LITERATURE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 7427, 23 November 1892, Page 1

LITERATURE.

A FEMALE GUERILLA. (Sew York Sun,') The close of the war left the south-west in the handßof a desperate lotof men. The regular Boldiers as they returned to their homes accepted the situation, bat the par* tisan rangers and guerilla bands were loath to disperse. In hundreds o£ cases they defied the federal troops which took possession of the country, and in scores of instances they were hunted down and killed. Among the worafc of the lot along the Bed River were a dozen men who had served under the notorious Quantrell, but none of them was the peer of a young woman named Fanny Davis. That, I believe, was her real name. She was the daughter of a Missouri f armer,and left home in 1863 to join Quantrell. She was then twenty years of age, stout and robust, but had a face which even her parents called ngly. Three different members of Quantrell'a band have told me the atory of her introduction. The guerillas were encamped on the Neosho river, near the boundary; line between Kansas and the Indian Territory. They had nineteen prisoners, twelve of whom were Federal soldiers and the remainder citizens who 'had been arrested as Unionists. The young woman entered camp on her own none armed with a shotgun and a revolver. She told Quantrell she had come to join, but he replied that such work as his needed stouter hearts than women could boast of. " Who are those men ?" she aaked a3 she pointed to the unfortunates. " Prisoners." "What are you going to do with them?" "Shoot 'em !" " Then I'll show you whether I have the nerve of a man or a woman ! " The prisoners were under guard, but not tied. She walked over to them and stood six of them up in a row— four soldiers and two civilians. Then she drew her revolver and passed down the line and ahot every man through the head. Two of the soldiers belonged to the Third Wisconsin Cavalry and a third to the Second Kansas coloured regiment. Not a hand was raised to prevent her action, and when she had finished Quantrell accepted her as a member of his band. It was at this same time and place that the guerilla -chief and his lieutenant got into a dispute as to the killing power x>f a carbine captured with one of the Federals. To settle the question, seven of the prisoners were ordered to stand one behind the other as closely as possible, and a guerilla stood about six feet from the first man and fired at his body. The bullet killed the -first three and wounded the fourth. Two of these men belonged to the Fourteenth Kansas Cavalry. From this time on Fanny Davis was called "Tiger Cat," and she never left the band for. a day. She : was with it at Baxter Springs when the horrible massacre took place. In October, 1863, General Blunt started to remove his headquarters from Fort Scott, Kan., to Fort Smith, Ark. He had an escort of ninety men, eight or ten waggons, the brigade band, and a score of staff officers, headquarters clerksandnoncombatante. As they neared the Springs, which post was held by a small Federal force, they -were attacked by Quantrell's band of 600 men. About ninety of Blunt'a force was killed. Of these not more than two were killed while fighting, the others being shot down after surrender. The waggon containing the entire brigade band was captured early in the fight, and no sooner were the men deprived of their revolver a than the gnerillas, led on by the ■"Tiger Cat," began a maßsacre. Even the little drummer boy was not spared. With her own hand ' Fanny Davis killed five of those unarmed men. She boasted of the fact a dozen times afterward. It waß this shefiend who Bet fire to the waggon after the bodies had been piled up in it, and who rode over the battlefield firing _ upon the wounded Federals, and shouting ; "No quarter !" As soon as possible after the close of the war the Federal authorities began to hunt down QnantreU'a guerillas — every man of whom deserved hanging. The men scattered over a wide territory, and when the pursuit became-too hot some of them crossed into Mexico and otherß " hid out" in the swamps and had a price set on their heads as outlaws. " The Tiger Cat " took np her quarters in the south-east corner of the Indian Territory, where ehe had friends, but was seen and heard of for. a hundred miles along the Arkansas line. Being a woman, and falsely stating that the Federal soldiers had wiped out her family in Missouri, Bhe gained the sympathy of a large class. Had she remained quiet and peaceable she would have not been disturbed, but Bhe went riding over the conntry to stir np discord and gratify a hate which had- become a mania. ' She killed a Federal soldier on the highway •between Doakeville, I. T., and L'oksbnrg, Ark., and whenever ehe heard of a settler who had favoured the Union canse Bhe sought revenge on him. Sometimes she had two or three of the whole band with her, but oftener rode alone. She dressed entirely in men's clothing, and was generally taken for a man. My orders from headquarters in Arkansas in regard to this woman were. "Take such force bb you think necessary and go in pursuit of the woman known as Tiger Cat. If possible capture her alive, that she may be banged for her many cold-blooded murders. Ton are_ expected to either bring her in as a prisoner or furnish conclusive evidence that ahe is dead." I took only one man with me — a soldier who had served as a scout the last two years of the war. When last heard from the "Tiger cat" was on the Arkansas river, to the west of Van Buren. Had a price been set on her head some of the Indians would have turned out to hunt her down, as they had otherß of the band, but as there was nothing to be made they bad no interest in the case. Indeed, they were .disposed to shield her. We had been scouting for a week before we got track of her, and then we met her face to face on the highway. We were dressed aB citizens, and passed ourselves off as horse buyers. She had crossed the mountains, and was on her way south. We had a fair description of her, but she had somewhat disguised herself. She usually wore her hair down on her shoulders. On this occasion it was cut short. Up to this time she had always worn a black felt hat. She now had on a cap. While she was smooth-faced, her look and bearing were exactly like those of a man. She had reason to suspect every stranger, for she knew that she was being hunted down, but her conduct aa we met •tvaa coolness itself. We saw her when yet half a mile away, and had she even slowed down we ahonld have suspected her. She came galloping np, halted as she reached us, and after a "good day, strangers," Bhe added: "Half a dozen of us are camped over there on Sugar Creek. One of our mules got away this morning, and we are looking for him. Seen anything of him along this road?" I could say that I suspected her, but it would not be the truth. I was dead sure the stranger was a man, and when he extended a flask and asked us to "nip," I put him down aa a good fellow. He was in no hurry to go, and it was a quarter of an hoar before we separated. .. There waa ■just one unpleasant thing about him. While his talk waa friendly and his smiles frequenfcj hifl eyes had a menacing look. They never Boffcened for an instant, but

seemed to thirat for blood. Both of us were struck with this fact, and as we rode along we concluded that the stranger waß a bad man to fool with. We had gone a distance of three milea when we came upon an emigrant family in their wagon. It consisted of husband, wife, and five children, and they belonged to the squatter fraternity. All were Beared half to death, as the man we had encountered had held up the Bquatter for his money, which amounted to only 14dols. After securing it the robber said : "If you meet anyone looking for 'Tiger Cat,' tell them that she is still doing business at the old stand, and can't be captured or run out of the country !" The Bquatter had never heard of febe notorious woman, but when he gave us her message we knew that he had missed a golden opportunity. We returned down the road at a gallop, and then began a pursuit lasting three long weeks. All that first day we were not more than five miles behind her at any hour, and we rode over forty miles. " She was headed for the Choctaw country, and as she knew the roads better than we did she gave us the clip when night came. We picked up her trail next day, but it was slow work following it. Some of the people we met gave us straight information, but others who evidently knew the woman and sympathized with her put us on. the wrong scent. Mile by mile we traced her south to the Texas border. She rested for two days with a family living on the north bank of the lied river, south of Doaksville, and then followed the stream down into Ark&asas. In some way she got information that she was pursued, and she laid a plan to wipe us out. Near the Arkansas line, where iihe highway crossed a swamp, she prepared to ambush and await our coming 1 . We were then one day behind her. There was a squatter's cabin at the west end of the swamp. She got there at noon aad remained over night, pausing for a man and claiming to have been grievously wronged. She carried the idea that a Sheriff was after her, and the squatter loaned her a double-barrelled shotgun and selected her ambush. This was known some weeks afterward and he fled the country. Just at the cabh) a road came in from the north, and *b we reached it we met two men on their way to Fulton. We made inquiries of them and found that they had met s. horseman about ten miles up the north road. The description was a fair one of '-'Tiger tCat/' and we at once started off on tbe gallop. Tho two men — Amos Fox and George Cunningham — took the road across the Bwamp, ;and were shot from their saddles by the woman in ambush. This was at noon, and we did not get back there tntftil night. She then had half, a day 'B start of üb, and was doubtless aware that size had killed the wrong men, as she went off in great haste., . She went within four miles of Fulton, and then turned north and made for the mountains. Our pursuit was slow, as we were strangers to the country, but we managed to keep the trail, and finally . reached a roadside cabin at the foot of the mountain where "Tiger Cat 0 had remained over night. Here she was -also supposed to be a man, and she again told a story to gain sympathy. When we had satisfied the settler as to her tree 'Character, he informed ub that Bhe had gone to the north-west, over the . mountain. . We were then only three hours behind her. Her horse had cast two shoes, and she would likely halt on the crest of a mountain at a hamlet called Nobletown, to get him reßhod. The mountain road waß a rough one, but we pushed aheacLat a reckless pace, while she had to let iher horse take it easy. As a consequence she arrived only half an hour ahead of us. Her horse was in the hands of the blacksmith, and the woman sat on a stone at the door of the shop. She did not see us nor we her until we turned a bend in the trail about thirty rods:above the shop. She instantly divined our indentity and our mission. She had a repeating rifle, which was standing against the rude log shop. She sprang for this, and had the gun to her face almost as soon as we had made her out. She fired three shots as -fast as you could count. One of them passed through my companion's hat — a second through the right ear of my horse — the third between our heads. Then, as we dashed at her, Bhe turned and retreated into the shop and dosed the door. Her horse and the smith were outride. There were two windows in the shop, and both weze open, while the epaee between the logs had never been chinked. We dismounted and took cover where we could command the door. Opposite it and not over ten rods away wae a natural sink which made an excellent rifle pit, and though she got cwo more shots at us before we were under cover, her aim. was not good. Tbe " Tiger Cat " had been driven to bay at last. Onr first move after getting into position wsb to make use' of the blacksmith and a flag of truce. He was instructed to demand her surrender in the name of the military authorities, and to Bay that our orders were to capture or kill her. She talked with him through a crevice, and Bent us her reply as follows : " Tell those whelps that they can neither capture nor kill me, and that I give them ten minutes to get out of this !" At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon my comrade got into position where his fire could be directed on the end of the chop. He fired for the crevices and through the window, while I did the same on the front. The woman returned almost every Bhot up to about 5 o'clock. Then Bhe fired at longer intervale, and finally ceased altogether. We hoped that she had been hit and disabled, and the blacksmith was advanced with another flag of truce to ask for her surrender. He walked up to the door and called to her, but she did not answer. He pushed the door open and saw her lying on the ground, but at the same instant a bullet from her revolver chipped his ear. When he reported the Btate of affairs to us we advanced upon the chop and finally made a rush through the door. , We expected to be fired on from a corner, but the woman lay on her side on the hard beaten ground in the middle of the shop, and her life had gone out. Three of our bulletß had hit her and she was lying in a great pool of blood, her right hand still firmly" holding the weapon from which she had fired her lastshot. Thus fitly ended the career of a woman whose record has no equal in the history of our country.