184
Facsimile
Transcription
the trains being about fifteen miles apart. Suddenly, when half-way between these two trains, Simpson, Poole and young Cody were attacked by a large party of Indians, armed with bows and arrows, who rushed upon them from an ambush. The white men, however, were equal to the emergency, and killed three mules and arranging their bodies in a triangle, sheltered themselves behind these mules as a breastwork, from which they discharged their rifles at the reds with deadly effect, each shot telling. The Indians fired away with their bows and arrows, but produced more effect on the dead mules than upon the brave enemies behind them. Finally the Indians, with an air of savage satisfaction, made up their minds to surround the mules and the white men, and to "starve the latter out." But this little game was stopped by the approach of the emigrant train, whose appearance in due time scared the red skins away and saved Buffalo Bill and his friends.
Bill entered the army as a scout under General Blunt, and served in the company known as the "Red legged Scouts,"- when the telegraph superseded his duties as above named.
Upon the breaking out of the war he was eighteen, and served in the army as a scout. Gladly he accepted the opportunity to avenge his father's death.
At the close of the war he was employed as a hunter for the Kansas Pacific Railroad Company, and while in that capacity earned the soubriquet which has made him a name and reputation wherever his native tongue is spoken, and which has placed him among the favored list at the Imperial Court at St. Petersburg. Incredible as it may seem, the fact is a matter of record on the books of the railroad company named, that he killed 4,280 buffaloes in eighteen months. After this feat he was known by the name of "Buffalo Bill, the Great Hunter of the West." At the breaking out of the Indian war he was appointed chief of the scouts under Gen. Carr, and he retained that title since. In personal appearance he has a fine and manly main, is about six feet high, perfectly proportioned, with dark waving hair, large clear brown eyes of a remarkable soft and deep expression, and intellectual features. He appears like a man of mild and quiet bearing, and one who could accustom himself to such scenes as he has passed through, only from necessity, not from choice. He wears many a scar on his neck, face and limbs as testimonials of his bravery.
Notes and Questions
Nobody has written a note for this page yet
Please sign in to write a note for this page
