f* A Famous Indian Fight. 1 BY JOHN WILLIAMSON PALMER, M. D. Among the most conspicuous and notable of the rangers and Indian fighters who "blazed their way" along a 100 trails between the Rio Grande and the Colorado 70 years ago were Rezin and James Bowie —to whom, jointly, belongs the questionable hon or of the invention of the bowie knife. These energetic and intrepid lads were the sons of Rezin Bowie, who had migrated from Maryland to Georgia, where the boys were born in Burke county. There were three other brothers —David, John, and Stephen. In 1802 the family removed to Catahoula parish, Louisiana. On the 19tli of September, 1827, James Bowie was engaged on a bar of the Mississippi in one of the bloodiest affrays recorded in the fighting an nals of the southwest, in which two men were killed and Bowie wounded. Soon after this affair James with his brotlior Rezin, made his way into Texas, where a career as dramatic as it was characteristically American awaited them —at first among the hos tiio tribes, and later in desultory en counters with predatory bands of Mex icans. In 1831, on the 2d of November, James and Rezin Bowie with seven comrades and two boys as servants Bet out from San Antonio in search of the old Silver-mineb of the San Saba mission. They made their way with out notable adventure until the morn ing of the 19th, when they were over hauled by friendly Comanches, who warned them that they were followed by a war party of 124 Twowokanas and Wacos, as well as by 40 Caddos, making in all 164 well-armed braves, who had sworn to take tho scalps of the white men thpn and there. The Comanche chief invited the Texans to join his party, and offered to make a stand with them, although he had but 16 men, badly armed and short of ammunition. But knowing that the "hostiles lay between," and being bent on reaching the old fort on the Saba before night, the Texans de clined the generous offer and pushed boldly on. But they soon came upon rocky roads, their horses' feet were worn, and they were compelled to encamp for the night in a small grove of live-oaks of the girth of a man's body. To the north of these, and near by, was a thicket of young trees about 10 feet high; and on the west, 40 yards away, ran a stream of water. On every side was open prairie, inter spersed with rocks and broken land, and here and there a clump of trees. Here, having prepared for defense by cutting a road inside the thicket and clearing out the prickly pears, they hobbled their horses and posted gentries. That night they were not molested; in the morning, as they were preparing to start for the fort, they discovered Indians on their trial, with a footman 50 yards in advance of the party with his face to the ground, tracking. All hands efiw tn arms; those who were already in the saddle dismounted, and the saddle and pack horses were tethered to the trees. The hostiles gave the war-whoop, halted, and began stripping for action. Some mounted bucks reconnoitered the ground, and among these were a few Caddos, known "by the cut of their hair," who until that day had been counted among the friendly tribes. In consideration of the dispropor tion of numbers —164 to 11 —it was agreed that Rezin Bowie should go out to parley with them, to avoid, if possible, a fight so unequal and so desperate. He took David Buchanan with him, walked to within 40 yards of the enemy's line, and invited them to send out their chief to talk with him. He addressed them in their own tongue, but they replied with a "How do! How do!" followed by a dozen shots, one of which broke Buchanan's leg. Bowie responded with the con tents of a double-barreled gun and a pistol, took Buchanan on his back, and started for the camp. The Indians opened fire again. Buchanan was hit twice, but not mortally, and Bowie's hunting-shirt was pierced by several shots. Seeing that they failed to bring him down, eight of the Indians on foot pursued him with tomahawks, and were close upon him when his own own party charged them with rifles and killed four, putting the others to flight. "We then returned to our position." wrote Rezin Bowie, "and all was still for five minutes." Then from a hill red with Indians, and so near that the voice of a mount ed chief urging his men to the charge could be heard plainly, came yells and a vicious volley. "Who is load ed?" cried James Bowie. "I am," said Cephas Hamm. "Then shoot that chief!" And Hamm, firing, broke the Indian's leg and killed his pony. The chief went hopping round the horse, his body covered with his Bhield; four of the Texans who had Teloaded fired and the man fell. Six or eight of his tribe advanced to bear away the> body, and several of these ■were killed by the Texans. The vhole body of Indians then retreated behind the hill with the exception of a few who dodged from tree to tree, out of gunshot. Presently, however, they covered the hill again, bringing up their bow men, for the first time in the fight. There was rapid Bhooting on both sides; another chief advanced on horseback, and James Bowie brought him down. Meanwhile a score of Caddos who had succeeded In getting under the bank of the creek in the rear of the Texan party «»>ened fire at 40 yards, and shot Matthew Doyle through the breast. Thomas McCaslin ran for ward to avenge him, and was shot through the body. The firing became general from all quarters. The Teoc ans, finding their position in the trees too much exposed, retreated to the thicket, where they dislodged the rifle men under cover of the creek, who were in point blank range, by shoot ing them through the head as often as they showed above the bank. In the thicket, where they were well screened, they had clea~ views of the hostiles on the prairie. "We baffled their shots." wrote Jamesßow ie, "by moving six or eight feet tho moment we had flred, for their only mark was the smoke of our guns. They would put 20 balls within the space of a pocket-handkerchief in the spot where they saw that smoke." In this fashion the fight was kept up for two hours, and James Correll was shot through the arm. Seeing that the Texans were not to be dis lodged from the thicket, the savages resorted to fire —for the double pur pose of routing the little party and of carrying away their own dead and wounded under cover of the smoke, for the rifles of the rangers had brought down half a dozen at every round. They set fire to the dry prai rie grass to the windward of the thicket; the flames flared high and burned all the grass as far as the creek; but there they bore away to the right and to the left, leaving a clear space of five acres around the camp. Under cover of the smoke the hostiles carried away their dead; while the Texans scraped away the dry grass and leaves from their wounded comrades, and piled rocks and bushes to make a flimsy breast work. The Indians re-occupied the trees and rocks in the prairie and renewed their firing. Suddenly the wind shift ed to the north and blew hard. The red men were quick to see the ad vantage and seize the chance. One of their braves crawled down the creek and set fire to the high grass. Robert Armstrong killed him —too late. Down came the flames, 10 feet high, straight for tho camp! The shouts and yells of the Indians rent the air, and they flred 20 shots in a minute. Behind thte screen of smoke the Texans held a council of war. If the Indians should charge them under cover of the fire they could deliver but one effectual round. Even then the sparks were flying so thickly that no man could open his powder-horn but at the risk of being blown up. Bowie's men determined if the In dians charged "to deliver that one round, stand back to back, draw our knives, and fight as long as one was left alive." On the other hand, should the Indians not charge, and should tho Texans still stand their ground, they might be burned alive. In that case each man would take care of himself as well as he could until the fire reached the ring of cleared ground around the wounded men and the bag gage; them they would smother it with buffalo-robes, bearskins, deer skins. and blankets. And this they did, the hostiles not charging. By this time the fire had left so little of the thicket that the small group of fighters took refuge In tho ring they had made around the wound ed and the baggage, and begun rais ing their breastwork higher with loose rocks and with earth that they dug with their knives. The Indians had succeeded In removing their killed and wounded under cover of the smoke. Night was approaching, and they had been fighting since sunrise. The Indians, seeing that the Texans were still alive and dangerous, drew off and encamped for the night with their dead and wounded. By 10 o'clock the Bowies has raised their clumsy rampart breast high; the men filled their vessels and skins with water, and waited for the attack which they supposed the morning would bring. All night they heard the red men wail ing over their dead; and at daylight they shot a mortally wounded chief, as the customs of the tribes pre scribed. A little later they retired with their dead and wounded to a mountain about a mile away, where a cave served them for shelter and for tomb. At 8 o'clock two of the Texans ventured out from the little fort, and made their way to the en campment where the Indians had lain the night before, and there they counted 48 bloody spots on the grass where their braves had fallen before Texan rifles. "Finding ourselves much cut up," wrote the Bowies, "having one man killed and three wounded, five horsea 1 killed and three wounded, we resumed the strengthening of our little fort, and worked until 1 p. m., when 13 Indians appeared, but re tired again as soon as they discovered that we were still there, well fortified and ready for action." The Texans held their ground eight days, an J then retraced their march to San Antonio, where they arrived safely with their wounded and Iheir horses In 12 days. Nine men and two boys and killed 82 Indians and routed a fighting force of 164. It was proper to the ghastly "fitness of things" that the man who directed this wonderful fight, and was the heart and eye and arm behind every rifie and every knife, should go to me>et his death with Crockett and Tra vis in the Alamo. When, on March 8, Travis drew a line with his sword across the adobe floor, and called on all those of that desperate little gar rison who would stay with him to the death to come over that lino him, Crockett sprang across merrily, wav ing his cap, and every man of "those about to die" followed him, saluting: "Te morituri salutamus!" James Bowie, fast bound in raging fever, tossing and muttering on his cot "in the little north room of the Alamo." heard the call, and cried for two of his comrades to lift the cot and carry him over that line. It was done, and then they bore him back again to the little room to die. It is Madame Candelaria, the Mexi can woman who nursed him there, and who alone of all that Spartan band survived, who tells the story. "It is not true," she says, "that Col onel Bowie was 'brained with an ax.' He -lied in wild delirium in the height of the awful carnage, several hours before the Mexican horde burst into the Alamo. .. . They broke in the door where I watched with Colonel Bowie. I cried out, in Spanish, that I was a Mexican woman, and that I had nursed a man who had just died. One knocked me down, and another stabbed me in the cheek with a bay onet. Here is the scar! . . . Colonel Bowie's cold body was dragged from the cot—dragged down the stairs by the howling mob of soldiers, and thrown upon a h"«<ip of bleeding dead."—The New Voice. QUAINT AND CURIOUS. For the first time for 1000 years an ordination service in St. David's Cathedral, Cardiff, Wales, has just been conducted in Welsh. The most curious cemetery is sit uated at Luxor, on the Nile. Here repose the mummified bodies of mil lions of sacred cats. Their remains are side by side with the bodies of kings and emperors in mausoleums. Some years ago there was produced in the English court of probate a plank on which were scratched the testamentary dispositions of a ship wrecked naval officer. The board, with its rough carving, was held to be a will duly executed. In 1015, at Novgorod, at that time the capital of Russia, it was the law that any one plucking a hair from any individual's beard should be four times more severely punished than though he cut off his finger. In this connection all men were compelled to grow beards. The supposition was that the beard was the main source of manly strength. An Indian Jlentist. who at his gral uation is said to have captured all the prizes offered by a Boston college of dental surgery, extracts all teeth with a gentle pull of thumb and finger, a method which has been practiced by the Chinese for 30 centuries. He be lieves that once the simple move ments of thumb and finger, by which the most firmly-rooted tooth may be drawn, shall be learned, forceps will be considered a barbarism. The Quakers have the distinction of having built the first meeting-] use in Boston. It was in Brattle street and dates back to 1092. This was dis used in 1708, and the society moved to Congress street. The Quakers suffered every species of cruelty es tablishing their faith in Boston; scourging and imprisonment were the mild forms of prevention at first em ployed. Banishment and the loss of an ear was subsequently substituted. All have heard of white elephants, but few know that there are also in existence white rhinoceroses, consti tuting a distinct species. These are almost extinct, and probably not more than a dozen or so are left. The Revue Seientiflque sayß, of a small herd of these animals in Natal, that fortunately they are protected by law and, forunately also, the party that met the animals included the govern or of the colony, otherwise the spe cies might have been now more near ly extinct than ever before, for hunters are not scrupulous in sucb matters. Cnriouß I'MW About Parcel Carrrlne. They have curious laws in Vienna, and enforce them too. Recently Marie Freidl and Felix Kopstein, aged 15 and 13 years respectively, were, walking along a street in the Austrian capital, when they came across an old woman staggering along under the weight of a heavy package. Moved by pity they offered to carry it for the old woman, a proposition to which she readily ac ceded. The kind-hearted children had not gone far before they were ar rested by a policeman for carrying parcels without a license. The chil dren were taken to a police station, where the officer in charge lectured them upon the enormity of their of fence. They were kept under arrest for six hours and then released with a warning. It seems that there is a corps of "Messengers" in Vienna, to which a municipal statute grants the exclusive right of "carrying" inside the city. The boy and girl had violated the law by carrying the old woman's burden, and under such an interpretation of the statute a man who carries a package for a woman with whom l.e is walk ing may be "run in" by the first po liceman who sees him. —New York Presß. It Is proposed to illuminate the Yo semite fails, 2000 in height, by use of 20 arc lights in connection with meanr for producing color effects. Some o ; the roads are also to be lighted w'tfc electricity. New York City.—Bathing suits for young girls require to be ample and to allow perfect freedom before all else. Mohair is the material that is most liked and most fashionable and GIRL'S BATHING SUIT. blue and dark red with white trim mings are the colors preferred; but serge and flannel are correct and white suits are worn. The May Man ton model given is up-to-date in every particular, is stylish at the same time that it is absolutely comfortable. As shown, it is made of dull blue mohair with collar and bands of white in the same material and narrow black braid, but duck trimming can be used with equally good results. The blouse and bloomers are made In one and close nt the centre front, the skirt being entirely separate and buttoned in the back. The bloomers I SAILOR SUIT FOR GIRL* | are loose and drawn up below the knee by means of elastics inserted in the hems. The sleeves are short puffs und the big sailor collar is joined to the neck of the blouse. The shield is stitched to the right side of the blouse, beneath the collar, and buttoned into X>laee on the left side. To cut this suit for a girl eight years of age, four and three-eight yards ol' material twenty-seven inches wide or three and one-eight yards forty-four Inches wide will be required. Girl's Sailor Suit. No model suits the growing girl more perfectly than the simple, natty sailor suit. For summer wear it is made of linen, pique and chambray, nnd for the cooler months of cheviot serge and flannel. Blue and white are favorite colors, but dull or ox blood red is much worn. The smart May Manton example given in the large drawing is of marine blue linen with collar, cuffs and shield of white and stitched bands of the blue, and tie of soft blue silk. The skirt has a front gore Joined to wide, straight back portions that are laid in three box pleats on each side and is attached to a fitted body lining. The blouse is smooth across the shoulders and can be made with or without the applied yoke. An elastic inserted In the hem nt the lower edge regulates the fulness and allows of drawing the blouse over the head without an opening in front. The sailor collar Is seamed to tne neck and the shield is faced onto the body lining, the standing collar finishing it nt the throat. The sleeves are In bish op style with straight cuffs. To cut this suit for a girl eight years of age, five and a half yards of ma terial twenty-seven inches wide, four and a half yards thirty-two inches wide, or three and a quarter yards forty-four inches wide, will be re quired. ■S Cameo l'lns. After having suffered from oblivion for a long time the old-fashioned ca meo brooch is enjoying a revival in popularity. They are more curious than pretty, to tell the truth, unless now and then you come upon a model of true classical beauty. These are now brought out from the limbo of old fashioned ornaments, and are used to hold down the belt and hold up the skirt in the middle of one's waist in the back. The cameo pins are not used directly under the chin because they are singularly unbecoming i most people. Oriental Trimming. A strip of Oriental trimming is much used to cover the pleat in the middle of the front of a shirt waist, but it must bo worn with a stock of the same material. The strips may be used merely as a movable decoration, but if stitched to the waist, it is more har monious to use them also for t' l " nar row bandlike cuff. Clitc und Novel, Foulard gowns trimmed with dotted white muslin are decidedly chic and novel. One of these gowns of pastel blue satin foulard, scattered over with sprays of flowers, had a deep shaped flounce on the skirt of white muslin with black spots. The sleeves also had elbow puffs of the muslin, and the bolero opened over a vest, of this material. Woman'* Fancy Blouse. The blouse with the sailor collar is a marked and deserved favorite of tile season. In such a fancy form as this May Manton design it is suited both to the entire costume and the odd bodice and is eminently smart as well as generally becoming. The original is made of white louisine silk with trimming of narrow Persian bands, shield and stock of cream Cluny lace; but all silks, wools and cotton ma terials are appropriate. The foundation, or fitted lining, closes at the centre front. On it are arranged the various parts of the blouse proper which closes at the left side beneath the box pleat. The cen tre front is tucked in groups for a short distance, then allowed to fall free and form soft folds. Xne fronts proper are laid in one box pleat at eacii front edge, but otherwise are plain. The sailor collar is attached to the blouse, and the shield is arranged over the lining. The sleeves are in bishop style. When the lining is omitted the shield is attached to the waist beneath the collar, permanently to the right and buttoned to the left; and the waist is either gathered at the waist line or adjusted by means of tapes run through a casing. Otherwise there is no difference in the making. To cut this blouse for a woman of medium size, four and a half yards of material twenty-one inches wide, three and three-quarter yards twenty- WOMAN'S FANCY BLOUSE. seven inches wide, three yards thirty* two inches wide, or two and a half yards forty-four inches wide, will be required, with three-eight yard of all over lace. THE GREAT DESTROYER SOME STARTLING FACTS ABOUT THE VICE OF INTEMPERANCE. Abstainer* and Life Insurance-*The Tim• Will Come When a Xon-AlcoholU Clause Will ISe an Important Featur* of Kvery Reputable Policy. During the last few days the daily papers have made the discovery of a fact which readers of the New voice knew mwnths apo that one of the largest of the "old line' insurance companies has estab lished a total abstinence department foi the purpose of giving that class of their patrons the advantages that ought to ac crue to them. The comments which ap pear upon this step, which the very learned and wise editorial writers seem to suppose is an utterly new thing, are various, but most of them are commenda tory in their tone. It is interesting to notice that most of these daily papers that are now com menting upon this subject have, during the last year or two given currency to the old fake figures that sought to show that, total abstainers live less years than hard drinkers. The Chicago Record-Herald says: The time may come when a "nonalco holic clause" will be as important in a life linsurance policy as the "gasolene clause" in a tire insurance policy. A man who stores a certain amount of lire water in his abdominal basement every day will be regarded as no better risk than the house with several barrels of gasoline in the cel lar. This will be the inevitable outcome of the plan recently inaugurated by a life insurance company of New York should it Vie generally adopted by all the big life underwriters in this country. The plan of this company is to write policies for "to tal abstainers" upon a different basis from that offered to users of alcoholic stimulants. After an extended study of mortality statistics for several years, sup plemented by the testimony of medical science, the company has finally concluded that the claim that total abstinence con duces to longevity no longer admits of doubt, and it proposes to give total ab stainers the benefit of lower rates for life insurance. The cost of life insurance, as is well known, is determined upon the basis of "the chances of life" at all ages as dis closed by carefully compiled mortality sta tistics. If it is a fact that the "chances of life" are affected by indulgence in alco holic stimulants, the man who indulges is a less desirable "risk" than the total ab stainer. It ought to follow, therefore, as a simple proposition in common equity that the man who habitually drinks alco holic liquor should pay more for life in surance than the man of the same age who abstains. In other words, the total ibstainers should not be required to pay a portion of the extra cost incident to car rying the "boozers" on the insured rolls. The lowa State Register comments as> follows: In Europe there are a number of insur ance institutions which have had special policies for temperance men for many years, and the petitioners believe that it is high time the American companies fol low the example. The officials of the com pany admitted that an injustice was done to men who have been total abstainers in placing them on the same rating as those who drink, the books of the company showing that the ratio of death among drinking men was greater than among temperance men, and yet as an insurance risk the two have been on the same foot ing. The action of the company is com mendable, as is the action of men who signed the petition. It is not right to make a temperance man pay part of the premium on the life insurance of a drink ing man Are ni-lton* Degenerating? T)r. Dwight .1. Roberts, of Chicago, who !s pursuing the study of his orofession at :he Brompton Chest Hospital in London, expresses the opinion that the English people are sinking into physical degener acy. He said to a correspondent of the Chicago Record-Herald: "The huddling of the masses in ancient and unsanitary ten ements is in itself sufficient cause for a low moral condition, but added to this is .lie appalling prevalence of the alcohol habit, which is clearly as general among women and girls as among men and boys. Recently a great American evangelist in cited me to accompany him to some of lis east end meetings, and incidentally xe visited a number ot public houses ill vVhitechapel and Mile-End. There we vere able to verify a statement previously iiade to us that more than half the pa :rons of those places were women and •hildren. A prominent public-house keep er, who controls a dozen or more saloons n the locality, stated that sixty per cent. >f his receipts came 112 -i women and children. He said that children of all iges came frequently to the saloons and Mirchased intoxicants in any quantity de sired for their own use and for that of '.heir elders, who were too drunk or inert :o come. "Nor is the drink habit more general or lestruetive in Whiteehanel than in parts )f London enjoying a better reputation "or respectability." Campaign of Inclination. One of the great church organizations sf the United States is preparing for a national campaign of education on the temperance question. To awaken interest in the matter among church members, money prizes are to be offered for litera ture bearing on the question that will ap peal to the voters of the country and to the children. The Sunday-schools, too, (vill have their competition for books as prizes. Among other things will be urged i judicious use of temperance literature in Sunday-schools and young people's bands, the organization of temperance so cieties, and the appointment of special secretaries to this branch, the holding of temperance meetings at least twice a year, and systematic contribution to the cause. A Senslblt French Rule. The French governor-director of rail roads has written to the different socie ties opposing the use of alcohol, that all the Government roads have agreed to the following: First, to discharge all em ployes who persist in using spirits and wine while on duty; second, all persons who continue to drink shall be dropped from the pension rolls of the company and will not participate in the endowment funds in case of an accident. All resUu rants on the roads are forbidden to sell spirits to the workmen. Four Drink* Kill Hlra. Albert Rouleau, Philadelphia, aged nine teen years, entered a saloon and was in duced to take his first drink of iitoxicat ing liquors. It was gin. and )e begge«. J foi more. After swallowing foi«" more it succession he suddenly collapsJd on thf floor, and soon breathed his last. Hit father is a well-to-do contractor anc builder.—Canadian Royal Tenplar. The Crusade in pief. Alcohol is only a product of decay. While the pulpit pnys, the salooi votes The title deed of cverf lot in Sebring Ohio, contains a clau<» prohibiting tin sale of intoxicating liq*>rs. Drunkenness is not subsiding, certain!; it is not at a standstii. »ut it is on an on ward march, and it i a double quick. A few years ago sole seventy-nine Amor ican breweries we* bought up by twen ty-four British gytJicates, with the expec tation of reaping'Krge dividends. For * lev' years divide?® were paid, but of lati there has been ?large falling off.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers