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Show 2 - BREEZY TIMES - MAY 15, 1996 HISTORY AND SETTLEMENT OF NORTHERN SAN JUAN COUNTY, UTAH —from the writings of Frank Silvey (This continuing series is from the Silvey wn‘fings which capture much of the color and feeling of the early settlers in southeast Utah.) AMBUSH Shortly after this event, Philander Maxwell made a visit to Moab on horseback. After visiting a couple reaching it unless help came to him. But he must have water, or perish from thirst and slowly he began to crawl on his hands and knees. At intervals all night he crawled. Cactus and prickly pear needles entered his hands and knees, but he could not extract them so he kept on Near sunrise. he heard Indian voices and became frightened, thinking they would now finish him but they proved to be two Indian squaws mounted on ponies hunting horses. They managed to lift him on one of the ponies, then one broke off a large switch from a willow tree, and hastily giving it to him, she said, ”Vamoose! Go! Indian heap mad!” At last he partly understood them, and keeping a sharp lookout for Indians, he hastened on his way and arrived home at Coyote without event. A few hours later Ervin and Joe Wilson came up the trail riding double and bareback on one of their work mares. They were looking for some horses that had gotten away from them a few days previously. "Md Moab was fifteen miles, so he had little hope of ever of days, he left Moab at an early hour and arrived at way to him, but he could not understand what they were driving at. Finally one squaw rushed over and Seeing no Indians and not dreaming of any danger, they started up the trail that leads to the mesa and Coyote. About half way up this hill they were fired on from ambush, by the Indians. Joe, a mere boy at that time, was shot in the foot. Neither of them had a gun, and the shock and pain was so great that Joe fell off the horse and started to crawl into the thick brush nearby. At the same time he shouted to Ervin to run as he was shot and could not run. Ervin quit the horse and took to the brush, evading the Indians, and escaped. Joe crawled thought the heavy brush for some distance, keeping hidden from the Indians for some time, but his progress was slow and the loss of blood and the pain in his foot was terrible. Leaving a trail of blood as he crawled on, made trailing him an easy matter for the Indians, and they soon came up with him. At a distance of only a few feet, an Indian drew down on Joe's head and fired. The bullet cut off the center of Joe's nose, then shot away his eye, but did not penetrate to the brain, as the bullet seemingly glanced around a part of the skull. For a wonder, Joe did not at once lose consciousness so he heard one Indian remark, ”Wane" Winchester. Soon after this the Indian left, and Joe lay in the hot sun all the balance of that day. There was no water to be had, he was very weak and almost blind, for he had but one eye, as the other had been blinded by the shot. Fearing that the Indians would see him if he started to move, he played dead until "new. . courage to try and get there somehow, someway. The distance from where he lay to his home in the head of Pack Creek near the old Indian trail that starts up the hill to Coyote and La Sal. Three Indian squaws suddenly appeared out of the bushes, and waved for him to stop. They jabered in an excited Minsky»: darkness fell. He could see but little, but the poineer instinct of knowing where home was, gave him the got up to hold him on and the other squaw got on the other pony and they started for Moab. Soon after he heard the murmur of water and finally made the squaw understand he wanted a drink. They gave him all the water he wanted and at the same time picked a lot of cactus spines out of his hands and knees. At last, reaching Moab, the squaws left Joe about fifty yards from his home, then wheeled their ponies and whipped them into a run back toward their own“wickiup” near where Joe had been wounded. Leaving Joe, Ervin Wilson kept to the timber and rocks most of the way. As Coyote was much nearer than Moab, Ervin headed for that place. Running and trotting as fast as he could, he would become exhausted at times and rest a spell, then hearing the Indians coming close behind on their ponies, he would make another dash for Coyote, where he fi- nally arrived at sundown. Bursting in on the settlers he shouted, "The Indians are after me!" There were five men in camp at that hour. Each had some kind of a gun or six- shooter, but Grandpa Maxwell was the only one that had any cartridges to speak of. As all the guns did not shoot the same kind of cartridge it left a cartridge famine in the camp, but they prepared the best they could, getting all the women in one cabin. The Indians did not attack them however. Had they known the whites had so little ammunition, they could have wiped out this little settlement completely. The whites saw several Indians peering over a ridge near by, but they refrained from firing on them, and darkness coming on, the Indians retired without firing a single shot. The shooting of Joe Wilson and the attempted killing of Ervin, was one of the most dastardly deeds ever committed by the Indians in the West. The Wilsons at their home in Moab had always fed and treated the Indians kindly. The Wilson boys were unarmed and why they were attacked in this manner no one will ever know. Next month: “The Killing of Dick May.” Much appreciation to the Times-Independent for giving permission to reprint these selections from the History and Settlement of Northern San Juan County. Utah, from the writings of Frank Silvey. an early pioneer in this area. |