CAPTAIN RUSSELL P. MACE --  There is much of historical interest connected with the lives of the pioneers, but few have passed through more thrilling adventures than the subject of this sketch, who was born in Roston, Massachusetts, May 14, 1821.  His father, Eliphalet Mace, was a manufacturer of planes and carpenter tools, and having a large family and small income, Russell was adopted at an early age by his uncle, Russell Perry, then living at Putney, Vermont.  Young Mace was not of a studious nature, but of a more adventurous disposition, and the country life soon irritated him.  Anticipating the delights of a sea life, though still but a boy, he went to Boston, and as a cabin boy shipped on board a coaster, bound for New Orleans.  But the life was not all his youthful dreams had pictured, and he found one trip quite sufficient.  At New Orleans he left the ship, and with an old friend led a rambling life, spent one season with a French trader in visiting the Comanche country and trading with the Indians.  He then went to Independence, Missouri, and joined the trading train of the American Fur Company, en route for Bent's Fort on the Arkansas river.  The train was loaded with blankets, shot guns, blue and red cloth, beads, and a general stock of Indian goods, to trade for otter and beaver skins and  hides.  The company was represented by the four Bent brothers and Mr. St. Vrain.  At Bent's Fort his adventurous life began.   It was desired to send important messages to Charles Bent, then at Taos, a distance of 180 miles, the trail leading through a country infested by the Ute Indians, then very hostile to the white man.  Robert Fisher, a noted scout and trapper--the man who raised Kit Carson--volunteered to go, but wished a companion, and young Mace, seeking adventure, though warned of the dangers of the journey, agreed to accompany him.  They were three days on the trip, and but for the experience of Bob Fisher, they would surely have been killed, as they followed the Indian trail and lay concealed in cañons while Indians passed but a few feet away.  They journeyed mainly by night and arrived safely at Taos midst great rejoining, as the mission was an important one.  They returned to Bent's Fort accompanied by a strong guard of trappers and hunters.  Young Mace was in the employ of Charles Bent for Six years, and was considered on of his most trusty and faithful scouts and express riders.  He carried express from Bent's Fort to Fort George, another very dangerous trail, usually traveling with a mule, trusting to familiarity with the country and strategy to escape the Indian, rather than speed of travel.  His arms were his trusty rifle, two belt pistols and two Holster pistols, and with these on one of his rides, he kept five Indians at bay.  At another time, disguised as a Mexican, he rode directly through an Indian village where detection meant instant death.  For two years, in connection with Kit Carson, the noted scout, they hunted buffalo for the fur company simply for the meat, as the company employed about 400 men.  Mr. Mace has chased thousands of buffalo over the site now occupied by Denver, Colorado, and he was at Pueblo, Colorado, when the first adobe was named for a trading post.  Buffalo meat was the staple food, and they had little other meat, and rarely bread or vegetables, following vast herds of buffalo and killing only the fat ones.  These six years were one round of thrilling adventure, but space mist limit our sketchy.  In 1844, then about twenty three years of age, Mr. Mace returned to New Orleans, and for three years acted as clerk in the wine rooms of Mr. Werfield.  At the opening of the Mexican war Mr. Mace was among the first to volunteer, and for three months served under General Gaines.  During this time the Secretary of War had made a requisition upon Louisiana for a regiment, and by leave Mace returned to New Orleans and recruited the first company under the requisition--Company A, First Regiment, Louisiana Volunteers, and was appointed Captain of the company, and being Senior Captain, had command of the regiment until all officers were elected.  The regiment then served through the war until the treaty was made with the Mexicans.  About that time Governor Barbechanoa, of Yucatan, applied for troops to help quell the Indian uprising, and Captain Mace, with a company of men, went to Yucatan and performed some heavy service, succeeding in driving the Indians from many strongholds  which they had occupied for years.