ASH1XGTON —The senate of
the United States has in its
keeping an official document
which contains one of the
most splendidly graphic sto- I
ries of Indian fighting ever .
written. The story in part /
is the account given by Gen. George A. For- \
syth of his fight with- the Sioux and the
Cheyennes under the famous chief, Roman
Nose, in eastern Colorado in the year ISOS.
Gen. Forsyth went into the army from his
native city, Chicago. He is now living in
Washington. The odds against his force in
the fight with the band of Roman Nose were
-0 to 1. and as the senate document has it—
though this part of it was not written by
Forsyth—the battle “was a splendid example
ef the hardihood, courage and capacity to
adapt themselves to circumstances which so
generally mark the conduct of American
troops on the frontier.-’
One of Gen. Forsyth’s subor
dinate officers in the battle was
Lieut. Frederick II. Beecher, a
nephew of Rev. Henry Ward
Beecher. Lieut. Beecher fought
heroically and died just as the
repulse of the Indians was as
»ired.
Gen. Forsyth's description of
the charge of Roman Nose and
his red band follows:
"In a few moments after our
preparations were completed
item an Nose and his warriors swept around
the bend of the stream, out of and well be
yoi.d rifle range, with a front of about C«
men and a depth of six or eight ranks. Each
warrior was, with the exception of his cart
i idge belt and box and moccasins, perfect I v
naked and hideously painted. They rode bare
back, with onlv a h nreci.Vjfiit* _
twice around the mid,He of their horses and
passing loosely over each knee. Riding well in front oi
ibe center of his line, Roman Nose led the charge with
a reckless gallantry ,hat may have been equaled but
ould not have been excelled. Six feet throe inches in
height, and perfectly naked save for a superb war bonne*
;-o his head a crimson silk sash around Ms *L? «nd‘
h.s moccasins on his feet, showing immense hroadlh
of shoulder, but. nevertheless, sinewy and slim Luh n
wa,st and flank, he sat well forward' on his ba'retecked
chestnut-colored charger, with his knees under the lariat
that twice encircled his horse’s body, and his rifle held
us below the trigger in his left hand, its barrel in the
lollow of his arm, while the same hand grasped both
his horse s mane and bridle, leaving his right arm free
to direct h.s men. and as he came charging on at the hell
of h.s command he was the very beau ideal of an Indiln
• As soon as the charging warriors had fairly started to
ward us our immediate assailants, who lay under cover on
the two banks of the river opposite an island opened
a rapid fire on us from both sides, with the intention
of covering us to such an extent that we would not dare
to rise from our rifle pits to open fire upon the attacking
force, and so for a few seconds bullets fell everywhere
around us.
J li:s I looked for, but 1 well knew that once the charg
• ug Indians came within range of the bullets of their own
men their fire must necessarily cease. Glancing back
-iver my command. I saw that they had all turned in their
rifle pits toward the foot of the island, the direction from
which the charge was coming, and crouching low, with
their knees well under them, tliclr rifles closely gripped
in their sinewy hands, their bronzed faces set like iron
and their eyes fairly ablaze with wrath, they lay with nos
trils all aquiver, Impatiently awaiting the command to
fire.
“Suddenly the fire from the Indian riflemen ceased, and
placing my back against niv rifle pit and leaning on my
elbows against its sides, I shouted: ‘Now!’ and Beecher,
McCall and Grover echoed the cry.
“Instantly starting to their knees, with their rifles at
shoulder as they rose, and with one quick glance along
the barrel, 40 good men and true sent the first, of seven
consecutive volleys into the onrushing savage horde.
Welcoming the first and second volleys with reckless yell,
the charging warriors came gallantly on, hut at the third
the most of them ceased to shout, and I could see great
gaps in their ranks and men and horses going down, but
still the mass of them bravely held their course, Roman
Nose leading them and wildly waving his heavy Spring
field rifle over his head as though it were a wisp of
straw, he alone shouting his defiant war cry as he swept
toward us.
‘ At the fourth volley their great medicine man, who
was leading the left of the column, went suddenly down,
and for an instant the column seemed to check its speed,
hut only for a second, and then with a mad rush it came
bounding and leaping onward. The fifth volley seemed
to pile men and horses in heaps, and at the sixth Roman
Nose and his horse went down in death together.
"A hundred feet farther and they will b» noon ns! But
I
now me column hesitates and shakes, and the scOo. s pour
in their last and seventh volley )tist as a few of the war
riors reach the foot of our little island,' and then spring
ing quickly to their feet, with wild cheers and impreca
tions on their foes, the frontiersmen suddenly pour al
most into the very faces of the mounted warriors a rapid
fire from their revolvers, while the Indian column sudden
ly divides on each side of the island and breaks in all
directions for the shelter of either shore, the now com
pletely defeated and panic-stricken savages, cowering
to their horses' backs, fearfully demoralized, and seeking
only safety in eager and headlong flight."
Gen. Forsyth was shot three times, but he dragged him
self about to care for the wounded. Lieut. Beecher, shot
in the side, turned to Forsyth and said, quietly and
simply: "I have my death wound, general," and then as
the commanding officer tells the story, he replied to his
subordinate: “Oh, no, Beecher, no, it can't be as bad as
that."
“‘Yes. Good night!’ 1 heard him murmur once: ‘My
poor mother.’ In the sunset his life went out.
"Good night. Good knight!"
After the failure of their attempt to override the little
band-of soldiers the Indians besieged the whites for nine
days and the second chapter of the story has much of
the stirring interest of the first, as it is told by the officer
in command in that campaign on ihe eastern Colorado
frontier.
With Col. Forsyth were Til officers and men. Before
the Indian lines were broken, as they charged down on
the detachment the bullets of the Cheyennes and the
Sioux found 24 victims, one-third of them being killed
and the others badly wounded. Col. Forsyth had a bul
let in bis right thigh, bis left leg was broken below the
knee and his scalp bad been torn open by a ricoobetting
shot.
Let Col. Forsyth tell the story of the siege:
“Orders were issued to unsaddle the dead l*>rses, to
use the saddles to strengthen our works, to connect the
rifle pits and to deepen them still more and to cut off
large steaks from the dead horses and mules and to
bury them deep in the sand to avoid putrefication.
“Having made the wounded as comfortable as possible
with water dressings (the surgeon had been mortally
wounded.) and a strong guard having been posted, I ate
a few mouthfuls of raw horse flesh and dozed away until
morning. The Indians, evidently believing that we would
try to escape in the night, approached at early daylight tp
take up our trail. Owing to some one accidentally dis
charging his rifle they threw themselves flat on the
ground and »e succeeded In killing only one-jpfcthem. The
next day was very hot and we that were wmiuded suf
fered Intensely.
"During all this time 1 noticed that there was^ygeady
beating of drums and death chants among tlia^fejuen
in the main camp of the savages. It was a weary Ibfmigli
day for we were out of food save horse and mule meat,
which we had to eat without cooking, but fortunately we
had plenty of good water* ... At noon, Scout Gro
ver informed me that the Indian women and children
were beeinning to withdraw and 1 concluded at
causing the bone to part and protrude
through the flesh, much to my savagely
expressed wrath.
“On the sixth day 1 called the well
men •together and told them that aa
there was no certainty that, our messen
gers could got through they were- en
titled to a chance for their lives. I
believed that most of our enemies had
withdrawn, and as the men were , well
armed I doubted if any ordinary body
of Indians would dare attack them on
their way to Fort Wallace. As for
the wounded, we must take our chances
if attacked.
“For a few moments there was a dead
silence, then rose a hoarse shout:
'Never! Never! We'll stand by you,
general, until the end;’ McCall saying:
‘We've fought together,and, by. heavens,
if need be, well die together!’
“The next two days—the Indians only
keeping a vidette In sight, and most
of them having disappeared—seemed to
me to be almost interminable. We
all became weaker for want of food.
. . . On the morning of the ninth
day one of the men lying near me
suddenly sprang up, and shading his
eyes with his hands, shouted: ‘There
are- some moving objects cm the far
hills.’
“Every man was on his feet.in an in
stant, and then some keen-eyed scout
shouted: ‘By the God above us,' tt’s an
ambulance!’
“The strain was over. It was Col.
Carpenter with a troop of the Tenth
cavalry X
Not long afterward the sub-chiefs of
the warriors who had surrounded and
fought Col. Forsyths band admitted
that the Indians in the fight lost 75
killed and many wounded. There were
1.000 warriors in the band that at
tacked Forsyth’s force of 51 men—and
in the end the white men won.
It was a great fight and the fact
that the white men won proved a sure
indication of final victory on the fron
tier, which came about a short time
later. The records of the war office in
I —
that the Indians had decided to give up the fight. Ac
cordingly I penciled the following dispatch:
“ ‘Col. Bankhead, or Commanding Officer. Fort Wal
lace: I sent you two messengers on the night of the
7th inst., informing you of my critical condition. 1 tried
to send you two more last night, but they did not succeed
in passing Indian pickets, and returned. If the others
have net arrived, then hasten at once to my assistance.
. . . The Cheyennes alone number 450 or more. They
are splendidly armed with Spencer and Henry rifles. . .
We are living on mule and borse meat and are entirely
out of rations. If it was not for so many wounded I
would come in and take the chances of whipping the
reds if attacked. ... I can hold out here for six days
longer, but please lose no time. Very respectfully, your
obedient servant, George A. Forsyth.
“P. S.—My surgeon having been mortally wounded, my
wounded have not had their injuries dressed, so please
bring a surgeon with you.’
"I confided this to two excellent men, Donovan and Pli
ley. They left our intrenchments at midnight, and as
they did not return I was hopeful that they had escaped
.the vigilance o£ the Indian sentries and were on their
way to Fort Wallace. It was these two men who fell in
with Col. B. 13. Carpenter’s command two days later and
gave the first intlmntion of our plight.
"The wound in my thigh having become exceedingly
painful, I asked some of the men to cut the bullet out, but
al it lay very near the femoral artery they all declined
to attempt it Taking my razor, which happened to be
In my saddle bag, I managed to cut it out myself, greatly
to my almost immediate relief. On the fourth day our
horse and mule meat became putrid, but one of the men
shot a little gray wolf that helped out somewhat.
“I had the men raise me on a blanket to get a better
view of affairs and suddenly the Indians sent in a fusil
lade of about 20 shots. The man who held the corner of
**e> blanket upon which rested my broken leg dropped it.
Washington ten of these great battles and thc-y are open
to the curious public. While they art* more or less-in
the form of reports pnd lack the romantic details which
writers have wrapped .around them, they still prove of
great interest. ‘ -
KNEW ALL TO BE KNOWN.
He Was'-'a middle-aged man who had graduated front
the school of experience, who believed he watt master ol
arts, with a.diploma acquired by profound study ol the
world and so he went out to make a call on a leading citi
zen at his superior country place. The leading citizen
was not at>honie. nor any member of tlK family except
the youngest daughter, a child of 14 or thereabouts. She
tumbled out of a hammock and surveyed the strange
visitor with a cool, calculating eye. Sizing him dp, and
recognizing no sign of the book agent or burglar aboul
his clothes, or his manners, she calmly bid him welcome
‘‘until father should return.” The visitor with a mental
shudder prepared to entertain mademoiselle, but to his
amazement .she took that duty ont of his grasp, and re
marking that she presumed he would like to see "the
place,” somewhat haughtily indicated that she would take
him en tour. So they walked to and fro, the middleaged
man vainly trying to label- or to approve with the right
word many beautiful objects on the millionaire's estate,
but nothing fluttered or amused the youngest daughter.
She called everything by Its right title, knew the different
breeds, the pedigrees of all the prize livestock, the botani
cal names of every tree and precious shrub, and reeled
off information with all the icy .manner of an expert; and
specialist. Nbthing jolted her. Finally they arrived at a
section of the garden Where laborers were busy, and there
against the wall of a greenHouse stood a box filled with
beer bottles. The youngest daughter glanced at them.
With a tilt of the head and a wave of the hand, she said:
"And this is the Anheuser Busch!” So they passed on to
the next. •''
Peculiar Quake-Proof Building.
The earthquake-proof building of
Prof. Boermel rests in a massive bowl,
and has a rocking foundation with a
curved surface of somewhat less ra
dius than that of the bowi. A half
spherical pivot fits into a cup-bearing
at the center. At eight points near
i he outside of the bowl are spring
buffers, which keep the bcaaV or other
buiicUng from being canted too freely,
and lessen the force of any shock
transmitted The structure on this
foundation is to have a light steel
framework, and is expected to resist!
the severest earthquakes.
-_
At the Top of the Heap.
“Talk about your monopolists.'' said
the obese party on the north end of a
trolley car going south, “the chap I buy
coal of has the rest of the bunch beaten
trf a fluffy frazzle.”
“What’s the answer?” queried the
passenger with the pale whiskers.
“He has taken up plumbing as a side
line for the winter," explained the
heavyweight.
MIXED KINDLINESS AND HUMOR
A) _ _ ■ —
Example of Criticisms Made by
Brahms, the Famous Composer.
Brahms, the composer, was noted for
his kindliness, but, writes Georg Hen
schel in “Personal Recollections of
Johannes Brahms,” he sometimes ut
tered a good-natured sarcasm to which
the roguish twinkle, in his eyes cor
responded. A would-be composer had
asked Brahms to be allowed to play
to him from the manuscript his latest
composition, a violin concerto.
Brahins consented to hear it, and
seated himself near the piano. The
man played his work with enthusiasm
and force.
When he finished Brahma got np,
approached the piano, took a sheet of
the manuscript between his thumb
and middle finger, and rubbing it be
tween them, exclaimed: “I say, where
do you buy your music paper? First
rate.”
Another time Mr. Henschel accom
panied Brahms to the house of Mr.
X-.
“You have no idea,” declared Mrs.
X-, “how hard a worker X- is.
I am proud and happy to have at last
prevailed upon him to go for a walk
with our daughter every day for two
hours, thus keeping him at least for
two hours a day from composing.”
I “Ah, that's good, that’s very good,”
said Brahms, Instantly, looking as in
nocent as a new-born babe.—Youth’-»
Companion. .
, , Birds in Winter.
Though birds'have a much higher,
.temperature than man's—man's is 98,
while theirs is 10?—they suffer cruelly 1
from the winter cold. In a mutton
country it is not uncommon to find
sheep with dead birds fastened on
their backs. The little, cold creatures
snugele in the sheep's wool to get
warm, their feet become entangled ■
in the fleece, and they starve to death.
PUZZLE FOR TRAFFIC MEN.
Basket So Large That a Car Which
Will Hold It Has Not Yet
Been Found.
San Francisco.—The traffic officials
of the Northwestern Pacific are much
perplexed over a basket that they
have been requestd to receive for .ship
ment from I'kiah to Brooklyn, N. Y.
It is said to be the largest basket In
the world and this must be true, for
there is some doubt whether it will
pass through the tunnels of the Sierra.
The basket is of Indian manufacture
and was designed as a storehouse for
grain. < tit is shaped like the usual
bushel measure, is mounted on poles
to make it inaccessible to rodents and
has a huge basketwork cover. It is
W -Mr/t-Jm * rutflr/- -
Big Indian Basket Which Is to Be
Shipped to Brooklyn.
wider than the door of an ordinary
box car, yet it could not be shipped
on a flat car, as it would be liable to
destruction from the sparks of a loco
motive.
The contrivance was purchased
from the Indians by Dr. J. \V. Hudson
of Ukiah and by him sold to the Brook
lyn Institute of Arts and Science to be
installed in its museum. The doctor
paid only $25 for the basket, but it is
likely to be worth a fortune before it
reaches the Atlantic coast.
Taking it for granted t«at the bat*
ket can be moved at all by rail the tar
iff officials are searching the classifi
cation sheets to determine under what
rate the shipment would move. Somo
claim the basket is merely a basket,
while others contend that it should
move under the classification that in
cludes “parts of grain elevators."
Traffic Manager Cleary is of the opin
ion that the tiling is a corn crib and
should be so billed. In any event, it
is too large to get in any ordinary box
car and must, therefore, take a mini
mum weight of 5,000 pounds, although
it weighs only 200 pounds. Under thU
interpretation of the tariff it would
cost $175 to move the granary ta
Brooklyn.
TAFT'S GRANDFATHER'S HOME.
Torrey House, Built Before Revolution
ary War, Still in Excellent
Condition.
Boston.—Mendon has still standing
half a dozen houses built before tie
revolutionary war, and most of them
are in excellent condition.
The oldest, the Austin Taft house,
situated east of the post office, erected
if
Old Torrey House. Mendo'n.
about 1722. has been thoroughly re
modeled in the interipr. but the ex
terior remains unchanged.
Other old homes Include the I.uther
Taft houses, near the Kelly corner;
Ihe old Lee house, now occupied by
Mr. Cromb; the old Davenport house
• on North avenue, and the Torrey
house on the same avenue and adja
cent to the present station of the Mil
ford & Uxbridge street railway.
The latter ’house is of exceptional
interest, as it was the boyhood home
of Samuel 'Davenport Torrey. born in
'1789. a well-known merchant of Bos
ton in the West India trade, and the
grandfather of- President William H.
Ta’ft. who has repeatedly visited the
old home, now owned by Marcus M.
Aldrich, president of the Mendon His
torical society, and occupied by his
son.
Exactly when this house was built
is uncertain, but when Mr. Aldrich
acquired the title from the Torrey
heirs, in 1875, the farm had been in
the possession of the Torreys more
than 150 years, and the house had
been built then at least 135 years.
When William Torrey and wife, Ann
.great grandparents of President Taft,
were married, they went there to live.
Directly across' the avenue, or old
road to Upton, was a small building
that was used by William Torrey and
his son. Samuel D. Torrey, as a store.
In that store it is assumed that the
latter secured his first financial start
that enabled him to lay the foundation
of his fortune, making possible the ed
ucation and sqelal standing of his
daughter, Louisa Maria Torrey. who
married the Hon. Alfonso Taft, the
latter bei"s parents of President Taft.
t ---; 1
i Trade Terms.
“How much,” began the lady to Bax
ter, in temporary charge of the coal
yard, “how much is stave coal now?"
“That depends,’’ said Baxter, with
whom language is often a veihtcle of
'confusion. “A la carte, it’s seven air*
a half. Cul-tje-sac, -it’ll cost you fifty
cents extry.”—Youth's- Companion'.
M.JtHod.
Dig. Sister—Now-, look here, Bobby,
•whenever. I sing ortne company, you
yell. Afien't yon ashamed? Why do
you act so?
Little Brother --Pecause when I yell
you stop sihgiiY, and. pa gives me ten
cents.—Cleveland Leader.
•V . '