A Race For Life

Whtle in reminiseent mood recently an oíd resident of southern Montana related an experience he had with the Nez Perce Indians during their uprislng In 1877, in which he narrowly escaped losing his scalp. "I was running a dairy on Horse Prairie creek at that time, and every resident of that section was on the lookout, expecting that Cbief Joseph and his band would come swooping down upon us at any minute. It was the 12th of August that the Indiana flnally paid their visit to the prairie. When it was learned that the Indians were close to the prairie inessengers were sent frora ranch to ranch with the understanding that we all should gather at the Pierce ranch for mutual protection. "With several others I waited at the ranch until evening, but as few, if any, otber residents of the prairie came there, the ranch hands, myself and Mr. Pierce decided that we had better go to Bannack. Knowing that my old mare would travel a whole lot better if she had her colt with her, I concluded to ride down to the ranch and let it out of the pasture so that It could follow. Shortly after I had left the ranch it btgan to get dark, and before I had made a mile or so I heard a 'Yip, yip, ylp!' punctuated with the crack of rifles and the singing of bullets. "Looking backward through the gloaming I could see two men tearing down the road as fast as their horses coulrt leg it, while behind them followed seven Indians, who sent bullets after the fleeing men as fast as they eould reload their rifles. One glance was all I wanted. The old mare acted as if she had a hurry up appointment to meet that colt, and I dus my spvrs lnto her sides and indueed her to add still a little more speed to her good intentions. "Down the Horse Prairie road we raced, I and the old mare in the lead, the two men, one whose name was Kelly and the other his cousin next, with the Indians gaining on all of us. After thls race had continued for a mile or two the Indians shot Kelly's cousin through the arm, another shot struck his boJ-se, and the animal promptly bucked uiin off, and he ran to the brush a..id nid, the Indians not detectlng him in the darkness as his horse ran down the road. ïhis left Kelly and I in the race. "I had a good deal the best of the race, and finally we carne to a place vhere old man O'IIoolahan had mad a change In the road, the new road. ehich was but sllghtly traveled at that time, forming a right angle with the old one. My old mare had been over the road several times before, and she made the turn all right. So did Kelly's, and it was lucky she did so, for the Indians were gaining fast on him. and when his nag shot into the turn of the road they were scareely 100 yards behind and shootlng every time their horses hit the ground. "The Indian ponies knew nothing about this turn in the road, and they followed the plain track, with the result that in a moment they brought up with full speed against a five pole fence, tearing down at least a dozen panels and dehorsing every rider. Tbp nlght was then so dark that the red men could not see the obstruction uutil they got to It, and the horses were going so fapt that they could not have stopped even if they had wanted tj. Right here the chase, as far as the Indians were concerned, was over, but I did not stop to think about it. I heard the crash of the broken fence as they iasbed lnto It, and I threw. stlll more Iteel lnto the ola mare's flanks and headed down the valley. "The next day we learned that Kelly's cousin, after he was shot, managed to reach tlie brush, where he found sttll another man belonging to the ranch, and togeiher the two men crawled on their hands 'and knees all night long through the willows, fearing every ininute that the Nez Perces wouhl be apon 'them. When daylight came they got tlieir hearings and walked aeróse the prickly pear covered hilla to Banuack. When they arrived they were in a deplorable condltlon. Thelr feet were fllled with priekly pear thorns and swollen to doublé their normal size, while thelr clothes were torn from their bodies by their contact with the brush and briers while crawling down the creek lo safety. "Toni Pierce, the owner of the ranch, came near perishing during the night. He was soraewhat of a damly, and every time he vent to Bunnack he wore a üfty dollar suit of clothes and a twenty dollar pair of boots. When he returned to the ranch he would stort these away and don overalls and eowhlde shoes. He kad been to Bannack the day the Indians visited the prairie, and he was changing his clothes when it was announced the Indians were coming. Dressed in overalls, without coat or vest, he and a hired man took to tli3 hills. leaving his dandy clothes behind, and they were promptly appro priated by some noble buck. "Pierce and his men laid out all night in the hills, and as the nights were most awfully chilly at that time Pierce. in his shirt sleeves, came near freezing to death. The hired man was compelled to lay on him and with the warmth of his body keep the lifo in the old man, or he would have perished. "But there was a tragedy enacted on the prairie that day and two fellows who were working on the Monument mine were killed by the Indians. These men had been told that danser was close, but they did not heed the warnIng, and they were cruelly murderrd. "However, the residents of the prairie were more than a little relievod when the reports came that the Indiana had left Montana and were in Idaho. Then they returned to their homes, but it was many a day before they ceased to talk of the raid made by Chief Joseph in August 1877."