OCR Text |
Show DEATH OF "BIG BEN" BANNISTERLast Fight IT was a far cry from Fort Yatcy, Dakota Da-kota Territory, to Fort Custer, Montana, in 3870. When I received orders for my transfer iu that year I sot out on horseback to make Uie four hundred mile journey. An Indinu scout accompanied nic for one hundred miles,' then he turned back, leaving nic alone. That was at a point just about sixty miles west of the Missouri, at the edge of the Grand Kiver timber belt. I was riding through b.irren country and there weren't even chips enough to I make a fire- It was cold, and at night I used to shoot three or four antelope, cut out the fat, bud a largo Hat stouo and burn the fat on it. This was the only warmth I could have. The first shack I encountered was , at the Hismarck trail erasing of the Graud llivcr The shack I was occupied by three men iu the employ of the Overland Stage Company. During the night two other men arrived on horseback. horse-back. The name of one I never learned, - but the other was "Big Ben" Bannister, : a pal of "Kcbel" George, or, as he was , often called, "Big N'obcd" George. Both were road agents and had many holdups and murders to their credit. i Before daylight "Big Bcu" and the s -other man passed on toward the Black e Hills, and one of the employe of the Overland Stage Company told me thai C the two men had been very inquisitive !t about my identity, wbnL was my business and so on. Early in the moruiut I tool (C I Hill I M !. --"ft ' Edward H. Allison, Scout, His Daughter, Son-in-Law and Si Grandchildren ! to my horso and that night staked him in 'a clump of red willows In the Grand I River country. The eun had shone lluightly all dny and 1 spread ray blankets I to dry. . I It is always good to know the lay of Ihe hand about you, so before making supper !l climbed to tho top of a bnttc. The enly living thing- I could sec from there wore antelope, coyotes and jackrabbitd. While ; clambcrin- down thu .bntto I P"cd the t first and only black fos I have ever seen. Ho jumped out of a copse and ran away northward. Quick as 1 was with a rillo I missed him three times, and the ahots I fired nearly cost me my, c at you will see. For dinner I had some autolopo meat, then after cutting some 'bark from tho red willows to mix with niy tobneco, a trick learned from tho Indians, I rolled up in my blanket and) 'h,tllu eaddle for Described by Scout Who Killed Him ir. pillow, was soon aslevp. My feet were just at tho edge of tho ditch w;here the rod willows grow. Suddenly I was awakened by the snorting snort-ing of my liorse. It wns a danger signal, lie was accustomed to the scent of coyotes co-yotes and antelopes, and I knew somctbing out of the ordinary must be near. I eat up quickly, resting my weight on my ol--bows partially. Just at the instant I I moved two shots rang out in the woods land two bulleti tore into the saddlo where n moment before my head had been, j With a smgle leap 1 was in the ditch, 1 my loaded Winchester in my hand. I Stealthily I wriggled into the patch of willows, where I would be concealed. The bunk of the ditch wns covered with tall grass, and peering through this I saw, not sixty yards away, two men standing with rifles ready, watching the spot whero I hnd disuppeaicd into the ditch. "Big Ben" Bannister was nearest to me. Careful not to stir a single leaf, I brought my rifle to my shoulder ard fired. "Big Ben" pitched forward onto his face, but the smoke revealed my position. Before the other man could fire I was nt the bottom of the ditch again, wriggling wrig-gling along to a new poaitlou. He stood swaying from side to side, his gun ready, peering for me. 1 had the snmo advantage as before. Screened by the urnss, I covered cov-ered the bandit and shouted to him .to throw down his gun. t k 7- i. . - C , i '" Instead he bled lib nlle, nui missed me. He lushed at me, nnd there was uo alternative. I pulled the trigger, uud be rolled onto his back and lay -till. For a long time 1 watched them, fearing a ruse, but the bodies did not moc. Although I finally walked oer and looked at the bodies I did not iko to touch them. Ono I recognized as "Big Ben" Bauuister, but the other I knew only as a stranger, whose life I had to take to save niy own. I knew there might hare been more m the party, so I uiudc a wide detour, kcep-ilug kcep-ilug under cover by means of the uneven charncter of tho country. In a little cpc (surrounded by hills, south of the Grand I Kiver, I found Avherc they hnd camped and knew there had been three of them. The third man probably hnd he'ard the sound of firing and had waited for the return of his pals, Tho trai! showed that when they did not come he mounted one horso and rode away, leading two other' Bannister arid the other men had probably j been waiting for me, and tho shots I fired , at the b'lack fox doubtless told them of my presence In the neighborhood. It was not my duty to trail down road ngents or bandits, so I proceeded toward Fort Custer, From Fort Kcogh I telegraphed tele-graphed to the United States prosecuting nttorncv, at Helena, Montana, reporting the facts, and he replied, expressing thanks that the country was rid of thej aotorioua outlaw. ; , ' t . ' "fc - . t |