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Show Spin Yarns of Old Indian Fights Veterans Gathered at Convention Con-vention Tell Stories of Frontier Days. St. Joseph, Mo. I'nUirful tales ot Indian fighting in the West more than 5X1 years ago marked the convention of National Indian War Veterans which concluded here recently. A story of how Gen. tionrge Crook noted Indian fighting con nder ol the old West, circumvented army reg nlations and killed un Indian was told by John F. Mahoiiy. seventy eight years old. of 1'iescott. Ariz., one of the plainsmen attending the con vemion. This story hud never heen posted In army records. Mr. Mahony said, and had not been l!d since the general's death. "In the spring ol 171 a punch ot Slohaves Jumped a stagecoach out of Wickenhurg, Ariz., and killed live persons, all hut two of the pnssen gers," Mr. Mahony recnunted. "No body knew who the Indians were, hut General Crook set about to lind out. A powwow of the Mohaves was ar ranged they were supposed to he on peace terms wilh the whites and I was invited to attend I was stage station keeper about I'd miles from Wiekenhnrg. "Arataha, a Mohave chief, who seemed to know lot of things most Mohaves didn't know uhotit so far us. t I'.e white army men were concerned came to me and said : "'You come owov. MaytK? so we have some time. I '.ring gun. "So I nent to I'ead Creek where the fiowwow was to he and stood some way behind Ceneral Crook, siting on a bench with p!en:y of ea a!r men about. The Mohaves were n--emMe.l and the peace pip' went around Then Arataha began going a round to it tain of the Miime warrior, offer ir:g them -.mail pieies of chewing to . hn.eo. Il was the Mohae chief's lip I to fleneral Crook in to which Indian-" lie!d up the ?:ege-oai h j Indians Began to Flee. "P.ut when ahoui tar of tie In dians had been singled out the grrv alarmed and started to ta-e. A battle followed line of the t. raves got l,e hind (ietieral Crook and as iiboul to sink a knife between hi shoi:hler when Cenung. a w hite raneln-r w tm was .resent, stopped him. and was about to kill him. Cenung stood with his foot on the pro-trate Indian's neck, and I stood reajy to shoot Mm. r.m Oeneral Crook held up his hand and said : "'No; orders are no Indian shall be Phot outright.' "I del not shoot, hut Inter when the cavalrymen gathered around Ceneral Crook, that Indian was found dead No bullet wound was on him. and only a very small wound In his side nuide by a long, slender knife gae evidence he had been killed. "Nobody knew who killed that In dian. except Cenung and myself. We saw (ieneral Crook step oer light m R Hash and stii k n dirk Into him. Then the general winned us not to pipe. We obeyed orders." Mr. Miihony was one of the ipiletest of the veterans pre-ent. yef he iiad some cf the rnos( vivid ntiei doti to relate of his army outpost das from i ISo'l to 1S7H. lie called the sUrmMic "rackets," started when the I'les. or the .Mnhines, as the case might be, were "cutting up." Bear Aided In Capture. "We were iui si-ouiinu for ti rn kei with h bunch of Navajos In miurhcrn New Mexico." he said. "It was our third day without waier nod the cap tain dispatched two men to the east and two lo the west to look for sign of water. "Jackson and 1 wvni west, and about n mile ut of ciimp we ran onto a bear wilh two cnlw. We whooped em up and soon Miot:e bears were gal loping over the foothills, us after em. We came over one hilltop directly and pop Into H camp ot the Indians we were looking for. Three siiuiw's were cooking stulT around a cuiuplire. The bears made for 'em. and we after 'em. shooting mid yelling "It was loo late to turn hack then, and the sipiaws and the whole camp ot warriors took to horse and circled buck plumb Into our detachment, which was moving nhead A battle followed and 1" of the Indians, nil the men. were killed. "Jackson came over to me nnd whls tiered : M-Ion't say nnything about them bears. John ; I didn't.' "So we got credit for routing out a whole camp of Indians." Tribute to Red Men'i Valor. Some tine compliments to the In dian were heard here. "It was tu. experience that ILe In dian wus no coward In Ids way ot lighting." John W. Alhrey. seventy six years old. of Decatur. Neb., said "When it came to a running tight, which was his stile, tie was hard to heat ecept with larger numbers." Comrade Albrey roaim'd the plains from Minnesota to Montana Hs h mounted Infantryman from lso; to I1-'?'. lie was stationed at main frontier forts and was H participant in The noted tangle ni;h "Seiiln I'.uil.' as Albr.-v styled that Indian chief, ill the imoimIi of the Vellowstone rlier in Angu-t. siis. He was boi through the left ankle l y an arrow. "I talked wilh m.:i. a S."IIV chief.' Mr. AM.rej said, explaining that he hail learned the language " talkiil with Scllln I'.uil. Two It.-.irs. Af'anl of His llor-e and scleral other chief, I'iie S.i'UX. vol kmc.v. Were the woisl tighter- of nil "Wl.cii I t.ni.-h.d tall.ing with then, ! ami a tier luv l-g.itil-g e oerienee. I coliid n.-v.-r l iana- Il. In, I all for at t.-o k ng our forces now and then We would have don,, l!i(, same thing parlne' was their country M.d they hi d n right to scrap for It. I rei kon. "And. In mv pinion. If the red men had arms und a mm n n il h-n to match ours, they might have cleaned ill) the Wet in the.,, early da.vs." Indiani Friendly to Ncgroet. Mr. A 1 to y rei ailed how one time two young Indian braves galloped upon mi entire compaii) of the white Soldiers while thev Were llbonl to camp and reiklessiy shot arrows linn their midst. Thev were fenrle.sH. Thev escaped b"lllg killed hecnuse (he plain-men had laid u-lde their guns for lie moment. (). C. pollock ol Ciiiioii-burg. pu.. Served III the Third ('lillc.1 Sf.lti-S cnvnlr.v from s,7d to IS77 He llgr I that "when II came to n running light, the Indians vvonl,) stand In there with a ny one " The one negro Indian lighter pros eill. John Hubert of St. Joseph, told of hovv friendly the Indians were with the negro envalary del in h mi'iil s of the plains. "They called us tie bow Soldiers." Hubert said "'No tight 'em.' thev would say. We could march right through their camps without moles tn I Ion "I always heard we were left nlone bci-nii-,. the Indians believed the devil had blacked our faces. Anyway, we was lucky." he laughed One of the plot uresij ue figures at the convention was A. I.. Huron of I'.lg Horn county, Moiiiiimi. grand marshal of the organlatlon. lie Is seventy years old nnd was n govern ment Indian tighter fro-, i IN7U to 1S84. He wears a dazzlingly white ten-gal Ion S'Jtl hut, atop wid white, sideburns side-burns and a pair of "HIM Cody" eyes Scouted With "Buffalo Bill." lie looks the part ol a Kit Carson oi Cody, nnd gallantry Is his forte. Ill one vest pocket me three silver wrapped cigars and a row ot fountain foun-tain pens; ovei another, a series of badges, among them one marked "Carry Owen." with u pair of sabers at tlie sides. " 'Cany Owen to Cilory was Ceneral Cen-eral Custer's battle song." lie said. "That badge Is the mark of the Seventh Sev-enth cavalry, budilie." As the veterans sat around In front of the brick .icuiliunrlers building the talk buzzed. "Hovv de do. comrade." said one old-tiiiNT to another, ns be leaned on his cane. "Pension still (-tuning regular?" reg-ular?" One ot the men who scouted under 'IlulTalo Hill" was Ceorge C. P.eck. seventy-nine years old. of Kansas City, Kan He was stntloned out at Fort Hayes. Kan., for a time. I The fighter with the longest service serv-ice record was Col. Allien 1'en.sch of 1-os Angeles. He was In the army 4. years and three months. P.efore bis Indian lighting davs fie was h mI I teacher In Putnam county. Missouri. He was In 17 skirmishes with the In dhins und was wounded In the thtgn by un arrow which caused blood pol soiling and a long Illness, At one time he was held prisoner by the Navajos and Apaches. Among the former fighters present j was John M. Craves of Philadelphia, j |
