The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1936-09-25

stance in Montana history in which
Indians used q railroad train to
pursue and overtake another band
Of Indians which had stolen their
ing the late eighties in the vicinity
Of the Big Horn tunnel m the
Northern Pacific railway where the
Big Horn river empties into the
Yellowstone.
Gust Anderson, one of the early-day
running a freight train between Miles
City and Billings. Anderson had won
the friendship of the Grow Indians by
frequently stopping his train to pick
them up and give them q lift on their
way when he overlook them along the
line. He would load them into an empty
a car with all OF their baggage and
to stop.
One morning on the %westbound
the train crew came upon a camp of
five or six tepees of Crows near the
tunnel. The chief told Anderson that
t their e camp the anq n ! S wao had b v sto !
all Of their horses and had gone west,
leaving them afoot. He said the Crows
wanted to ride on AnderSon'S train
until they could overtake the Piegan
horse thieves and recover their ponies.
Train Crew Were LOOkOuts
The Crows were taken aboard and the
chase started with members Of the
train crew and Indians all watching
for the fleeing Piegans and the stolen
ponies. The Indians concealed them
selves in empty coal cars and peeked
over the sides, while members Of the
openly keep watch without ~arousing
the suspicion Of the Piegans should
they be ~overtaken.
The troop train" had proceeded 20
miles when the Piegans were spotted
driving the horses stolen from the
Crows. travelling q parallel to
the railroad. Anderson and the Crow
chief held a council of war and it was
decided to pull the train on ahead Of
the Piegans, thus giving the Crows a
chance to intercept the Piegans from
the front. o.
Where the railroad crosses a small.
S Sens the aeV train StI Stopped ptsaIs and eaSt the crows row
alighted. They stole down the creek
to q point directly in the path of the
Piegans and awaited their arrival. The
members of the train crew watched de-
velopments.
The Enemy Sighted
AS the Piegans came down to the
creek SfrSssine al ens Crews tSs cr reSm b 5aelF
opened fire on them. The mounted
Piegans wheeled their horses and ran
for the Yellowstone river to the north,
abandoning many of the horses they
were driving. The Crows pursued as
rapidly as they could secure mounts
from the band of horses, and as the
running battle disappeared in the dis
lance, the train, which already had
lost more than an hour by the partici-
patton of its crew in the chase, con-
tinued on its way without knowing the
outcome of the battle.
Several days later in the same re-
gion Anderson's train again encoun-
tered the same band of Crows. The
chief told Anderson that his men had
killed all but n Of the Piegans, had
recovered all of their stolen horses and
taken most Of the horses that belonged
to the Piegans.
It was nearly a month later that the
Crow band awaited the coming of An
derson's train. Approaching the con-
ductor the chief handed him q scalp
lock and grunted the word: "Piegan,"
giving him to understand that it wa
q gift from the Crows in return for
the aid he had given them In recover
ing their horses and wiping out the
Piegan band. The hair on the trophy
was more than q foot long, and the
scalp had been cured and artistically
s..