OCR Text |
Show 20 FROM FORT McPHERSON mand to go forward. Some hesitation and insubordination occurred on the part of the soldier, when he was struck with the side of the officer's sword. He then rode forward, borrowed a musket ( as he was unarmed) " to shoot an antel ope" as he represented, loaded it and fell back again. When opposite our command he thought he recognized Lieutenant Gill as the man who struck him, and going up to that officer accused him of doing so, at the same time cocking his musket, with the muzzle within three feet of the breast of the officer, he pulled the trigger and exploded the cap ; but for tunately did not discharge the piece. The man was immediately arrested, and his musket examined, which was found to be loaded, and the explosion of another cap sent the ball into the ground. The scoundrel was put in irons to be tried by a Court- Martial, at the next post, but managed to make his escape the following night. A march of one hundred miles Drought us to Juiesourg, a place destined to be of much importance as a trading post, though at present it consists of not over a half dozen houses of all kinds. In 1864, the first settlement by this name was entirely destroyed by the Indians, and with it a consi derable quantity of stores, including a large stock of grain belonging to the overland stage company. But the settlers have not been discouraged, and are now rebuilding the city(?), with apparently no apprehensions of a repetition of Indian outrages. Their houses are of a more substantial charac ter, and are constructed at a greater expense than any others on the plains. Most of them are built of lumber brought from Denver, a distance of 200 miles, though there are some of the Mexican adobe structure. This is a Spanish word, and on the plains is unusually pronounced as if spelled My. The adobe brick consists of a mixture of clay and sand, moulded in a way, and of a shape similar to our brick in the East, but of a larger size, and are dried in the sun only. It answers well as a substitute for the ordinary building brick when it is impracticable to obtain te latter. A soft mud of the same material is used as mortar, and a house so constructed with its walls smoothly plastered over |