Daily Cartoon

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Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 24, 2025 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 24, 2025

Employee kate meadows cropped

Kate Meadows

Politics

President Donald Trump officially announced Thursday that he will attend the July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, a centerpiece event commemorating America's 250th birthday.

The announcement was made on the Freedom 250 website and confirmed in a statement released by South Dakota Gov. Larry Rhoden.

"President Trump will lead the nation in a historic celebration beneath one of America's most iconic landmarks," Freedom 250 Chairman Keith Krach said Thursday.

Rhoden had personally invited Trump to the celebration, said Josie Harms, spokesperson for the governor.

"It is my honor to welcome President Trump to the great state of South Dakota — the freest state in a nation founded on the principles of freedom," Rhoden said in a news release published Thursday. "Together, we will throw the biggest birthday party ever for our nation and celebrate America's legacy of freedom, liberty and justice for all."

The event marks the return of fireworks over Mount Rushmore for the first time in six years.

[{"type":"text","text":"Tourism Way Up"}]

 that Keystone, the community closest to the memorial, has already experienced a surge in tourism ahead of the celebration, with visitor numbers up 124% compared with the same period last year and daily visitation climbing 32%.

"We've definitely seen a very large uptick in visitors," said Emma Groninger, tourism director for the Keystone Visitors Center. "Everyone's excited."

Attendance at the July 3 event is limited to the 4,800 people selected through a lottery that closed April 12. Nearly 103,000 ticket requests were submitted for the limited number of seats.

[{"type":"text","text":"Closures and Security"}]

The memorial grounds will be closed to the general public during the celebration, and temporary road closures near Mount Rushmore will be in effect from 11 p.m. July 2 through 11 p.m. July 3 to accommodate security operations, according to South Dakota tourism officials.

Officials have not released details about additional security measures associated with Trump's visit. Brendyn Medina, public information officer for the Rapid City Police Department, referred questions to the U.S. Secret Service. Efforts by Cowboy State Daily to reach Mount Rushmore officials Thursday were unsuccessful. No one answered a call, and the voice mailbox was full.

[{"type":"text","text":"Lay of the Land"}]

According to Freedom 250 organizers, the celebration will feature military bands, ceremonial presentations, precision drill demonstrations, aviation flyovers and a salute to all six branches of the Armed Forces.

Rhoden and Interior Secretary Doug Burgum are scheduled to welcome Trump before he delivers what organizers describe as a "historic address" commemorating the nation's semi-quincentennial and looking ahead to "America's next chapter."

Thirty pyrotechnicians and high-line operators will install fireworks and lighting systems at designated locations around the memorial, according to Katlyn Svendsen, senior director of global public relations and content services for Travel South Dakota.

The state contracted with California-based Pyro Spectaculars — the same company that produced Mount Rushmore's 2020 fireworks display attended by Trump — to stage this year's show, with a price tag of $700,000. The agreement between the company and the South Dakota Department of Tourism includes lighting elements that can be used if environmental conditions prevent fireworks from being launched.

[{"type":"text","text":"First Time For Fireworks Since 2020"}]

Trump last visited Mount Rushmore in July 2020 after then-Gov. Kristi Noem successfully pushed to reinstate fireworks at the memorial after an 11-year hiatus.

Trump's 2020 visit to Mount Rushmore was met with protests from Native Americans who regard the Black Hills as sacred and object to the monument's location on land the Lakota say was unlawfully taken after being guaranteed to them under an 1868 treaty. Demonstrators blocked a highway leading to the memorial, resulting in a standoff with law enforcement and dozens of arrests.

The president's return to South Dakota could provide a political boost for Rhoden, who is campaigning in a July 28 Republican runoff election for governor against Aberdeen businessman Toby Doeden after neither candidate secured the 35% needed to win outright in the June 2 primary.

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<title>It’s Official: Trump Will Attend July 3 Fireworks Celebration At Mount Rushmore | Cowboy State Daily</title>

President Trump announced Thursday he will attend the July 3 fireworks celebration at Mount Rushmore, a centerpiece event commemorating America's 250th. The event also marks the return of fireworks over Mount Rushmore for the first time in six years.

It’s Official: Trump Will Attend July 3 Fireworks Celebration At Mount Rushmore

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's Feature Reporter, Andrew Rossi.

Andrew Rossi

Wildlife

 crashed along U.S. Highway 191 in Yellowstone National Park’s northwest corner. Hundreds of destroyed hives have been cleared from the highway, but the homeless bees are 

While many are concerned about the fate of the still-homeless honeybees, others worry about 

Honeybees aren’t native to Yellowstone or North America. Their presence in Yellowstone could have repercussions.

“If these honeybees get established as feral colonies, the primary concerns would be food and disease,” said Laura Burkle, a professor of ecology at Montana State University in Bozeman. “It all depends on whether or not they're going to persist in the area.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Native Vs Foreign Bees"}]

Burkle is a community ecologist. She studies bee communities and the flowers and other plants they pollinate in natural and managed systems.

While Burkle was aware of the bee catastrophe in Yellowstone, she didn’t have any specific insight into the circumstances or how many bee colonies had yet to be collected. However, she is aware of the diversity of bees in the park.

“There are hundreds of native species of bees present in Yellowstone,” she said. “Some of them are social, like bumblebees, and some of them are solitary, meaning they don’t live in a colony.”

, published by the National Park Service, said least 3,604 described species of bees inhabit North America. Several National Park Service sites, including Yellowstone and Grand Teton, were included in a cursory nationwide survey.

However, none of these bees are honeybees. All honeybees in the United States were imported from Europe and Africa, with the first colonies arriving in the 18th century.

“That’s why honeybees are considered livestock,” Burkle said. “Bringing a colony of honeybees into a national park wouldn’t typically be allowed.”

Semitrucks aren’t permitted in Yellowstone. The stretch of U.S. 191 between West Yellowstone and Big Sky, Montana, is the exception.

Burkle said honeybees are usually transported en masse to pollinate crops or to move between fields where they can collect nectar for better honey production. The hives, or honey boxes, are critical to their survival.

“Almost all the honeybees in North America go back to a hive,” she said.

Of the 20,000 known species of bees worldwide, only eight are honeybees. Nevertheless, they have been one of the most beneficial insects to humanity since they were first domesticated nearly 5,000 years ago.

That’s where the homeless honeybees could pose a threat to Yellowstone’s natives.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"A Dish (Or Disease) To Pass"}]

Because honeybees have been so thoroughly domesticated, they tend to rely on their honey boxes to build colonies, raise larvae, and produce honey. A honeybee colony that thrives without hives is what Burkle called a feral colony.

“There aren't very many feral honeybee colonies, although they do exist,” she said. “If there were any honeybees in Yellowstone, they would have to be feral colonies.”

There have been concerns about the impact of non-native honeybees on native ecosystems in North America for decades. Honeybees can be defensive and are known to compete with native bumblebees for food and territory in North America and Europe.

That would be one of Burkle’s primary concerns about the homeless honeys in northwest Yellowstone. If one or multiple colonies establish themselves as feral colonies, they could start competing with the park’s native bumblebees for food.

“Honeybees collected a lot of nectar and pollen to produce honey,” she said. “They could use up floral resources that would be needed to sustain Yellowstone’s native populations, taking food away from native bees.”

The foraging area for a single honeybee hive can extend over two miles. Foraging bees have been observed as far as four miles away from their hives.

Furthermore, bees can only forage when the temperature is right, usually between 55 and 66 degrees. With a limited window and limited resources within their foraging range, non-native honeybees could quickly start competing with native bees.

Then there’s the risk of spreading bee disease. That’s the other concern that immediately presented itself to Burkle.

“It's known that honeybees can give diseases to native bees, and vice versa,” she said. “It’s more likely that these honeybees are carrying various pathogens and parasites that Yellowstone’s native bees haven’t been exposed to before.”

Bees don’t need to come into direct contact to transmit diseases. According to Burkle, they can be shared from flower to flower.

“If a honeybee visits the flower, and then a native bee comes to that flower next, it could pick up a pathogen that was left by a honeybee,” she said.

Between competition for food and the spread of disease, the homeless honeybees could pose a serious problem for Yellowstone’s native bees.

[{"type":"text","text":"But will they?"}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Watchful Wait"}]

When colonies of honeybees are destroyed, it’s in the best interest of their owners to collect as many queens and colonies as they can. Efforts to collect the surviving bees were immediately underway after the semitruck incident.

Without seeing the scene, Burkle couldn’t say how serious the situation might be for Yellowstone’s native bees. That’s partly because not a lot is known about Yellowstone’s bees.

“To my knowledge, Yellowstone's bee populations are poorly characterized and understood,” she said. “There have been studies, not all of which are published, that are just starting to scratch the surface of which species are even present inside the park.”

That means it’s hard to say if Yellowstone’s bees are thriving or struggling.

Entomologists and biologists like Burkle are collecting data to understand the health of these native populations and to determine whether they’re affected by climate change or other environmental factors.

That said, Burkle said there are reasons to think the homeless honeybees won’t make any noticeable impact on native bees. They’re actively being collected, and even an established feral colony might struggle to survive.

“They might not be able to set up colonies, depending on the weather and how far they have to fly to find a suitable place to set up a feral colony,” she said. “They might not be able to persist where they’ve ended up.”

Also, honeybees tend to live the easy life. Their hives are placed in optimal environments, where they don’t have to expend energy foraging to find enough food to sustain themselves and produce honey.

“Big bees, like bumblebees, fly farther than smaller bees,” Burkle said. “Smaller bees might only forage 200 meters away from the hive, so they can have a pretty limited range.”

Burkle was aware that many people are concerned about how these honeybees could impact the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem. While there are many potential concerns and factors to consider, there isn’t enough known to inform conclusive answers.

“I’m not an expert on all things bees, but I don’t know how concerned the National Park Service or anyone else is or should be right now,” she said. “These honeybees could be disruptive if they set up feral colonies, but I don’t have a good sense of what’s happening down there. I don’t know if I have a good answer at this time.”

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<title>Yellowstone's Homeless Honeybees Could Make Native Bumblebees Sick, Scientist Says | Cowboy State Daily</title>

There is concern that homeless honeybees that remain in Yellowstone after last week's semi crash could threaten the native bees. They are likely "carrying pathogens and parasites that Yellowstone’s bees haven’t been exposed to," one professor said.

Yellowstone's Homeless Honeybees Could Make Native Bumblebees Sick, Scientist Says

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Crime & Courts

Courts

The things Wyoming state Rep. Bill Allemand said while handcuffed for 12 minutes during a 

 can’t be used as direct evidence against him in a trial slated for September, because his arresting deputy failed to give him his Miranda rights, a Johnson County court magistrate has ruled. 

Allemand, a Republican state representative of the Mills area, 

 on suspicion of driving under the influence of alcohol in Johnson County – one day after a Buffalo traffic stop just off Interstate 25.

When Johnson County Deputy Caleb Campbell stopped Allemand at around midday Dec. 28, Campbell handcuffed Allemand without first giving the lawmaker his Miranda warnings against incriminating himself. 

That was a fair move, because Allemand had a gun on his front truck seat and Campbell had concerns about officer safety, Buffalo Circuit Court Magistrate Jeremy Kisling ruled in a Friday order. 

But Allemand remained handcuffed for 12 minutes – including a length of time after Campbell had secured the gun and after Campbell’s secondary “cover” deputy arrived. And Campbell kept asking Allemand questions, and also urged Allemand to be honest with him, according to court documents and body-camera video shown in court. 

This led to a number of potentially incriminating statements while Allemand was confined, but not warned the order says. 

Because Allemand was being interrogated while in custody without receiving his Miranda warnings, 

 he said during that 12-minute span can’t be part of the Johnson County Attorney’s Office’s main case against him at his Sept. 16 trial in Buffalo Circuit Court, Kisling ruled. 

“Even in consideration of the totality of the circumstances, the court can think of no scenario where a reasonable person would not consider themselves in police custody after being placed in handcuffs,” Kisling wrote. “Deputy Campbell violated the defendant’s constitutional rights by questioning him while he was handcuffed without reading Miranda advisements.” 

But Allemand wasn’t coerced, threatened, or tricked into saying the many things he said or indicated while handcuffed. In the body camera footage, for example, Allemand said he’d had two beers, and he knew drinking and driving is “highly illegal” but drinking while driving down the interstate helps with his “anxieties." 

So since Allemand's statements were voluntary, the case prosecutor can still bring those statements up for “impeachment,” or to fact-check testimony at trial, Kisling ruled. 

The prosecutor can also bring direct evidence of what Allemand said after Campbell removed his handcuffs and tried getting him to perform field-sobriety tests. For example, Allemand voiced confusion about whether his gun was on his body, said “nonsensical” things and repeatedly asked questions that had already been answered, notes Kisling’s order. 

Kisling also said the evidence shows Allemand’s speech was slurred, and he swayed and stumbled during the traffic stop. 

Allemand reportedly failed his field-sobriety tests and was arrested and taken to jail.  

The evidentiary affidavit, body and dash camera video, and court testimony together indicate that a blue truck was the subject of a Report Every Drunk Driving Incident (REDDI) call. A male in his 60s with white hair was driving the truck, the REDDI caller told dispatch at the time, according to court documents. The caller initially described the truck as a blue Dodge with a bed topper, but later voiced uncertainty as to whether it was a Dodge, the order recounts. 

Campbell arrived on that section of interstate to find the REDDI caller’s vehicle driving near a blue Toyota Tacoma with a bed topper. The Tacoma left the interstate in the Buffalo area, stopped at a stop sign, rolled toward the intersection and braked abruptly to avoid colliding with a red truck, Campbell testified in court in March. 

Dash camera footage, though grainy, corroborates this partially by showing a red truck pass in front of Allemand’s truck. 

Allemand parked the blue truck at the Miller’s Travel Center gas station. 

Campbell activated his lights, knocked at Allemand’s window, and soon put him in handcuffs because Allemand had a gun on his front truck seat, according to the case evidence. That’s reportedly why Campbell handcuffed him. 

[{"type":"text","text":"‘Justified Under All Circumstances’"}]

Allemand’s attorney Mike Vang had brought an argument with regard to this evidence that Campbell didn’t have reasonable suspicion to justify the initial traffic stop or its extension. 

The Wyoming Constitution’s Article 1, Section 4, requires that searches and seizures be reasonable under all the circumstances. For traffic stops, Wyoming courts are to review that reasonability question under “all facts and circumstances,” Kisling’s order says. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Vang argued at a March 25 hearing that Campbell failed that test. "}]

[{"type":"text","text":"Kisling disagrees. "}]

“The initial stop was justified under all circumstances,” the magistrate wrote. The REDDI report and matching circumstances in which Campbell found the REDDI caller and Allemand lent reasonable suspicion, but Campbell also had probable cause of a traffic violation with Allemand’s alleged failure to yield the right of way to the red truck at the intersection. 

Campbell was also justified in extending the stop because he had evidence that a DUI had happened, Kisling added. 

“The video speaks for itself in establishing there was probable cause to believe the defendant was under the influence of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle,” the magistrate wrote

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<title>Judge Rules Rep. Allemand Wasn’t Read Miranda Rights When Stopped For DUI | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Johnson County judge ruled that anything Wyoming state Rep. Bill Allemand said while handcuffed for 12 minutes during a DUI traffic stop can’t be used as direct evidence against him, because his arresting deputy failed to give him his Miranda rights.

Judge Rules Rep. Allemand Wasn’t Read Miranda Rights When Stopped For DUI

Around Wyoming

A dispute over primitive outhouses on Amish-owned property in Crook County has prompted claims that some families are leaving northeast Wyoming’s oldest Amish community, though county officials say the issue has been resolved and was never intended to drive anyone away.

Sheridan rancher Pepper Fipps said he believes county enforcement efforts over wastewater disposal in the Hulett area have discouraged Amish families from remaining in the community.

“They wind up starting a little bit of a war,” Fipps said of the commissioners. “The community is dwindling.”

[{"type":"text","text":"Crook County Commission vice chairman Bob Latham disputes that."}]

“It’s all settled now. Everything is fixed,” Latham told Cowboy State Daily.

An estate moving sale earlier this month was held for two Amish families — Abe and Elizabeth Yoder and Rudy and Irene Borntreger. Records show Abe Yoder was among the landowners involved in the wastewater dispute.

About 40 Amish families live in the Hulett area, Fipps said. Founded in 2011, the Hulett Amish settlement is one of five in Wyoming.

Cowboy State Daily attempted to contact the families but did not receive responses before publication. Amish communities have traditionally relied on the U.S. mail for communication, and many members do not use cell phones or email.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Sanitation Concerns"}]

The issue surfaced in October 2024, when Crook County officials learned some Amish landowners west of Hulett had dug pits to use as toilets without obtaining permits.

Crook County wastewater specialist Caleb Peters informed commissioners that Yoder had installed outhouses that did not comply with county regulations, according to reporting by the Sundance Times.

Latham said a hole in the ground used to collect human waste is considered an illegal outhouse because it poses a risk to groundwater.

Commissioners scheduled a hearing in January 2025, expecting Yoder to attend and discuss the matter, but he did not appear, according to the Times.

Peters and county planning director Tim Lyons determined conditions at some properties presented health concerns after observing graywater and blackwater drainage. The Times reported Peters found a chicken with its head inside blackwater drainage at one residence, along with what he described as an odor of rot. At another property, he reportedly discovered an abandoned outhouse occupied by animals.

Latham said county code requires human-waste receptacles to be portable, pumpable or connected to a septic system.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"No Fines Levied"}]

Fipps contends county officials threatened landowners with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with regulations.

He called the county’s rule about illegal outhouses “asinine, stupid."

“It is baffling to me because I haven’t ever seen an outhouse blow up,” he said, noting Amish families typically live on 160-acre parcels well away from town.

[{"type":"text","text":"Latham said fines were never a part of the county’s solution."}]

[{"type":"text","text":"“To my knowledge, we never imposed fines,” he said."}]

Due to the challenge of communicating with Amish residents, County Attorney Joe Baron mailed letters to the landowners, Latham said. Peters also visited properties in person several times, he added.

“Some didn't want to talk to him,” Latham said. “Some did and were very cordial. The ones who didn't found out we're not going to quit, because it's about health and safety. It's something we take very seriously.”

After being notified of the violations, some landowners installed vault toilets that comply with county requirements, he said.

He credited Peters’ persistence with resolving the issue. 

“Caleb did a heck of a job of staying on it and getting things corrected,” Latham said. “Sometimes they feel like they can follow a different path. It was a lot of education and a lot of back-and-forth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Government Overreach Or Public Health?"}]

Fipps said he believes the county's response amounted to government overreach.

Latham disagrees, saying Crook County is obligated to enforce regulations consistent with standards established by the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality.

“Every time we have to knuckle down and say, 'This isn't right', we hear that,” he said. “We could have been a lot meaner about it. It was mainly getting an understanding of what the laws are.

[{"type":"text","text":"“Our biggest thing with that deal is their health and safety.” "}]

According to the Young Center at Elizabethtown College, Crook County is home to Wyoming's largest Amish settlement. The state's Amish population numbers roughly 500 people spread among five settlements.

[{"type":"text","text":"Smaller settlements have since formed near Newcastle, Buffalo and Powell."}]

“I've known them my whole life,” Fipps said of the Hulett settlement. “I've traded horses with them and done business with them.”

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<title>Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Sheridan rancher says an "asinine, stupid" outhouse crackdown is pushing Amish families out of the Hulett area. He said landowners were threatened with fines of up to $30,000 per day if they failed to comply with outhouse regulations.

Rancher Claims Outhouse Dispute The Reason Amish Community Leaving Hulett

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily reporter, Jackie Dorothy.

Jackie Dorothy

Wyoming Life

They have been dubbed by historians as the Arapaho Five, warriors who found themselves fighting against the cavalry in the Battle of the Little Bighorn 150 years ago this week. In the spring of 1876, these young bucks, as they called themselves, snuck off from the fort where their band was camping and became part of history. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Their names were Left Hand, Yellow Eagle, Yellow Fly, Water Man and Sage."}]

In 1919, Tim McCoy, actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, was sitting in a powwow with several Arapaho friends on the Wind River Indian Reservation along the Little Wind River. 

He later related the story to Darryl Ponicsan in a June 1977 article for the American Heritage magazine, 

“High Eagle The Many Lives Of Colonel Tim Mccoy

“They started telling me that Old Water Man was in that fight,” McCoy said. “I sort of scoffed at it because every Indian and his brother was in that fight. Practically all of them killed Custer.”

However, when McCoy began asking Water Man questions, the old Arapaho answered them all accurately. Determined to have the old men tell the stories themselves, McCoy arranged for separate interviews with Water Man and Left Hand in nearby Riverton by 1920. 

The other three warriors had already gone to the “great mystery” according to Left Hand and 

. However,  Sage, was still living near St. Stephens under the name of Sherman Sage. Only remnants of Sage's own story were ever recorded.

The two warriors McCoy knew about agreed their stories needed told.

“I had lived 22 snows at the time of the great battle on the Little Bighorn River,” 

told McCoy. “Soon Left Hand and I must go to the long sleep, and no one will be alive to tell the story, so I will tell you, whom the Arapahoes call their Soldier-Chief, everything just as I saw it, and nothing that is not the truth.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Left Hand & Water Man"}]

Left Hand began his story by stating that he was part Blackfeet and part Cheyenne but had always lived among the Arapaho. He was born in the Powder River Country and, in 1876, was camped with the Arapaho at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, drawing rations, when he left with a war party to fight the Shoshones.

“When we were young men, it was the custom of the young Indian to go on small war parties looking for Shoshones or other unfriendly tribes,” Water Man explained. “If our medicine was good, we sometimes returned to camp with a scalp or a number of ponies.” 

The young bucks rode north into the buffalo country and, near the Little Bighorn River just south of what is now Crow Agency, Montana, met a small party of Sioux.

“They told us that the Sioux were going to have a sundance and said that we should come along with them to the Sioux village and have a good time,” Water Man said. “Afterward I learned that these Sioux thought we were scouts for the white soldiers.”

Unaware that they were being tricked, the five Arapaho rode with the Sioux. As they came near the village, a great many Sioux came out of the camp.

“They took all our guns away, and made us prisoners, saying that we were scouts of the white man, and that they were going to kill us,” Water Man said.

Young Two Moon, nephew of Cheyenne Chief Two Moon, said all the Sioux believed they were scouts from a camp of soldiers. He verified the Arapahos' claim of being held prisoner in a 1908 interview with George Bird Grinnell.

“Two men took their part — Black Wolf and Last Bull,” Young Two Moon said. “They said the people should wait and not act hastily.”

The Arapaho were taken into Two Moon’s lodge. The Sioux threatened to kill the five all night.

“In the morning, Two Moon, Chief of the Cheyenne, learned we were Arapahoes, so he went to the Sioux Chiefs and made them give us back our guns and set us free,” Water Man said.

The Arapaho were given back their guns but not allowed to leave camp. The young men saw the sun rise two times and the village grew to thousands of warriors, the most any had ever seen in one place.

It was on the third day, June 25, 1876, that the battle began.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"The War Cries"}]

All the Arapaho men had readied themselves for the battle. Water Man said he was dressed in beaded leggings, breechclout, a white shirt and a large war bonnet. Left Hand was dressed in a shirt and breechclout, and his medicine was a piece of buffalo hide made into a cross with two feathers in it, which he wore in his hair.

“My face was painted yellow and red and, around my neck, tied in a deer-skin medicine bag, was a certain root, which was my medicine,” Water Man said. “I still have that same medicine,”

Left Hand said the first attack, led by Major Marcus Reno, was at the south end of the village when the sun was at the position of about 9 a.m.

“The soldiers fired a few shots, but when we rushed toward them, they became frightened and started back across the river,” Left Hand said. “Many of them lost their horses and had to swim across."

He described how the soldiers climbed on a high ridge and built a barricade.

“There were many soldiers killed there,” Left Hand said. “The Sioux were all around them.”

When the sun was straight up, about noon, Left Hand heard shooting at the lower end of the village and knew it must be more soldiers.

“I went down through the village and crossed the river with a large party of Sioux and Cheyennes,” Left Hand said. “We Arapahoes had all gotten separated during the first fight.”

 had joined a group of warriors at the lower end of the village and fought off troops who were trying to cross the river and attack the camp. During the earlier part of the fight, Waterman was in a small gulch below the hill where the soldiers were stationed. He later moved up the hill and closed in on the enemy.

“There was a great deal of noise and confusion,” Water Man said. “The air was heavy with powder smoke, and the Indians were all yelling.”

Water Man said Crazy Horse, the Sioux Chief, was the bravest man he had ever seen.

“Crazy Horse rode closest to the soldiers, yelling to his warriors,” he said. “All the soldiers were shooting at him, but he was never hit.”

Water Man said he only knew of one soldier he personally killed. It was near the end of the fight when they rushed to the top of the hill and finished all that were still alive.

Five young Arapaho braves snuck off from Fort Robinson 150 years ago this week and fought the 7th Cavalry at Little Bighorn, where General Custer met his demise. They later told their story to actor and adopted member of the Arapaho tribe, Tim McCoy.

Daily Cartoon: Thursday, April 24, 2025

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