Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1861-03-28
ESCAPE FROM INDIAN CAPTIVITY.
NARRATIVE OF JAMES K1MBALL, ELEVEN YEARS A
CAPTIVE AMON0 THE SNAKE INDIANS.

In the spring of lS47, when the California
gold ieVer was at its height, company of sixty
four persons, five of them being wives of mem
bers of the party, formed at Syracuse. N. Y,
for the purpose OF seeking the Golden Fl Do
RADIO by eros ing the plains. Among The COM
pany was young man named James p Kim
ball, then nineteen years Of age, and his wife
Jane, to whom he had been married on New
Years day of that year. At the time he was
married he was working on a farm near Onon-
daga Hollow, few miles south of Syracuse
His father, Major Newal Kimball, was a mer-
chant in Syracuse. The late Phlo Rust long
proprietor of the Syracuse House, and one Of
the most popular landlords in the country, was
his uncle. The father Of young Kimbals wife,
Rev. James Mcneil of Bloody Run, Bedford
County, Pa missionary, was also Of the par
ty. The company composed of men like
Kimball young and adventurous, with strong
hands aud bold hearts, eager to solve the prob
lem of life through toll and peril. The young
wife who had been reared tenderly amid the re-
fncments of life, gave up her comfortable home
without repining and went cheerfuy forth with
her husband, sharing with him both toll and
danger The company was mostly from Onon-
daga County. On the first day of April 1S4S,
they left Syracuse, followed by the prayers and
good wishes of their friends, and after they had
begun their journey across the plains they were
all perished by the hands of hostile Indians.
On Saturday morning last, there arrived in
this city, on board a freight train from Toledo,
a man with weather-beaten visage, and long
bushy hair sweeping over his shoulders, accom-
panied by pale and emaciated woman, sick
and worn out with hunger, exposure and IA
tiguing Journeys on foot. They were James
Kimball and his wife, who eighteen months ago
escaped from the Snake Indians, with whom
IL, b,J
their way on foot for thousands of miles, amid
hunger, sickness, thirst and danger, to the
States. Both were poorly and thinly clothed,
and bore numerous evidences of what they had
been through in making their way thus far
They remained at the depot all day. and their
story becoming known, they were provided with
food by some of the depot men, and were fur
! nshed by the Lake Shore Road with free tran
sit to Buffalo, en- route for Syracuse, on the
night express. Our reporter had an interview
/ with them on Saturday afternoon, and obtained
the following narrative of their adventures
The company of sixty-four persons, to which
Mr. Kimball belonged left Syracuse, April 1st,
1913, crossed the Mississippi at Quincy, and the
Missouri at Brown lille, proceeded to Fort Scott,
and thence to independence, going two hundred
and twelve miles out of their way for the pur-
pose of joining a train which they learned was
soon to leave the latter place on the oyster land
route When they arrived at independence,
they found that the train had been gone four
days. Being provided with teams, and all the
necessary outfit for the Journey, they hired a
mountain pilot, and pushed on, hoping to be
able to overtake the train. They crossed the
plains BY way of Salt Lake, and thence proceed
ed to Chillicothe Valley, in Oregon. At three
o'clock one afternoon, the little train stopped,
while passing through Chillicothe Valley, and
prepared to encamp for the night beneath an
overhlnging cliff. While they were preparing
their camp, they were suddenly fired upon from
the cliff above, when a large force OF Indians
of the snake tribe-Indans particularly hostile
to the whites, and the terror and scourge OF
overland travellers-were in ambush.
The little band of adventurers prepared to
resist the attack as wei as circumstances would
admit. The women were protected from the
shots of the Indians by one of the wagons,
while the men carried on the unequal contest
the Indians were nearly two thousand In num-
ber) from behind the other wagons. The bat
tie continued with little intermission until ten
O'Clock next morning. On the afternoon OF the
attack about half the whites were killed. Dur
ing tn night firing continued but only one
man was wounded. The Indians adopted their
own peculiar manner of warfare, skulking
among the timber which grew upon the cliff,
and picking off the men with rifles, with which
they were well provided. When the fight end
ed, only thirteen of the company were alive,
and they Immediately became prisoners. A sis
ter of Mrs Kimball was among the killed. Mrs
X. was badly wounded The Indians took their
prisoners up on what they called Rattlesnake
Mountain, seventeen miles from the scene OF
the fight, and many of the whites being griey-
ously wounded, the march was painful one in
the extreme. Arriving there, council was
held to decide what disposition should be made
of the prisoners. 1t was decided that all but
two should run the gauntlet. One of those ex-
empted was the mountain pilot hired at lnde-
pendence, who was part Indian; the other was
: the missionary Mcneil, Mrs Kimballs father,
who was reserved to be burned at the stake to
appease the spirits of the warriors who fell II
e battle. Mr. Kimball ran the guantlet, first for
D himself and again for his vile. lie ran naked
: between two lines of Indians, fifty in each line
all armed with clubs. He was allowed a club
and pistol, the rules OF the race permitting
c him to shoot down any person who stepped II
e front of him while he was running. He sho
: one Indian dead who jumped in front of him
He escaped both races with but two blows from
= clubs; one on the back of the head, and thu
e other on the back of the neck.
= Mr. Mcneil was burned before the eyes o
t his friends, amid dreadful tortures. His bod.
G bristled with pine splinters which were driver
= into his flesh before the fire was built abou
him, causing fearful aSOny Wnen lne! cauSh
fire. His daughter was forced to witness th
y horrible spectacle, the Indians dancing arount
+ their victim with fiendish yells.
d Kimball's wife had four children during tn
captiyitv. He made his escape by gaining thu
1t confidence of the Indians, and starting on
2. bunt with his family. This was the custom o
" this tribe. He had fight during his high
with several Indians, and was wounded. H
" met party of L. S. surveyors, ard was by then
l. assisted towards the settlement. The Plain
n dealeT says -
The woman bears fearful evidence of the suf
/ fering she has endured, although there are sti
r traces of forml II good looks. She exhibits
dent in her skull made by an Indian bullet whe
the train was attacked, She was wounded il
= many places during the contest, and her arm
|. was broken by an Indian warclub. Her h IS
band set her arm very imperfectly, as our re
r porter, to whom she exhibited it, could readil
$ perceive. Her condition excited much sym
l. pathy among the ladies, on Saturday, who lis
Is tened to her story in the sitting room at tn
depot. A lady to whom Mrs Kim6all exhibite
y her feet says they are an excrutiating sight, tn
nails being gone entirely, and thick callous place
st on the bottom of them, the effects of that tel
m rible Journey on foot from the shore OF the Pa
r cifc, almost to the Mississippi river. Kimba
ar is of medium statue and rather slight in builC
10 lie has determined grey eye, his hair is Ion
S. and bushv He has alarming spells of spittin