IFE OF ■i . ■■ .. JJueKsKiri § am Maine State L ibrary, Augusta, Maine. BUCKSKIN SAM LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF Buckskin Sam. (SAMUEL H. NOBLE.) WRITTEN BY HIMSELF. JUL 9 1300 Printed by R u m fo r d F a l l s P u b l is h in g C o ., Rumford Falls, Maine, 1900. Copyright 1900 by Samuel H. Noble. PREFACE. In presenting this little book to the public, I do so, not from a feeling of pride, or for gain, but simply to satisfy a demand that my friends have made upon me. Many who have visited the different places of amusement where I exhibited, have asked for the history of my life. In order to satisfy them I have written this book. In reading this work my kind friends will see that the words of the immortal poet Shakespeare are indeed true, when he says: “There is a Divinity that shapes our ends, Rough hew them as we may.” The pages of this book may read like a romance, but believe me, every word is true. Here the simple recital of facts only proves the old adage true that “ Truth is stranger than fiction.” I am the public’s obedient servant, B u c k s k i n S a m . CONTENTS C H A P T E R I. P a g e . From Boyhood to Manhood. .................................................... 17 . Pranks at School.— First Adventure at Blunting. CHAPTER II. My First Vo y a g e ...................................................................20 Visit to Dismal Swamp.— A Plantation Husking and Dance.— A Storm at Sea.— Shipwreck and Danger.— Perilous Voyage Home. CHAPTER III. Adventures—Tragic and Comic. ............................................ 27 Other Voyages.— Shooting a Whale.— In Boston Friendless.— A Night in a Murderous Dungeon.— Shipped to Philadelphia.— Sick at Penn Hospital.— The Poisioning Scrape.— Street Life in New York.— The Sailor’s Boarding and Lodging House.— The Boarding Mistress at Home and Abroad. CHAPTER IV. Life With the Indians. ........................................................... 39 The Voyage to South America.— On a Sheep Ranch.— Captured by the Indians.— The Ceremony of Adoption.— Named Buckskin Sam.— The Patagonian Plains.— Geography, Climate, Animals and Inhabitants.— Excitement of Hunting Expeditons. C H A P T E R V. Escape From the Indians. ....................................................S3 CHAPTER VI. South America to Liverpool. ------- 56 The Return to New York, Thence to Liverpool.— Sights I Saw in Liver­ pool.— The Murder of Andrew Rose— The Tramp and the Workhouse. - Recruited into the British Army.— How a British Soldier Fares. CHAPTER VII. Off to India. ..........................................................................69 Incidents of the Trip by Land and Water.— The Arabian Desert, the River Nile, the Suez Canal.— At the Red Sea Where the Egyptians Crossed.— Across Indian Ocean to Bombay.— Six Months on the Taptee River.— Hindoo Towns, Customs, and People.— Some Hindoo Names, Marriage Customs, Etc. CHAPTER VIII. A M a rch T h r o u g h t h e H ea t of I n d ia . - - - - ' - 78 Trees of India.— Juggernaut Car and Hindoo Worship.— Night Marches and Hot Days.— Catching a Monkey.— Climate and Seasons.— Sur­ rounded by Ferocious Animals.— Worshippers of the Monkey.— A Thrill­ ing D ay’s Hunt.— At Nusserabad.— A Lake of Ducks.— Hindoos Burning their Dead.— The Cobra-di-Capello.— Snake Charming.— Shooting a Cobra.— The Hindoo Dress. CHAPTER IX. L ife in I n d ia . .......................................................................... 99 The War of 1857.— The Horrible Massacre at Cawnpore.— Wealth of a Captured Eastern City.— Stationed at Nusserabad.— The Wild Animals of India.— Methods of Hunting.— Great Number of Lives Lost by Wild Animals and Snakes. C H A P T E R X. Thrilling Hunting Adventures. .............................................119 Two Lions at Bay.— The Habits of the Lion.— Shooting a Panther.— The Ganges River and Deadly Jungles — The Pitcher Plant.— A Cheetah in My Tent.— Killing a Man-eating Tiger.— The Price of Wild Animals. An Antelope Dashes Out His Own Brains.— Pursued by a Wild Buffalo. — Stocking an Antelope.— Shooting a Nylghau. CHAPTER XI. Return from India to England. - - - - . - - 134 The March to Nusserabad.— Discharging My Faithful After Riders.— Through the Ram-Ghauts to Belgaum.— Another PI unting Trip.— A Foolhardy Venture into a Tiger’s Den.— How We Escaped.— We Take Passage for England.— Cape Town, Africa.— The Isle of St. Helena.— Tomb of Napoleon Bonapart.— Arrival at Gravesend, England. CHAPTER XII. L ondon to N ew Y o r k . ...............................................................................147 Sights and Scenes in London.— Dover Castle and Citadel.— The Infam­ ous Executioner’s Block.— The Tower of London.— The Crown Jewels of England.— The Famous River Tunnel.— Epitaphs Upon English Gravestones.— The Fate of Christ’s Earliest Witnesses.— My Hardships in the City.— Towed in by a Scotch Lassie.— A t Last a Chance to Ship. — Short Visit to Ireland.'— Crossing the Atlantic.— Terrible Storms and Suffering of Sailors.— New York at Last. CHAPTER XIII. A noth er E n l is t m e n t . C o n clu sio n . ................................................. 168 Enlisted under General Custer.— Fighting the Johnnies of the South.->- Some of the Noted Battles.— The Gallant Charge of General Custer.— Surrender of General Lee.— Barbara Frietchie.— Mother’s Prayers.— The Boys in Blue.— Buckskin Sam’s Last Bear Fight.— Conclusion. CHAPTER I FROM BOYHOOD TO MANHOOD. Pranks at School.— First A dventures at H unting. I was born in the town of Kennebunk in the state of Maine on the 16th of June, 1838. At that time my father was the landlord of the village hotel. In 1841 my father died, leaving my mother with three children, an older sister, a younger brother and myself. After my father’s death my mother disposed of the property and then moved to her father’s in the town of New Sharon, Maine, where my younger brother was adopted by his grand-mother. My sister stopped at home. After my father’s death I lived with my mother until 1844, when I was six years of age. I was then bound out to a man by the name of Nathaniel True of Fayette, Maine, where I lived for three years. At the age of nine I left Fayette and lived with my uncle in Keadfield, Maine. Two years later, in 1849, I again lived with my mother in the town of Somerville, Maine, which is eighteen miles east of Augusta. In the fall of 1849 I began to attend the district school; and lived as country boys d'o. The school house was of wood about 30 feet square, with the door on the front side. As you passed through the outer door you came to a long entry with a door at each end leading into the school room. The stove sat in the center of the room and the schoolmaster’s desk was at the back of the ropm. The boys occupied the left side of the room and the girls the right, facing the boys, so the boys could not cut up any of their pranks unless the girls saw them. As for myself I was always up to some prank to make the girls or boys laugh. After a while the snow covered the ground, and the little ponds of water began to freeze over and there was some skating. I took my skates to school for the noon time sport. At this ( 17) 18 L ife and A dventures. school there were about twenty-five boys and about the same number of girls. After I had been going to school a short time my parents bought me a slate, so I look the slate to school and the master asked me why I brought it. I told him that my parents sent me with it. Then said the master, “ You shall not use the slate.” But this was not the end of the slate question. I made a profile of the school-master upon it and turned it around so that the girls could see it, at which they began to laugh for it looked so comical. And no wonder, for it had a big nose and the hair stood right up on end. The school-master brought the girls to account for laughing and as I did not want the girls to get pun­ ished for my “ shines” I told the school-master that it was my slate that caused the disturbance. Then to punish me, he made me go over and sit between two of the largest girls. That suited me pretty well, but I was there not long before the girls jumped up with a shriek; then over comes the master to bring the girls to account again. “ What is the trouble now?” said the master. “Why, Sam is sticking a pin into us.” “ Sam, come out into the floor, sir.” “ All right, sir.” “ Go out and cut me a bundle of sticks, and I’ll tan your jacket for your conduct. “ All right, sir.” About three hundred yards back of the school-house was an alder swamp. So I put on my skates and away I went; it being a cold day the alders were all frozen and brittle. As I thought I was to have a sound thrashing, I prepared the sticks for the battle. I took my knife and cut about half way through each of the sticks so that when the master struck me with them they would all break. I cut about one hundred of them and took them into the school-room, and throwing them down on the floor took my seat. I had no more than taken my seat when he called me back.