AMONG THE INJUNS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LII, Issue 29, 27 February 1909, Page 3

AMONG THE INJUNS.

, .JEXERAL JULES TELLS "ANSWERS" ABOUT THE "BRAVES." ! I Sensational romances, in which warare and tihe Red Indian play a promi.lent part, are to be found iu almost -very bookshop; but General XeUon A. Miles, who commanded the United Stales Army for seven years, and Has J soldier as long ago as 1801, knows .uore about the real thing than ever .ouud its way into a work of fiction. A representative of "Answers," who ailed upon the general during his recut visit to tihe Old Country, obtained >cw-ral interesting narratives for the oenelit of our readers. Like must Americans, he is not at all inxious to talk about the Civil War. liut he tells of one interesting 'incident in connection with it. The day before Hostilities were finally concluded, he and lis men had an encounter with some of ■ iho Confederate forces. The enemy were ruuled, and a large waggon-train was captured. A £2OOO "AXTE!" _ illicit to their astonishment, they found it was loaded witili the assets of ilie Confederate Treasury. "Kill your pockets, your haversacks, your arms, ii you like!" came the order. And the men lost no time iu complying .villi il. Then, before the bivouac fires, i strange scene was enacted. Blaukets .vere quickly spread upon the ground, uid a kind of .Monte Carlo was improvised, where, throughout the night, the •ueu played poker with the spoil. Probably no such preposterous gambling was -iver wituessed, before or since; for ten thousand dollars formed quite a commonplace "ante," and Hie pool frequently held as much as two million dollars! After the Civil War was over, general .U.les went through no less than eight campaigns with the Red -Man, and he attributes much of his eventual success co the little tricks of "magic" he played on them. The redskin always make* a •■spirit - ' of anything he doesn't unilcrstuiid,aud when the general got sumo of the biggest ln[dian chiefs to speak to each other over l liie telephone, their consternation was perfectly ludicrous. I They begged to be allowed to go away 'from the instruments, and ultimately sued for peace, saying that, as the white Iman had so much more "magic" than tihe poor Indian, It was useless to try to fight against him! .UOURXIXU 1W DEPARTED. In the course of a later campaign, lieueral Aliles was conversing .with a delegation from some Indians in regard to terms oi surrender, when a pistolshot was suddenly heard outside his tent.

Suspecting treachery, an officer dash-'d out to see what had happened. He found that an Indian girl had committed suicide. Sue had been a captive in General Aliles's camp for some time, and had managed to secrete a pistol about iher person. Looking eagerly tor uer Indian lover amongst the delegates, and failing to lind him, she had spoken w one of the redskins, and learned from him that her lover no longer "bole any thoughts of her in Ills bosom." When the tribe liually surrendered, and the relatives came in, a curious scene was witnessed about the grave. Moaning her loss, several of tihcui took their knives and slashed their faces and bodies till they were covered with blood, the women being especially demonstrative. general Miles tells of rather an amusing little incident which occurred when he was in. pursuit of the Sioux Indians. The troops were proceeding by steamboat up tne Yellowstone river, and looking for any appearance of the redskins, whim a negro servant anxiously approached the steward with a pile of blankets on his arm.

"Uyar, inassa," he said nervously, "kin you inform me which is de .Sioux side ob dis yere Yellowstone t" "What d'you want to savee that for, now';" asked the steward, with a grin.

"Why, massa," responded the black, "so's 1 kin lay my blankets down on de udder side ob de boat fo' sure!"

It was only just a little while beiorc this that Sitting Dull—one of the most dangerous of the Sioux chiefs had, under the cloak of friendship with the whites, perpetrated atrocious crimes. On one occasion he descended, willi a Irand of his braves, upon a store at Poplar Creek. On entering the store, he commenced to barter goods with the storekeeper, as usual; but, after a while, professing that the latter was cheating him, he jumped over the" counter, and in threatening manner took charge"'"! the establishment. Tilt; TU'KEE-IILNUTr: REMEDY. Then he proceeded to hand down clothing and ammunition, receiving up 1 1" the counter in exchange bull'alo robe* and line, furs of all description*. The bartering was carried through with much mimierv and derision 6f Vie storekeeper's own* methods; but that unfortunate man knew only too well that in a little while they would tire of their game ami kill "him. So he resorted to desperate measures. Quietly filling a large pipe with tobacco, and getting it well alight, he stepped across to a keg of powder, from which he usually supplied the wants of his customers.

Then, in a perfectly calm but very determined voice, he explained to the redskins that if they attempted the slightest violence he would drop the diluted pipe into the powder. In less than three minutes the store was deserted!