‘regulation’ size, we made it a practice to steal by in the night when the guard was having his dream of home, or his game of poker with the landlord at the ranch hard by. The party was composed of old White, his three sons, Dick Robinson and myself; Sim White was down at the river watering a mule, his father, the two other sons and Dick Robinson were playing poker under the wagon. I was looking on. Sim halloed to us that Indians were coming.
“Looking away to the bluffs, a mile to the south, we saw them coming, and from the dust they made there seemed to be at the very least a million of them, and every Indian ten feet high. Old White looked out from under the wagon and satisfied himself they were sure enough after us.
“He turned his cards carefully face downwards, and said to the boys, ‘ don’t disturb that hand; we will have it out after we get through with the redskins.’
48 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
“On they came; but the distance was great, we had ample time to secure our animals by tying them to the hubs of the wagons, and get our guns ready for action before they were upon us. As they drew near we found there were only thirteen. They tried the old dodge of presenting the butt end of their guns, saying they wanted to ‘swap.’ ‘You’ll get no swap here but lead, you thieves,’ said Old White, and immediately opened the fight by blazing away. The Indians at once fell back, firing as they did so, and for two long hours they kept up a running semi-circular fight, never still, and continually firing, always lying on the opposite side of their horses from us.
“We could do nothing but shoot at their horses, in hopes of killing them and then killing the Indians when dismounted; but they kept on the go so that it was only occasionally we could hit a pony.
“After a two hours fight, with no loss on either side, Dick Robinson asked me for an old musket I had in the wagon, which my mother had taken from one of John Morgan’s men while attempting to plunder the house during his raid through Ohio.
“ We had, during our trip over the plains, occasionally taken that old gun down and rammed a charge of pistol balls down, until we had about six inches of a load in it. I advised him not to attempt to fire it, but he said he was determined to kill that old chief. I gave it to him with the admonition to shut his eyes and say his prayers before pulling the trigger. But he fearlessly walked out towards the old scoundrel, who also advanced, each eyeing the other.
“ When about seventy-five yards apart, both raised their guns at the same instant—and both fell.
REMINISCENCE OF A FREIGHTER. 49
“ The chiefs horse started off with a gallop, and the In¬ dian, being a very large man, broke the strap with which he was tied on, and fell to the ground near where he was shot. We saw the blood fly from Dick’s face and the gun bound away out of his hands, but he quickly jumped to his feet, wiped his face, grabbed up the old musket and ran as only a long-legged Missourian knows how to run, for the corral. The musket had kicked, and the hammer had torn away a ‘chunk’—as he said—of his cheek.
“Upon the fall of the chief, the Indians made a rush to secure his body; but we kept up such a continuous fire that they could not get near it safely. Dick then proposed that as he had killed him, if we would charge on them and drive them back towards the south side of the corral, he would go out and get his -scalp.’ This we did, and Dick bounded out with an old butcher knife, and in less than a minute he sat himself across old Lo, and we could hear him tearing the scalp away. When the Indians saw what he was doing they made a desperate charge and drove us back, but not until Dick had secured the prize from that Indian’s head.
“The loss of the scalp of their chief seemed to be a signal for retreat, for without any apparent order or sign from any of them, the remainder rode rapidly off towards the river, and disappeared among the hills.
“The trophy justly belonged to Dick. He stretched it and tacked it on the hoop of a keg, and from there to Fort Morgan, despite our entreaties and protests that it would certainly invite our destruction should we meet a large war party, it floated from the mast of his ‘prairie schooner.’ We were stopped of course at Fort Morgan by the commanding officer, who, I believe, was a brother of
4
50 TALES OF THE COLORADO PIONEERS.
Phil. Sheridan, and directed to go into camp until a proper number had collected to come within the order of the De¬ partment Commander. Dick suggested that as we had a pass, pointing to the scalp floating over his wagon, we ought to be permitted to proceed. The officer directed us to move on, which we did with our colors flying, and fortunately had no further molestation on the trip.”
“ Were there any duels in those days?” I asked.
CHAPTER X.
A BLOODY DUEL.
“Yes, there was a bloody duel among the old-time romances. I remember it as though it was yesterday,” said
Judge Bennett.
“ It was the 7th, not the ides of March, A. D. 1860, when there occurred a most sanguinary encounter or affair of ‘honah,’ between two citizens of the Territory. Dr. Stone, Judge of the miners’ court in the Mountain City District, had been a member of the Legislative Assembly. Hon. L. W. Bliss was Secretary, and at the time acting Governor of the Territory.
“ There was no woman in this case, but money, the ‘ root of all evil,’ according to respectable authority, did have something to do in the primeval cause of the quarrel, and wine warmed up the blood and caused the latent heat to escape.
“ The affair grew out of some personal language used by the former against the latter. As I remember it, Dr. Stone had drawn his pay as a member of the Legislature during the first and only session of that body that ever
A BLOODY DUEL. 51
met, which was in the fall of 1859. A Provisional Gov¬ ernment had been organized, with It. K. Steel at its head. The Territory was then called Jefferson. The Dr., after having sold his pay warrants, publicly repudiated the Territorial organization. This action, by a member of the Legislature, was quite annoying to the other officers of the Territory, and particularly so to the sensitive Secretary.
“ Bliss and Stone were together often; were jovial, free hearted, fond of a joke and a drink, and up to this time were the best of friends.
“On the evening before the 7th of March the Secretary, Lou. Bliss, as he was familiarly called, had invited to his private rooms at the hotel a dozen or more gentleman friends, to break a few bottles of wine with him. While they were making themselves merry with the attractive host and the generous wine, Dr. Stone, who had come down from Central that day, stepped into the room unbidden and took his seat among the convivial party. The call was inopportune, for the party had just been discussing his repudiation of the Territorial organization.
“Shortly after Stone came in glasses were filled all around and Bliss, rising, said: ‘ Here’s to the man who got Iris pay and then repudiated the government and left his friends.’ Dr. Stone understood the remark to be aimed at him, as in fact it was. Fire shot from his eyes, and without taking his wine, he and a friend who came in with him immediately withdrew.
“The friend who had retired with Dr. Stone soon re¬ turned with a note bearing a challenge to mortal combat. Bliss
