SEVEN WEEKS AMONG INDIANS.
On our arrival back to the ranch, Moore rigged up a scouting outfit to
do nothing but drift over the Plains in search of strayed cattle.
The outfit consisted of a well-filled chuck-wagon, a number one good
cook, Mr. O. M. Johnson, and three warriors, Jack Ryan, Vanduzen and
myself. We had two good horses apiece, that is, all but myself, I had
three counting Whisky-peet.
About the sixth day out we struck three thousand Comanche Indians and
became pretty badly scared up. We had camped for the night on the
plains, at the forks of Mulberry and Canyon Paladuro; a point from
whence could be seen one of the roughest and most picturesque scopes of
country in the west.
The next morning Jack Ryan went with the wagon to pilot it across
Mulberry Canyon, while "Van" and I branched off down into Canyon
Paladuro to look for cattle signs. We succeeded in finding two little
knotty-headed two-year old steers with a bunch of buffalo. They were
almost as wild as their woolly associates, but we managed to get them
cut out and headed in the direction the wagon had gone.
About noon, on turning a sharp curve in the canyon, we suddenly came in
full view of our wagon surrounded with a couple of thousand red skins,
on horse back, and others still pouring down from the hills, on the
east.
It was too late to figure on what to do, for they had already seen us,
only being about half a mile off. You see the two wild steers had turned
the curve ahead of us and attracted the indians attention in that
direction. We couldn't see anything but the white top of our wagon, on
account of the solid mass of reds, hence couldn't tell whether our boys
were still among the living or not. We thought of running once, but
finally concluded to go up and take our medicine like little men, in
case they were on the war-path. Leaving Whisky-peet, who was tied behind
the wagon, kept me from running more than anything else.
On pushing our way through the mass we found the boys, winchesters in
hand, telling the old chiefs where to find plenty of buffalo. There were
three thousand in the band, and they had just come from Ft. Sill,
Indian Territory, on a hunting expedition. They wanted to get where
buffaloes were plentiful before locating winter quarters.
From that time on we were among indians all the time. The Pawnee tribe
was the next we came in contact with. Close to the Indian Territory line
we run afoul of the whole Cheyenne tribe. They were half starved, all
the buffalo having drifted south, and their ponies being too poor and
weak to follow them up. We traded them out of lots of blankets,
trinkets, etc. For a pint of flour or coffee they would give their whole
soul--and body thrown in for good measure. We soon ran out of chuck too,
having swapped it all off to the hungry devils.
We then circled around by Ft. Elliott, and up the Canadian river to the
ranch, arriving there with eighteen head of our steers, after an absence
of seven weeks.
We only got to remain at the ranch long enough to get a new supply of
chuck, etc., and a fresh lot of horses, as Moore sent us right back to
the Plains. In a south westerly direction this time.
We remained on the Plains scouting around during the rest of the winter,
only making short trips to the ranch after fresh horses and grub. We
experienced some tough times too, especially during severe snow storms
when our only fuel, "buffalo-chips," would be covered up in the deep
snow. Even after the snow melted off, for several days afterwards, we
couldn't get much warmth out of the buffalo-chips, on account of them
being wet.
About the first of April, Moore called us in from the Plains to go up
the river to Ft. Bascom, New Mexico, on a rounding-up expedition. We
were gone on that trip over a month.
On our arrival back, Moore went right to work gathering up everything on
the range in the shape of cattle, so as to "close-herd" them during the
summer. His idea in doing that was to keep them tame. During the winter
they had become almost beyond control. The range was too large for so
few cattle. And another thing buffalo being so plentiful had a tendency
to making them wild.
About the first of June Moore put me in charge of an outfit, which
consisted of twenty-five hundred steers, a wagon and cook, four riders,
and five horses to the man or rider. He told me to drift over the Plains
wherever I felt like, just so I brought the cattle in fat by the time
cold weather set in.
It being an unusually wet summer the scores of basins, or "dry lakes,"
as we called them, contained an abundance of nice fresh water, therefore
we would make a fresh camp every few days. The grass was also fine,
being mostly buffalo-grass and nearly a foot high. If ever I enjoyed
life it was that summer. No flies or mosquitoes to bother, lots of game
and a palmy atmosphere.
Towards the latter part of July about ten thousand head of "through"
cattle arrived from southern Texas. To keep the "wintered" ones from
catching the "Texas fever," Mr. Moore put them all on the Plains,
leaving the new arrivals on the north side of the river. There was three
herds besides mine. And I was put in charge of the whole outfit, that
is, the four herds; although they were held separate as before, with the
regular number of men, horses, etc. to each herd.
I then put one of my men in charge of the herd I had been holding, and
from that time on until late in the fall I had nothing to do but ride
from one herd to the other and see how they were getting along. Some
times the camps would be twenty miles apart. I generally counted each
bunch once a week, to be certain they were all there.
About the first of October, Moore came out and picked eight hundred of
the fattest steers out of the four herds and sent them to Dodge to be
shipped to Chicago. He then took everything to the river, to be turned
loose onto the winter range until the next spring.
When the hardest work was over--winter camps established, etc., I
secured Moore's consent to let me try and overtake the shipping steers,
and accompany them to Chicago. So mounted on Whisky-peet I struck out,
accompanied by one of the boys, John Farris. It was doubtful whether we
would overtake the herd before being shipped, as they had already been
on the road about fifteen days, long enough to have gotten there.
The night after crossing the Cimeron river we had a little indian scare.
About three o'clock that afternoon we noticed two or three hundred
mounted reds, off to one side of the road, marching up a ravine in
single file. Being only a mile off, John proposed to me that we go over
and tackle them for something to eat. We were terribly hungry, as well
as thirsty.
I agreed, so we turned and rode towards them. On discovering us they all
bunched up, as though parleying. We didn't like such maneuvering, being
afraid maybe they were on the war-path, so turned and continued our
journey along the road, keeping a close watch behind for fear they might
conclude to follow us.
We arrived on Crooked Creek, where there was a store and several
ranches, just about dark. On riding up to the store, where we intended
stopping all night, we found it vacated, and everything turned up-side
down as though the occupants had just left in a terrible hurry. Hearing
some ox bells down the creek we turned in that direction, in hopes of
finding something to eat.
About a mile's ride brought us to a ranch where several yoke of oxen
stood grazing, near the door. Finding a sack of corn in a wagon we fed
our horses and then burst open the door of the log house, which was
locked. Out jumped a little playful puppy, who had been asleep, his
master having locked him up in there, no doubt, in his anxiety to pull
for Dodge.
Hanging over the still warm ashes was a pot of nice beef soup which had
never been touched. And in the old box cupboard was a lot of cold
biscuits and a jar of nice preserves, besides a jug of molasses, etc.
After filling up we struck out for Dodge, still a distance of
twenty-five miles. We arrived there a short while after sun-up next
morning; and the first man we met--an old friend by the name of
Willingham--informed us of the indian outbreak. There had been several
men killed on Crooked Creek the evening before--hence John and I finding
the ranches deserted.
On riding through the streets that morning, crowds of women, some of
them crying, seeing we were just in from the South, flocked around us
inquiring for their absent ones, fathers, brothers, lovers and sons,
some of whom had already been killed, no doubt; there having been
hundreds of men killed in the past few days.
John and I of course laughed in our boots to think that we turned back,
instead of going on to the band of blood-thirsty devils that we had
started to go to.
The first thing after putting our horses up at the livery stable, we
went to Wright & Beverly's store and deposited our "wealth." John had a
draft for one hundred and fourteen dollars, while I had about three
hundred and fifty dollars. We then shed our old clothes and crawled
into a bran new rig out and out. Erskine Clement, one of Mr. Beal's
partners, was in town waiting to ship the herd which should have been
there by that time. But he hadn't heard a word from it, since getting
Moore's letter--which, by the way, had to go around through Las Vegas,
New Mexico, and down through the southern part of Colorado--stating
about what time it would arrive in Dodge. He was terribly worried when I
informed him that John and I had neither seen nor heard anything of the
outfit since it left the ranch.
That night about ten o'clock John, who had struck a lot of his old
chums, came and borrowed twenty-five dollars from me, having already
spent his one hundred and fourteen dollars that he had when he struck
town.
I went to bed early that night, as I had promised to go with Clement
early next morning to make a search for the missing herd.
The next morning when Clement and I were fixing to strike out, John came
to me, looking bad after his all night rampage, to get his horse and
saddle out of "soak." I done so, which cost me thirty-five dollars, and
never seen the poor boy afterwards. Shortly after that he went to Ft.
Sumner and was killed by one of "Billy the Kid's" men, a fellow by the
name of Barney Mason. Thus ended the life of a good man who, like scores
of others, let the greatest curse ever known to mankind, whisky, get the
upper hand of him.
Clement and I pulled south, our ponies loaded down with ammunition so in
case the indians got us corralled we could stand them off a few days, at
least. We were well armed, both having a good winchester and a couple of
colts' pistols apiece.
We found the outfit coming down Crooked Creek; they having left the main
trail, or road, on the Cimeron, and came over a much longer route, to
avoid driving over a dry stretch of country, forty miles between water.
Hence John and I missing them. No doubt but that it was a lucky move in
them taking that route, for, on the other, they would have just about
come in contact with the three or four hundred Cheyenne reds, whose
bloody deeds are still remembered in that country.
On arriving in town with the herd we split it in two, making four
hundred head in each bunch, and put one half on the cars to be shipped
to Chicago. I accompanied the first lot, while Clement remained to come
on with the next.
In Burlington, Iowa, I met Mr. Beals. We lay there all day feeding and
watering the cattle.
On arriving in Chicago, I went right to the Palmer house, but after
paying one dollar for dinner I concluded its price too high for a common
clod-hopper like myself. So I moved to the Ervin House, close to the
Washington Street tunnel, a two dollar a day house.
That night I turned myself loose taking in the town, or at least a
little corner of it. I squandered about fifteen dollars that night on
boot-blacks alone. Every one of the little imps I met struck me for a
dime, or something to eat. They knew, at a glance, from the cut of my
jib, that they had struck a bonanza. They continued to "work" me too,
during my whole stay in the city. At one time, while walking with Mr.
Beals and another gentleman, a crowd of them who had spied me from
across the street, yelled "Yonder goes our Texas Ranger! Lets tackle him
for some stuff!"
About the third day I went broke, and from that time on I had to borrow
from Mr. Beals. I left there about a hundred dollars in his debt.
After spending six days in the city I left for Dodge City, Kansas, in
company with Mr. Beals and Erskine Clement, who, instead of stopping at
Dodge, continued on to Grenada, Colorado, where the "Beals Cattle Co."
still held their headquarters.
Arriving in Dodge City, I found Whiskey-peet, whom I had left in
Anderson's stable, all O. K., and mounting him I struck out all alone
for the "L. X." ranch, two hundred and twenty-five miles.
Arriving at the ranch I found the noted "Billy the Kid" and his gang
there. Among his daring followers were the afterwards noted Tom
O'Phalliard, and Henry Brown, leader of the Medicine Lodge Bank tragedy
which happened in 1884, who was shot in trying to escape, while his
three companions were hung. "The Kid" was there trying to dispose of a
herd of ponies he had stolen from the "Seven River warriors" in Lincoln
County, New Mexico--his bitter enemies whom he had fought so hard
against, that past summer, in what is known as the "bloody Lincoln
County war of '78." During his stay at the ranch and around Tascosa, I
became intimately acquainted with him and his jovial crowd. I mention
these facts because I intend to give you a brief sketch of Billy's
doings, in the closing pages of this book.