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+ ^ I Days in tl" t __ Y # ? Adventures with i fc f ^ I v After I] W < < 'I'M ?X- I'yj' > 'H* M W"!' '> 'I' 'P^"i Soon after the close of the Civil War a number of troops of the Fourth Cavalry were sent out to the different posts on the Rio Grande. Their principal business was to watch Indians, who would cross over from Mexico to - steal horses. The Indians seldom destroyed ranches; that would not be _ good business. The men living on the ranches, if not driven off or killed, would in the course of time gather up another bunch of horses for the In. dians to steal. Our troop and one other were sent to Camp Verde, Texas, wnich was one or tne ironuer posts then; about all the country west of - it was still out of doors. We began hunting Indians as soon as we had got here. There were a good many settlers east of us and several small towns. Kerrville and Banders were the nearest ones. They are probably larger towns now. The citizens were continually losing horses and we were kept busy hunting them. The greatest drawback to our finding them was due to the fact that these men did not report their losses soon enough, and about the time we would be told of it the Indians would be safe in Mexico. There was an arrangement now under which we could follow Indians to Mexico, and the Mexican troops" could follow them across to our side of the line if they wanted to do so. They ran them over to us, then quit, while we have often followed them 150 miles into Mexico. I have been as far down as that after them myself while in the Fourth Cav%. airy. We had no such arrangement |p when we first went across, and had *- 1 T-* 1 orAtrommnnf lT? I iiitrc uccu a. LA j u vix ^w^iuuivuv **-* g* Mexico then our presence over there -would have been the cause of an xtended diplomatic correspondence beV.\; tween Mexico and Washington to explain what we were doing over there, but at this time there was no civil government in Mexico, or rather there were two so-called governments. Gen. Juarez was at the head of one, the Emperor Maximilian had the other, Bfev- and they were too busy just now trying to keep out of each other's way to 18'' Pay any attention to us. An old gentleman who had a ranch . near Kerrvilie lost a bunch of horses and told us about it. We followed up j^.-V the Indians, and crossing the Rio Grande a few hours after them, ran into their camp at night when they |r:> thought they were safe at home. We ijv got back all the horses, the Indians making their escape on foot, all except a few that came in contact with " jour rlc+?l halls; they stayed where they were. These Indians were Lipans and Kickapcos. They had originally belonged in Texas, but had emigrated to Mexico and would nqw come over glsgv on foot, then ride back on stolen - horses, sell them to the Mexicans and come and get more. We returned the , horses to where they belonged and a I short time after. Mr. Crawford, their owner, paid us another visit. He had found us more Indians, hut they had \> not taken his horses this time. He Ihad been west of this hunting up his cattle and had seen a ?buncfc of In disjns, how many l*e did nofc know; he had not stopped long enough to count them. About a dozen of us under command bt of our First Lieutenant, a Brevet Major, were sent out with Crawford to help him count those Indians. He led us up through Bandera Pass, a few miles south of the post, then turned west. Had he kept on west far enough ( ' we would not have needed him for a , guide. Edwards county was out here, and we had been all over it lately. *After going west a while he turned .. north again and late in the afternoon we rode past a chain of hills. They were off to our right, and I noticed when passing one of them what looked like a small cave up in the side of the hill, twenty feet above its base. Craw^ ford saw it, and riding over got off his horse and examined the ground. There certainly, could not be Indians in that cave, I thought; not more than ' a dozen, anyhow. It was about two feet wide and hardly that high at the entrance. After looking at the ground P>' ' or rocks that lay on the ground rather, Crawford climbed up to the cave. The Major had stopped the column, ? J ?n-,3 aau uuw wucu uui. "What have you got there, Mr. Craw<cL ford?V "I think there is a b'ar in that cave, Bir." "Let him stay in there then, and come on. I want to make camp as soon as I can now." Grawford mounted and came over to us, and the major asked him if he had meant to crawl into that cave after a bear? "No, sir; not all the way in. I only wanted to find out if he was thar or not." "Well, if he had been there, you would have found it out pretty quick." I nearly choked myself trying to keep from laughing. I rode just behind the major, and it would Dot do to laugh. This Mr. Crawford was a curiosity. He was about 60 years old ~4 and rode with his stirrups so short that his knees were shoved half waj up to his chin, and in riding he leaned forward in the saddle something as English hunters are represented in newspaper cuts as doing, but no fox hunter or any one else could follow the hounds riding as he did. I could not, at least. We were taught to ride with stirrup straps long enough to allow our legs c r:%.' i: . &, - . , . . '' '. S* \e Saddle, f mmamuHKRa J* i Troop of Cavalry | ndians. | ^ rTTWTT VVVvVTV" (I V V v *X 4 " % % V to extend their fu 1 length and to sit erect in the sadde. Had we leaned forward, as he d:'d, an officer's saber across our backs would have straightened us up. Crawford carried a Henry rifle on the saddle in front o' him and lugged around two Colt's pistols day and night. He slept with them on. We had to do that ourselves at times, but unless I was told to keep mine on it came off promptly when I lay down. I could get it quickly enough if I needed it. He had been an Indian fighter all his life," or said he had, and as he found us no Indians this trip, and never made another one with us. I will have to take his word for it,, but from what I saw of him afterward, if I were an Indian he would be the man I should want to follow me. I would not expect to have to fight him oftener than twice a day. We went into camp more than half a mile beyond the cave, and as soon as our horses were staked out I went to Crawford and asked him if he would go and examine that cave with me. No, he did not care to walk that IUI. "It Is only half a mile," I said. "Yes, but it is another half mile back, and I ain't used to walking. You may go down and get that bear if you want him." "I want him. of course, if he is there." "Oh, he is there all right. I saw his tracks there." I went to the major and asked permission to hunt the bear. "Yes," he told me, "hunt him, but don't crawl into that cave after him, as Mr. Crawford was going to do." I had no idea of doing that. I did not want bear quite so badly as that, and I don't think that Crawford had ever meant to crawl into it, either. He was not exactly a fool. On my way to the cave I began to study plans to get him out of it if he was in it, without going in and dragging him out. I first thought to climb up there, then give him a shot or two into, but I dismissed that plan. I might kill him if I did and would not know it. I was not going in to see. According to some authorities on bears, it takes 8, man and a gun half a day to kill one. Sometimes it does. I have followed one with a rifle a half day, then did not kill him. I don't know that I ever wounded him, though I shot at him often enough. And again I have killed one in less than two minutes with a pistol. It depends a good deal on where you hit the beer how many shots it takes to kill him. t frnt rirvwn in front of the cave and examined the ground for bear signs, but found none. The ground, what little there was of it that was not covered with loose rocks, was hard yellow clay?an ox team passing over it would hardly leave a sign. Gathering up a lot of dry brush, weeds and leaves I piled them in front of the cave, set them on fire, and going off a few feet to one side waited for the bear or bears to come out I had a Spencer carbine and a Celt's pistol, and I though that I could stop all the bears that might be in there. The wind drove the smoke right into the cave, the fire burned out, but no bear made his appearance. There would be no danger in going into that ca?ve pow, and I tried it, but as there was too much smoke in it I had to crawl out I went back to camp and Crawford wanted to know if I had seen the bear. "No, sir, there is none there, nor has there been any lately." "Oh, yes, there has been;" he had V? 0* 1" "J j*You could not see a sign there with a l^icroawo^e. Mae ground is hard." "There might be plenty of signs there that an old hunter could see, and you could not. You have not been in this country long." "Yes, I know; but we have men in this troop that have been, some oi them twenty years out on the frontier. I myself have been pretty well over the Northwest, and have hunted with Sioux Indians. They know something about signs, don't they? We are not all tenderfeet, if we were born and raised in the big cities." "Yes, maybe so, but there has beer a b'ar up thar." "Well, as the Major told you, wc will let him stay up there. I can'l find him." We started again early next morning to hunt those Indians of Crawford's and soon after breaking camp it begar to rain and kept on raining all forenoon. The Major went into csfnp as soon as he could find grass and wood We did not need to look for water We had all we wanted of that anc some more. The timber here was cypress, anc there was a lot of blocks of it thai hs;d been cut to make shingles out o! which had been left; Indians had pro bably interrupted the shingle making before it had got well started. Tha had been some years ago, "before lh< war," probably, to use Crawford's fa vorite expression when giving the dat< of his numerous fights with Indians We tried to start a cook fire with thes< blocks but they were wet and woul< not burn, only smoke. I got a liberal dose of this smoke :nd a small dose of cypress smoke i: i cure. Then I hunted up something hat would burn more and smoke less ;nd found a lot of dead cedars, but i ook hard work te? get wood off them the branches had to be broken off. We had no axe; we never carried one on a pack mule then, and there is hardly anything that can- be carried on him that is needed oftener. When I had anything to do with the pack trains in after years I always carried at least one r/xe in a leather sling and a spade. While riding through the rain today we were continually passing small bunches of cattle. They belonged to ranches away east of us and had wandered out here. Nearly even- cow had a different brand, some had none at all. They ay ere still tame and would let a man ; ride close enough to examine them, but further west could be found thousands of them that we could not get i within a mile of; they had been born i wild. Crawford would examine every bunch we passed; he wanted to see if any of them had his brand on, he said. This was what had brought him and us here; he had seen no Indians, but wanted a cavalry escort so that he could come out here and look up his and his neighbors' cows. These men would not think of coming out here alone. If they did they would have no trouble in seeing all the Indians they wanted. I noticed the Major watching Crawford while he was engaged in taking the census of these cows, and I knew that if Crawford did not find Indians . in a day or two he would hear from the Major. The Major had risen from the ranks and could sweaj not only like the proverbial trooper, but like half a dozen of them. He dare not curse an enlisted man, and never did; 1? ^ a o Aft rvf Hoi 71 ?t 116 WUU1U SU111U a v-uauv.^ vi court-martialed if he had, cr else have to give the man he had cursed an apology in front of his troop. It was given to me by another officer in the presence of the Colonel once, after I har reported this officer for cursing me. But the Major could curse a teamster cr citizen guide, and he often did, and I expected Crawford to get the full benefit of the Major's experience in the line of cursing before he was a week older. When in camp Crawford kept down among us. Hp would not go near the Major unless he was called, and we kept him busy blowing about the Indians that he had killed. I had found out from him that he had been in the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, Lee's army, and I had been in the Army of the Potomac at the same time, so I got him started telling about the time that "we uns had fit you uns," and we put in some hours fighting the War of the Rebellion over again. The weather had cleared up thi9 afternoon and gave the ground a chance to ary. I had been thinking that I would have to sleep tonight seated on my saddle with my back to a tree; I often had to sleep that way. We carried no bed blanket; we were not allowed to put one on the horse; I would not put it on anyhow; I never carried anything on him I could do without; I did not want to make a pack mule out of him, then ride him. It had been good weather when we left the post and no one had an overcoat along with him. I had a rubber ccat, though few were worn then. Soon after dark tonight we were gathered around the fire and Crawford was giving us an extended account of the Indians he had killed "before the war"?he had not got to the ones he had killed after the break-up yet When he was about in the middle of this interesting nararative the sentry on post outside of the horses fired a shot. We picked up our carbines and rr<n out to form a line out beyond the herd. Crawford had followed me with his rifle and I thought he had fallen . in line until I heard a noise behind me as I stood in line in my place on the left. Looking around I saw Crawford i down on his knees here among the horses, with his hands pressed together; he was busy praying. I wanted to tell him to postpone i that prayer and fall in here and shoot a few more Indians Nbut I was not in command. There was a sergeant here who ranked me, and had I begun to i give orders he would soon let me know i that he was here. The Major had not got out here yet He had been outside i of camp somewhere when the shot , was fired, and came running out now ; and almost fell over Crawford. What he said to Cra,wford need not be ret peated here. His remarks would have ! to be principally in dashes if they were recorded. None of them could be mistaken for a prayer, though, i We satisfied ourselves that there ; were no Indians out here now, nor ; had there been any here lately. The I* sentry had fired at a bunch of cows without challenging, as he had been i told to do; it was dark, and he could not see them! We went back to the ! fire and tried to get some more Indian : stories from Crawford, but I had hurt his feelings on the way in by telling r him that we generally fought our , Indians without the aid of a chaplain, i He went to bed now. This happened to be his last night ; with us. Had he remained, I don't . suppose he would have given us any . more Indian stories. His failure to1 night to get out to where he could slaughter them, after both he and we 1 had thought that there were plenty t of them here, had put a large disf count on the stories he had given us - already. ; Next morning the Major gave no t orders to saddle up. He seemed to be i going to make a permanent camp here. - But calling Crawford up, he told him 3 to go out and And those Indians or . their trail or be shot. That was the 5 gist of his remarks. i Crawford started to find the trail. Whether he found it or not I don't , know; he never came back to tell us s about it. He probably found a trail ? that led straight' home, then took it. i. The Major waited until noon, then t started us home.?Correspondence in i. Forest and Stream. ftv iffti ^ Jpalmetto Stale Hews 1 L Alleged Loss is a Mystery. Nothing can be learned in Columbia regarding the alleged less cf $1S,000 from an express package en route between Augusta, Ga. .and New York. J. F. Fant, route agent cf the Columbia division, believes the loss cc curred outside of his territory. The package was in Columbia two hcurs between 3:30 and 6 o'clock in the /norning, but has been traced to New York in apparent good order. * * t Fire Destroys Much Cotton. Fire in the cotton warehouse of the Eureka mill at Chester destroyed 1,500 bales of cotton, resulting in a loss of between $30,000 and $90,000. The Eureka mill is located about a quarter of a mile outside the corporate limits of the city, and little aid could be rendered by the city fire department. The company has its own fire apparatus and fought the flames with all its force. \ * * Record in Collection of Taxes. Mayor Rhctt's administration in i Charleston has scored a record held ! bv few municipal administrations in the respect of the collection of taxes. During the past year 99.1 of^the assessed taxes was paid into the city treasury, which beat the record of last year, 98.8 per cent. The best record made by a previous administration, that of Mayor Smyth, when 98.4 per cent of taxes was collected. Many cit ies are entirely satisfied with the collection of all but fifteen per cent of the taxes assessed, but the Charleston administrations of recent years have been scoring records in this respect. * * * Actors' Society Aids Prosecuti:n. A New York dispatch says: The retainer of a special attorney and other necessary expenses incident to the prosecution of George Hasty of Gaffney, S. C., accused of the murder of Milan Bennett, and Abbott Davidso:-, actors, will be defrayed by the Ac tors' Society of America. The Actors' Society alleges that Hasty, who i is a hotel proprietor, on December 15, killed Bennett and Davidson bej cause they resented an insult to two , women members of a dramatic company stopping at Kasty's hotel. In oeciaing upon mis acuon, ine society adopted a resolution giving as a reason therefor that peculiar circumstances attended the tragedy, and that Hasty is a resident and property owner in the town in which the shooting occurred. * * Cotton Growers Re-Elect Old Officers. The South Carolina division of the Southern Cotton Association met in Columbia the past week in annual convention, the following officers being elected: B. D. Smith, president; H. B. Tindall, vice president; F. K.. Weston, secretary, and F. H. Hyatt, treasurer, the old officers, were unanimously re-elected. An executive committee, composed of R. M. Cleveland, Richaod Singleton, F. I\I. Farr, R. M. Pegues, Wade Stacklicuee and J. E. Wannamaker, was elected. Resolutions providing for a financial agent, the reduction of 25 per cent in acreage, except where there was only one plow to ten acres, and a 10 cent tax on each bale is "asked," were adopted/ Eight delegates at large were elected to the New Orleans convention. * * * Another Dune#)-Property in Court. The Union and Glenn Springs railroad, another property in which Thos. C. Duncan, former president of the Union and Buffalo cotton mills, was heavily interested, has been placed in the hands cf a receiver in the United States circuit court at Charleston. in answer to complaint and petition filed by the Mercantile Trust & Deposit company of Baltimore, Edwin W. Robertson being appointed the receiver. The Union and Glenn Springs railroad traverses a number of townships in Union county, beginning at a point near Carlisle, crossing the Broad river and extending to the Buf falo cotton mills. It has a number of extensions and the road is the possessor of considerable real estate, franchises ana ether property. * * * The Colleton Mill Case. Complaint has been filed in the circuit court at Charleston by J. A. Rob inson, doing business under the name of Robinson & Shackieton, on behalf of himself and other creditors of the defunct Colleton cotton mills, against u \v Blank and a number of other stockholders for $3,052.37, alleged to be due on promissory notes. The property of the Colleton mills was sold under order of the court some time ago, but the amount realized was not large enough to discharge the debts. The present suit is brought to enforce the stockholders' liability, provided by general assembly, under which the mills were incorporated. The prayer of complainant is "that the defendants be adjudged to pay the amount of their respective liabilities as stockholders of the said'Colleton cotton mills ior the satisfaction ni the debt cf the plaintiff and creditors. The case v.-ill br heard at the next term of the circuit court * Silver Service fcr Cruiser. The new cruiser Charleston. Cap tain Wirslrw. was received with fill? honors by c'tl?:?ns of Charleston Wednesday and was presented the silver (?;!? r j ....o city, for whom the ocat was named. The presentation of the service took place aboard the vessel The service consists of a large punch bowl and ladle of silver, inlined with gold. The bowl is about two feet in diameter, weighs three hundred and twenty-five ounces ani has a capacity of ten gallons. It rests on a heavy substantial base, set in a silver platter. The handles, of the bowl show two edges with outspread wings. The sides bear the seals of the City of Charleston and of the navy department and beautifully wrought v.ews cf Fort sumter, rori bt. .VuCticicio c-iureii and ia-icery park, tile v.la'o being typical Oi. Uiiailesion. iL.e p-eoJ is e-casea in a sat.n. imtu ouk. oojl v/itu su?er trimmingo, appropriately inscribed. - * ? ft State College Adopts Resolutions. The faculty cf the South Carolina * * " 1 '1 ^ A/yfi-jt Af cc::ege leamea wiw utcy the death cf Dr. Walter B. Hill, chancellor of the University, cf Georgia, distinguished as a citizen, a publicist and an organizer and leader cf higher education, whose personal and official influence was widely and oencr icently felt .beyond the limits of his own state, and who has lately testified in the most gratifying way his interest in the South Carolina College. At a special meeting the following resolution was passed: Be it Keso'./ed, First, That this faculty expyess its deep sympathy with the family of Chancellor Hill, and with the faculty of the University of Georgia, in the personal and public loss sustained in the death of cur lamented friend and colleague. Resolved, Second, That a copy of this minute be sent to the widow of Chancellor Hill and to the faculty of the University of Georgia, and published also in the daily papers of Columbia and Atlanta, and that a blank page of the faculty minutes be reserved for this entry. i ' ? * Ssa Island Cotton Men Meet The executive committee of the Sea Island Cotton Seed Association met in Charleston last Monday and discussed matters in connection with the efforts of the association to control the supply of seed and by removing it from the market create a monopoly for the South Carolina planters. The association was organized a year ago and at the meeting several days ago it was determined to leave the control cf the matter in the hands of the executive committee, so well pleased was the association with the. work of the committee during the past year. it appears that the'"foreign" raisers of the long staple cotton have to purchase annually a fresh supply of seed from the original Carolina producers, as the seed from their own cotton brings fcrth a deteriorated grade of staple. By making it impossible to purchase this seed, the Carolina planters hope to shut off competing product and the efforts of the association are being directed towards this end. All seed above that actually necessary for replanting of their own crops will be destroyed in crushing oil .mills and'thus eliminate from the market to the disadvantage of the so-called "foreign" or "alien" raisers of long staple in Georgia, Alabama and other communities where experiments have been made with more or less success. GAGE ALSO GIVES WARNING. Agrees With Schiff as to Possibility of Disastrous Panic. Lyman J. Gage, former secretary of the treasury, said at New York Frl.-lav that hp asrpps with Jacob H. Sf h'ff in the opinion that a great panic is inevitable unless steps are taken to remedy the inelasticity of the existing currency system. "I agree positively with Mr. Schifi.'," said Mr. Gage, "that the monetary conditions which have obtained during the last sixty days are disgraceful to us as a nation, and I further agree with him that a stunning panic is but a matter of time if something is not done." LIVED SIX SCORE YEARS. Negro Woman Dies in Philadelphia at Alleged Age of 135 Yeara. Mary McDonald, a negro woman, who claimed to be 135 years of age, 16 dead at the Home for the Aged, an infirmary for colored persons in Philadelphia. According to the wo man and her surviving relatives, she was born November 14, 1770, near Valley Forge, Pa. She often told of the scenes in about the camp of Washington's soldiers at Valley Forge during the winter of 1777-78. " MINESHAFTHORROR Men and Animals Entombed ;:$j| in Pit by Explosion. S OVER SCORE LOSE LIFE Catastrophe Occurred at Plant of the >. ^ Cooper Mine Company at Coaldale, West Virginia?Rescuers Very ;--Wi Quickly Begin Work. --'SB Twenty-one miners were killed in an explosion of mine gas in the shajt -^wB of the Cooper Mine company at CoaK ' dale, W. Vsl, at noon Thursday. Im- . M; mediately following the explosion* ; whtch was heard for seyeral mOeaj' rescue parties set to work to ' the wrecked shaft Coaldale is a mining town situated on the Norfolk and Western railway*. and is 15 miles west of Bluefield. It is. ' ^ in Mercer county, and wire facilities.\$jf. are inadequate. Some idea can ho ? formed as to the force of the explo- "; sion when several hours after the explosion, one of the miners, who could ' :M not be identified on account of being so badly mutilated, was found a <Hs-\ . ^ tance of several hundred feet frota C the mine mouth, having been blown; there, together with a mining car fey ; the explosion. News of the explpsion soon spread through the fields, and a great party of from the numerous operations .J|3| ered to assist in the rescue. MADE A SCENE AT WHITE HOlWlfc-^^p woman insisted on seeing 'resiamKj^^a and Was Carried Out Bodily. A Washington dispatch says: distressing scene was enacted at white boose executive offices day in which Mrs. Minor Morris, fifty years, was carried screanaifcofc^ 1^1 from the building because she Tefia^^^lW to leave without a resort to force. Mrs. Morris told Assistant Secrets^ ry Barne3 that she wanted to president She said that her band had been discharge! from government service, and she ^1r<tinH| to demand from the president his^re^^^M Mr. Barnes explained to her I the president had nothing to . do with% such subjects, and that she would ter. take up the matter with the of the department from which 'her: husband had been discharged. Mrs. Morris declared in a loud totfi^/ HaSj that she had come to the white. h?^^ to see the president, and proposed see him even If she had to camp there for a month. The white hma??: Jl|? officers tried to get her to leave, she defied any one to touch her. s >7 Two of them lifted her up bodily. and carried her screaming to a PGHaj ;-V. call box, where a petrol weson .wn^^^M summoned. She was taken to th* house of detention. 'r ^.dgB Mrs. Morris was released from' {bet house of detention shortly, after v 8 o'clock p. m., and returned .to the ;Nber^'^9B Willard hotel. She refused see any callers, sending word was Indisposed. M She had been a guest at the WHlartr v .V&Kj for a long time . DIXON ALLEGES INFRINGEMfiNT/ Author Of "Clansman" Seizes Baggage;' of Theatrical Aggregation. v '*{* H Thomas Dixon, author of "The Clansman," through attorneys at Raleigh, C., attached property of the Corhme v Runkel company for presenting Reconstruction Days," a play which he claims is an infringement on; the <J?Pyv/ v^ffl| rifeht of his "The Clansman," but; which Thaddeus Breton of the Runkerf^^H company says he wrote in forty days,' . from Dixon's and ether novels'of rOv construction times. Statehood Bill Considered. ^ ^ The senate committee on territories met Thursday and began consMeraticge of the joint statehood bill. Thtt\wa^^fsW| the first meeting cf the committee to consider the admission of States. ( ^ SLAV RED8 STILL DEFIANT. "v &? Admit Defeat, But Will Organize a Fight on New Basis. 1 A St. Petersburg dispatch says : V^^SII The general meeting of the work men's council and of representative* ^ of the proletariat organizations,which was held across the Finnish border, ^ lasted for 36 hours. The practical result of the meet* ing was a confession that the gov* ernment had proved to be too strongJ^lfl^K in its fight against the strikers and the proletariat organizations, ana that it would be necessary to organize on ' a new basis the armed revolution. ' :sXt A DAGO TOWN ENGULFED. Earth Opened and Swallowed Up thej-iaBj Houses and Many People. At Gezano, i\ town of 8,000 inhabitants in the province of Potenza, A I Italy the earth suddenly evened, engulfing ten houses and shattering many others, which threaten to fall. Many persons were buried in the