Odd and Unusual Tales from the Old West
By Alton Pryor
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About this ebook
Read about the Seven Little Indians, who hard-bitten mountain men could not bring themselves to put to death following an Indian battle. The reader will also find a story of the Headless Horseman, a true tale that happened in Texas. The legend of Blackberry Hill, John Colter's six mile naked run from Indians.
Alton Pryor
Alton Pryor has been a writer for magazines, newspapers, and wire services. After retiring, he turned to writing books. He is the author of 18 books, which he has published himself.
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Odd and Unusual Tales from the Old West - Alton Pryor
Odd and Unusual Tales From The Old West
Alton Pryor
Copyright 2011 Alton Pryor
Smashwords Edition, License notes
This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only , then please return it to Smashwords.com and purchase you own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.
Published by Stagecoach Publishing at Smashwords
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A Matter of Interpretation
Sitting Bull was a guest of honor at the opening ceremonies for the Northern Pacific Railroad. When it came his turn to speak, he said, in Lakota language, I hate all white people. You are thieves and liars. You have taken away our land and made us outcasts.
A quick-thinking interpreter told the crowd the chief was happy to be there and that he looked forward to peace and prosperity with the white people.
Sitting bull received a standing ovation.
Table of Contents
Chapter 1-Seven Little Indians
Chapter 2-The Tommyknockers
Chapter 3-Tombstone
Chapter 4-The Lost Adams Diggings
Chapter 5-Sand Dune Whiskey Cache
Chapter 6-Passing of the Telegram
Chapter 7-Lost Treasure of San Miguel
Chapter 8-The Headless Horseman
Chapter 9-Arbuckles Coffee
Chapter 10-Legend of Blackberry Hill
Chapter 11-The Buffalo Soldiers
Chapter 12-Tilting at Windmills
Chapter 13-Quanah Parker
Chapter 14-The Automobile Fad
Chapter 15-The Greatest Land Buy
Chapter 16-The Rape of Monterey
Chapter 17-Zebulon Pike
Chapter 18-Sam Brannan
Chapter 19-Will James, and His Art
Chapter 20-Sequoyah
Chapter 21-The Farallones
Chapter 22-A Hand to Bank On
Chapter 23-The ‘No-Good Utica Mine
Chapter 24-Salting A Gold Claim
Chapter 25-John Colter
Chapter 26-Slavery in Early Oregon
Chapter 27-Mormons and Crickets
Chapter 28-Susan LaFlesche Picotte
Chapter 29-The Spindletop Oil Find
Chapter 30-Oklahoma Land Rush
Chapter 31-The Range Wars
Chapter 32-The Night Riders
Chapter 33-The Ride of His Life
Meet the Author
Chapter 1
Seven Little Indians
They drew straws to see who would kill the babies.
It was a fall day at an Indian encampment in the Tonto Basin of Arizona. Lined up on their cradleboards against a rock wall were seven little Apache babies. The weather was so nice, some babies slept while others gazed out upon the strange world around them.
The late Roscoe G. Willson, in his Arizona Tales run regularly by The Arizona Republic newspaper, told this story. The story illustrated how otherwise hard-bitten men could not overcome the power that emanates from a baby.
All about the camp, in 1871, there was a scene of great activity. The men in the Apache camp came dashing in at early morn, driving a large herd of horses, stolen that very morning from the Bowers Ranch east of Prescott, Arizona.
The Apache men and women of the camp were excited as they talked about their great success. The women busied themselves cooking the meat of a horse they had slaughtered. They laid strips of raw horseflesh on the oak bushes to dry while they cooked the larger portion of horsemeat over an open fire.
When the meat was cooked, the men gorged themselves on the sweet horseflesh, which they favored above all other. When the men finished, the women too, then ate with gusto.
After tending and nursing their babies, the cherubs were returned to their papoose baskets along the wall. The women joined the group of men sleeping off their heavy meal beneath the deep shade of oak trees.
Soon, a clattering of blue jays signaled to the Indians that something was amiss. Before the Indians could rise to their feet, rifle shots rang out from the hillsides and oak thickets. Several Apache men and women were killed before they could rise.
The attackers were settlers from Prescott, on the hunt for the horses stolen that morning from the Bowers Ranch. John B. Townsend, an Indian fighter, headed the group. The Indians knew him to be brave and fearless and held him in great respect.
It wasn’t until after the last Apache had either escaped, disappeared, or been killed that the seven little Indian babies were discovered resting against the wall.
This presented a problem for the rugged white men. In their attacks on settlers, the Apache Indians didn’t hesitate to kill white women and children.
Captain Townsend looked at the babies snuggled in their papoose baskets. He scratched his head, knowing that usually the babies should be killed. But Townsend shuddered at the thought. Good God,
he asked himself, who could kill a baby in cold blood?"
Others in the party felt the babies should be killed, but the only question was, who would do the job.
Townsend decided the issue by saying they would draw straws to see who would commit the horrendous deed. Grass stems of different lengths were drawn. Townsend held the short straw.
When he pulled his pistol and stepped toward the nearest infant, the baby gurgled, wrinkled its face and smiled back at him. John’s only vision at that point was a picture of his own baby girl back at his Agua Fria Ranch.
His pistol hand dropped to his side. He turned to his companions and murmured, I just can’t do it boys. Some one else will have go through with this.
Ed Wright, John’s neighbor on the Agua Fria, stepped forward. Boys, we can’t any of us kill those babies I don’t care if the Apaches have killed some of our children. We weren’t raised like these Indians, and we’d all feel like murderers if we cold-bloodedly killed the little varmints. Let’s leave ‘em where they are and go make camp.
A sigh of relief sounded through the crowd. After making camp that evening, Ed Wright and some of the others used rawhide rope to lash the seven baby baskets high enough off the ground to be safe from coyotes or other varmints.
The next morning, the babies and their cradles were gone.
Chapter 2
The Tommyknockers
Gold miners were a superstitious lot, but none were more superstitious than the Cornish miners.
The Cornish belief that certain supernatural powers protected their efforts was heartfelt and real.
Belief can be a powerful force, even making you see things that don’t exist. When the hard-rock miners went underground, they believed with all their hearts that underground elves existed.
These elves were called Tommyknockers.
In a 1989 issue of Sierra Heritage Magazine, Gary Noy writes about the Tommyknockers.
Even though the Cornish were superstitious, they were the most sought after hard-rock mining workers. Centuries of labor in the tin mines of Cornwall, England, gave these hardy workers a vast knowledge of tunneling and other mining techniques.
This knowledge, Noy writes, was perfectly suited to the mines of northern California. Along with these skills, the Cornish brought their colorful language, festive personalities, ironic view of life, and mining superstitions.
The Cornish miner approached the dirty and dangerous task of hard-rock mining with irony, and with good cheer. One Cornish miner, when asked how to find a rich pocket of gold, replied, Well, where gold is, it is, and where it hain’t, there be I.
These Cornish miners imported their Tommyknockers to the Gold Country.
Tommyknockers were said to be direct descendants of ancient elves known as Vugs and Piskies. After emigrating to