Year: 1877

two OF their number and wounded
a third drove the remaining six
savages to desperation, and they
left the cover of their trees and
charged on his position, yelling
fiercely, as they advanced on a run.
He had not expected such a ma
newer, but was not taken alto.
gether by surprise. He wounded
one of them in the wrist by a shot
from his rifle, and when they were
upon him he threw down his
gun and peppered away with his
revolver.


"They were right upon me, and
we were all blazing away at once"
he afterward explained, but the bov
was too many for them. The cow
ardly reds retreated after a moment,
having wounded King in the side,
in the leg, and in the cheek. In
return two Of them carried away
some of his lead, but were not too
badly wounded to use their rifles
afterward. The gang hauled off
for a time, and then one of them
crawled as near as he could and
shouted in broken English:


"White boy come out-me no
hurt him!"


But the white boy was going to
stay right there for while yet. He
knew the treacherous nature of the
savages around him, and he believed
he could whip the whole crowd,
wounded as he was. The Indian.
finding that young King could not
be enticed from his position, re-
turned and reported, and for an
hour all was quiet. The boy was
beginning to hope that they had
withdrawn for good, when a savage
appeared in view on the left and
wanted to hold talk. He INDUCED
in furious gestures, danced around
and made every effort to attract
Kings attention to him and keep
it there.


"White boy very brave-won't
hurt white boy-like to talk to
brave white boyp he called out, as
he danced around.


Meanwhile the rest of the band
were sneaking up from the other
direction, calculating on shooting
King in the back as he watched the
single Indian. lie suspected the
trick, saw them coming, and, draw
ing a fair bead on the "talker," he
dropped the fellow as dead as a
crow-bar. Those skulking up num-
bered four, being all the Indians
left alive and unwounded out of the
nine first sighted, They did not
rush, as the boy expected. On the
contrary, they hurriedly retreated,
and little time was lost by them in
getting out of the neighborhood.
The boy waited till three o'clock in
the afternoon before leaving his re-
treat, and then, his clothing stiff
with blood, he pursued his journey,
reaching his brothers camp about
dark in safety. The men would
not credit his story, though his
three wounds were plain proof of a
bloody contest. The next day a
band of a dozen went over tc
the scene of the fight, and when
they had taken a survey they could
no longer doubt the boys story.
They found trails of blood every
where around his position, and
trails in the snow where the dead
Indians had been dragged along,
and the defense was voted one OF
the brayest ever made against the
savages. A boy without sign of
0eard, ana looked upon as hardly
fit to carry a pistol around, had
wounded or destroyed five out of
nine redskins who had anticipated
securing his scalp without firing
more than one shot. 1t wasn't
enough for the miners to pat the
boy on the back and give him all
due praise, but to further honor and
distinguish him they called him
"The Man from Michigan" There
are other men from Michigan there,
but young King has the sole homer
of being the man, and of being
looked upon as the representative
Of the Wolverine State.