In regard to the narrative of the “Adobe Wall” raid, I shall state again, before proceeding farther, that my authority for the facts to be mentioned hereafter was a member of the fighting squad. I have had the honor of the acquaintance of several of the individuals who took part in the defense of the place, and have had the story related by them, and in its entirety, they all agreed on the most salient features of the narrative, and being men of integrity, their word is sufficient guarantee for the truth of what I write about the matter. The story I tell was related by Jimmie Langton. If the reader wishes any corroboration of my tale, he may refer to R. M. Wright, Charlie Rath, or James Langton, whose addresses I shall append to the end of this article.
The “Adobe Walls” ranch was situated about one hundred miles west of the north line of the Indian Territory, and about thirty-five miles south of what was then called No-Man’s-Land, on a little creek, about a mile and a half north of the South Canadian River, in what is now called Hutchinson County, Texas. The settlement consisted of one sod building, a saloon, and a blacksmith shop. The sod building was used as a store and in it occurred the chief events of this narrative. The saloon was owned by a man who went by the name of Jim Hanrahan, and the blacksmith shop was operated by Andrew Johnson, who now resides in Dodge City, Kansas.
The store, or what was then called the “Dobe Walls,” was owned by R. M. Wright, Chas. Rath, and James Langton, better known as Jimmie, and who performed the duties of book-keeper for the firm. As I said above, I am indebted to Jimmie for the facts of the story as he was the only one of the partners present in the store at the time of the raid, the others being in Dodge City.
Those who took part in the fight numbered, at most, about fifteen, not fifty or sixty, as some writers have it. In the saloon at the time there were five or six, but their part in the fray was only a minor one, as the Indians did not have any particular purpose in making an attack on that place. In the store were Jimmie Langton, Andy Johnson, Billy Tyler, Miller Scott, A. J. Chappell, Bat Masterson, Mr. and Mrs. Olds, who did the cooking for the ranch, and six or seven other freighters or travellers who happened to be there at the time.
Of the Indians who took part in the raid, I shall enumerate them by tribes, with their chiefs.
Big Bow led the Comanches on the occasion. Quanah Parker was not present, as he was too young to be a participant in the capacity of chief.
The Kiowas took part in the raid under the leadership of Lone Wolf. This gentleman now resides in Hobart, Okla., and has become so much converted to the white man’s mode of life that he wears a celluloid collar and a derby hat.
The Cheyennes, who played no small part in the expedition, were led by Red Moon, Chief Mininic, and Gray Beard. Chief Mininic also played the role of Medicine Man, and claimed that his medicine was so strong that the bullets of the white man’s gun could not injure him. However, when his horse was shot from under him, he explained the matter by saying that the bullet struck a part of his horse’s anatomy where there was no paint.
Besides the above mentioned tribes, there were the Arpahoes, who, however, did not have a hand in the fight. True, they had come for the purpose of exterminating the white man from the buffalo-hunting grounds, but when they had arrived at the scene of action, the Comanches informed them that they were not to take part in the annihilation of the pale-faces, but requested them to remain in the distance and see how they, the Comanches and their other friends, would put an end to the intruders on their sacred plains. I believe it was not the mere quest of glory that induced the Comanches to forbid the Arpahoes taking a hand in the extermination of the common foe, but rather the knowledge that there were several hundred high power buffalo guns and an abundant supply of ammunition that would be part of the spoils of war when they wiped out the obnoxious white man, and they did not care to have too many on hand when the dividend was to be declared. That they would surely secure such a prize, they had no doubt, but whether they did or not remains to be seen.
The list of the white men killed on the occasion of the raid is comprised of only about half a dozen, and nearly all of them were killed before the raid took place. There were the Scheidler brothers who were slain and mutilated at some distance from the ranch. They had gone off to seek new pasture for the cattle, as that around the ranch house was completely destroyed, both by being eaten off and then being tramped out of the ground by the stock. According to the usual Indian custom, they were also scalped. There was also a Mexican “bull-whacker” who happened to be camping near the Scheidler brothers, and he met the same fate as they, and a negro. The only other death among the white folks, was that of Mr. Olds, who met his end in a very peculiar manner, as will be shown later on in the narrative.