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919
his father and brother, which were in charge of a Mr. Adams. At Victoria Peak, in Montague county, the cattle were stampeded by a storm and scattered all over the country. The following morning the cowboys set out in twos, to gather them up, Mr. Adams and a young man going west. At nightfall all returned except these two. As the Indians had, the day before, raided Bob Stevens' ranch at Victoria Peak near by, and stolen all of his ponies, the men believing Mr. Adams to be killed, after a short search, thought it useless to look further for him, but were prevailed upon by John and one of the hands to continue the search. John took charge of the herd, and three days later, attracted by a swarm of vultures they found the bodies of Adams and his young companion scalped and mutilated. The breast of one was cut open and his heart drawn out and laid on his stomach ; the other had parts of his person cut off and stuck in his mouth. They rolled them in blankets and buried them under the bank of the creek where they had made their stand for life.
They were again attacked near Lookout Mountain, in what was then the Indian Territory. Fifteen Comanches stampeded their ponies, which were driven out in a separate herd, and ran them off, leaving them with 2,000 head of cattle to handle and one pony apiece. Yet they did it, arriving at Abilene, Kansas, on foot, where the herd was sold.
Returning the next spring, he went to Weatherford and purchased of Counts & Hughes $2,500 worth of ponies, and went with his men to Jack county to receive a herd of cattle his father had purchased of J. C. Loving. On the night of their arrival, while he and one of his hands were standing guard over the ponies, which had been hidden in a valley, were surprised by a volley of shots, yells and flapping of blankets. The Indians seemed to have come out of the ground, and, like a whirlwind, swept off every horse, leaving them on foot. He