Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1862-11-26
The Trial of the Sioux Indians.

The Court room was the log kitchen of
a half breed, and a correspondent of the
st. Paul Pioneer thus describes the pro-
ceedings and excuses of the accused.
The prisoners were brought in. cha ned
together by the feet, in pairs, some cases
eight at a time, and the charges which
were preferred by Gen. Sibley, read to
them through the interpreter, Antoine
Premier, and then, after being exorted to
tell the truth, and not equivocate, each
was asked as TO the extent of his partici-
patton in the outrages, and, if necessary,
witnesses were called against him. Then
if there was any doubt as to his guilt, or
as to his being a willing participant in the
outrage, he was allowed to call witnesses
in his favor. Perhaps this may seem to
those who were not on the ground an I'M
justitiably summary mode of proceeding /;
but it was as lengthy an examination as
necessity would permit, and whatever
necessity" | should think that in at least
two-thirds of the cases the prisoners adj
mitted that they fired, but in most instan-
ces, insisted that it was only two or three
shots, and that no one was killed-about
as valid an excuse as one of them offered,
who was possessed of an irresistible i'm
pulse to accumulate property. that a horse
which he took was only a very little one
and that a pair of oxen which he captur-
ed was for his wife who wanted a pair. In
regard to the third who did not admit
that they fired, their reasons for not do
ing so were equally remarkable and as
sumed a different shape every day. One
day all the elderly men, who were in the
vigor of manly strength. said their hair
was too grey to go into battle and the
young men, aged from eighteen to TWEEN
ty-fve, insisted that they were too young,
and their hearts too weak to face fire.
The next day they would develop the
fact that great was the number, and terri
BILE the condition of those who were with
ing in agony, with the belly ache, on the
top of a big hill. A small army avowed
that they had crept under a wonderfully
capacious stone (which nobody but them
selves ever saw at the battles of the fort,
and did not emerge therefrom ~duringlthe
fights; and d suficiency for two small ar
mics stoutly called on the Great Spirit
(Wakan-tonka) and the heavens and the
earth (patting the latter emphatically
with the hand, to witness they were of a
temperament so phlegmatic, a disposition
so unsocial, and an appetite so voracious
and greedy, that, during the roar of each
of the battles at the Fort, New Ulm,
Birch Coolie, and Wood Lake, they were
alone, within bullet shot, roasting and
eating corn,and beef all day. Afrey-look-
ing warrior wished the commission to be-
lieve that he felt so bad at the forts, to
see the Indians fire on the whites, that
he Immediately laid down and went to
sleep, and did not wake until the battle
was over. Several of the worst charac-
tiers, who had beer in all the battles, af-
ter they had confessed the whole thing,
wound up by saying that they were mem
beers of the Church.
1t was proved on one old cut-nose Indi-
an that on one occasion, he had shot a
white man, and butchered with his knife
eleven women and four children and on
another, that he had killed nineteen.
The testimony in many cases disclosed
brutality on the part of the savages per-
fectly devilish, especially towards women
and young girls taken prisoners. Those
who were instantly dispatched met with
a blessed fate in comparison with some
carried into captivity.
The prisoners tried were of all ages from
fifteen up to old men scarcely able to walk
or speak. They are generally cold and I'M
imprisoned and many acknowledgedIthey
were cowards-a strange admission for
Indians to make. A negro named God
frey rendered the commission great SER
vice in bringing to justice a large number
of the savages, though he vas first tried
for conduct brutal as the most brutal
He claimed that he acted under compul-
sion of the Indians.