The weekly north Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1857-1867, 1860-03-21
Communicated for the Tines.


plain; horses, cattle and other stock arc
driven off; cabins are burnt and stragglerx
shot. It really carries one back to the pri-
meval times when our forefathers and fore
mothers too, braved the hidden dangers Of
the lurking savages to find home for US,
their progeny. The papers and the various
officers are not backward in imploring The
aid and Intervention of Government for pro-
lection, and We, the readers of these trans
actions, wonder why these poor settlers are
left to the destruction of their means and
the cruelties Of ruthless savagcs. .-frsr,s
Perhaps, however, we only hear and read
one side of the stories, The wrongs, the
insults, the butcheries and the atrocities
which the Indians suffer, seldom or never
are published; they are conveniently for
gotten, or hushed up altogether. A little
reflection on the cowed condition Of the
Indians, hemmed in is they are Oh an sides
by the powerful whites, would preclude the
idea Of aggressions by them, except by
desperate necessity, or the innate de-
sire for revenge. The frontier settlements
are generally made by men who, dissatisfied
or disappointed where they first lived, veis
ture out beyond towns and cities, ind States
almost, to make their competence; they are
generally restless and reckless, their rule Of
conduct being to consider only what enures
to the qualification Of theI desires and the
increase of their means. In every contact
the Indian must succumb or be punishedj
woe to the whole tribe il one of their num-
Der, stung by insult, dares to resist and re-
venge an aggression, and then the papers
are filled with accounts cf horrid Indian
murders. .as .f ~
These few thoughts were suggested by
reading the account of the Pitt River War,
in the Alta California, written by Mr.. Geo.
Lount, 4 resident Of the Pitt Rivef district
| in California.
Mr.. Lount moved into the district in June,
1859, taking with him his stock of cattle
(about 500 head). He found the Indians
peaceable and friendly, and with his COM
panions remained till fall. During this
time the party were joined by other stock
owners, until there were nearly 5000 head
of cattle grazing in the valley. The men
lived in brushwood tents, the Indians going
in and coming out freely and on the most
friendly terms. No instance was known Of
their running off stock-on the contrary, If
any cattle were mired, or got into holes
dug by the Indians for deer, the fact was
instantly made known, and the Indians
cheerfully assisted in extricating them; the
Indians were eminently peaccable, and as,
sociated with the whites without fear. This
tribe consisted of some six or seven hum
dred; they we're numerically strong enough
to have killed, at blow, the whole of the
ten or twelve men who were scattered over
the five or six miles of country.
! Matters continued thus until Lieutenant
Bailey with scouting party passed through
the country, who, seeing squad of one In
dian and several squaws, fired upon them.
The Indian escaped, but the squaws were
captured; they were released after long
parley, by the earnest entreaties of the
stockmen. Soon after, a company of twen-
ty-two Rangers, under Lieut. Langley, ar
rived. This company surrounded the In
dian camp, and after night of carousing
and drinking, commenced the day by a VOL
ley upon the unsuspecting Indians. The
scene which ensued is unequalledfor fiend-
ish cruelty. The greater part of the In
dians fed from the danger, but the squaws;
and papooses were massacred, their brains
blowed out or skulls split with tomahawks.
| Little children and babes in baskets smash
cd and cut open. Mothers and infants
; shared common fate. The screams and
5 cries of the victims We're frightful, but pitt
: eous supplications availed not with the dev-
| lis. Whole families were butchered in
) heaps-old, decrepit squaws, young girls
$ and infants, none were spared. Some Of
l these wretched creatures had lived with the
n very men who struck them down, and had
Y other claims than common humanity for
: mercy, but it availed them nothing. One Of
e the butchers, named Lee, had been attend
ed while sick, very sick, by the Indian wo-
: men, who had shown him all the simple
l kindnesses of rude charity and hospitality.
y Recognizing the man, they raised their
= hands and cried out Lee! Lee!' but in
y vain; he was the most infuriate of the par
s ty, boasted Of the skulls he had split open,
: showing his tomahawk hacked and broken
in the dreadful work.
+ This is no sensation story, but simple
& record Of fact, detailed by respectable man
e of known truthfulncss. Fearful facts they
IT are, and one almost shudders in recording
5 them; yet this iniquitous deed goes unpun-
ished. Unpunished? Why, bill is now
before the Legislature of California for pay.
a ing this and other parties of like nature ths
{. sum of $4,000, for their services! 1t il
- who escaped became warlike. Ifthey wer,
r men, and one spark of live blood ran in
n their veins, they would revenge till the las
is Indian were hunted to his lonely grave
= No wonder the Indians are troublesome
Of in Pitt River Valley. Perhaps if other In
IS dian Wars of the present day were inquirst
'e into, the fact would be somewhat like thu
q above. GIMCRACK.
SEWARD AND CHAsE.-The Evansville
i Ind.) Journal, a strong Republican paper