Daily national Democrat. [volume] (Marysville, Calif.) 1858-1861, 1860-01-29
Horrible Massacre of the Rolf Indians

L
t for killing Diggers are now pending before
!, the Legislature, the said account may be in.
teresting
we have already made mention of BODY
Oh volunteers under Lieut. Langley known
as the 'Fitt River Rangers" These were
"oV az mat time portion Of Kibbe's troops
being what is styled in independent com
pany-organlzed for the alleged protection of
Uhe valley. Ibis company got back into the
Sa'ey the same day that Baily and his troops
lett and encamped at Lockharts Ferry on
the mt river, where they commenced ca.
rouslnS and drinking. That evening tbev
formed the plan to attack the Rolf Indians
whose peaeeable disposition we have already
alluded to.
me company numbered twenty one, and
arrived at Rolls ranch during the niobt
Rolf and his two men had been engaoed IN
cutting hay under contract for the United
states station. They had about sixty tons Of
nay cockednp on the meadow below Ills house
Inc attacking party approached and sur
rounded the camp of the Indians, which was
ABOUT three hundred yards Off At davlioht
Mr. Ron and his men were awakened by
hFlhg and then ensued scene which our
pen Is inadequate to describe, and which for
"eHoiSh cruelty, exceeds anything ever oc-
curing to blot the fame of California. The
story needs none Of the establishment of Ian
guaSe The plain simple facts are horrible
enough of themselves. The massacre ,yas
almost entirely Of squaws and papooses-tbe
| greater part of the Indians having fled direct.
! ~ after the attack. The camp vas taken com.
pletely 10y surprise as the Indians knew that
they were innocent of any derredations
ana were confident of the kind FEELINGS of The
whites towards them.
Inc attacking party rushed upon them
blowing out their brains and splitting onen
thelr skulls with tomahawks Little children
/ IN baskets, and even babes, had their heads
smashed to pieces or cut open Mothers and
infants shared the common fate. The screams
and cries of the victims were frightful TO
hear, but no suppieations could avail To
avert the work of deyilish butchery. 1t will
scarcely be credited that this horrible scene
occurred in Christian Caifornia-within n
lew days travel from the state CAPITAL Hn-
lnaniiy sickens at the thought. Many of the
tuStlyes were chased and shot as they ran.
where whole families had been butchered.
was Indicated by heaps of bodies CONFUSED of
the mother and her little ones The child.
rem, scarcely able to run, toddled to-
wards the squaws for protection crying
win fright but were overtuken, slaughter.
ca like wild animals, and thrown into piles.
From under the hayeoeks where some Of
them had taken refuge, they were drapred
out and slain. One woman got into Hond
hole, where she hid herself under the grass
with her head above water. and concealej
her pappoose on the bank in a basket. She
was discovered and her head blown to pieces
the muzzle OF the gun being placed az inst
her skull, and the child was drowned in the
pond. The ground was covered with blood. |
ana the UrushwOod ranches, of which there |
were hfty or sixty, were filled with the dead |
bodies. Old decrepid squaws, young girls |
ana Infants, none were spared. Guns, knive, |
and matches were used, but the favorite meth.
Oh appears to have been staying in the head |
with tomahawks. The blush of dawn shone
upon this fearful spectacle, and still the mas
saere went on.
Some of these wretched creatures had lived |
with the very men who now struck them |
down. Thus they had become in "a measure |
intimate with them and had other claims
than the common humanity which ought to
actuate every breast. But even this relation
ship did not suffice to save them One of
the butchers, named Lee, had been attended |
while sek-almost to death-by the Indian
women, who had shown him all the simple |
hAiAhliOo9 AhCuASeAit GU ny iltlE IuQG lucas Oh |
charity and hospitality. The wretched be- |
ings looked around in their terror, some of |
them recognizing the man whose life they
had saved, cried out Lee Lee = raising |
their hands towards him with gestures of |
supplication-0ut in vain Lee was among |
the most inturiate of the party, and after
wards boosted of the number of skulls he |
had split open, and exhibited his tomahawk,
hacked and broken in the dreadful work |
This Is no sensation story, but sober record |
OF facts, as detailed by our intormant-fucts
so fearful in their nature that one shudders in |
the act Of recording them. Yet this iniQuit-
Gus deed goes npunished-unpunished did
we say bill Of nearly seventy thousand
dollars is now before the Legislature await
ing payment, to be distributed in part |
among these crimsoned murderers Many |
OF the women were found butchered with |
their children in their arms-the mothers |
head blown or cut to pieces, and that Of the
child split in twain by tomahawks. In their
blind and nsatiate fury they killed one of
their own party (McEiroy) while firing into
a beyy Of squaws who had huddled together
for protection
When the slaughter was over, the sham
bles were examined and more than sixty
squaws and children. and ten Indian men
were found dead on the field. The murder
ers then returned to Rolls house, aud re.
manned there week within few hundred |
yards of the charnel house. upon which the |
corpses were allowed to tester and rot, in
the blaze of day.
After the last squaw and child had been |
killed, the brushwood ranches or huts were
set on fire and the bodies burnt. The smell !
of burning flesh, the cracking of the flames,
and the black smoke soaring up, was the
closing scene of this tragedy, of which we
cannot recall any parallel in our country's |
annals The Indians crept down at night |
and carried away few Of the remnants OF
the bodies and continued to do so until they |
became so offensive and deconpOsed that |
they could not be removed. The rest were
left prey to the buzzards, and the bones
lie bleaching there yet unburied, for most OF
this band were with the group which passed
through this city a few weeks since, en-
route for their final home in the North, !
whittier they were taken, as our readers
will remember
THE editor of the Hydraulic Press has visit
ed the ledge of rock near Sweetland, which
was last week reported to contain einnabar,
but could discover no positive traces of that
mineral, though there is abundance Of a red,
ferrugnous rock somewhat resembling it in
external characteristics
il the San Francisco County Court, jew
named Marcus Levenson. has been found
guilty Of receiving stolen goods, knowing
them to be stolen.
A New YoRK paper says that Lola Montez
| L 1......, & i.lnr,l L. rnfhns