ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 133, 3 November 1874, Page 3

ADVENTURES WITH INDIANS.

A young man named Carper has recently returned to lowa country, says the Des Moines State Leader, from the Far West, the history of whose life would probably excel in point of thrilling interest the adventures of a Boone or a Carson. Mr Carper is at present about twenty-four years of age When a mere boy he was pass onately fond of thrilling stories of hunt and baUle. Accordingly, when but when ten years of age, he left his home clandestinely, aud succeeded in reaching the hunting grounds of the West, where he was engaged in hunting and trapping with such men as Kit Carson, Buffalo Bill, and others. When nearly twenty years of age he was captured by a tribe of Sioux Indians, who proceeded to practise upon his person the most exquisite torture which their ingenuity could invent. Every knuckle upon his hands was split open with a knife, his wrists were badly mangled, as were his knees and other portions of his body. Under this terrible torture he bore up like a man, and to this fact he undoubtedly owes his life. His captors, apparently influenced by the courage and nerve he displayed, nursed him until his wounds were healed, and adopted him as a member of the tribe. Two years elapsed from the time of his capture before he was able to effect his escape. Once freed from bondage he turned upon the race which had enslaved him, and from that day to this the red man has been his foe. One year ago last spring, Mr Carper headed the expedition which opened up the mail route running westward from Fort Loramie 180 miles, through a country infested with hostile Indians, and full of danger for the civilised pale face. For some time Mr Carper continued to carry the mails over this route. He was compelled to keep a sharp look out for the redskins, and often served as a target for their firearms. But he escaped with remarkable luck until one day, on his return trip to the fort, when when hewasset upon by a party of 35 Indiausmounted on their ponies. Five orsix bullets took effect upon his person from the first fire, but none of the wounds greatly disabled him. Then he started his horses into a dead run in the direction of the fort, and, dropping into the bottom of the waggon, with his back against the dashboard, rested his eigb. teen-shooter

across the back of the se.it, and as the whole pack came dashing after him, continued to fire in rapid succession, picking off the leaders first. When the last cartridge in his rifle was gone he had recourse to his revolvers, and thus kept up the fight until within a short distance of the fort, when the reds slunk away, leaving twenty-eight of their number dead and dying along the road. When the fort was reached he was rrore dead than alive. Nine bullets had his person, four of the number passing entirely through portions of his body, bu f . luckily, it would seem providentially, none had touched a vital part. The fight had been a desperate one, and Mr Carper's recovery was despaired of. His mother, who is a resident of Jaspar county, was notified of her son's danger, and immediately started for the scene. Under her careful nursing he recovered, and at her urgent request returned with her to her home in this State. He bears upon his person the marks of many bullet wounds and the scars made by his torturers. He announces his determination of returning to his old haunts in the fall, if he has sufficiently recovered. Civilisation has no attractions for him. He counts the number of his Indian victims, whose scalps he has raised, at 183; but as he is young yet, he expects to be able to greatly increase the number before his own top-knot is allowed to grace the wigwam of some dusky brave.