Salt Lake Herald-Republican | 1906-02-26 | Page 3 | Has Had Life Full of Thrills

HAS HAD LIFE p FULL OF THRilLS James hines han Scout Buffalo Hunter anti and Indian Fighter Is in Salt Lake WAS FRIEND OF PARTICIPATED IN THRILLING BATTLES WITH REDSKINS Drawing thoughtfully at a briar as he stood before the blazing grate fire in Judge E F home in Popperton Place last evening James JaInes Hanrahan one of t e few living frontiersmen whose valor and grit marked the entrance of civilization into the west told a story of pioneer days Mr Hanrahan is vIsiting old acquaint acquaintances acquaintances ances in this city for a few days He Heis HeIs is reticent In talking of the thrilling events in which he participated but there are friends here who know his career When lie he tells of the west when the west was in Its infancy the hearer is carried to wIde dreary stretches of plains dotted here and there with droves of buffaloes he sees lonely lit littie tie tIc trading posts of the gov government for railroads had not spread their Iron arms across the west yet vet Battles to death between Indians md desperate little bands of white men are fought in all their savageness The Indians had not learned that civilization civilization tion would eventually take from them their boundless lands and strip them Jf f their war paints Each miles progress was met with bitter onslaught by th the savages the path of the white mans Invasion of the the west is an endless cern cem cemetery where redskIns and white men were buried together Johnsons Army Mr Hanrahan came to the west with Johnsons army In 1867 1857 He was among the first Gentiles to reach riach Utah He located at Genoa Nev the first Mor 1101 Mormon mon settlement made in that state The streams of Nevada held gold in th their ir 7 beds Mr prospected along the creeks for the precious mIneral and met with some success Later he wa went lt to Fort Smith and from that post moved to Camp Flo Floyd d wIth an expedition expedition tion In 1868 1863 he became With Judge E F Colborn In Hay Hayes s City Kan This acQuaintance ripen d dinto into firm friendship Hayes City t ws S Sat at that time tim the western terminus of the eastern division of the Union Pi railroad Freight was hauled by wagon west from this point and Mr Hanrahan became a government supervisor super supervisor visor of the governments freight transportation The Indians ever eYer ready to fight the onward march of civilization found in the heavY freIght wagons a target for their at attacks attacks tacks The and were especially troublesome trouble troublesome some A post was establIshed at Fort Leavenworth Kansas This became famous through its connection with will the overland freight hauling Government t posts were esta established bUshed at Fort Dod Dodge e eFort Fort Hayes Fort Lamed Larned and Port Fort I Zarah Knew Great Generals J It was at thIs juncture in the history of the United States that General P H Sheridan General G H Custer Gen General Genera eral era William H Penrose William P F Cody Buffalo Bill Jack Hickock Wild Bill Jack Stillwell Benjamin Clark and Nathan Marshall and scores of others began to attain prominence from their participation in t te events that went vent to mould the nations his histOry hIstory tOry Mr lIr Hanrahan was a personal friend of these men He took part Dart in inmany inmany many of the exploits that brought their T names into history Mr Hanrahan served sE as a scout under General Custer and had an active part Dart in the famous Black Kettle engagement which is con s dered by many as the most notable exploit credited to the fearless Cust Custer r Riding into a camp of sleeping Indians Custer and his small band of best men captured prisoners before the red redskins skins who were camped near nearby nearby by could make any effectual Seventeen soldiers and ald three officers were killed in the skirmish that fol followed followed lowed as the soldiers rode away carry ine their prisoners with them The savages lost at least men These fights between the white men and their enemies continued with freQuency up until 1874 In fact so frequent were the battles that the fight was 1 almost continuous Ir Hanrahan u passed through this perIod of warfare without injury He ne next t turned his attention to buffalo buffalo falo hunting The animals were roam roamIng lug Ing the tho western plains In enormous droves Old hunters believed there Were two droves the northern and southern droves each containing mil millions lions of animals These two droves ranged from the Canadian territory to the Panhandle country in Texas Mr Hanrahan went to Texas and at Palo became acQuainted with Fred J JLeonard Jt t Leonard now a member of the board ot of public works In Salt Lake and James Langton of Salt Lake At Palo Dora a supply post was established In a few rough but strongly built log houses bouses supplies of all kinds were kept there were thousands of them movIng from place to t p 1 ace secure guns ammunition food stuls and clothing of all kinds and leave buffalo hides This post was the Enter of the historical adobe wall struggle famous Inasmuch as It was redskins were pitched against a mere handful ot of civilians Tells of Long Fight June 17 1874 began one of the most notable fights recorded in history Mr Hanrahan gives a good account of this fight which lasted until 13 3 There were but ut of us in the post and one was ws a 3 woman the wIfe of one of the hunters he said last evening in response r to Questions The men were living in two or three big log built like regular forts with loopholes rand and barrIcaded wIn wIndows windows dows and doors On the morning of I June 27 I was awakened by the logs creaking overhead Long logs had been laid across the top of the house forming the tho ceiling and root roof These had been covered with dirt to keep the interior dry Thinking the weight of the soil soU was caving the roof in T I dressed and in a time several of the men were with me shoveling the dIrt away To this creaking of the tho logs every man In the post owed his life While wa wc were shoveling two of the boys went down to a creek near nearby nearby by for water SuddenlY we heard a of those unearthly yells that send fear down your backbone breaking the stillness of the morning The ray y dusk of approaching day gave everything a weirdness No sooner had the yell reached us than we saw a solid band of galloping down 1 upon us They had planned the coup the night before and from witching us they had planned to come in on us before we were awake The creaking of the logs had given a twist to their scheme We dropped Into the houses and behind barricaded doors watched them through the loopholes When they were close enough we opened fire upon them In o our r hut there were eight of us and we together We were sup supplied supplied plied with fine rifles and when we blazed loose at them there was a slight hesitation in their advance Horses dropped carrying their painted riders with them I dont b I ever saw sawa a finer band ot of Indian fighters in my life Each one had the feathered head bead regalia which was the Indian mark of rank There were about bucks in inthe Inthe the bunch and they rode abreast Mr Hanrahan admitted at this point In his story that he did some work with his hi gun A portion of this work was the dropping of a Chey Cheyenne Cheyenne enne medicine man who rode upon a apure apure pure white horse painted with ochre spots about four Inches In diameter Fifty Heads on Poles The fight continued until 1 he continued The devils showed themselves regardless Of f life Despite the fact that we were behind log walls and could watch their every move they would ride right up within a few yards of our buildings Langton had a bunch ot of buffalo hides hanging at the rear of his buildings and a bunch of redskins made a rush for these They were fought back We Ve were never able to learn how many Indians we killed as they carried many of their dead with them when they left An Indian will expose himself to all kinds of danger to get the body of a dead comrade and carry it to safety After this first bat battle battIe tIe tle we found dead horses and they leave you a dead man interrupted JUdge Colborn Yes admitted Mr lIr Hanrahan re reluctantly reluctantly It sounds barbaric but there were fifty Indians heads stuck up on poles in the post as a warnIng But instead of filling the devils with fear the sight of these ghastly heads infurIated them For two weeks they kept comIng back at us Many peculiar scenes were being enacted daily under our eyes but we were content to keep our rifles load loaded loaded ed and our doors barricaded The bray brav bravest est suicIde I ever saw committed was performed by a young buck whose feathers proclaimed him a warrior of rank He had fallen at gate when the rush was made to get the buffalo hides He was left dying by his brothers with a bullet hole through his hip and several other wounds on him When the young fellow realized that he was dying he summoned all his remainIng strength and uttering the war cry of his tribe pulled out a re revolver volver and shot himself Death self Inflicted was preferable to the nurs nursing nursing ing of white men to him Another tearless fearless young buck rode down along into the post and waving his lance and shield uttered shrieks of i defiance to us Inside The shi shields used by the Indians were made from a bill buffalos labs falos neck and toughened until they were as hard of flint Whether he knew w how to use his shield with wonderful cleverness or had a charmed life Ufe we never knew but not a shot struck him After we had all taken a pop he herode herode rode away as good and whole as ever eer ready for another fray Negro In War Paint One of the most startling episodes of this fight was a discovery ery made by some of the boys alter after they had killed a fellow who vho had fought with unusual bravery He was found dead after a skirmish bedecked with aUthe all the feathers and marks of a ahead ahead head warrior Imagine the boys sur surprIse sur prIse when they stripped this fellow of his regalia and discovered that he was wasa a negro It may have been that lie he was a deserter from the army but a more likely explanation was of offered offered when some one suggested that lie he might have been when an infant There have been white men discovered fighting With the redskins and these men were when Infants in infants and raised by their strange strang guardians The dobe wall struggle was the deathblow to the Indian opposition opposItion against the march of civilization Among the famous men who took part partin in this struggle were Bm Bill Dickson and Bat Masterson Buffalo Killed by Million Talking about buffalo hunting e ex exclaimed claimed tIre Mr when Judge Colborn sug suggested eed this topic there were buffalo killed during these years Over men were ac actively actively engaged in buffalo hunting and this number was made up of men who could shoot and did shoot After admitting thAt he had killed about 2500 buffalo Mr Hanrahan again changed the conversation by bv referring to WIld Bill James B Hitchcock wa was his right name and the one lie he did not wear often he began He was undoubtedlY edlY the greatest man the west ever evel knew Unlike Boone and others he was not only a pathfinder but typical west western ern em man nE ver looking for trouble but always getting into int it and emergIng from It with the casualties on the other side of the house I never say a man who could strai straighter and quicker than Wild Bill He b became cam so famous for tor his hardiness s with his revolver that men sou sought ht trouble with him just to b be able to bra brag about It afterward But they did not brag afterwards Wild Bill lii fil filled led several good sized graveyards with men of this calibre He was originally from Illinois and be began an hIs career RR ng a any ny DY in the Union army Ht Ho traveled through the south with a Confederate rat army several months without being sus peeLed When he learned that his game was about up he Inveigled a Confederate officer with whom he was riding to ride ahead the regiment with hIm When a rIver was reached fill BIlI shot the officer officer and he and his horse Black Nell had gaIned the opposIte side of the river and the UnIon lines before the southerners had fully realized what had happened He fought a a pIstol duel with n a fellow in Springfield T ey exchanged shots across a public square In the public section of the city Bill BUl was not the fellow who died How Wild Bill Died siL JJ Wild Em BIll was murdered by Jack Mc McCall Ic Call In August in the Black Hills where he had settled and married BUr Bill always sought n a position wIth his back at the wail when at n a bar or in a 3 gamb gambling ling hag game Just once did he fail to do this and it cost him his life He was playing In a game at Deadwood one night but had forgotten to get in a chair where his back would be agaInst the wall giving ing him a commanding sight of every everyone everyone one in the room Jack McCaU McCall sneaked around behind him and placing a gun against the unsuspecting Bill killed him instant instantly BIll was buried In De Deadwood and a monument erected over his grave Relic hunters chipped this monument to s Later his flis bodY was as removed ann and another monument erected which bears this epitaph Wild Bill A brave man manThe The victim of an n assassin The date ot of the other details follow Mr Hanrahan knew Wild Bill Inti Intimately Intimately and he confessed that he was a source of constant wonder DIsdaIning to chide a child but Quick to use his un unfailing unfailing failing marksmanshIp upon some somo trouble hunting companIon Mr Hanrahan late years has followed mIning and has been closely associated with the mineral development of Cole Colo Colorado Colerado rado and Idaho He Is now living In Darling Ida and has large farms in inthe Inthe the Lost river district He is fond of Salt Lake and visits friends in this city fre frequently frequently He has always made these visits as un unobtrusive unobtrusive obtrusive as possible for to use his own wn words Old frontiersmen are prone to ex cx ag erate and even eyen when they do not their stories seem so improbable in these days when the hardships attendant upon the opening of a new country can not be appreciated The less said the better Mr Hanrahan asserts that there is lit little littIe tIe tle of the interesting In an account of oft t lIs Is participating in the settling of the west T S