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mile; they proved to be friendly Pawnees. After skinning all the buffaloes and dressing their meat they went into camp near where Jule camped on the Sappa, about ten miles east of Oberlin.
The next day they all remained there in camp, so Jule got up a foot race with Pawnee Bob.
Jule at this time thought he was about the fleetest man in the west; he told the Indians that he did not run for fun, so they wagered some blankets against a box of Spencer cartridges.
These they laid on the wagon seat, the Indians fearing Street as a stakeholder, and went back two hundred and fifty steps to start, the Indian in the meantime had felt of Jule's muscles and looked him over very closely, but appeared very cool and unconcerned.
Jule made a mark with his foot and asked the Indian to come up and toe the mark, but he simply motioned to Jule to go on, He was standing at this time ten feet back with his blanket on his arm.
In speaking of the matter now, Jule said: "I thought I would take the conceit out of that Indian," so he started.
After Jule, who was twelve feet in the lead had nearly reached the wagon he looked back over his shoulder and discovered that Bob was just behind, still
carelessly carrying the blanket over his arm. When within twenty feet of the wagon the Indian jumped by him like an antelope and won the race.
This so vexed Jule that he got one of his ugly spells (in fact Gross Page says he was subject to them in early days) and wanted to fight.
The Indian had an interpreter pretending they could talk no English. Jule had lain down on the grass.
Bob was sitting on the wagon tongue about fifteen feet away. They were quarreling through the interpreter about wrestling.
When Jule call Pawnee Bob a s-n of a b---h the Indian without waiting for the interpreter to speak, jumped on to him with one bound, grabbed Jule's long hair, set one foot on his forehead and flourishing his knife three times in the air drew it across Jule's throat from ear to ear, then instantly stepped over to where Jule's gun lay and stood upon it.
Jule thought his throat was cut clear to the bone as he says he plainly felt the knife grate on the bone in his neck; he looked on either side of himself supposing his life blood was spurting out, and it was some time before he discovered that he was not hurt as the Indian had turned the back of the knife to the throat.
Jule then jumped up and drew his knife, but when seeing Pawnee Bob standing on his gun, knife in hand
swinging it with a treacherous and Satanic smile, Jule weakened. Jule laid for that Indian for some time intending to shoot him but he has never yet seen
the day that he wanted to face him upon equal footing. While Jule admits that other men have persuaded him to say- "Don't shoot," that Pawnee Bob was the best man physically he ever met.
When talking of this matter now, after the lapse of 20 years, he turns pale and shrugs his shoulders when he thinks of that knife being drawn across his throat. When the Pawnees passed through Norton in 1874 on a buffalo hunt this same Pawnee Bob ran a foot race with Jim Kinyon which will be remembered by many people who were here at that time. He was probably the fleetest man on foot that ever came through this country and was never beaten so far as known. Jule afterward learned that Pawnee Bob could throw down in a wrestle or outrun any man in the tribe of five hundred Pawnees. Baker A. VanMeter left his home in Iowa for Kansas via Kearney, Nebraska. On May 24th he started on foot with thirty-five pounds of baggage including gun, traps and amunition (sic). He reached Melrose a distance of sixty miles in twenty-six hours; the next day he went down to the mouth of Turkey creek, near |
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