Document text
c,AN trtt.i.A)
iw 2 1 1937
Lire. 3elle Kilgore
718 tA.lade Areet
0.1ovis, New Lexioo
1500 Words
q177777 771TPT7777.1D
Melrose,New Mexico
T called on nr. Degraftenreid Diet ionday. de was asleep.
do has been ill ever sinoe the Pioneer Ikly Celebration at
Clovis the first days of June.
he 06.me out on the poroh with a smile on his lace and
a brown oigarette paper in 4iis hand. I had met him several
days before at Clovis, and had asked for an interview.
do not recall very mu oh about my family, but we have
been on the move westward ever sines the first of the
Degreftenrelds came to America from :'.ngland. 2hey went from
I4orth Carolina. to South Carolina then to Kentucky (where 1 was
born) from there to iirkansas and to Grayson, oounty near
ilariplAters Bluff, Texas. There were three brothers in my grand,
father's family, John, Creed,(my grndfther) and Selene
"We came to '1'exas in company with several other families a
among them were i!ei Rogers. wife was a ;lepers and we were
sweethearts when we woe -hildren, but my father roved farther
west and. dld not see ler for fi teen ye-fs. e onme out
to ew:ex.ispo lout 1861,(some eay the yer tt 3illy the Y:id
lv,:A3 killed), nd settled no AzImagorda i...lree/ip not fn. from
sort Sumner.
"It t a about 1882 th t1 spent 'the winter with aeorge and
John %;ausey, who were buffalo hunters. Well, there were not many
buffaliteeleft.for the year* of 1Vhb to 1880 were the great
years of buffalo hunting. A -hie year, 1882, the buffaloes
DeGraftenreid .2
were sc row and did not run in great. herds like they did in 1876
to 1880, But I told that to man from the Clovis paper and you get
that from him.
"One year I went over into the mountains beyond Roswell
and coming back through them canyons I had to go up a canyon.
I was away fror the rest of the boys, I think I was over hear
the White mountains and L;apitan. Anyway I was horseback and as
it was getting 1.te I had to get someweere to stay all night.
I sew a smoke Aad thou6at it would be a camp of Indians. "hen
I came up I knew it was the Geronimo Isdittna, I went up to
the camp the tepees were built in a circle, and in the
center was a fire. There were several deer hanEinc around and
sor:e turkeys. There were •boet forty or fifty Indiansand I
did not knot what to do. I finally screwed up enough courage to
1:
ask if i could stay all night. I couldax and they seemed to
under -stand me. after a few alinetes the chi,f came out and I
asked him if I could stay all night, ae looked me over and
asked me waere I had been where,± w s going and several other
questions. I got off my horse, and the Indians et•nding took my
gun off me and off the lease, before I knew wh t they weae doing.
"I turned to the chief and said, "You s -id. I could stay all
night with you and I am 1 ol-Ynta to 77oa for protection'.. The
old chief said some thing in his Indian languaae then they all
beoame very friendly. dee then ceid, that I could sleep in
ale tepee. I walked up to the fire where several Indian bucks
were. I noticed tnat my horse nad been turned loese. I looked
De@raftenreid .3.
around very anxiously, but the Indians a id th-t my horae would
be there in the morning. We then stood arond the fire, watching
the boys cooking They had big hunks of met stuck on sticks
and holding them over the fire, browning them. They looked.
good .1..nd me3t better. I was tired fld hungry and anything
would have tasted good to me. I stepped up behind an young
Indian caught him by the shoulder, pulled him back and took his
stick with the me t or it -nd began to eat, before her realized
what had been done. '4 1A)ked purty mad for a minute, but as
the others were selling %nd laughing, he began to laughttoo,
and then got him another iece of me -t and started to cook it.
They ad some very 7ood cofee.
,fter :077;111e the TndIn wero all FoJrJr off to hunt. T said
that T did not know to hurt deer, so ieronimo said th,-.t I
could wait 'til tomorrow ard le wold show me how. We soon went
to bed in the tepee. I asked abo,lt my horse but they s'id he
would be there in the morning.
We went into the tepee and there was a big bed of coals
in the center of the tent and on ea h side of the tent were beds
of grass and skins. The chief and his two squaws slept on one
side of the tepee and I on the other side of the fire. They
put the flap down and when the fire went out some one would build
it up. It was so hot in there that you could sleep witho-at any
thing on. Te went to bed but not to sleep much and I was up by
the crack of day.
The others were up out around the fire.
DOGraftonreid
The IndiRns began to go 9.round In twos Nad threes and soon
dieappe red. I eked wh,t they were doing, the Indian Wiled
wad th• t they were vim' to hunt elk. 00 asked me if I oould
hurt °IA and 7 toll him thnt I could not. 'hsll, you 74o with
me, T Wlor you
I wlkod more thnn R. mile .lad he turned to me,
and s 3A gruffly,"Yo don't know to hunt deer".
He would vvik rive feet .1.nd stoop rid squat and ton
ee.:on fe6t !,Lnd do tne sL.me thing. 1:ot asound of iAnything
could be AeLrd •Iiced on .ale, mocosins, but the would
erck under my ovt nd t a thorns would soratoh on my pante an4
the Indiali would snow thzt ho w .d. 4 did not get wal dOoi,
and rent baok to the teppes.
There was r t ezoiteratt in camp when we got buck* Th
Indians were talkirg and wore looking at me with angry
foosi I did not know wh,A to make of it. A horse had come
in with his saddle or M his bridle reins upon the horrmis
neo14 All were 1. oking J.t. me suspiciously. They bogn to ask
ma questions nd if I had anybody with me. T knew I we in a
bad fix. If sore one hd shot th,!,t Indian fror his hores, they
would think that it was sor.e one irith re. If he twlo found dead
7y life would not be wort. a dime.
lokod ••ro:nd for my horse
tot he n pore. 'verything g tting cir,neroon like, nnd. I
tw.ir bo r to tA.1 the truth thz,t ia::.(1 been with -;some of the
r(A.1ohers over ne'r the Rpita and 'ihite mountf,ins raAl vrls ;7oint
back to Joiswell. fter aw lIe the other indiwas who haa been
DeGraftenreid
out looking for the missing ore, Jqr10 and had him with them.
They were :aughing at hir. He said that he yot down qaiekly to
shoot a deer and forgot to take the rains of his horse's neck an
and the horse ran awa.:, f-ot him and cam back to camp. It seemed
as if they could not rag him enough about it. But I was surely
relieved, y geh, my life would not been worth the snap of my
finger, if that dalved old buok had been found dead. They
never wo,ld have believed me. Well, everything was pleeaant
again.
I staid tia't day for anteag1f-hunt.
The Indians never kill anLeagle, unless they rant the beak
and claws. They find a high bald rock with a orevice in it and
place sticks nd brush over the crevice, 4n Indian gets in the
crack and places himself so as he cannot be ceen. He holds up a
stick with a rabit or some small live animal on it and moves it
up and down. An eagle will sight it away off high in the air,
He will beg- n to make 1 rge eircles flying lower and lower each
44444JkAr
time makingA circles and finally with a swift dounward swoop grab
the rabbit, but as quick as he 17 the hidden Indian is quicker
free
and zip, the Indian's hand grabs the eagle by the feet and it
is impossible to 7et away from th‘t death grip of the Indian.
They use the feathers for decoration and know just how to
pull the fethora out without injuring the shafts or tearing
the skins. Vihen the Indians h-ve all the fe.. tilers from an eagle
they want, they turn him loose. He can fly away for they leave
the necessary feathers for him to fly with. They keep the
ea 1s sometimes and feed him so that his feathers are brighter
than when they caught him.
Dogrartenreid
.6..
The "dented" Gabin
"Yes, there are quite a few stories about ghosts and "Hants"
over in the °unwire oountry. That country lies southwest of
here and is full of rough canyons, some of them are wooded and
some of the are bare and rooky. There is a story about a 0113,-.
Lain an& a corporal who always took the pay roll to the soldiers
stationed away over in the Indian reservation, I believe it
was the Lesoaleros or some other tribe, maybe. But there are
so many different ones that it doesnot matter. These Indians
were savage and nerfOrre warpath. Then there were mom
white men that htvi gone wilder.
,t night the captain awl the oorporal would bury the mom/
and one of them sleep with hit, eye open and t&ke turn about
watching the money. I;oact mornin they would take up the
money and. go, well, they came to where the soldiers were
supposed to be, but there ‘v4e neither hair nor hide of them.
The Gaptain started beak, one night they buried the money
and the Indians came up on them unknown, and were prowling
all round. The Indiana tried to make the men toll where the
money was e men would not. o the Indians torture them
before soldiers. It wan supposed thnt the Indians
found the money and took it to a eAin. Any way there was
a change in the ndiane ard they seemed to.have/more horses and
slowed signs of ruVthg ot ponsior of sc-ething.
The way these Indians tortured the men would be to out their
veins b_nd let the 'lood gurgle out the Indirlas snarling all
the time.
some mftr wAid he. tried to etP77 in the old cabin and
DeOraftenreld and they they said they could something water being poured out of
a jut gurgling, and the lamp would not stay lit, and when the
light went out, there would be a snarling just like a dog before
your face.
Now this cabin was a. rook one with one door and one window
and nothing could iret in wily by this door and window.
Boma of the cowboys s id they we.re Foing to stay there anyway.
So three o:C them went to stay all night. 1*.hey went to bed
with the light burning, and talked a long time each one
dozing off. 'Alley noticed ta t the light waa out and e6ch one
supposed t-iv.t the othur one had turned or blowed out the
light. One of them woke the others. "Did you blow out the
light?" he asked and they said no that th44 didn't.""I heard
something he said, I'm going to light the lamp." He lighted
the lamp and soon it went out (Ild then a gurgling noise
began and,thr snarling of a dog right in their faces. They
got up and run out of the house, but as they got in some cao.
tus, they said, "Hell, no ghost is goin' to keep us away."
Bo they went back towrrd th o b3n !nd it we dark and quie
quiet, 'they went in lighted the 1-,..mp and went to bed, theydid
not her anything, but suddenly the lit wen ollt, the gurgling
sound began again and the snarling dog was in their faces.
They grabbed their cloths .ird one of them said,
if there is a giost, just let rim h .ve it." and the boysdil
not ever try to sleep in the cabin anymore, But others have
been lost in ti t eountry and when they would try to stay
there, they would hear that gurgling and snarling, Bo they
say it is hamted by the spirit of the soldiers the Indians
killed.