INDIAN RAIDS

It is said that Andrew Jackson had to build a special shed for his racehorse, Yalgo, to protect him from the Indians. This horse indeed would have been a prize capture for the Indians, for he far surpassed the quality of their smaller ponies.

Bell County was fairly well protected from attack by the counties west of her; but small bands of Indians now and then succeeded in penetrating into the western portions of Bell in horse-stealing operations. Small troops of United States soldiers were stationed around the area to capture and end the Indian raids.

Mr. F. M. Cross, an old Bell County man gave an interesting account of what he said was one of the last Indian raids in Bell County. In the early spring of 1870 the Indians made a stealing raid in Bell county, in the neighborhood of Youngsport. There were four Indians in the bunch and they secured fourteen head of saddle horses. They killed one mare belonging to Dee Lane. Being unable to either catch or drive her, they shot her and left her lying with the arrow in her, within five hundred yards of the Lane house. They also got the mule out of Parson Henry Cosper's lot. It was locked by a chain around its neck attached to a limb which had fallen from a big tree. They slipped the loop up until they got it over the end of the snag and took the mule. Its mate was locked around the body of the tree and they could not steal him. When the news got out the next morning a posse of eleven men got together to follow the Indians. There were; Andrew Jackson Turnbow, Will Cathey, Mitt Parker, Don Tankersley, Tuck Boone, Dock Cosper, Jack Wilcox, Abe Ray, Jake Cosper, Hiram Teague and G. B. Cross.

These men got mounts and started about 11 o'clock in the morning. The Indians had evidently scattered out some yards apart in order to avoid being trailed and it was difficult for them to make any headway following them. Soon, the men decided they would ride straight ahead for fifteen or twenty miles and probably would find where they had gathered more horses and could trail them better. When they reached where Copperas Cove now stands, finding no sign on the north side of the mountains, they returned and went due south through the gap. When on the south side of the range of mountains, they struck the trail of the Indians. The Indians were at that time only one mile from them, on the mountain where they had remained all day, waiting to make another haul when night came on. Having a spy on the edge of the mountain they discovered that the men had struck their trail and would soon be on them. The Indians pulled up camp and left in a full run. When down on the level prairie the wily Indians scattered out some yards apart, leading or riding all of the horses. With the grass being so high It was Impossible to trail them faster than a walk.

Mr. Cross and some others in the crowd having followed the Indian trails out before, knew the route they would go for twenty miles or more, and they decided to make a straight run for points twenty miles ahead. In so doing they frequently came onto their trail. Mr. Cosper was riding the mate to the mule the Indians had stolen and this animal would put his nose to the ground and follow his mate like a dog for some distance, then raise his head and bray. The twenty mile run was through open country with scattering small hills and groves here and there. They reached a chain of mountains and stayed close to it, keeping on the north side. The boys reached those mountains about half an hour before sundown, and where the Indians had just crossed one of those little streams It looked so wet as If they had not been gone ten minutes. Two of the boys' horses gave out at this point, and one man was suffering with a pain in his side, so they had to leave them. These were Andrew J. Turnbo, Will Cathey and Abe Ray. The other eight began to crowd their horses to the limit, knowing that what they did must be done in the next hour, as It would be dark soon.

During the next four or five miles more horses were falling and four others had to leave them. This left only Jack Wilcox, Dock Cosper, Hiram Teague, and G. B. Cross. Soon two other horses gave out and left only G. B. Cross and Hiram Teague in pursuit.

By this time it was dark and the stars were shining brightly. It was bright moonlight and they were satisfied the Indians had seen they were gaining fast and had taken to the roughs of the mountains which lay Just to the left.

Jake Cosper said "We'll see If they have taken to the mountains" and began to ride old Pete around, in a few minutes Pete put his head to the ground and started right up the mountain, braying, so all were satisfied that the Indians had seen the pursuing party, whom they avoided by keeping little mounds and groves of timber between them. As the posse was without rations and the Indians would get an all night start on them, they returned to their homes.

(From EARLY DAYS IN CENTRAL TEXAS).