 10 a mile and a half BY
Dlxon's own testimony The distance was not
far from three-fourths Of a mile / was
admittedly good marksman yet this was what
might be called scratch shot"
More hunters came in on the third day and
by the sixth day there were fully a hundred
men gathered there. II is among these late-
comers that so many OF the Survivors" OF later
years were numbered. But by this time the
danger from the Indians had passed The red
men had departed for a series OF raids In ran
sas and Texas which soon brought the military
into the field and resulted In their eventual de-
feat But before the affair at Adobe Walls ended
there was one more tragedy, one which dark
ened the life Of the brave woman defender. Mrs
Olds. On the fifth day her husband was coming
down a ladder with gun in his hand when II
went Off accidentally, and she rushed from an
adjoining room In time to see his body roll from
the ladder and crumple at her feet
Today three monuments stand on the site Of
Adobe Walls. One is a small slab of granite
which marks the grave of William Olds. An
other marks the last resting place of the Shad-
Ter brothers. The third is a huge red granite
monument which tells that Here on June q
1874. about 700 picked warriors from the Co
| manche Cheyenne and KIVwa Indian tribes
were defeated by % brave frontiersmen" and
1t bears the names OF the IS who truly fought
| at Adobe Walls"
G by Western Newspaper Union