Mountain Democrat. [volume] (Placerville, El Dorado Co., Cal.) 1854-1860, 1858-09-11
Arrival of the Overland Mail

Atll o'clock A. ~, on Sunday last, Mr.
Lindsay arrived m this city with the Over
land Mail Conch, having in charge portion
Of the Salt Lake Mai Of August 18th, and also,
the Mail which left there August 23rd.
By this arrival we have received the I'M
welcome news that, on the night III August
2Uth while cncampcd eight miles below the
first crossing Of the Humboldt, the Nail party
Of the 10Th August were surrounded by
large body OF ShOshoae Indians, who by dint
Of noisy ceilings succeeded in stampeding
and driving off the stage ANIMALS. The night
was dark, and Mayfrld, the Conductor, was
afraid te leave the Mails unprotected, but Of
ter consolidation he and his comrades con-
cluded to remain and guard the wagon till
daylight. hoping that the California stage
would arrive and relieve them from their UNI
lucky prcdcamcnt
In this hope they were disappointed, the
California party did not arrive, but at an ear
" hour a large body Of mounted Indians
again surrounded them, and from their ma
ncuvers it was apparent that the Savagcs in
tended to make an attack. With hdeous
ycllS and angry gestures they began to gallOp
their horses AROUND the coach, gradually mar
rowing the area Of the circuit until they ar
rived near enough to discharge voilcy Of ar
rows from under their horses neckS. May
field, who is an old m,untain,er and can
speak the Shoshone language, told them that
if they did not 90 away he would order his
men TO shoot them. 10 this threat they re.
piled by SAY ing, "Iniin hecp strong, aud
asan sent vo'hy Of arrows 1T the devoted
little band. 1t was now fully time for action
and Mal field ordered lis men t. fire. This
brought the rcd skins 10 a check. At thu
first volIry, Maylicld was :" Fortunate MS to
! kill one Of them with h, rcvo'v r. and before
they got ont of reach he |ai'l another out " it'll
! hiFcalbinc. The men also wound Il several
Vt them and Killed one Of III IT. houses. he
In'lianS fled preci. itatriy and >"on entirely
Disappeared. The coast was now trlnlmrari-
~ Z ear, but Mayticid WAS Of the 90 inion that
]
the California Mail Gil not nrriyr, and sup.
posi- x tia, il. TO-. hal b On l',uadv cd, May
! li,ld and hi companions rct inia,d to nbati-
don the wagon amt cr'lcavor t.. carry the
ma,ba-S back ~ the staff IN on Goose
Creek. Accordingly they set out on the tire
some journey and Succeeded il r,traring their
steps about - miles up the Humboldt. whcr,
suddenly, they were again surrounded by
about an hundred of the rel devils. They
now perceived that their only chance Of c>.
cape was to abandon ,vrry,hrg but their
arms and ammunition and take to the noun.
tainS. Accordingly, after sScatt iinS thri
ruvi>ionS and blankets about amongst the
deep grass in ord,r to dctan the Indians as
long as possible, they made for ti,e neighbour
! ins hills, and 10y keeping a!or. the SUBMITS
! OF the highest ridges, SucCc, drd in GLIDING
their pursuers until they finally overlook
Thomas Pitt, who was turoNfc Enr California
with large drove of cattle Pitt supplied
the party with provisions Su;lici mt to last
them to the station, and although the noun.
tans were lightly cleaning with signal fires,
! they ut length reached the >t.tiJnIn >afrtv-
Mr.. Pitt aft, rwari> saw 'hc mail coach, which
he says, was literally torn to atoms. lie also
found the mail-bagS which were ripped open
and the letters scattered in every direction
Tic picked up several Of the latter, which
were afterwards brought to the poStoffice in
this city by Mr. Lindsay. From all that we
can learn about this affair." tits quite apparent
that it is mainly the result Of bad manage.
ment on the part Of the Indian Agent at Salt
Lake City. II appears TINT for some time
past, he has frequently promised to meet the
ShoShones and make a treaty with them
This, however, he has neglected to do. The
Indians became cnraged at this apparent care
lessneSs, NsAA resolved to be rcvengcd and
accordingly made an attack upon Mayfcld>
party. 1t is to be hoped that prompt meas.
urcs may be taken to remedy the evil
The news from Salt Lake is unimportant
Some orders had been read at headquarters
Of the army, and portion Of the command
would shortly march for Oregon. A compa-
ny was also ordered to go south. General
Hunt had left Salt Lake to explore the new
stage route to the west Of Goose Greek which
is known to be $50 miles shorter than that
now Travelled