The daily union. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1845-1857, 1846-01-10


from the careful investigation which he has given,
we doubt not but he will officially report 10 you the
circumstances which have so lately overwhelmed US.
He will advise you Of the facts connected with the
/ murder Of James Starr and Ellis Rider, and the
wounding and manning of Washington Starr and
Buck Starr, the latter boy only Twelve years OF
age.
| On Sunday morning last, the 9Th instant, AN
armed party, supposed 10 be about fifty IN number,
soon after sunrise, approached the residence of
James Starr, in the Cherokee nation, who al
the lime peAeeably in the bosom OF his family un-
conscious, We venture to assert, Of having ever
violated the laws Of any nation on earth, or any
great rule Of propriely. lie was, without mo-
ments warning, or any resistance on his part, hred
upon by some nine or ten OF the beligerent party;
two Of the balls pierced his body, and The uneon-
| scious man fell, speaking other word than an
ejaculation Of run toT yoiT hfrn 10 his infant son,
Buck Starr, who was al that lime pouring water for
his fa.her ia wHsh. That word was his last, and
alas il came too late The assassins fired at the
boy, and broke his arm in two places before he fed
He was followed into an orchard, and shot through
the hip The trueusnt fends returned and re-
ported him dead. The poor boy yet fingers, but
no hope Of his recovery is entertained. Another
lniant son Gan idioD we are confident was only
saved by an aunt throwing her body before the
unohendng victim, incapable by the laws Of God
and man OF crime. And the bood-thirsly wretches,
who have thus proven themselves ruthless assassns,
without regard 10 age or sex, passing three miles
unarmed, and unconscious Of danger his house.
When at the distance Of only six spaces they dis
charged ten or twelve rifles al him. Five or Blk
bullets passed through his clothes, and two through
his arm. The distance and the deadly aim con-
sdered his escape with his life can only be regarded
as one Of those miracles, which prove that all
seeing Providence often interposes in favor Of inno-
| cence, 10 thwart the purposes OF wicked men. The
wounded man fed under the fire. and ainting, reach
ed this place, where the whites have for the time
II r. al.
hour an armed party entered the house Of the mother
of Ellis Rider, and, regardless Of her cries. and her
sick-bed struggles, moved by supernatural strength
drew him, youth just budding into manhood, from
his mothers embrace; and hrustng him from her door
before her eyes, they pierced him with i've rife balls,
and with still more savage brutality, stabbed him
with bowie.knife. Thus ended the tragical scenes
Of the Sabbath morning so far as we know. But
from the continued organization Of these armed as
sassins and the well accredited rumors through the
country, weare convinced that many more had been
marked as victims, and were only saved by timely
fight. A son Of Jesse Mayfeld, only ten years old,
we are sure saved by faithful negro slave
Many Of the leaders Of the treaty party have been
kindly warned, by one who marched with the muir
derers during the day, that the only hope for their
| lives would be found in timely fight
Armed parties or companies, our enemies do not
deny, have gone in search Of others equally limo.
cent, and equally unconscious Of wrong, Indeed,
we certain that there none who have CHANGED
to differ from the ruling powers, who have dared
TO complain of wrong, who are safe. victim has
only to be marked, and he falls by ruthless
hand ......... -.
1, in not, sir, for US to speculate upon the motives
which have prompted our cruel enemies TO act over
the scenes Of 22d June, l839-unparaIleled atroci-
ties, distinguished only by the different names Of
the victims That each and every one Of the fallen
are as innocent Of offence against their murderers,
their aidcB and abettors, the spirits Of
fallen chieftains the Ridges and Boudinot, we feel
quite certain We challenge the fullest investiga-
ton into the truth Of this assertion Ii will be APP
parent to every that the children whose lives
| have been attempted, and whose blood has been
| freely shed, could have committed no crime; yet
neither their age nor their innocence could protect
them .a. ..
| Will our enemies tell your government that other
outrages had recently been perpetrated in the ma
ton, and that other homicides had been committed
and that the house Of r. J. Meigs, son-in-law of
John Ross, had been burnedi and that a son Of
James Starr, who has been "outlawed" by the
Cherokee council, accused Of being the perpe-
traitor of the horrd deeds' And has it TO this,
we would ask, that innocent relatives, without re-
gard to age to be slain in cold blood because Of
the supposed crimes of sons or brothers, Too Of
ten heretofore when urging our complaints to your
government, have we been pointed 10 the "Chero-
kee laws" and ''the constituted authorities" and
told that they afford protection to life liberty, and
property But is this the protection which is thrown
around us' First, men are, contrary TO every prin-
cple of civil liberty, "outlawed" for supposed
crimes and then their relatives slain out of re-
venge Ofcourse we cannot speak with certainty
of the authority under which the murders have been
committed. We are told that it is by virtue of
law of the national council, authorizing the arrest
ing and bringing to condign punishment" the perpe-
traitors of. certain crimes But this is mere mock
cry. 1t is making an armed mob the judges of
crime and the executioners of the accused without
trial. And if, under this law, and the directions
given by its trainers, the aged the young, the idiot
and the innocent may be shot down, then the law
itself is an open declaration of war; and we have no
appeal but to arms, redress but to die like men,
rather than to be tamey murdered in the bosoms Of
| our families.
Let us, sir, for single moment, ask who James
Starr was' He was about one-fourth Cherokee and
| three fourhs white. He was one of those brave
Cherokees who espoused the cause of the United
Staes and at the battle of Hillibee, among the
first to peril his life in defence of the army of that
brave general who has so lately gene to receive the
reward due to the true soldier, who fights not for
revenge, but for love of patriotism. He won the
TEEN and regard of your great Jackson; and his
name appears to that treaty (the treaty Of 1880
| which, to his last day. the honorable chief of the
Hermitage regarded as the only boon which could
save the Cherokeos, then overwhelmed by white
population That treaty has already been sealed
with the blood Of his compeers-Maior Ridge, John
Ridge, Elias Boudinot, and John Fields Another,
also, (Aehilla Smith, condemned to the gibbet
by an usurped power, after the merest mockery of
| trial. Only few others now remain. One of them
is now with party of some forty Of our friends in
the great prairies Of Texas, hunting some spot of
earth where oppressed and prosecuted party may
escape the revenge of those who have opposed,
yet been enriched by, that treaty. With money
wrongfully paid Mr. Ross and his followers, they
build up power, and murder with impunity.
We need not, sir, advert to our suferings since
our arrival in this country. They are familiar to
you; and through you, we would point our great
father (the Presidency to the many memorials and
papers often sent to your government in our be-
half since June, 1889.
| A history written in blood cannot soon be for
gotten. The cries Of widows and orphans, made
such by premedtated murders, may for the time be
stiled but the blood Of those to whom the United
States pledged for protection cries from the ground
unapsngsd; and should your government again turn
deaf to complaints, the great apengsr will
not I've unmindful Of His denuncation against "he
land which coperah up blood"
Shall we be pointed TO the laws Of the Cherokee
nation for the punishment Of the murderers Of the
fallen Starr and RIDER This would be TO add
~. r.