The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 24, 1900, Page 1

LD By ¥ His Ran € © much has been sald regarding the last hours of General Custer that the the following of introduction that Frank of Kanaka r, by means e twenty-five years ux as their captive. He of the Sloux with 8 so well anding 1 &8s & scout for their enemies. Knowing uard went'to the lead f massacre and secured e true story by insisting in a false story of his own e must also get well in e principal points of this id of carnage. Custer, just separated on ? June, at which h Cavalry up the lately abandoned and Gibbon followed is move war he E BaEAMANIEAS0 dence. Whil eral miles d apment of cether his 400 troops, ree troops, and ded the wagon WeramoNen e river Benteen campment of yed to cross , follow down on hjdden »e. It was in t Aeno was met by a strong opposition and forced to retreat with heavy Joss. This was the first blood- “hed of the day and of the famous battle. sreuard had previously been with this when LITTLE BI¢ HORN BATTLE MONUMENT section under Custer, but differing with him in the plan pow headway he ad gone to his post with Crook, near Just at this time Crook was 1s of the Big Horn 3 men, engaged gulde ad his at- Grou by cnar drawn far across the toward the Ros , where he saw. as he said, some strange signal fires. The offi- ; scanned the country only to cers of the with the idea of to read a message in the s fires some fifty mil ing with victory on their side. Still the scout was not belleved, and to prove the truth of this story of the signal fires Grouard set forth in the afternoon upon his trusty black mare for the placehs expected to find strewn with soldier dead. G ENERAL GEORGE A. CUSTER FROM A PHOTOGRAPH A DEPARTMENT QOLLECTION IN THE WAR. The night was just falling when the lone scout, clad in an Indian blanket and look- reached the trails lately made jers. The darkness came on apidly and the rain fell upon the trails, o that by the time the scout had come to the point of the separation of the divisions the greatest skill of this man of the plains was for a time baffled. In the darkness all was incongruity In the several trails where the man lecoked for but one trail. For a time this seemed like a battlefield itself. The skarp eyes of the trained frontiersman, assisted by the keener eyuvs of the little mare, enabled Grouatd to follow the trall down to the river, where for some reason the command had failled to make & 50 QYossing. This sort of maneuvering was indicative of serious trouble on the part of him who was issuing the commanas, and the caution of the scout was doubled for his own safety. Without knowing it Grouard at this time passed in' prox- imity to the point wherp Reno's division lay intrenched, and rode into the very fleld of conflict before he was aware of it. Thus far he had not heard a sound or seen a sight of any living thing. Thi might seem strange to those not aceu tomed to the modes of Indian warfare, when it Is known that there lay near at hand the remaining portion of Reno's command, and besides this the great camp of hostile Sioux was but a short distance further on. Cautlon being never tacking in a scouf a den start. 2 snort and a refusal to adv on the part of the pony brought the wily Grouard from the saddle to the ground in an instant, and led to investigate a darker streak of darkness which lay across the path- way. The uninitiated might have fled away in terror, or with a shriek have made escaps tmpossible, such a one found his hand touch the cold naked body of a man as did the hand of this brave Kanaka. He drew a long breath, he s and passed his hand along the ri body to the head to learn the remainder of the horrible story. His reading of the fires was correct, for his hand came in contact with a small blood clotted place from which the savage knife had cut away the coveted scalp lock of a United States trooper. This lone scout lost no time in mounting his horse, for experience had taught him that where there are dead troopers there are likely to be live Indians. Fearing an am- — CIECIION an@%'@:n%@ bush or an unfortunats &lscovery of e hostile camp, he rode toward tha crest of the hill, and not being anxious to find any more mutilated bodies, he avoided the trail. The darkness was still so great that one might not ses an object on the ground while riding along, but the side- wise jump and the low snort of the peny told that the whols fleld was strewn with the same horrible objects which had beeny encountered down by the river, a mile away from where the last victim lay om the crest of the hill, on the highest poing of the ridge Riding down near the river, the scout found the Indian night herd In charge of an.old Indian, from whom he secured some little information before the old man suspected an enemy and gave the alarm, which sent him hurriedly across the Eit- tle Big Horn on a mad flight for fifty miles to the south pursued for an hour by fifty mounted warriors. It was after the Indlans had been returned to the reservation again that Grouard, on, as the Sloux call him, the “Grabber,” wecured the other detalls of that awful day’'s car- nage. It has long been known that Cus- ter's men were all slain to & man, and Reno’s division was held In intrenchments at a distance by the enemy. Reno knew Custer had met with loss, but he knew na particulars; he knew that some of Cus- ter's men wers dead, for he saw Indians in soldier'’s garments by 3 o'clock in the afternoon. Curly, the Crow Indian scout, had escaped from the Custer command. but Curly was evidently so busy in his u fiight he had but little time for taking notes, and one ¢annot wonder when they consider for a time that terrific vor- X of deatw which swept away the whols of Custer's brave of safety. witnesses have - Face e com- old men, wo ered for safe on Custer's this move riedly 1s as soom and rema there was now Continued on Page Twe.