protect the lives of the miners and settlers in that section.
Remained there until fall of 1875 and wintered at Fort
Laramie. In spring of 1876, we were ordered north with
General Crook to join Gen'ls Miles, Terry and Custer at Big
Horn river. During this march I swam the Platte river at Fort
Fetterman as I was the bearer of important dispatches. I had a
ninety mile ride to make, being wet and cold, I contracted a
severe illness and was sent back in Gen. Crook's ambulance to
Fort Fetterman where I laid in the hospital for fourteen days.
When able to ride I started for Fort Laramie where I met Wm.
Hickock, better known as Wild Bill, and we started for
Deadwood, where we arrived about June.

During the month of June I acted as a pony express rider
carrying the U.S. mail between Deadwood and Custer, a
distance of fifty miles, over one of the roughest trails in the
Black Hills country. As many of the riders before me had been
held up and robbed of their packages, mail and money that
they carried, for that was the only means of getting mail and
money between these points. It was considered the most
dangerous route in the Hills, but as my reputation as a rider
and quick shot was well known, I was molested very little, for
the toll gatherers looked on me as being a good fellow, and they
knew that I never missed my mark. I made the round trip every
two days which was considered pretty good riding in that
country. Remained around Deadwood all that summer visiting
all the camps within an area of one hundred miles. My friend,
Wild Bill, remained in Deadwood during the summer with the
exception of occasional visits to the camps. On the 2nd of
August, while setting at a gambling table in the Bell Union