USA > Texas > Wise County > Pioneer history of Wise County; from red men to railroads-twenty years of intrepid history > Part 14
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
as the day was beginning to dawn. Near midday she was awakened by the tramping of horses' feet near, and, springing up, found herself surrounded by another band of Indians. Her flight had ended in a second capture, this time by Comanches. They placed her on a horse and took her far away from the settlements near the head of Red River, to their Indian village. Again she was doomed to marry a chief, and again was placed in the hands of an old squaw; but the marriage this time was to be three moons away. A cultured and refined woman was doomed to marry a savage. She was a remarkable woman whom, though far away from her Texas home and friends, never lost hope nor courage, unbearable as was her captivity. An- other opportunity to escape at last came. Again at night on the same horse, she made her escape, and to elude her cruel masters, galloped away in the opposite direction from her home. Fortunate was she this time, for she found the trail of a wagon train next day, which she followed rapidly, at last overtaking the train of freight wagons. With these freighters she journeyed to Fort Supply, where she became acquainted with a Kansas family whom she accompanied to their Kansas home. She was afterward married to a prosperous stockman. She raised a large family, and still lives, loved and respected by a large circle of friends."
THE MURDER OF NICK DAWSON.
The details of the following description of the murder of Nick Dawson are derived from Mr. H. G. Bedford's book, entitled, "Texas Indian Troubles," and from the statement of living pioneers who are acquainted with the facts.
Niek Dawson was a well-known citizen living in the southeast part of the county, near the present town of Rhome, and for a number of years was the chief support of his widowed mother and several brothers and sisters, but at the time of his death he was living to himself, the other members of his family being his wife and a Choctaw Indian boy whom he had taken to raise.
Dawson ranched out on the high prairies in a locality through which the Indians customarily passed in their circular sweeps
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THE MURDER OF NICK DAWSON.
through the county. He had become accustomed to Indian attacks, and his body bore marks of many dangerous encounters with the terrorizing fiends of the frontier. So bravely had he acted out his part on the manifold occasions when it had been necessary for the settlers to offer united defense to the country, that he became generally respected and admired. His death was deeply deplored by all the frontier citizens who today recall the circumstance as one of the most celebrated of the times.
The killing occurred in regions contiguous to Morris Branch, where Dawson had gone in search of a fine mare turned loose on the range. The only witnesses to the outrage were the murderous perpetrators themselves and the unfortunate victim, a fact which makes conclusions in regard thereto more specu- lative than specifically correct. But notwithstanding this, a pretty well-defined idea of that which occurred has been generally accepted as the true facts.
It appears that, in his search for the mare, Dawson had descended into the low valley which formed the basin about the head of Morris Branch. In a bunch of thickly-set timber and briers at a distance he discovered what he took to be a body of cowmen on horses, and naturally he rode toward them, hoping to learn news of his mare. But when a few yards off from the grove he discovered the men to be Indians, about forty five in number, and within a few moments he was speeding across the prairie in the opposite direction, with the Indians coming like mad on his trail. Dawson was riding a horse noted for his running qualities, and the distance covered in the wild chase was some- thing like three miles, at the termination of which the savages elosed in upon him, shot him to death, scalped him and butchered his body in a most horrible manner.
In the chase the Indians are thought to have adopted the tacties which they resorted to in every experience of this kind, tacties, it may well be said, from which a pursued victim rarely, if ever, escaped, and which perhaps accounted for Dawson's death, even though mounted as he was on a horse the superior of any the Indians rode.
At the beginning of the run the Indians separated into a wide flying column, the extreme ends of which bore down on
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Dawson, depriving him of the advantage of eireuitous routes and forcing him across defiles and to the ascent of grades which exhausted the energies of his horse and stole from him his precious time. At the end of so cunning a policy, when Daw- son's horse had fagged, the red-faces ran upon him and com- mitted their hellish barbarism.
That night the Choctaw boy, who was devoted to his guardian, sprang up in bed and cried out, "Uncle Niek is killed and the Indians have scalped him." Sure enough, the next day he was found bearing the marks which had so strangely appeared to the boy in his shadowy presentiment.
With the coming of night the Indians stole an unusually large number of horses, and created such excitement throughout the county that a large force of citizens united to intercept their advance as they were leaving the country. A fight and recap- ture of the horses took place very early the following morning near the old Conelly place, a few miles north of Decatur. In this fight, besides a large number of others, the following en- gaged: Captain George Stevens, Jess Fullingim, Tom and Henry Jennings, Carlo Ball, Dick Reiger, John Wallace, Jim Reiger, Choc Perrin, Charley Jones, Bob and Jeff Wallace, Bill Carroll, Hub Earp, George and Hugh Kelly. John Gose, Sr., and John Smith.
These men and others got together during the night, camping at a large plum thicket near the Conelly place. At about sun- rise the Indians were seen approaching the ambuseade that had been prepared for them: on the way they had to pass by the house and field of Charlie Jones, where they got down and took some green corn from the patch. A little further on out, on the high hill, they killed a hog and were in the act of partak- ing of this meat when they were boldly charged by the armed band of citizens: The Indians ran down the hill to the west, and turned loose a fusillade of shots at the pursuing white men, who, undeterred, came on at a headlong rush. In the charge George Kelley received a ball through the foot which also broke his horse's leg.
At the base of the hill the Indians separated and entered the timber, fleeing in all directions, and after dodging several
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CAPT. IRA LONG'S HOT ENGAGEMENT.
charges, finally escaped, going northwest. During the fighting when the Indians scattered, the men likewise separated into individual groups and chased whatever number of Indians ap- peared before them. John Wallace and Dick Reiger detached one and gave him a strenuous mile and a half chase, when the Indian eluded them in the timber just at the moment when Reiger collided with a tree with such force as to disable him. Jess Fullingim also got a big chief hedged away from his band, and was having a merry time with him when the Indian sud- denly realized his isolated position and made a desperate dash for freedom, in which he was successful.
During the fighting a medicine bag was shot off one of the Indians, which in the earlier part of the fray was seen to be strapped to him. The bag was made of buckskin and painted a bright red. Its contents revealed many bandages and weeds and herbs of various kinds, denoting its contemplated use in cases of injury.
The white men believed that they succeeded in wounding, if not killing, some of these Indians, but so carefully did the latter guard these facts that there was no way of learning the truth. Among the horses recovered, about 130 head in all, was the horse which Nick Dawson had ridden at the time of his death, also the mare for which he had gone in search. Besides these, there were other effects belonging to the unfortunate settler, his saddle, spurs, bridle, articles of his clothing, etc.
This ambuscade of the Indians by the settlers proved to be very successful and perhaps had a deterrent influence when . subsequent raids were being contemplated.
CAPT. IRA LONG'S HOT ENGAGEMENT.
In 1874 the legislature of Texas, in response to the elamor of the outraged citizenship of the frontier, authorized the organiza- tion and equipment of an unusually large number of ranger com- panies for service in the section exposed to Indian attack.
Capt. George Stevens, of Wise County, was awarded a com- mission to raise a company which he did by securing the member- ship of a large number of Wise County men. Among these was
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
Capt. Ira Long, who was elected Second Lieutenant of the com- pany.
On June 19, of the above year, Capt. Stevens and 75 men moved out further in the van of settlements, going into camp on the Brazos River. After spending further time at Ft. Murray and at Flint Creek, Jack County, Capt. Long was detached from Stevens' company and placed in command of Major John B. Jones' escort, with which he traveled as far south as Kerr County. Major Jones was superior in command of the frontier forces. After some time had elapsed, Capt. Long came back up the line and was placed in command of the Stevens company, Capt. Stevens having been relieved.
In the spring of 1875, Major Jones visited Capt. Long's com- pany in camp at Rains Springs in the lower end of Lost Valley, Jack County, and while he was present at the camp a runner notified the command .that a ranch four miles away, belonging to Jim Loving, had been raided, and the horses driven off by the Indians. Maj. Jones and Capt. Long took each a seout of ten men and started on the trail. Because of an epidemic of measles in the camp it was thought expedient to separate the men into two groups, which prevented the unexposed or unaffect- ed men from being contaminated with the disease. The two scouts were thus riding at some distance apart with Capt. Long and Major Jones between them, when at some distance off a man was observed standing under a tree. The two officers turned their glasses upon him, at which the man seemed to take fright and disappeared into the woods. Capt. Long alighted to examine the tracks, and while he was on the ground some members of the scout shouted the alarm of Indians. The captain speedily remounted and both scouts set off in rapid pursuit of the Indians, afterwards discovered to number seven. A chase of three miles ensued, the men firing upon the redskins as soon as they had come within pistol range. Capt. Long, if not leading the column, was well towards the front, and fired the first shot, which brought one of the braves tumbling to the ground. This Indian had turned upon Capt. Long an instant before he was fatally pierced with a bullet. Six Indians were now left and destined to be exterminated by the flying band of intrepid rangers.
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DEATH OF CONELLY AND WEATHERBY, ETC.
Being now close pushed the savages formed rapidly into a " horse shoe cirele," and prepared to make a stand for their lives. Straight into the ambuscade dashed Capt. Long at the head of his men, while the Indians were delivering a withering fire from their Winchesters. One of them having been unhorsed, was on the ground, deliberately aiming and firing. A leaden messenger cleaved the brain of the Captain's horse and down came horse and rider. Some swift moments were occupied by Capt. Long in regaining his feet and reloading his gun, during which, the savage was advancing upon him and firing with a pistol. With another shot, however, at such close range, he might have killed the Captain, but at this crisis when the Indian had approach- ed within four feet, Captain Long delivered a well-directed shot which put the savage out of existence. The Captain was remounted and continued in the chase, which resulted in the killing of six of the seven Indians which originally had be- gun the engagement.
Capt. Long took the sealp of the first Indian killed in the fight, the one he had shot himself. He also made a collection of other articles of savage dress and presented them to Gov. Richard Coke, and these are now retained as relies in the Capitol at Austin.
THE DEATH OF CONELLY AND WEATHERBY AND THE WOUNDING OF CLABE CATES.
Mr. Clabe Cates, of Decatur, was' one of the first men from Wise County to enlist in the frontier protection service after the Federal garrisons had been withdrawn and the Confederate force installed.
On May 7, 1861, Mr. Cates, accompanied by Tip Conelly and Tom Weatherby, of Wise County, went to Camp Cooper, in Young County, and enlisted in the ranger service, being assigned to Col. Buck Berry's command. In September a scout of twenty men, including Cates, Conelly and Weatherby, were in camp on Spring Creek near what now would be Round Timber in Clay County, engaged in guarding the frontier line from Red River to Camp Cooper.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
One day a supply train of wagons came through guarded by ten men of Company H, and on return, when these men were within twelve miles of the Spring Creek camp, they were attacked by a band of about eighty Kiowa and Comanche Indians, and harassed for a distance of about ten miles, which brought them within two miles of the above named camp. Here the Indians stopped knowing of the existence of the camp so near to which they had dared to come. During this ten-mile fight the coura- geous little band of ten had been able to save itself from total extermination only by standing boldly to arms at every forward sweep of the intimidating savages. Backward they slowly retreated to within two miles of the camp where the Indians abandoned the chase. During the fighting Jim McGee, of Tar- rant County, was wounded, and died that night in Camp at Spring Creek where the men had sought protection. Six other men had been wounded and several horses killed. Some of the Indians were killed and wounded, but how many was not known.
In a few days Col. Berry came to the camp with re-inforce- ments and the command of 42 men departed for a forty days' campaign in the Pan Handle. After about twelve miles of traveling the Little Wichita River was reached and the men were once again attacked by the same band of Indians, though this was a mild encounter.
At about noon some trouble was had with the packmules, a wild mule had bucked his pack, and five men were detailed to drop behind and remedy the trouble. Two miles more were traversed by the main body and the men left behind not coming up, four others, Clabe Cates, Tip Conelly and Tom Weatherby, of Wise County, and Gib Morris, of Cooke County, were sent back in search.
These men reached the point where the first party had stopped to attend the mule and were circling about the locality trying to find the trail by which the first group had departed. Presently some frightened antelope appeared running on a high hill about 300 yards to the west, and the searching party, thinking the antelope were fleeing from the five companions thought to be just beyond the hill, started in that direction, when to their
185
DEATH OF CONELLY AND WEATHERBY, ETC.
great amazement the eminence suddenly became dark with a great band of Indians.
At the sight of the white men the Indians came tearing down the hill bent upon capture and murder. The rangers turned the other way and put steel to their horses. A spattering of shots and arrows whizzed about them, and in a little while Conelly and Weatherby had been killed, Cates and Morris running on towards the river.
The Indians paused for an instant at the corpses of the two dead men, and then continued wildly after Cates and Morris. The latter was riding a good horse and escaped safely, but Cates' steed was very fat and slowed down in the race. Just at the bluffs of the river the Indians ran close enough to him to shoot an arrow into his head just above the leftear. Now they were upon him with raised spears to thrust him through. But at this critical moment he saved himself by presenting his gun. On and on the deadly race continued. With every muscle and nerve taut, Cates rode for life. He spurred speed into his animal that seemed not to be in him. But all his efforts seemed destined to avail him no escape nor advantage. He must sacrifice his life to savage cruelty and barbarism. Such was the dismal trend of his thoughts when in another moment more he raised his eyes to behold Col. Berry and men coming to the rescue. Morris had reached the men and brought them back.
Cates' great gladness was swiftly cut short. Blood had crimsoned his face over, and his long frontiersman hair was sailing about in the wind. The men mistook him for an Indian and were about to fire when he halloed to them to stop, which they did, but not before they had given him a second terrible fright.
The Indians had already stopped and dismounted for an in- stant to catch breath, but the oncoming rangers put them in saddle again, and a fifteen mile flight for their own safety lay before them.
On the way they were closely pressed, some of them were shot, and many of them dropped baggage, horses, saddles, bridles and other equipments along the route. But finally they escaped and the men returned to the burial of the two comrades, Weather-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
by and Conelly. They found them scalped and naked and brutally butchered. Digging graves on the spot they put them away in the best manner possible, and continued in their danger- ous work.
Cates rode thirty miles with the spike sticking in his head, the switch having been broken off by one of the rangers who had come to his rescue. His horse being fagged and he him- self wounded and bleeding, he joined the pack train until he could reach Ft. Cooper, from where he came home to Decatur on a twelve days' furlough. On returning to his Company the command was discharged, but immediately sworn into the Confederate Army, in which service Mr. Cates remained until the end of the war.
CAPTAIN EARHART'S EXPLOITS.
Captain J. B. Earhart, father of Lif. Earhart, of Lubbock County, Mrs. Joe Henry Martin, of Chico, and Mrs. Julia F. Halsell, of Decatur and others, was one of the most substantial citizens and most effective peace officers of his section of the country. For a number of years he conducted a prosperous ranch on Hog Eye Prairie, just over the line in Jack County, and also for a period of years was the active captain of a militia company that did effective service in saving that section from more than common harrassment by the Indians.
The summer following the war was a time when the local industries were in a state of revival. The cattle business was again growing profitable and with this went an increase of values of all other property. Horses being necessary in the cattle business, were searee and highly prized, and unusual precautions were taken at this time to save them from capture by the Indians.
One summer night in 1865 Capt. Earhart and two hands- Jim Hardin and Jess, a negro-went out a distance of about three hundred yards from the house to stake out the cow horses for the night's grazing. There were rumors of the presence of Indians in the country and Capt. Earhart had decided to stand guard that night over the horses. The field in which the horses were to be staked lay across the creek north of the house, and
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CAPTAIN EARHART'S EXPLOITS.
was surrounded by a high stake and ridered fence. After attending to the horses the negro Jess was placed on the south- west corner of the field to guard the approaches from that direction. Capt. Earhart and Jim Hardin took station at a point on the north string of fence. By agreement it was arranged that Hardin should stand first guard, where upon Capt. Earhart turned his attention to arranging his bed for the few hours of sleep before him. While he was spreading and patting down the quilts his attention was attracted to two dark objects appearing now and then at the corners of the fence, very stealthily ap- proaching the spot where he stood. He gazed thus for some time speculating on what the approaching objects could be, when apparently he arrived at a satisfying conclusion, for, raising his gun, without a word of warning to Hardin, he turned loose both barrels of his old musket, each one of which contained twenty-four buckshot, into the midst of the crawling forms. At the report of the gun one of the objects rolled over and straight- ened out, the other broke through the fence and ran towards the staked horses. Presently Jim Hardin looked and saw two Indians riding away on one horse. Capt. Earhart had decided that the forms coming towards him were Indians bent on getting his horses, and subsequent revelations proved his decision correct.
Following this act of the drama, the negro, Jess, was called and the Indian was dragged to the house, where much excite- ment and anxiety had been occasioned by the gun report. The Indian had a quiver, bow and arrows, and was wearing an old over-shirt, moccasins and leggings, and, strangest of all, his hair was curly, which led to the belief that he was a white man. His general features, however, were those of an Indian. Next morning before breakfast this rare victim was scalped and the body carried away and buried. A thrifty neighbor woman asked the captain why he didn't make soap of the Indian. "The red devil was too poor," replied the jovial frontiersman Some months after this occurrence the bones of the dead Indian bo- came exhumed and scattered, and it is reported by the Earhart family that there seemed to be enough of them to litter the world, so gruesome and depressing was the sight.
Finally Captain Earhart left Hog Eye Prairie and moved
-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF WISE COUNTY.
down near the present town of Chico, in Wise County. He still continued a large cattle owner, and as a consequence kept a large company of hands about his ranch. One day these were all away on business, leaving only Captain Earhart and his family on the premises. A short distance away a bunch of horses were grazing, when, without the slightest advance warn- ing, they were suddenly surrounded by Indians and taken into captivity. Captain Earhart had two good guns on the place, and with one of these he began to fire at the savages. His daughter, who is now Mrs. Joe Henry Martin, of Chico, stood at . his side with the other gun, and as fast as one would be emptied she would reload and hand it back. Under this arrangement Captain Earhart was so rapid and effective in his firing that the Indians abandoned the horses and sought safety in flight. Such instances as this of daring and coolness were of common occur- rence during those years of trouble, when the very spirit of the times tended to cultivate individual bravery in the people who were enforced to endure the afflictions of the hour.
CAPTURE OF THE BALL BOYS.
From Carlo Ball, a veteran of the old times recently returned for a visit to Decatur from his home in the Pan Handle, the fol- lowing brief facts concerning the capture of his brother and cousin in the fall of 1866 from near the home of Mose Ball, a few miles north of Decatur, were learned.
The two boys captured were Jim and Willie Ball, the first about nine years old and the latter about eight. Little Jim had been sent on an errand to a neighbor's house, Press Walker, about a mile away, to borrow a hand saw. On the way over he stopped at the home of a relative and induced Willie Ball to accompany him. While both were on the road, seven Kiowa Indians suddenly pounced upon them and bore them off in the direction of the reservation. Carlo Ball was cow-hunting in the Black Creek country when the news of the capture of his relatives reached him, and he immediately went to the locality of capture and set out over the trail alone in pursuit. The capture occurred about ten o'clock in the morning and Mr. Ball
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KILLING OF JOHNSON MILLER.
followed the trail until dark, when at the line of Jack and Wise Counties he turned back. On the route he saw in mud at the edge of a pool of water the imprints of the hands of the two boys, where they had stopped to drink.
The boys remained in captivity about a year, and when res- cued, told some of the incidents of the capture and journey. Following three days of successive traveling they were blind- folded and separated, a different group of Indians taking cach one, the final destination being Council Grove, Kansas, where, when found, the government had bought Jim and placed him in school. Later, Willie was secured from another tribe by a neighbor of the Balls and an unele of the boys who, on the same journey, obtained Jim and several other captives.
Mr. Green, the neighbor, had made a long search of the differ- ent reservations before the two Ball boys were located. Having reached home they displayed no desire to return to a future life with the Indians.
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