Mineral Point tribune. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1854-1858, 1854-03-02

jumped out of the wagon and went towards
the Indians. in order, if possible, to gain
their friendship
The mules in our wagon. four in mum
Der becoming frightened by the war whoor
OF the savages, turned out of the road and
commenced running as fast as they could
One OF them fell down before he had gone
iar, and the others were then obliged to
stop. The Indians now came upon US. and
ordered the Mexican to take the mules out
OF the harness. While this was going on
l got out OF the wagon, and looked on in
GREATNESS suspense After the mules
were embarrassed, the Mexican was strip
PED OF his clothing. his hands tied behind
his back. and ordered to sit down on the
ground. One of them shot him with a
gun, while another stabbed him several
times with big butcher knife His scalp
was cut off before he was dead. and put
INTO his own hat; the hat was then worn
by one of his mu-derers. / was stupefied
with horror as [ gazed on this spectacle
and supposed that my turn would come
next But the Indians having secured
the plunder of the wagon, mounted us on
the mules and ordered us to go with
them
AS l left, looked back and saw the
| poor Mexican weltering in his blood, and
still brea thing
| We took northeast direction and trav-
eied slowly till sunset, when we encamp.
ed Here the plunder, consisting of blan-
kets, bedding. clothing, brides. and some
money which | had in my pocket, was di-
vided among the Indians Some articles
considered useless were thrown into the
hre. My clothing was taken away, except
barely enough to cover my person In
the distribution of the captives, the eldest
| boy, about ~ years Of age, was claimed by
the chief; [ became the property of one
of the others. I should have mentioned
that one of our captors was Mexican,
who had been stolen from the State of
/ chihuahua when an infant He was now
as savage as the Indians and claimed the
youngest boy for his prize. The scalp of
the Mexican was stretched on a stick and
dried by the fire
After giving US some meat for our sup
per. the Indians began to secure us for
| the night. The boys, with their arms tied
| tightly behind them were taken under
guard by two Of the savages NY feet
were tied together. and | was obliged to
lie between the other two | did not sleep
any during the night, for l was afraid of
being killed
The next day we resumed our journey,
and travelled IL the same direction The
boys were mounted on good animals. and
tad bows and arrows Their faces were
palnted Indian fashion, they looked like
young savages: They appeared to enjoy
their new mode of life, and were never
treated with excessive cruelty l was
mounted on good horse, but being OBJ
liged to sit astride the animal, the journey
was exceedingly painful
| had fine head of hair, which valued
very much. But the chief ordered it to
oe cut off l was not a little mortified in
seeing it decorating the heads of the heart
less savages My head was thus left en-
tlrely unprotected from the intensely hot
rays of the sun.
Nothing Of interest occurred except re-
peated acts of inhumanity towards me,
until the twelfth day of my capture At
this time we were joined by two India1
men and souaw These were all tae
Indians l saw till after my escape Up
to this time my sufferings had hcon so Sc
we're as to take from me all desire to live,
now they were greatly increased. The
squaw from whom l might have expected
some compassion. was evidently the cause
of the new cruelties which / now began to
experience.
My horse was taken from me, and was
mounted on an unbroken mule without
bride | had a saddle but it was worn
out and good for nothing except to torture
me. This animal would frequently top
me over its head of its own accord but
not being wild enough to crafty the NAL
ice of the Indians, the chief would some.
times shake the Mexican's seal before its
eyes The beast would then rear and
plunge in the utmost fright, and would
be thrown upon the ground with great vi
olence | have been tossed from the
mules back as many as half dozen times
day. and once | was so stunned that |
lay considerable time before my senses
returned. My repeated falls greatly
amused the Indians whose horrid peals of
laughter might have been heard at great
distance.
l never saw them exhibit the first sign
of pity towards me. 1t made no differ
ence how badly l was hurt, if I did not
rise immediately and mount the animal
which had just thrown me, they would ap-
ply their riding whips, or gun-sticks, or
the end of lariat, to my unprotected
body with the greatest violence. The
squaw would also help me to rise by
woending me with the point of a spear
which she carried. You may understand
one object the Indians had in view in put
ting me upon this wild animal and causing
me to be thrown so often, when I tell you
expected to become mother IN few
weeks They understood my situation,
but instead of softening their hearts it on
ly made them more inhuman, and subject
ed me to greater suffering
[ was obliged to work like slave while
in camp while there was any service to
perform [ was not allowed a moments rest
was compelled to carry large loads of
wood on my back, which being destitute of
sufficient clothing was mangled till the