PACE TWO
ighlands Man, 95, Has Had
Dangerous, Colorful Career
One of the most interesting'
and
colorful characters in Macon coun
ty is John H. Durgin, who recently
celebrated his 95th birthday at his
home in Highlands.
Mr, Durgin is one of the first
settlers of Highlands,' having moved
there in 1883 from West Koxbury,
Mass. He moved to Highlands in
search of health, and was onlv ex
pected to live for a few weeks, but
is stilf hale and hearty at 95. '
From 1866 to 1871 Mr. Durgin
was with General Custer and took
part in the Indian campaigns di
rected by that daring and headlong
. T . . ' 1
leader, tie says mat busier aiways
wore buckskins when in the field
against the Indians and that they
were "all right when they were
dry but darned, tight when they
lm wcii vusici wuuiu u any
thing or go anywhere for the sake
of a fight with the redskins, and
was always losing his gun when
on the run," said Mr. Durgin.
As a member of H troop under
Captain F. W; Bentine, Mr. Durgin
was sent with one, squadron to
guard the line of the Union Pacific
Smoky Hill route, which was then
under construction from Fort Hark
. er to Fort Wallace.
John Durgin. because of his abil
ity to ride a horse at a mad gait
for three-quarters of a day and be
ready for a like ride on the next
day, was given the post of dispatch
rider, personal courier for Custer.
Called "ReckB Jack"
There was probably no more dan
gerous job among the Indian fight
ers and Durgin, miraculously, came
through without a scratch, winning
the name, "Reckless Jack." There
were plenty of "nearly's" and the
old couriier told of one of these :
"Three of us had been sent out
once with the same message be
cause Custer figured one , might
possibly get through. We were to
ride together across the brush coun
try of Montana for the first day
and then separate and go by three
different routes to the same fort.
"No one believed there could be
any danger that first day, but we
had only been out a few hours
when, a,mallband f , hostile In-
dians loped over the., hills 'on, their
shaggy ponies. Our . orders had
been not to" fight unless we were
absolutely driven to - it, so we dug
spurs into our mounts and flew
over the country.
"The Indians fired on us and then
settled uown to the pursuit., Une
lucky shot struck the courier who
was. riding on the left. We heard
him groan and shifted quickly so
'that one of us rode on either side
of him. .
' Threw Wounded Mian Away
" 'Can you hang on a while ?' I
asked him. ' . .
i 'He set his lips grimly-and nod
ded, for. he knew what would hap
pen if . we stopped long enough to
dress his wound.- He was losing
blood fast and after an hour's rid
ing he cried out that he couldn't
go on, for us to leave him. Then
he slumped in his saddle. We
caught him just in time. ,
"Burdened with him as we were
we; knew ' that- the - Indians, would
soon catch up to us, and even
though the band was small we
dared not .stop. The message had
to be taken through. We thought
about it for a while and then con
ceived a plan. ;
"The country there is rolling and
uneven. A sudden slope will hide
you completely from anyone behind
and the slopes were' covered with
thick, tall brush. We galloped
down one of these slopes and just
as we came to the thickest part of
the brush, the two of K us tossed
our wounded companion with v all
our combined strength.- He dropped
out of sight into the1 tangled
growth. ; ,
"Later when we eluded . the In
dians and ' went back " for him, ' h'e
said he telt the ground . shake as
the savages thundered past him. If
they had discovered him he would
have lost his scalp and his heart,
for the Indians always' tore a man's
'heart out in : those days." 1
ueamea knmciih aignpu
Traipsing over -the country as he
did,.-John Durgin . Jearried many, ,tof
the Indians secrets -that were,. npt
only, valuable' !h "a military way, but ,
'often were ,a' . means, of saving 1 his
own skin- and ' those of -the .soldiers
with him. ! Once, for instance,' he
lay flat on the ground and watched
an Indian pbw:wow, The savages
seemed to be deciding on' some code
or signals that Were to ' be made
with a piece of glass and the sun's
reflection. A brave waved the glit
tering glass back and forth . and
then there was a discussion, then
the brave waved it in wide circles.
Durgin racked his brain for a
long time and then was struck by a
bright idea.
"When Custer and the rest of
us started out on our march, we
knew the Indians were following
us. Through the thickets we could
see them occasionally and guessed
that they were expecting other
warriors to join them at some point
along the way.
Fiooled tlhe Enemy
"I rode in the rear guard, watch
ing the redskins as much as pos
sible. Suddenly I saw the piece , of
glass flash in a circle several times.
Riding up to Custer I told him
what I hacT seen and what I thought
it was.
"The circle means that they will
attempf to. surround us,' I ventured,
Vand the straight line means they
intend1 to close in on us.' General
Custer immediately agreed that the
signals ' could have no other 'mean
ing and by watching the signaler
we were able to keep just out of
the reach of our enemies until we
joined a force large enough to face
them."
The final adventure that he told
about was one of those peculiar
happenings that a man meets only
once in a lifetime. John Durgin
was out on courier duty riding the
trackless Indian country post haste.
Once during the day he . had seen
an Indian trailing him and then the
savage had suddenly disappeared.
There was . something strange
about' this, and the soldier figured
that the Indian had ; circled with
the idea of cutting him off at one
of the passes-in the hill country.
. Shot Thrtough Knotflvole , '
. Durgin rode on trying to dope
out some means of handling the sit
uation, of gaining the surprise end
of the meeting himself. Ahead of
him, some .miles away, was a de
serted shelter, a sort of temporary
fort that had been thrown up dur
ing a prolonged halt in one of the
earlier campaigns. ; i -'-'.
Durgin made for the shelter in
tending to take his lonely meal
there where he would be out of
sight if anyone chanced to be scan
ning the countryside from the hills.
He was riding by the shack seek
ing the southern side, where a
rude door had been constructed,
when something made him rein in
his horse abruptly and lraw his
body back as if to dodge a missile.
It was an instinct rather than a
sense perception that made him do
it. V
At that instant he heard the re
ports of a rifle and the wicked
whin.e of bullets flying close under
his chin.
Durgin was off his, horse in the
twinkling of an eye. his gun- in his
hand ready for action. .In far less
time than it, takes to tell it he saw
a tiny curl of smoke floating up
from a knothole in the walls of the
frail fort. Swiftly he leaped toward
the hole, thrust , the muzzle of his
revolver against it and pulled the
trigger. ' '
A startled cry within and then
the thud of a falling body told him
that he had got his man. ' Cautious
ly .stepping inside the structure be
saw the Indian, the same one who
had been trailing him all the morn
ing,' lying dead on the ground.
In the winter of '67 Custer mov
ed the headquarters of the regiment
to Fort Leavenworth and Mr. Dur
gin's troop ; was stationed at Fort
Hays with Lieutenant Hale in com
mand. - With this troop he scouted
all summer until a treaty was made
with the Cheyennes and Araphoes,
- Mr. Durgin Continue , Story
"After that," Mr. Durgin related,
"the Cheyennes made a raid on the
Salina and captured a lot of stock
and three .white women. We got
the stock but did ' not" get" the
women until the winter of '68.
"After being in : the saddle two
weeks we struck the Indians on the
Wichita in -winter quarters and
surrounded the camp during the
night. Orders were to charge when
the morning star rose. ' Captain
Bentirie i with . our. troop was . to
charge. After we fired we neard
General Custer's band and his" yell,
and then "we had a running fight
from daylight until noon. We were
on the .skirmish Hue froni 12 until
about 3, and then couldn't keep i
awake. - Then the Osages (our
scouts) shot feveral hundred ponies
THE FRANKLIN PRESS AND THE HICHLAND3 MACONIAN
She's the Sweetheart of Sigma Chi
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'JAW.
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Much to the discomfiture of 300 freshman women and the delight of
several thousand spectators, members of Sigma Chi fraternity at the
University of California became "Indians" for a day and helped Initiate
the first-year women. Finally they carried off Jane Jackson in their dry
land canoe to be the "sweetheart of Sigma Chi." Miss Jackson seemed
to view the honor dubiously.
Firemen Block
Like the late John Warde. who killed himself last July In a. sensational
leap from a Manhattan hotel, Willlanv Ahearn, a psychopathic patient in
- New Fork's Cellevue hospital, stood on a narrow ledge of the hos
pital's ninth floor for several hours before. Fireman 'Thomas J. Kr'iae
(left) gripped him by the ankle and dragged him back to safety. - The
: ?ldent attracted a large crowd. :
and we moved on the back trail
for four or five miles and went
into camp. . The Osages acted as
pickets and guards while we got
some sleep. They told us in the
morning that the Cheyennes had
surrounded us in the night, intend
ing to surprise us in the . morning,
but found us too wide awake. We
broke camp in the morning and
established a post at Fort Sill.
"We stayed two months in these
winter quarters and then got word
where the white women were who
had been taken in the fall. Orders
came' from Custer for 300 picked
men and horses and we started on
the trail. -We. crossed the Red
river into Texas where we came up
to the Indians , again, and Custer
gave orders to fire into them. He
then countermaned the order . and
we charged into them bringing out
three chiefs,.' Dull Knife, Artillery
Jack, and I. have forgotten the
other. ' He then sent word to the
Indians to bring out the white
women or the chiefs would be hang
ed. They waited until almost sun
down before they sent the women.
They wanted their, chiefs back, but
Custer told them they must come
and fight for them if they wanted
them.
"Meanwhile our nations for men
and horses had played out, except
for starved mule meat. We then
recrossed the river to Fort Sill
where we put in the balance of. the
winter, and Custer issued double
rations lor all. In the spring we
struck for Fort Hays and head
quarters at Fort Leavenworth and
had fresh mounts issued. In the
spring of 71 we were relieved from
the western department and H
troop was stationed at Nashville,
Tenn., , where I received my dis
charge from duty."
Mr, Durgin had been out of the
h
i.. hi -
rsA.- ? -r.
Attempted Suicide
army for five years- when the cam
paign against the Sioux In3ians oc
curred and General Custer was kill
ed and his command wiped out at
the Battle of the Little Big Horn
in Montana, on June 2(, 1876.
State College Answers
Timely Farm Questions
Question What t the earliest
date that cabbage seed can be sown
for best results ? .
Answer Cabbage seed .may be
sown in an outdoor bed for. ti.e
early spring crop as early as Oc
tober 1 in the tidewater and lower
coastat plain section. For the up
per coastal plain and lower pied
mont section the earliest date v is
September 16. For the western
part of the state, seeds are usually
sown, in coldframes during January.
In eastern and central North Caro
lina the frost-proof Jersey Wake
field and Charleston Wakefield va
rieties are the best.
Question How much light should
I plan for my poultry laying hou.se ?
- Answer Two forty-watt lamps
should be provided for each 400
square feet of floor snajce. These
bulbs .should be placed in the cen
ter, of the house ten feet apart and
six feet from the floor. To prevent
a waste of light, a reflector six
teen inches in diameter and four
inches deep should be used with
each light bulb. If all-night lights
are used then a dim light with a
reflector is best with two 10 or IS
watt bulbs' being sufficient for a
house 20 by 20. Where other than
all night lighting 'is used, the lights
should be regulated so that the birds
have from 12 to 14 hours a day for
feeding.
Question When should paradi-
' " ft I
THURSDAY, SEPT. 21, Mil
chlorobenene be - applied to peach'
trees to control borers?
Answer The treatment should be
applied about the first of October
in; Western Carolina and about the
middle of October in the eastern
section. The crystals should be
applied in a continuous band about
an inch in width and care should
be taken that the chemical should
not be closer than one and one
half inches from the. tree trunk.
Smooth the surface about a foot
from the tree before applying the
crystals. Several shovels of dirt
should be placed on. the ring in the.
form of a mound and packed down
with a .shovel. One-fourth to one
half ounce should be used for trees
four to six years of age and one
ounce for trees six years old or
older.
Wheel Trays Praised
As Aid To Housewife
One of the most convenient
things a housewife can have for
the dining room and kitchen is a
tea wagon, or -wheel tray, said Miss
Mamie N. Whisnant. State col
lege assistant extension specialist in
home management' and house furr
nishiifs. ,
These wagons, which can be
made at home or purchased for a
moderate sum, not only , save steps
but also enable the hostess to serve
more graciously, Miss Whisnant
pointed out.
Carrying food into the. dining
room and taking empty dishes back
to the kitchen is. much easier with
a tea wagon. Housewives also' find
it nice to have the coffee or tea
service placed on a wheel tray be
side the hostess rather than on the
dining table. '
As dishes are emptied during the
course of a meal, they may be set
on the bottom shelf of the wagon
where they will be out of .sight un
til they are rolled into the kitchen.
Another advantage, Miss Whis
nant said, is that an entire course,
such as soup or the dessert, may
be brought in and served at once
instead of being brought in from
the kitchen one dish at a time.
At a meeting of home demonstra
tion club women at Trenton in the
Jones County agricultural building
a few days ago. Miss Whisnant
demonstrated the use of a tea wag
on, and practically all women pres
ent announced that they wanted to
get wagons for themselves. f
Directions for making wheel trays
at home may be obtained free from
the home demonstration department
at State college, Raleigh, in home
management circular No. 5. ; Or
knock ed-down wagons, complete
with all equipment and full direc
tions for assembling, can be bought
inexpensively, Miss Whisnant add
ed. ,
Loyal Order
of Moose
Franklin Lodge, No. 452
Meets .
In Americal Legion Hall
Every Friday Night
8:00 O'Clock
Billy Bryson, Secretary
HORN'S SHOE SHOP SAYS
WE ARE STILL MEND.ING
SHOES
While school days slip
And shoe soles flop,
We'll mend the rip
( And save the top.
HORN'S SHOE SHOP
Opposite GoturthouM .
"We Buy mnd Sell" 1
Box 212- Troy F. Horn
Country Ham
Good Steaks
CAGLE'S CAFE
FRANKLIN SYLVA
HOME OF FINE FOODS
COURTEOUS SERVICE
CHICKEN DINNERS
EXCELLENT COFFEE
W Appreciate Ycur Patronage
A. G. CAGLE, Prop.