Hide Article Text (OCR)
ooooooooooo! SOME EARLY-DAY stopped for supplies. While 0§ WEST TEXAS HISTORY, they were at the fort, Captain lt;«® - Totten, in command of the ]S (From San Angelo Standard’s ! troops there, sent for the leader | | Fortieth Anniversary Edition.); of the 17 Rangers, and asked j ®| (Concluded from last week.) | what they were doing. !0 “About that time, I had got-; The men were all young, and lt;Jfi'ten some Chilian clover seed, the leader could not see that ! ^ This clover was native in Chile, their mission was any of Tot- !and had been grown in the Sac- ten’s business. He at first re-xs® ramento Valley in California. It fused to answer, but when he ® made fine hay, and I had sever-: was told that he and his menal acres of it. It grew four feet would be placed in the guardj|;high. It took the Johnson house unless he told Totten1 grass just three summers to what he was doing, he told the ^flake all the Chilian clover I had commander that they were trail-§ “I figured the only way to get ing a band of Indians.xij rid of the Johnson grass was to j It is not known definitely that move away from it. I swapped the Indians had attacked anymy place, and got out from un-1 of the settlers in the country, der the stuff.” They were apparently peaceful.| Mr. Delong said that nobody | They were camped in a ravinei ever thought of trying to get! that made their position for theI water from a well in this coun- resistance of an attack ideal, jjI try in the early days. Springs A knoll at the end of the ravine j | were abundant, but the country formed an excellent place for j ® was so dry that they never the direction of a fight. lt;i thought that they could dig When Totten and his men jdeep enough to get water. advanced, a woman, said to have lt;? Bob Merkeson drilled the first been either a squaw or the !well that Mr. Delong remembers chief’s daughter, was sent outIt was put down on his ranch cn a mission of peace. She was «near El Dorado. He struck killed by one of Totten’s men. ( | cold clear water, and had one of After this, an Indian mount- lt;gj best sources of water in the en- ed the knoll at the end of the lt;® tire country. ravine and waved a white shield *Id I “We never thought that land in the air, covered with deer J| here. You couldn’t raise any- skin. Wash Delong told Tot- jII thing on it. There was plenty ten to let the Indians surrender, lt;SXS® of Same in the country, and a but the Captain replied that he ! good range for the stock, but wanted to “kill them all.” J\s were. a?ful* When the chief saw that the lt;I , +uaS 111 a troops were to attack, he as- j| ;':ouJd+be w°rth anythmg around cended the knoll and directeds 1 £at 11 ** /°v here that ^be fight. The Indians, equips lt;c* i thousands of buffalo died for ped superior rifles, repuls- \I' u ° T * a b ed the rangers. Mr. Delong; %« ^un f ,en’ that we wrould g^jd afterward that the chief’s j® «ave tu aH^X ing I' v°ice could be heard above the j0 flies and the baffalo gnats I djn 0f battle. About thirty of lt;^ were so bad that they killed all Tottens men were killed. ‘ !i u r do^8 bljt one. Life was Wash Delong’s advice as to |••s Tr h ullVln?- tvi how to make the attack was al- j1 The last hound I had was g0 disregarded by Totten. Af-j»| the best in the pack. He could ^-er tbe fight, Delong and his !§| climb a tree just like a cat. To party rounded up a herd of the ;!i., | save him from the flies, I put Indian’s horses, but Totten tooki! k. * in a pit, and left a hole big tbem. It is said that he made!§, enough for him to get am. And a report 0f a “terrible battle” ® then those flies killed him. They t0 Hie war department.i®®® eVf*!rif UP °Ur army blankets. ^he Indians swore revenge onJ?6 W?[6 80 m^ny Texas a^er the Dove CreekI buffalo on the ground and m fight They ravaged the coun-the rivers that the water wasn t try on their way to the border.it to drink. I found a little Sam Delong says that they did;§ | seep of water in the ground not stay jn Mexico, and that hei|aiong the river, and dug out a soid them some beef on theirI, spring; we used this water to way back to the North, years drink. Them flies were awful. aftPr thP hattl^i i,: calves. were q^be JDelong brothers were in |,d ]ls c°u.ntfy.A ln the a„ Indian fight near Menard-ar y days for their hides, Mr. ville, when some of the partyfSa r r u^as uno were pursuing a few stragglingna ket for a live calf, but when braves through the brush. Af-e £lt; hiH^ahrm sk^ed* the ter dusk, they came upon two|| hide brought $3. The hides on horseback; one of theI \ere rGn x?an AHtomo and horses was wounded, and the$| s m there to the East. man on ^ jumped on the back000 ere were also many un- cf the horse his companion wasbranded cattle on the range here riding'®s® tbe 7^s*. Thfy had .dr|xfted He fell from the back of the| in here during the Civil War horse, the man riding the horse I and;some °f them were as wild was killed and found to be anI w u gS wel5 Indian- When the men retum-^ r ! i j ^dd ^ar^e a*Jd hsh ed they captured the other manII description also abouned. they supposed to be an Indians. 11 I used to hunt and fish any- and found that he was a Mexi.■-si r,3v % , ?eJ°ng can boy; he had been kidnapped™ eflected. ‘Now if I go fishing by the Indians he aaid ^w 1 hlVe t0 S!t onuthe ^ar'k and I ‘th a white boy, had been cap-•*®g can t even lay the pole down I tive for several ars He re^lr 1 Itn fP “ ln my hand- „ ognized Mr- Delonft and said11 c. Delongs were originally that he had seen him many| from France, and during the, times around Lipan. The Mex-® Huegenot rebelion, when the (Jean’s back was cut where theid I .u°f their party were i„dians had flogged himrs § told that they would not be per- -— n-51 1 secuted if they would leave the The long and expensive delaysie | country, the Delongs chose i hi court procedure were neverd ® America. better illustrated than in thec’ ^ Wash Delong was on frontier case of a negro in the McCul-J 1 duty at the time of the Indian loch County jail. This man was*®®® fight at Dove Creek, and took convicted last fall in the districtpart in the battle. The story court on a liquor charge, and. 50. as told by him to his brother given a sentence of one year inSam, is about as follows: i the penitentiary. Had he ac-lday Delong and 16 other young! cepted sentence, he would by1 members of the frontier force, j and with allowance fors in- who lived on wild game and j g°°d behavior, very nearly havemade their clothes from hides completed his sentence. He A. during the Civil WTar, heard that chose, however, to take an ap-!. a band of Kickapoo Indians peal, and this appeal has never —~ were traveling through the j been decided by the court of ap-country, * and decided to follow peals. In default of bond, the them. They had no idea of the negro has lain in jail and has, 8ize °f the band, which number- ^pent just about 23 months I ed several hundred Indians with there since his arrest. In the their squaws and children, and meantime he is provided with irited who had hundreds of fine horses ibree meals a day, bed andI Delong and his fellow Rang- shelter, and should worry. The X C. I€rs came by Fort McKavitt on taxpayers do that. — Brady tary.. the trail of the Indians, and Standard.mstitutio We aresideratioi ing efftciiWe do tient is aPrescript Stationery carry the lt;upon. AllGener
Newspaper Details
Junction Eagle
Junction, Texas, US
Fri, Jul 18, 1924
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 08 Apr 2020
Other Publications Near Junction, Texas
Junction Eagle
