Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 4, 2008 Page: 9 of 12
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HUDSPETH COUNTY HERALD - DELL VALLEY REVIEW JANUARY 4,2008 PAGE 9
TREACHEROUS BRAVES, A FAITHFUL DOG
Summary of last week: In 1880, two mining engineers
took the short route from El Paso to Roswell via the Gua-
dalupe Mountains. It was through Indian Country and
dnagerous. On the third day they camped at Crow Flat
and some Indians started to drive off their horses:
Seizing their guns, the two white men started after the thieves
at top speed. Both being western men and good shots, they
hoped, by opening on the redskins with their long-range guns,
to get close enough to prevent them from taking the hobbles
off the horses. But the animals made about as good time as
if they had been foot loose. This fact was well known to the
Rangers, who hobbled and side-lined also, and even then their
horses, when stampeded, would run as fast as the guards could
run on foot. The Apaches can be taught nothing about horse
stealing-they are already past masters at the art. While some
of the Indians halted and fought Andrews and Wiswall, the oth-
ers ran the horses off and got away with them. The two miners
returned to camp feeling very blue indeed.
A council of war was held and they were undetermined what
course to pursue. To walk back one hundred miles to El Paso
and pack grub, blankets, and water was no picnic; on the oth-
er hand, it was probably seventy-five miles to the Pecos. They
finally decided to take the shortest way to assistance, which
proved the traditional longest way. They determined to stay
within the friendly adobe of the old stage stand until night. To
keep up appearances they rigged up two dummy sentinels and
put them on guard. They had no fear of an attack at night, es-
pecially as they had a dog to keep watch. They left the station
at dark. Shep, the dog, wanted to go with them, but the men
put a sack of corn and a side of bacon under the ambulance
and made him understand he was to guard it. They then set
out and followed the old stage route along a horrible road of
deep sand. At daybreak they were near the point of the Gua-
dalupe Peak, and having traveled on foot about twenty-five
miles they were pretty well worn out.
The stage road here turns to the right and gradually winds
around the mountain to get on the mesa land. It makes quite
a circuit before getting to the next water, Pine Springs, but
there is an old Indian trail that leads up the canyon and straight
through. As Andrews and Wiswall were afoot and taking all the
short cuts, they took this trail. It was late in the day when, in
a sudden bend of the trail, they came in full view of an entire
village of Indians coming toward them. The redskins were only
two or three hundred yards off and discovered the white men
at once.
Under such circumstances the two pedestrians had to think
quickly and act at once. They could not hope to escape by
running, for most of the Indians were mounted. Fortunately,
to the south of the trail there was a sharp sugar-loaf peak,
and for this Andrews and Wiswall made with all speed. Reach-
ing the summit, they hastily threw up a breastwork of loose
rocks and as soon as the Indians came in sight they opened
fire on them. The redskins returned the fire, but soon discov-
ered they were wasting ammunition and ceased firing. The
besieged, suspicious of some stratagem, kept a sharp lookout,
and soon discovered the Indians were crawling upward to the
barricade, pushing boulders before them to shelter their bod-
ies. The two men decided to keep perfectly still, one on each
side, and watch for a chance to kill a savage.
The watcher on the west side, where the fading light still en-
abled him to see, saw a mop of black hair rise cautiously over
an advancing rock. He fired at once. The head disappeared and
the boulder went thundering down the hill with the two white
men running over the wounded warrior. As good luck would
have it most of the attackers were on the east side, having
taken it for granted that the men would try to escape in that
direction. Before the astonished Apaches could understand
just what was occurring, the men, running like old black-tailed
bucks, were out of hearing, while the kindly night spread her
dark mantle over them. Being good woodsmen, they had no
trouble in shaping their course to Crow Flat again.
(Remington)
Worn out and weary after traveling more than fifty miles on
foot and with not a wink of sleep for thirty-six hours, they
made the old stage stand and found their dummy sentinels
still on guard, with the faithful shepherd dog at his post. He
was overjoyed at the return of his masters. Here they were in
a measure safe, for they had water and grub and the walls of
the stand, five feet or more high, would shelter them. Since no
attempt had been made to kill the dog or rob the ambulance,
the miners were satisfied that the Indians, after stealing their
horses, had kept on their way to the Mescalero Agency, near
Tularosa. This stage station was on the highway of these mur-
derous, thieving rascals, who were constantly raiding Texas
and Chihuahua. In these raids they had made a deep trail lead-
ing north from Crow Flat or Crow Springs, as some call it, to-
ward the Sacramento Mountains.
After the fugitives had rested they decided they would start
after dark for Ysleta. The fifty-mile walk over a rough country
had pretty well worn out their shoes, so they used gunnysacks
to tie up their sore and bleeding feet. Again giving Shep his or-
ders, with heavy hearts they turned their faces to the Cornu-
das Mountains, with the next
stage station twenty-five miles
distant and not one drop of
water on the way. They were
so tired and footsore that
they did not reach Cornudas
until late the next day. Here
they hid in the rocks, among
the shady nooks of which they
found cold water and sweet
rest. After several days the
two men dragged their weary
bodies, more dead than alive,
into Ysleta and to the Ranger
camp.
Lieutenant Baylor ordered me
to take eight Rangers, and
with two mules, proceed to
Crow Flat to bring in the am-
bulance Andrews and Wiswall
had abandoned there. The
first day we made the Hueco
Tanks. Hueco is Spanish for
tanks, and in the early days
travelers spelled it Waco.
Many wild adventures have
occurred at these tanks-flghts
between the Mexicans and
the Apaches. During the gold
excitement this was the main
immigrant route to California.
Here, too, the overland stage
route had a stand. The names
of Marcy, General Lee, and
thousands of others could be
seen written on the rocks. The
Indians themselves had drawn
many rude pictures, one of
which was quite artistic and
depicted a huge rattlesnake
on the rock under the cave
near the stage stand on the
eastern side of Hueco.
Many times when scouting in
the Sacramento and Guadal-
upe Mountains I have camped
for the night in the Huecos.
Sometimes the water in the
tanks had all been used up by
the travelers but there was
always plenty of cool rain-
water twenty-five feet above
the main ground tanks. Often I
have watered my entire com-
mand by scaling the mountain
to these hidden tanks and,
filling our boots and hats with
water, poured it on the flat,
roof-like rocks so it would run
down into the tanks below.
The city of El Paso, I am told,
now has a fine graded road to
these historic mountains, and
many of its citizens enjoy an
outing there.
Our next halt was at the Al-
amos, across the beautiful
plains, at that time covered
with antelope which could be
seen scudding away with their
swift change of color looking
like a flock of white birds.
Continued on page 11
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Morrell, Donna. Hudspeth County Herald and Dell Valley Review (Dell City, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 14, Ed. 1 Friday, January 4, 2008, newspaper, January 4, 2008; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1190018/m1/9/?q=%22%22~1&rotate=270: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; .