USA > Colorado > Colorado pioneers in picture and story > Part 13
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It was only a short time after the organization of the Archer Hose that the famous J. E. Bates Hose No. 3. and the Woodie Fisher Hose No. 1 were organized. Den- ver could now boast of a fire department consisting of one hook and ladder and three hose companies. The Holly system of waterworks was in operation, and about fifteen miles of water mains extended through the thickly popu- lated part of the city.
The old bell was moved to the Archer hose house. Quite a contrast to our up-to-date fire department was the method of alarm. Upon the resignation of Mr. Trounstine. July 31. 1873. Joseph L. Bailey was ap- pointed chief. He led the volunteer companies until April. 1875.
About this time the Broadway Hose No. 6 came into life. Looking over the list of charter members of this company, it would appear to be one of a directorate of some gigantic corporation or syndicate. Among the names are T. M. Patterson. Clarence J. Clark. R. F. Bur- rill. J. B. Vroom. T. N. Haskell. G. G. Svmes. Charles A.
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Treat, Bela M. Hughes, C. H. Mclaughlin. John W. Horner, W. J. Berger and J. F. Brown.
In 1876, a huge fire tower was erected, and shortly afterwards a fire alarm system was introduced. Thomas S. Clayton was chief of the fire department at this time.
The crude but ever willing and enthusiastic Denver volunteer department saved millions to the city, and proved at many big fires that they were firemen of no mean caliber. The question of reorganizing the fire de- partment on a paid basis was agitated for some time, but it was not until June. 1881, that any definite action was taken in the matter. Julius Pearse was appointed as- sistant chief of the paid fire department, and. shortly after, was made chief of the paid department. He served in that capacity until 1897. when he resigned to organize the Julius Pearse Fire Department Supply Company. which company he still heads in the capacity of presi- dent. Mr. Pearse has patented and manufactured nu- merous appliances used throughout the United States in fire fighting. and his company has the distinction of hav- ing installed and equipped ninety-five per cent of the fire departments in the West.
CHERRY CREEK FLOOD
Cherry creek, with its broad, sandy bed, was consid- ered a very inoffensive stream. But. on the night of May 13, 1864, it swept through the town, carrying away in its mad course dwellings, saloons and business build- ings. The old city hall that stood at the Blake street crossing was swept away, and, with it. the iron safe. which was never found afterwards, in which were the town records and various municipal documents, papers conveying real estate titles. and their disappearance caused the historic controversy called the "city lot ques- tion." The Rocky Mountain News building was on a
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foundation of large rough stones laid in the middle of the creek, connected with the banks by a board bridge on piles and which had been so constructed to establish it- self on both sides during the rivalry between the two cities. Those huge stones were picked up and whirled away with the iron safe like chips of wood. The entire property, worth between ten and twelve thousand dol- lars, was carried away. John L. Dailey, one of the pro- prietors, and four of the employes were sleeping in the building and made a hasty escape in scant clothing. Many people were rescued from their falling houses in boats. August Mortz, on some wreckage, floated eighteen miles down the Platte before he could get ashore.
Said Mrs. Samuel Monk: "I heard a terrible sound rolling through the air, like the discharge of a cannon.
-
MRS SAMUEL MONK
E
CHERRY CREEK FLOOD
I threw open the door and be- held a gigantic wave, like an approaching Niagara, reflecting on its crest the light of the moon. At first it was slow and majestic in its movements, then it came faster and
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faster, mounted higher and higher, tearing up solid soil until it held in suspension nearly half its volume in sand. Trees were toppled down, houses fell, and everybody rushed in fright away from the mad torrent.
"After the sorrowful tales were told and the gloom wore away, we found much to laugh at. One lady awoke her husband and asked him to get up and see what was the matter; 'she heard a noise like the screaming of peo- ple.' He said it was the wind, and gave himself up to sleep, but she 'refused to be comforted,' and aroused him again. He said, 'If I go to the door and look out, I sup- pose you will be satisfied.' Stepping on the floor, he plunged knee-deep in water. Then, muttering a few crusty words about leaving the children's bathtub in the middle of the floor, he took another step, only to discover that something was radically wrong. They were saved from a watery grave by the gallant men on horses, who were dashing through the surging waves, rescuing fam- ilies from their flooded homes."
Cherry creek left the old bed and broke another for itself farther north, undermining the bluffs, and, by the various magic of created things, formed new knolls and mounds, which stood fixed and permanent in their sudden heights as if the Divine Architect was remodeling the earth.
Many slept peacefully through it all, awaking long after the sun's bright beams had dispelled the dark- ness and revealed their narrow escape from death. West Denver was overflowed, stretching as a lake half a mile west to the Platte river, and people were rescued from houses surrounded by water for two or three days after the flood came.
One man's house was torn from its foundations and carried by the flood wave to a hill, where it was stranded like the ark on Mt. Ararat. The next morning, when viewing the topography. he exclaimed: "Has the earth
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been turned upside down, wrong side out, or have I lost my wits ?"
A gentleman living on the North Side advertised :
"Lost-On the night of the nineteenth, four first-class building lots. They are probably stateward bound. Any- one who will overtake and return them will be liberally rewarded by the owner."
Another requested the removal of other people's lots from his real estate.
A negro woman and five children took a deck pas- sage on their cabin roof for a couple of miles, and were safely anchored on the limbs of a cottonwood tree.
The loss was heavy, and fifteen or twenty people were drowned.
Within a month. Byers & Dailey built the Common- wealth printing establishment and resumed publication of the News.
Of course. there were many theories and specu- lations about water spouts. cloudbursts and so on. When the facts were de- veloped, it was found to be the result of a storm on the Divide, of rain and hail alternately, which raged almost continuously for several days. One good effect of the flood was the washing away of all hostile or sectional feelings between the east and west divisions of the city.
The turning of the bed of Cherry creek was
Robt. W. Speer
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then energetically discussed, and became an intermittent disease with which Denver was afflicted until Robert W. Speer became mayor in 1904. He solved the problem by confining the stream in a narrow channel with stone and cement walls. The space back of each wall was filled in and edged with trees, paved roadways and lights. The Speer boulevard is today an attractive driveway.
CHAPTER XIV THE INDIAN WAR THE REIGN OF TERROR
To call it the "reign of terror" but feebly expresses the state of affairs existing in Colorado in 1864.
Occasionally a straggling Indian, mounted on the inevitable pony, would ride straight up to the windows (for fences were few and far between in those days), flatten his face against the window pane and scream, "How." which, although a polite greeting enough, served to frighten timid women and children well nigh out of their wits. A lady, in replying to such a salute, opened her mouth wide and lifted her false teeth out on her tongue. The Indian, who had never seen the like before, regarded her as a spirit, and beat a tumultuous retreat.
One day as Mrs. Steck was arranging her bonnet be- fore a glass, by the side of her serene face was reflected the squalid features of a squaw, who had stolen into the room unawares. and seeing her own image in the glass. was thrown into a paroxysm of delight by contemplating her beauty. perhaps her toilet, which was nothing more than a string of beads around her neck and a blanket about her waist. Beyond the advantage of protection from the weather. they were in the most unsophisticated ignorance as to the ordinary uses of clothing. But so great was their vanity they would give anything they possessed for a mirror.
The Hungate family, father, mother and children. had been murdered at a short distance from Denver, and threats had been made to sack and burn the city. The nerves of the people were strung to the highest tension,
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and they were ready for a panic at the least intimation of danger.
Late one evening a man dashed into town, frightened almost out of his senses, and reported that a large com- pany of hostile Indians were driving off stock and mur- dering the ranchmen. The scene that followed was in- describable. Every bell in the city sounded the alarm. Men, women and children pushed through the streets en deshabille, and literally crazed with fear. The United States branch mint was prominent among the places of refuge. In the general alarm, wells, cisterns, dark alleys and dry goods boxes became hiding places for the terror- stricken inhabitants. One man said to another, "My gun has been idle for so long, I wonder if it will go off: I be- lieve I will shoot at that dry goods box and see." Imme- diately the box rose up on two legs. and a voice from within shouted, "Don't shoot."
Mrs. Sears stopped to leave things in order, and pack her new silk dress in a valise which she intended to carry on her arm; her delay excited the alarm of her son. "Jep" Sears, who went in search of her. She saw him coming. and supposing him to be an Indian, she made a rapid exit from the back door. He followed, calling her to stop. The old lady, being a little deaf, failed to catch the words. but the voice excited her all the more, and impelled to her highest speed, she never stopped until she reached a place of safety, where. trembling and exhausted. she dis- covered she had been running away from her own son.
So great was the confusion incident to the fright. it is believed that one hundred Indians could have taken the city.
The armory was opened and the arms distributed to the distracted men, who rushed around like peripatetic arsenals.
Mr. Rodney Curtis, then a dapper young man of Denver, heard that it was a false alarm. and made all pos-
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sible haste to the mint, to relieve the fears of the panic- stricken people. Said Mr. Curtis: "Just as I stepped inside the door, a woman rushed up to me and said, 'Hold my baby while I go and find my other children.' With that she placed the child in my arms and dashed wildly away through the crowd. I experienced an overflowing sensation of goneness. It was done so suddenly that I could not state to a certainty who the mother was.
"The little fellow fixed his big eyes on me and com- menced to screech. I couldn't walk with him, the crowd was too dense. I bounced him up and down, sang all the Mother Goose melodies that I knew, whistled and smiled at him, while I felt as savage as a Sandwich Is- lander. There is no romance in taking care of other peo- ple's children.
"He yelled incessantly. I looked at my watch; an hour had gone. Saints and angels; why had she perpe- trated this joke upon me? I gave the baby another bounce. He knocked my hat off, caught at the end of my cravat and tore that off. And I was in a very dilapi- dated condition when the mother finally appeared. She commenced to apologize, but I stopped her, by saying : 'Don't speak of it.' I meant it, too, for it was too dread- ful to talk about. After pulling myself together, I mounted a goods box and exclaimed: ‘It is a false alarm.' "
A train of Mexican freighters camping for the night. about fifteen miles east of Denver, were throwing their arms high in the air and shouting at their unruly cattle, which caused the headlong arrival of the ranchman into the city, who so admirably succeeded in imparting his fears to the citizens.
The city soon resumed its businesslike tranquillity, but the great scare furnished a topic for conversation long after.
These panics were not confined to Denver alone. A
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Mrs. C -- , who owned a ranch way up the country, had sent her men out to gather in the stock. While sitting alone in the house, cogitating on the various Indian ru- mors, she began to feel afraid, and looking out the back door she saw an Indian in the willows. She remembered hearing the boys say something about having seen fresh tracks in that gulch, and now she was satisfied that they were Indian tracks. There were sixty guns in the cham- ber above, that had been left there by the government. and quick as thought she rushed upstairs, seized a gun. rested the muzzle on the floor and while examining it to see if it were loaded, it went off, sending the bullet with such force that it tore up the floor, went through and through her new patent churn in the kitchen and battered up the milk pans in the cellar most shamefully. Without stopping to meditate on the danger and power of that weapon, she took another, tore out a port-hole. and seeing the black head just above the willows, she took aim and fired. The bark flew in every direction, and lo and be- hold, in the heat of her imagination. she had shot an old stump.
The ranchmen clubbed together, built forts and block houses. and moved their families to them for safety.
CAPTURING SPOTTED HORSE
Spotted Horse was the chief of a band of Indians who, by their savage atrocities. caused a reign of terror along the Platte in the spring of '64. Houses and barns were burned for a distance of two hundred miles; men. women and children were massacred in a most terrible manner.
Spotted Horse, with his small band of warriors. hideous with paint, feathers and shot-gun, had Denver effectually besieged. There were troops at Fort Kearney. four hundred miles east, but they made no effort to pun-
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ish the murderers. Occa- sionally, with colors fly- ing, they escorted an im- migrant wagon or freight train and gently pushed the playful Indians back.
Their kindness was carried a little too far; it was about to step into ec- centricity. Matters be- Indians Attacking Stage Coach gan to assume a solemn form. It was death to the pioneers from starvation and the tomahawk, or death to Spotted Horse and his band.
At this critical moment the "Colorado First," a reg- iment of brave men who volunteered to fight the rebellion, returned from New Mexico.
Major Downing, with a fraction of his regiment, con- sisting of about sixty-five men. was ordered to proceed down the Platte and clear the road.
The major had won a reputa- tion for undaunted bravery. "Sure," said Mike. "he is a very Daniel : he has a charmed life. I have seen him sit on a high rock. in the thickest of the fight. and repair his revolver when the bul- lets were falling thick around him, and never a wound did he get. I have seen his coat perfor- ated with holes like a sifter, and a twenty dollar gold piece mashed Jacob Downing to a cup in his vest pocket, yet there is not a scar on his body, and I'll venture to say he will never be found dead walking around."
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Spotted Horse, a bloodthirsty and cunning Indian, was a formidable foe.
But the major, cool, deliberate and calculating, was equal to the occasion. He reached the American ranch one hundred and fortv-five miles below Denver, where Spotted Horse and his warriors made their rendezvous, and pitched his tent.
As he sat in his camp one morning viewing the coun- try through a field glass. he saw a man dressed in citi- zen's clothes on the opposite side of the river. He imme- diately detached ten or twelve men to capture him, and if possible to bring him to the camp alive, for he knew from his walk that he was an Indian, probably one of their scouts on a tour of observation.
When brought into camp he proved to be none other than the famous Spotted Horse.
The major surveyed him for a while in meditative serenity; then offered the Indian. who sat in sullen silence, his life, if he would surrender his band. This he refused to do.
He then ordered his men to drive a stake and pre- pare to roast the Indian alive.
The chief gathered his coat around him and sat con- templating his funeral pyre with stoical indifference.
When the fire was kindled the major gave orders to bind him to the stake, saying, "You have seen many a white man die this horrible death, and now we propose to let you know how it is yourself."
This unnerved him: he pleaded for his life, and promised to lead the soldiers to his camp. The terms were agreed upon, and in the shortest possible time the command was moving, with Spotted Horse strapped on a horse in advance.
They camped that night in a little ravine, and the chief informed them that his warriors were only a few miles ahead. up the canyon that they were approaching.
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About eleven o'clock at night the major and his com- mand stole away, leaving the camp fires burning to make the Indian scouts believe that they were still there. Reach- ing the spot designated by Spotted Horse, early in the morning, the order was given to halt and form in line of battle.
At a given signal he opened fire. The Indians made a bold resistance, but finally surrendered.
This was the first Indian battle in Colorado, and the result was. forty killed and one hundred wounded. their village destroyed and their chief a prisoner.
Spotted Horse was sent to Washington, and after- wards went to Europe with a showman, where he was gazed upon by thousands as a fine specimen of the North American Indian.
Peace was restored along the Platte, and Major Downing sustained the loss of only one man.
TAKING THE BABY TO HIS FATHER
In the spring of 1864 the Indians started on the war- path. Stages and wagon trains were waylaid and pas- sengers massacred. For a time communication between Colorado and civilization was almost stopped; the road was dotted with the bones of the dead and sprinkled with the blood of the wounded and slain.
An incident more vivid and thrilling than any of fancy's written tales, and highly illustrative of the an- guish of mind and body endured by the traveler during those perilous times, was told to me by Mrs. Bowman. a very interesting and intelligent woman.
"I was full of youth and vivacity and my constant buoyancy of spirit made me a joy to my friends. My husband had left me and my beautiful baby boy in Atchi- son, where I waited impatiently his summons to join him in Denver. After a few months he wrote of being lone- some, and of his great desire to see the baby. I decided
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to go to Denver and take the baby to his father. I knew that Ben Holladay had withdrawn his coaches, and the United States mail had been discontinued. because of In- dian depredations, but I feared no evil. I never bor- rowed trouble, and had one risen from the dead and prophesied the danger before me, I would not have be- lieved. My husband telegraphed a friend to see that everything was provided to make my journey as pleas- ant as possible. Accordingly. I was fitted out with a light wagon, nicely covered. and drawn by two spirited. fleet-footed mares. I hired a negro driver, by the name of Lee Ayres, a large, strong man and known to be per- fectly trustworthy. I also engaged a white man to assist in attending the team and help about the camp. My companion was a woman, somewhat older than myself. I had known her from childhood and called her 'Muzzey. She was a very devout Christian. and exacted of me a promise that I would not travel on Sunday. I said. 'All right. "Muzzey," you can pray and I will watch.' The fact of our husbands both being in Denver formed a strong sympathetic link between us. and the hope of meeting them inspired us with courage to undertake the hazardous journey.
"For the first four days out, we lingered with a train of ox teams. Picturesque Indians with feathers in their hair, crowded about us, begging for whisky and swear- ing in pure English. They had acquired a Billingsgate vocabulary of unrivaled opulence.
"A kind friend, thoughtful of protecting my com- plexion, made me a lavender berage sun-bonnet. lined with pink. and finished with a long skirt: they were greatly in vogue in those days. An Indian, regarding it as a curiosity, snatched it from my head, placed it on his own, and went galloping over the plains, performing wild and dexterous evolutions, with the long gauzy skirt of the bonnet floating around his head like a cloud.
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"True to my promise, when Sunday came, we camped. I can never forget that Sunday's camping on the plains. It added ten years to my life. The sun seemed to stand still, and I thought, if this is time, what is eternity ?
"Ten days after we left Atchison, the telegraph wires were cut and the operators deserted their stations. We met men on horseback, who rode wildly from ranch to ranch, heralding the news of savage warfare. . They told us the Indians were on the outbreak back of us. We could not retrace our steps, so we left the ox teams and pushed forward. I stopped at Fort Kearney and asked for an escort, but was gruffly refused. All that was left to us was to go on. When evening came, we were out on the rough green plains that 'no man reaps.' in the midst of an eternal and infinite solitude, with the horrible death at the hands of the 'red man' staring us in the face. Mv heart seemed beating a funeral march. my watch served only to arouse the old superstition of 'death ticks.' Oh. what a procession of phantoms went moving through my highly excited brain.
"Between four and five in the morning, when it was beginning to look rosy in the east, we stopped in a little ravine to feed our horses and eat our breakfast. Lee Ayres, in a feeble effort to dispel the gloom, said. 'We are just like morning glories, out the first thing in the morning.'
"Suddenly our attention was arrested by a smoke that rose higher and higher. and grew blacker and blacker. until the whole heavens seemed to be draped in mourn- ing. Lee Ayres climbed to the top of the wagon and gazed, as if looking into some destruction: his counte- nance betokened a soul stricken dumb. At last, in smoth- ered tones, he said, 'Oh, my God! We are gone.' The ox trains in front of us were all on fire. The black smoke from the burning bacon drifted towards us and
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prevented the savages from seeing our little wagon in the ravine. The agony that we suffered made that half hour a living age. We felt that death was overshadow- ing us and we knelt in prayer. The good woman at my side seemed to be whispering her dearest secrets into the ears of God. Her face shone with a heavenly light, that fell upon me like a benediction, and I felt resigned to say, 'Father, not my will, but Thine, be done.' Lee Ayres said, 'I will crawl on my hands and knees up the ravine, until I can command a better view, and if I find that death is inevitable, you must kill your baby, I will kill you and then kill myself; they cannot have us alive.' 'Kill my child !' I cried. 'My dear little innocent babe. Oh. no! I can never do that.'
"When Lee returned his face was lit up with re- newed hope. He said, 'The Indians are gone and we will make the drive for life.' As we neared the conflagration, the horses became unmanageable, and the one on the right jumped out of the traces. The Indians had gotten some distance up the ravine when they caught a glimpse of our moving wagon. They turned with a fiendish whoop and commenced firing upon us.
"The white man sprang to the tongue of the wagon. and. drawing a knife commenced to cut the harness from the horses, saying that he intended to make his escape.
"'Stop,' commanded the negro. leveling his revolver at him; 'if you cut another strap you die.' The miserable wretch crouched on the tongue and watched him with glittering eyes. The Indians were rapidly gaining upon us.
"The negro driver said to me, 'Give your baby to Muzzey and drive, while I shoot at the Indians.'
"Superhuman strength seemed to be given me. I clasped my child to my breast with one hand and seized the reins with the other. The horses went dashing, rear- ing, plunging around burning wagons. On either side
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were horses and oxen struggling in the agonies of death, and men dead or dying, wrapped in winding sheets of flame.
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