In ACowley Sketches,@ written by Mrs. Clarence Roberts for the Winfield Daily Courier, she recalls tales of several Indian incidents that occurred during the early days of Arkansas City=s history. The following excerpts are taken from a January 1940 edition of the Courier.

The worst Indian scare South Bend ever had occurred during the winter of 1870-71. The J. W. Birdzell cabin was the largest and strongest of the cabins inhabited at that time. There were many rumors of Indian uprisings and the settlers were especially nervous during the winter when so many Indians used their familiar grounds along the Walnut River. At these times, the settlers would gather at the Birdzell home and remain until the Indian scare was over. This cabin was out in the open and offered no chance for prowling savages to slip up on the unsuspecting people.

The Nipp brothers were some of the nearest neighbors of the Birdzells. They had brought the first jack into the country. He was kept penned up in a corral.

One night after the nervous vigil of several days, the tired settlers had dropped into a deep slumber only to be awakened by the most unearthly screeching and yelling. Something began pulling at the uncured sapling walls of the cabin.

Mothers frantically grasped their children and the men grabbed their guns and rushed out ready to protect their families from the Indians.

Outside, the jack raised his head toward the heavens and brayed in mockery before he took another bite from the bark walls.

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Waukarusa, an old Indian, was a familiar sight to settlers for many years as he passed back and forth on his pilgrimages from one camp ground to the other. He never passed a cabin without stopping and asking for something to eat. As the people were afraid not to give him things, he fared better than most of the white people.

As he grew older, he acquired an old horse to carry his burdens. One day he stopped at a house and asked for something to eat. The man of the house went out to the already bur-dened horse and began to feel the numerous gunny sacks tied on his back. He could feel corn, potatoes, and numerous other vegetables and food. Looking at the Indian, the settler began to grin, then he slapped him on the back and exclaimed, AWhy you lod scalawag, you have more than I do, now get on out of here.@

Grinning, the Indian mounted his horse and went on to the next cabin.

Another day he stopped at this same house and asked for a chicken. The girls asked their mother if they should give him a chicken. Looking out of the kitchen door, she pointed out a rooster.

While getting some feed to collect the chickens, the younger daughter pointed out to him the chicken he could have. AMe want chicken lay egg.@ he said. AThat chicken lay egg,@ the girl said pointing out a nice rooster. ABut you can=t have it unless you shoot it with an arrow.@

This tickled the Indian but he didn=t want to kill the chicken. Finally deciding that he would not get the chicken if he didn=t shoot it, he drew his bow and arrow and neatly shot the head from the young rooster.

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Arkansas City Traveler, September 6, 1876.

Some Indian squaws fancied A. A. Davis' sulky plow, the other evening, as he was passing by, and asked for a ride. Mr. Davis, according to his usual generosity and disposition to accommodate, let two of them on, and started on a brisk trot down the hill north of town, over stones, ruts, and rails.

The Indians enjoyed it at first, but soon gave vent to expressions of pain rather than pleasure, but could not jump off. "Oh! Ah! Ugh! White-te man no go so soon; too much-ee heap ride." Yet, happy as a lark, Davis drove on, nearly bursting with laughter, until one after the other rolled offCgathered up their traps and leaned against a fence post to rest, as they did not care to sit down. You can't get one of them near a sulky plow now.

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Arkansas City Traveler, September 27, 1876.

The Sioux are said to have derived their name from an old due bill for ten dollars given by one of their chiefs by the name of Smith, whose name was abbreviated to S. The due bill then read. S. I. O. U. X.

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Winfield Courier, October 4, 1883.

Ancient ruins have been discovered in Sonora, which, if reports are true, surpass anything of the kind yet found on this continent. The ruins are said to be about four leagues southeast of Magdalena. There is one pyramid which has a base of 1,350 feet, and rises to the height of 750 feet; there is a winding roadway from the bottom leading up on an easy grade to the top, wide enough for carriages to pass over, said to be twenty-three miles in length; the other walls of the roadway are laid in solid masonry, huge blocks of granite in rubble work, and the circles are as uniform and the grade as regular as they could be made at this date by our best engineers. The wall is only occasionally exposed, being covered over with debris and earth, and in many places the sahuaro and other indigenous plants and trees have grown up, giving the pyramid the appearance of a mountain.

To the east of the pyramid, a short distance, is a small mountain, about the same size, which rises about the same height, and, if reports are true, will prove more interesting to the archaeologist than the pyramid.

There seems to be a heavy layer of a species of gypsum about half way up the mountain, which is as white as snow, and may be cut into any conceivable shape, after being cut. In this layer of stone a people of an unknown age have cut hundreds upon hundreds of rooms from 6 by 10 to 16 by 18 feet square. These rooms are cut out of the solid stone, and so even and true are the walls, floor, and ceilings to plumb and level as to defy variation. There are no windows in the rooms and but one entrance, which is always from the top. The rooms are about eight feet high from floor to ceiling; the stone is so white that it seems almost trans-parent, and the rooms are not at all dark.

On the walls of these rooms are numerous hieroglypics and representations of human forms with hands and feet of human beings cut in the stone in different places. But, strange to say, all the hands have five fingers and thumb, and the feet have six toes. Charcoal is found on the floors of many of the rooms, which would indicate that they built fires in their houses. Stone implements of every description are to be found in and about the rooms. The houses or rooms are one above the other to three or more stories high; but between each story there is a jog or recess the full width of the room below, so that they present the appearance of large steps leading up the mountain.

Who these people were, what age they lived in, must be answered, and if answered at all, Aby the wise men of the East.@ Some say that they were ancestors of the Mayas, a race of Indians who still inhabit Southern Sonora, who have blue eyes, fair skin, and light hair, and are said to be a moral, industrious, and frugal race of people, who have a written language and know something of mathematics.