ROBBER GAMBLERS OF SAN FRANCISCO.--ENGAGED BY COL. ELLIOTT AS
INDIAN SCOUT.--KILLS AND SCALPS FIVE INDIANS.--PROMOTED TO CHIEF
SCOUT.
Arriving at San Francisco we found things very lively, this being
about the time of the greatest gold excitement in California. Here
was the first city of note that I had been in since leaving St.
Louis; here also was the first time I had seen gambling going on
on a large scale. There were all kinds of games and all kinds of
traps to catch the honest miner and rob him of his money that he
had labored hard to dig out of the ground.
That night Jim Beckwith and I took in the sights of the city. We
went to the different gambling houses and had just finished our
tour and were on our way back to the What Cheer house--that being
the hotel at which we put up--the leading hotel in the city then.
We were just passing one of the gambling dens, when we saw two men
coming out of the door leading a man between them who was crying
like a child, and exclaiming: "I am ruined! I am ruined!"
We learned from the two men that he had come to the city that day
with eight hundred dollars in gold, had bought a ticket for New
York, and it was his intention to sail for that city the following
morning. But he had gone out that night to have a farewell spree
with his friends, got too much booze, started in gambling,
thinking he might double his money by morning; but like thousands
of other miners in those days, he "played out of luck," as they
termed it, and had lost every cent he had. We walked on down to
the hotel, and in a few minutes the three came into the hotel
also, the one still crying like a baby. The proprietor only
laughed and said it was a common occurrence for men to come to the
city with even twenty thousand dollars, gamble it off in less than
a week and then return to the mines to make another stake. But he
said he had never seen a man before that took it as hard as this
one did.
It was all new to me, and a little of it went a long ways.
That night after Jim Beckwith and I had retired, I told him that I
had seen all of San Francisco that I cared to, and was ready to
leave. However, we stayed two days longer, after which we pulled
out for the Sierra Nevadas, by the way of Hangtown, a little
mining camp situated at the American Fork. Here we crossed over a
pass that Jim had told me of more than a year previous, which led
us to the headwaters of the Carson river.
I proposed we give it the name of Beckwith Pass; and from that day
to this it has been known by that name, and since has been made a
splendid stage road.
After traveling down the Carson river some distance, we met a
party of miners who informed us that a few days previous a band of
Indians down on the Humboldt had made an attack on an emigrant
train, cut off a portion of the train, stampeded the teams, killed
all the people of that part of the train and burned the wagons.
They also informed us that Col. Elliott was down on what was known
as Truckee Meadows with a company of soldiers, but, so far, was
having very poor success killing Indians.
Col. Elliott had been sent out there with four companies of
cavalry to protect the emigrants against the Pah-Ute or Piute
Indians, which were very numerous down on the Humboldt, and around
the sink of the Carson and as far up the mountains as Lake Tahoe.
Jim being very well acquainted with Col. Elliott, proposed we go
around that way, thinking that the Colonel might be able to assist
materially in turning the tide of emigration through his pass, his
object being to get as much travel that way this fall as possible,
and the following spring he would establish a toll road through
that pass.
Col. Elliott was pleased at meeting Jim, and in the conversation
said: "Beckwith, I am very glad, indeed, to see you. You are just
the man I have been wanting this long time, for I haven't a scout
in my entire command that is worth a cent to scout for Indians. I
don't believe there is one of them that would dare to leave
headquarters fifteen miles alone, and I want to employ you as
chief of scouts."
Jim thanked the Colonel kindly for the honor, but told him he
could not accept the offer as he had another matter he wished to
attend to, and told him of the scheme he had on hand. But, he
said, he had a young man with him that he could recommend highly
for that position, and he gave me a great send off as a scout.
The Colonel insisted on our going with him to his private quarters
for supper, which we did, and after having a pleasant visit with
him, we returned to our own camp for the night.
When we were ready to take our departure for the evening, Col.
Elliott said: "Mr. Drannan, can I see you privately to-morrow
morning at nine o'clock?"
I told him that I would call at his quarters at that hour.
After Jim and I had reached our camp I asked him why he had
misrepresented me to Col. Elliott in the way he had, when he knew
I had never scouted a day in my life, knew nothing of scouting and
had done very little Indian fighting.
Jim said: "You are a young man and have been among the Indians long
enough to be pretty well acquainted with their habits. There is
not a single fellow in Elliott's outfit knows as much about
scouting as my black horse, and if you ever intend starting in,
now is your chance. That is the reason I gave you such a send off
to the Colonel."
After thinking the matter over, I concluded that Jim was right in
regard to it, and now was a good time to make a start.
After breakfast the next morning I met Col. Elliott at his
quarters at the time appointed. He invited me in and set out a
bottle of whiskey and a glass. I thanked him, but declined to
drink.
"Where were you raised," said the Colonel, "that you do not drink
whiskey? I thought you grew up in the Rocky Mountains."
I told him that I did, but was not raised to drink whiskey. I also
told him that I had been brought up, since a boy fifteen years
old, by Kit Carson.
The Colonel asked me many questions about Indians, their habits,
my idea of fighting them and so on, after which he asked me if I
would like a position as scout. I told him I would, provided there
was enough in it to justify me.
The Colonel made me a proposition of one hundred dollars a month
and rations, I to furnish my own horses. I could also turn my
extra horses in with the Government horses and it would cost me
nothing to have them herded. I accepted his proposition, agreeing
to start in on the following morning. I also had an agreement with
him that when I did not suit him, he was to pay me off and I would
quit. Also, when he did not suit me, I was to have the privilege
of quitting at any time, all of which was satisfactory to him, and
I started in on the following morning as per agreement.
That evening about sunset three of Col. Elliott's scouts came in,
and he gave me an introduction to them, telling them that I was
going to be a brother scout. After supper I had a long talk with
one of them, in which he posted me somewhat as to the different
watering places, grass, etc.
From him I learned that they had not seen an Indian for three
days, but had seen any amount of sign, every day, which was
evidence that there were plenty of Indians in the country.
The following morning when I went for my orders I was much
surprised at the Colonel saying: "Oh, damn it! I don't care. Go
any way you please and as far as you please. The other boys say
there is not an Indian in fifty miles of here, and if you find any
you will do better than any man I have sent out, so far."
When I went to order my lunch, and told the negro cook to put up
enough to last me until the next night, he looked at me and said:
"Whar you going, boss?" Jim told him I was going out to get some
cayote scalps. I now mounted Mexico--the horse that Mr. Reed had
given me at the City of Mexico--and started off on my first
scouting trip, taking an easterly direction until I had struck the
old emigrant road.
After I had left camp the other scouts were talking among
themselves, and none of them thought I would ever return. One of
the scouts told Jim that I was the biggest fool that he had ever
seen, to start out scouting in a strange region and not ask
anything about the country, grass, water, Indians, or anything
else.
"Don't be alarmed about that boy," said Jim, "he'll take care of
himself in any man's country."
I had been taught by Uncle Kit that when I attempted to do a thing
to carry it out at all hazards, if it was in my power to do so.
After I had ridden about twelve miles or so, and was just entering
the mouth of a little ravine, on looking up the same ravine I saw
three Indians who had just hove in sight over the hill. I dropped
back from their view as quick as I could, which only took about
two or three jumps of my horse.
The Indians having their backs toward me, I was confident they had
not seen me. They were heading for the emigrant trail, that being
what we called the wagon road across the plains in those days.
I rode around the point of a hill and tied my horse in a washout
where he would be hid from view, climbed up the top of the hill
and saw five warriors, riding direct for the trail. After watching
them for a short time I hurried back to my horse, mounted him and
rode as fast as Mexico could conveniently carry me over this
sagebrush country--about a quarter of a mile in an opposite
direction to which the Indians were traveling. Riding up to the
head of a little ravine, where I could tie my horse in a place
where he would not be discovered by the redskins, I dismounted,
tied my horse and crawled up through the sagebrush to the top of
the hill, where I could watch the movements of the Indians.
This was a rolling country, low hills covered with a heavy growth
of sagebrush, and not a tree of any description to be seen
anywhere.
I had discovered my game, but how to capture it was what puzzled
me.
The reader can have a faint idea of the situation of a young man
in a strange country and a sandy, sagebrush plain, who did not
know where to find either water or grass. If I returned to
headquarters they would escape me, and this being my first time
out in the scouting business, I could not afford to let them get
away. So, after holding a private council with myself, I decided
these Indians were spies, who were scouting for a large party of
Indians that were somewhere in this part of the country, and that
they were looking for emigrants, and in case they did not see any
such that day, they would no doubt go to water that night.
I laid there on the hill watching their movements and trying to
devise some plan by which I could capture them then.
Could I only have had Jim with me, how easy it would have been to
follow them to their camp that night, kill and scalp them and
capture their horses.
In those days an independent scout was entitled to all the stock
captured of the enemy by him.
I watched the Indians until they got to the emigrant trail, where
they stopped and held a council, apparently in doubt as to which
way they should go. After parleying for some five minutes they
struck out on the trail. I watched them for about two miles, then
they passed over a low range of hills and were out of sight.
I now mounted Mexico and rode as fast as I could, not directly
after them, but as near as I could to keep out of their sight; and
at the same time I felt confident that should they discover me,
that there was not an Indian pony in that whole country that could
catch Mexico, either in a short or long distance.
After riding some five miles or so, I dismounted and tied my horse
to a sagebrush, and climbed to the top of the highest hill between
me and where I supposed them to be. I discovered them about a mile
away, and they were just leaving the trail, riding up a ravine
that led to the north. They dismounted and put their ponies out to
grass. There also appeared to be a little meadow where they
stopped, and I concluded there must be water there, too. I took in
the situation at a glance and could see that I would have to ride
a long distance to get near them. Just immediately beyond them was
a little hill that sloped off down to the meadow on which they
were camped, but in any other direction a person could not ride
without being discovered.
I went back to my horse, mounted and took a circuit of about ten
miles, having to travel that distance in order to keep out of
their sight. Coming in from the north, I rode almost to the top of
the hill; here I dismounted, tied my horse, crawled to the top of
the hill, and on looking down could see them almost under me, the
hill was so small and steep. They were busily engaged in skinning
a jack-rabbit, and about that time I felt as though I could eat a
hind quarter of it myself if it had been cooked; for I had been
too busily engaged that day to stop and eat a lunch.
Here I lay in the sagebrush trying to devise some plan by which I
could do away with them and capture their horses.
It was now about four o'clock in the afternoon, and this being
about twenty miles from headquarters, I would not have time to
ride there and return with soldiers before they wold break camp in
the morning.
For me to attack them alone looked like a big undertaking.
There being a little grass for their horses, I now concluded they
would remain until morning. So I crept back to where my horse was
tied, took out my lunch and sat down and ate it, at the same time
debating in my mind the best course to pursue.
I remembered what Col. Elliott had told Jim, that he did not have
a scout that dared go fifteen miles from camp and now if I should
return to camp and report what I had seen, he would start soldiers
out, and by the time they could reach the ground the Indians would
be gone, and there would be nothing accomplished, consequently I
would, no doubt, be classed with the balance of the scouts in the
opinion of the Colonel. While on the other hand, should I be
successful in laying a plan by which I could do away with the
Indians and take their scalps to headquarters as evidence of my
work, it would give me a reputation as a scout.
I was confident they had not seen me that day, and knowing, too,
the Pah-Utes had not been disturbed by Col. Elliott's scouts, they
would no doubt lie down when night came, and I might steal a march
on them and amid their slumbers accomplish the desired deed.
Having been brought up by one of the bravest frontiersmen that
traversed the plains at that time, and who always taught me to
respect a brave man and hate a coward, I made up my mind to make
the attack alone, provided the Indians did not put out guards that
night.
After I had finished my lunch I examined both my single-shot
pistols--I still having the one presented to me by my old friend
Joe Favor, three years before at Bent's Fort, also the knife,
which the reader will remember weighed two and one-fourth pounds--
and creeping back to the top of the hill I watched them cook and
eat the jack-rabbit. As it grew dark I drew nearer, and when it
was about as dark as it was likely to be that night, I crept up to
within a few yards of them. They had a little fire made of
sagebrush and did not lie down until very late.
I was so near that I could hear them talking, but I could not
understand their language, as I had never been among them, but I
was confident they were Pah-Utes, because I was in their country.
After they had smoked and talked matters over, which I supposed
was in regard to the next day's scouting, they commenced to make
preparations to sleep. In the crowd, apparently, were three
middle-aged warriors and two young ones, not yet grown. The three
older ones laid down together, while the two young ones made their
beds about fifteen feet away from the other three.
After they had become quiet I commenced crawling closer, as there
was some fire yet and I wanted to get their exact location before
I made the attack.
I felt confident that I could kill one of them the first blow with
my knife, and then I could kill the other two with my pistols. But
this would still leave two to one and I with nothing but a knife;
however, after going this far I was determined to make the attack
at all hazards.
When I had crawled up within a few feet of their bed, one turned
over and muttered something in his own tongue, which I could not
understand. I made sure I was not detected, and after lying still
for some time I concluded they were all asleep, and I soon made up
my mind that I had better make the attack at once and have the
matter settled one way or the other. After taking in the entire
situation I decided to make the attack with my knife. I took the
pistol from my right holster in my left hand, thereby giving me a
better chance after emptying the one pistol to easily grasp the
other one with my left hand.
I knew that if I could get a fair lick at one of them with my big
knife, which I always kept as sharp as a razor, that he would make
little, if any, noise. My plan of attack being completed, I
crawled up near their heads, and all appeared to be sound asleep.
I decided to take the one on my right first, so that in case the
other two should attempt to arise I would be in a position to
shoot the one on my left and at the same time cut the other one
down with my heavy knife. But it was my intention to kill all
three of them with my knife, if possible, in order to save both
pistols for the two young ones, as I expected a hard fight with
them, for I felt sure they would be on to me by the time I got
through with the other three, at the very best I could do.
I now raised up on to my feet and aimed to strike the one on my
right about the middle of the neck. I came down with all my might
and killed him almost instantly. I served the second one the same
way, but by this time the third one had raised to a sitting
position, and I struck him in the shoulder and had to make a
second lick to kill him. By this time the other two had been
aroused, and, as near as I could tell in the darkness, one of them
was crawling in the opposite direction on his hands and knees,
while the other one was coming at me on all fours. I shot him with
the pistol that I held in my left hand, and I then thought I was
almost safe. Just at that moment the other young buck was on his
feet, with bow in hand but no arrows. He dealt me a blow on the
side of the head, which staggered me but did not knock me down,
and before I had time to recover, he dealt me a second blow, but
it did not stagger me so much as the first, but it brought the
blood quite freely from my nose, at the same time I made a side
stroke at him, but struck too low. I then drew my other pistol
from the holster and fired, shooting him through the chest, and
though he fell mortally wounded, he again raised to his feet and
dealt me another blow, which was a great surprise to me, but just
one stroke of my big knife severed his jugular and he yielded up
the ghost.
Now my task was done. At the risk of my life I had accomplished
the desired end, and my reputation as a scout would be
established.
I knew the other scouts were having some sport at my expense while
I was away, for I had overheard two of them in a conversation that
morning make some remarks about Col. Elliott's tenderfoot scout.
I had said nothing to them, but this made me all the more
determined in the undertaking, and now I had turned the joke on
them, and, as the old saying goes, "he who laughs last laughs
best."
I could see by the light in the east that the moon would be up in
a short time, so I went and got my saddle-horse from where I had
tied him, and who, by this time was very thirsty and hungry, as he
had had nothing to eat and no water since morning. I watered him,
then picketed him out for about two hours on the little meadow, by
which time the moon had risen.
I then scalped the five Indians and tied their scalps to my belt.
They would be good evidence of my day's work when I should meet
the Colonel at his quarters. This being done, I tied the five
Indian horses together and started for headquarters, arriving
there about noon the next day.
Just as I had put the horses in the corral and before I had time
to dismount, Col. Elliott's orderly came on the dead run, saying:
"Col. Elliott wishes to see you at his quarters at once."
I turned about and rode over to the Colonel's tent, and when I had
saluted him, he said: "Sir, whose horses are those you just turned
into that corral?"
I said: "Sir, those are my horses, as I understand that any stock
captured from the Indians by an independent scout, he is entitled
to."
"Mr. Drannan, do you tell me that you captured those horses from
an Indian?"
I said: "Col. Elliott, yes, sir; and here is something more I
captured with them." At that I threw down the five scalps at his
feet.
He looked amazed as he gazed at the scalps, but said nothing for a
few moments.
About this time the orderly announced Jim Beckwith at the door.
The Colonel said let him come in, and just as he entered the door,
Col. Elliott said:
"Beckwith, where do you suppose this scout got those scalps?"
Jim picked up the scalps, examined them thoroughly, and said:
"I'll bet my black horse that he took them from the heads of five
Pah-Ute Indians."
The Colonel smiled and said: "Drannan, if you will tell us all
about the whole affair, I will treat."
I related the adventure in brief. Dinner being ready, the Colonel
set out the whiskey and cigars and told me to call on him that
afternoon, as he wished to have a private conversation with me.
I picked up the five scalps and started to dinner, and as I passed
by the kitchen I threw them under the negro cook's feet and told
him to cook them for dinner for my friend and me--referring to Jim
Beckwith. When he saw the scalps he exclaimed: "Laws a massa,
boss! whar you git dem skelps? Marse Meyers said dey wasn't an
Injun in fifty miles o' hyar."
While we were eating dinner, Jim said to me: "Don't you know them
fellers didn't think you'd ever come back?"
I asked him what fellows, and he said: "Why, those scouts. One of
them told me you was the d--est fool he ever saw in his life, to
go out scouting alone in a strange country, and that the Pah-Utes
would get you, sure."
I said I did not think it worth while to ask those scouts anything
about Indians or anything else, for I didn't think they had been
far enough from camp to learn anything themselves.
That afternoon when I was announced at the Colonel's tent, I was
met in a somewhat different manner by him to what I had been that
noon, for he raised the front of the tent and said: "Come right in
Drannan, why do you hesitate?"
After having a social chat with him and rehearsing to some extent
the fight which took place the night before between myself and the
five Pah-Utes, he proposed to make me chief of his scouts. He
said: "Now, Drannan, I will tell you what I wished to see you
about. I have five scouts besides you, and I am going to make you
chief of all my scouts, and you can handle them to suit yourself."
I told the Colonel that I did not desire any promotion whatever,
for in the first place I would not be doing my self justice, and
that it would not be doing justice to the other scouts, and I
thought it would be of more benefit to both him and his other
scouts, to go alone, as I had started out.
He asked me why I would prefer going alone. My reply was that a
person in that business could not be too cautious, and I did not
know what kind of men he had, and just one careless move would
spoil the plans of the best scout in the world.
The Colonel admitted that I was right, but insisted on selecting
one man from his five scouts to assist me, saying: "If he don't
suit you, after trying him two or three days, report to me, and
you may select any one from my scouts that you like." And to this
I consented. I told him that I would be ready to start out the
following morning, and if he had any orders to give me to give
them now, as I would start very early. He said that he had no
orders to give, but that he had selected Charlie Meyers to
accompany me; and he proved to be a good man and a good scout.