Wagons West Chronicles October Issue 2016 October Issue | Page 17

October 2016

Wagons West Chronicles

17

COMMON SENSE
ANOTHER
AND
PRESENCE
OF
INDIAN SCARE
MIND

A Kansas City Drummer
Chased By Fiendish Red
Men.

April 21, 1877, The Times,
Dodge City, Kansas — An incident
occurred yesterday which agitated
our city from center to circumference. It was a reproduction of the
notorious Indian ace, as a benefit
to and in honor of Mr. Elias Cahn,
of the House of Cahn & Co., clothiers of Kansas City, who was here
trying to sell clothing.
All the morning the intrepid
young Mr. Cahn had been relating
to gaping crowds of our astonished
denizens miraculous accounts of
his own heroic exploits among the
Indians, and expressing a bloodthirsty yearning for more Indians
to conquer.
Finally our boys resolved that he
should be accommodated, and a
hunting expedition was proposed,
to which he eagerly assented.
Mayor Kelley, Sam Sneider, of the
firm of Somshine & Sneider, of
Cincinnati; John Mueller, and our
young Indian fighter made up the
party.
As soon as the hunters had started Messrs. Ed. Garland, J. M.
Manion, S. E. Isaacson, C. H.
Schultz, Mr. Wolf, C. M. Beeson,
and Jas. Langton donned Indian
costumes which were captured at
the Doby Walls fight, and with faces
hideously painted — superbly
mounted, they started in a roundabout way, to intercept Mr. Cahn
and his party.
By the time the latter party had
started the populace began to turn
out. Roofs of houses, old freight
wagons and telegraph poles were
quickly covered with anxious spectators; mothers with young babies
on their backs and older ones fol-

lowing behind m ight be seen frantically rushing up Boot Hill; the silvery locks of aged and decrepit
men could soon be seen fluttering
over the highest and most inaccessible pinnacles of the hills adjacent
to our city.
When our party of Indian
hunters had traveled about four
miles they were suddenly startled
by a fiendish Indian war whoop,
and on looking up the hill on one
side, they saw the blood thirsty devils riding furiously toward them in
a regular Indian file. Mr. Cahn,
although armed with a murderous
revolver carefully loaded with
blank cartridges by Mr. Samuels,
decided very promptly that discretion was the better part of valor,
and, turning his fiery steed toward
Dodge City, applied whip and spur
without restraint.
When the first shot was fired by
the pursuers, Mr. Cahn exhibited
his skill at Indian fighting by dodging the bullet so dexterously that
his elegant cap flew off his head
and was seen no more. The firing
was rapid, but Mr. Cahn’s head
dodged faster, and he arrived safely within a mile of the city, when firing ceased, and he began to think
he was saved.
However it soon occurred to his
mind that the city must be
besieged, as the hill-tops were
crowded with people, and an excited populace filled the streets. But
his friend Sneider assured him,
and both hunters and Indians
made a triumphal entry into the
city together, warmly saluted by the
gang with eggs, Sitting Bull and
Banta having one burst against the
side of his head, to his infinite disgust.
Editor’s Note: Another similar
incident was reported in the
August 2004 edition of Chronicle
of the Old West.

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April 28, 1859, The Weekly
Arizonian, Tubac, AZ — If a man
faints away, says “Hall’s Journal of
Health,” instead of yelling out like a
savage, or running to him to lift him
up, lay him at full length, on his back
on the floor, loose the clothing, push
the crowd away so as to allow the air
to reach him, and let him alone.
Dashing water over a person simply
in a fainting fit is barbarity. The philosophy of a fainting fit is that the
heart fails to send the proper supply
of blood to the brain. If the person
is erect, that blood has to be thrown
uphill; but if lying down, it has to be
projected
horizontally,
which
requires less power, as is apparent.
If a person swallows poison deliberately, or by chance, instead of
breaking out into multitudinous and
incoherent exclamations, dispatch
someone for the doctor. Meanwhile,
run to the kitchen, get half a glass of
water in anything that is handy, put
into it a teaspoonful of salt and as
much ground mustard; stir it an
instant, catch a firm hold of the person’s nose, and the mouth will soon
fly open — then down with the mixture, and in a second or two, up will
come the poison. This will answer
better in a large number of cases
than any other. If, by this time, the

physician has not arrived, make the
patient swallow the white of an egg,
followed by some strong coffee,
because they nullify a larger number
of poisons than any other accessible
articles, as antidotes to the poison
that remains in the stomach.
If a limb or other part of the body
is severely cut and the blood comes
out by spurts or jerks, be in a hurry
or the man will be dead in five minutes. There is no time to talk or send
of the doctor — say nothing, out with
your handkerchief, throw it around
the limb, tie the two ends together,
put a stick through them, twist it
around tighter and tighter, until the
blood ceases to flow. But to stop it
does no good. Why? Because only a
severed artery throws blood out in
jets, and the arteries get their blood
from the heart; hence to stop the
flow, the remedy must be applied
between the heart and the wounded
spot — or, in other words, above the
wound. If a vein had been severed,
the blood would have flowed in a
regular stream — and, on the other
hand, the tie should be applied
below the wound, or on the other
side of the wound from the heart,
because the blood in the veins flows
toward the heart and there is no
need of so great hurry.