Amazon Slew Indians

Giantess Killed Savages In Hand To Hand Battle

There is now living on a farm in McLennan county, Tex., Miss Rachel Holman, who is remarkable for her great size and wonderful physical strength and courage. Miss Holman was born forty-five years ago on the place she now owns and cultivates. She was the only child in the family and was taught the use of firearms and to ride a mustang. She helped her father to look after his cattle and was always ready to stand guard and fight Indians. She now weighs 494 pounds and possesses the strength of three or four ordinary men.

This remarkable woman was only about sixteen years old when she had her first battle with the Indians. She was cooking supper in her father's cabin when her attention was attracted by the clatter of the hoofs of horses, and upon running to the door she saw a bareheaded man leaning forward over the neck of a large black horse. The unfortunate man's back was full of arrows. The horse, though foaming with sweat and certainly tired, was fairly flying along the trail.

Miss Holman thinks the poor man must have been blinded with sweat and dust or perhaps blood, as he evidently did not see the cabin. The girl shouted to the man as loud as she could, at the same time reaching above the door for a loaded rifle that was always in the rack. A wild war whoop fell upon her ears, and when she looked out she saw a band of mounted Wacos in hot pursuit of the man on the black horse. She was about to throw the gun to her face when she saw her father spring over the yard fence only a few steps away with his back full of arrows.

Three Indians, yelling like demons, were almost at his heels. They sent a shower of arrows after Mr. Holman as he ran across the yard. Rachel knocked one of the Wacos from his pony with a hot bullet just as her father fell exhausted In the doorway. The other two warriors jumped over the fence, and one fired at the girl and the other flourished his scalping knife as they ran across the yard.

Rachel quickly drew her father inside, but an Indian threw his body against the door before she could close it. Seizing a smoothing iron that happened to be within reach, she brought it down upon the red fiend's skull, crushing it to a jelly. He fell dead. The other warrior sprang over his comrade's body, aiming a blow at Rachel with his tomahawk that would have proved fatal if he had not fallen headlong on the floor. Mr. Holman had partially recovered, and he had caught the Indian by the ankle as he attempted to jump into the room. Before the Waco could rise the brave girl sprang on his back and wrenched the tomahawk from his hand. To her surprise the cowardly wretch began to beg piteously for his life, speaking good English.

A single blow ended the battle, and Rachel hurried to the assistance of her father. She expected to see more Indians on the trail, but there was none in sight. Rachel carried her father into a thicket, where they spent the night. The Indians did not return, nor did they ever learn the fate of the white man who was trying so hard to escape from the red devils.

During the early years of her life Rachel frequently rode with the settlers of the frontier in pursuit of marauding bands of Indians, and she participated in several desperate battles, fighting by the side of such famous characters as Jack Hayes, Big Foot Wallace and old Point Caldwell, by all of whom she was highly respected and regarded as cool and courageous under fire.

Rachel Holman deserves a medal for the share she took in rescuing Miss Larimore from captivity among the Tipans. The young women had lived in the same settlement, and they were warmly attached to each other. When Miss Larimore was carried off by the Indians, Rachel declared that she would rescue her friend or lose her life in making the effort. Disguised as an Indian squaw, she boldly rode through a Tipan village and located the tepee in which the captive girl lived with an old prophetess.

At night when the rangers stormed the camp the fearless girl led half a dozen Texans straight to the tepee of the old witch. Miss Larimore had penetrated the disguise of her friend on the previous day, and, suspecting that friends were near, she was prepared to act with promptness. Recognizing the voice of Rachel, the captive ran out of the tepee into the arms of a young man whom she was engaged to marry. He threw her into his saddle, and, springing up behind her, they galloped away unharmed, though arrows and bullets fell about them like hail.

Miss Holman has often displayed her masterful strength in a spirit of humor, to the infinite amusement of her friends. Some years ago she suddenly carne upon two neighbors who were pounding each other with their fists, and she commanded them to desist. They both were powerful men, and it was evident that if the battle continued one or perhaps both would be seriously if not fatally injured. Finding that the enraged combatants paid no attention to her, the giantess dismounted, and, seizing the men by their collars, she knocked their heads together and threw them apart. Foaming with rage, they again rushed together. The battlefield happened to be on the, bank of the Brazos. The peacemaker's patience was strained, and without sounding the depth of the stream or making any inquiries as to the accomplishments of the warriors in water she again took hold of them while they were locked in a deadly embrace and threw them headforemost into the river. They disappeared so quick and were gone so long that the strong woman began to fear that she had drowned them both. They finally popped up, spurting water from their lungs and shaking their fists at each other. Miss Holman promptly pushed them both back into the deep river when they attempted to scramble ashore, and she kept them there until they were humble supplicants, chock full of muddy water and brotherly love.

She once threw open a door and looked in upon a notorious desperado and killer who was engaged in whipping his wife. Rachel tore the whip from the brute's hands, and, after throwing him out into the street, she whipped him through town to the door of a magistrate's office, where she lodged a complaint against him. "I never saw a man who was stronger than I am, nor did I ever see one I was afraid of," she says.