St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1864-04-21
HOLY HORROR.

lhe Nmona HePuCttcdn Is as De-
lighted :s'its dignity will permit, over
tire revocation Of the orders giving
:eounties for Sioux scalps. The sancti-
fed feelings of the editor arc Mortified
that such orders were ever issued by a
State officer, and he considers them a
'.dissrace to our State" W.e only
fault that has ever been found with
these orders by practical people is, that
they were not sooner issued, and thus
have secured the object for which they
were intended.
The Rrpubltron has always been
weak Gu this point, and people have
borne with it as patiently as possible,
but the following seems rather too
strong a dose Of mawkishness to be
swallowed in Silence:
The North imcrican Retit,c In Noticing
Heard's History Of the Sioux War and
Massacres Of 1852 and 'G3' thinks 'sthe
more appropriate title Of this book would
have been The Sioux Massacres, '-massa-
ores pcrpetrated Gu the Sioux aswell IS by
them" and in proof adduces Gen. S1tley's
procl mation TO his troops ant1oancing the
policy Of driving the Indians to reserva-
tons whose sterile soil will not furnish
them support, and there suffering them to
lie externfinated by slow starvation, and to
! fire 'rrock trial which sentenced the wretch.
! ed savages, whom rke cruelty, oppression,
deceit and vil!ainy Of the whites had.Soad
cd on 10 massacre as the only way known
to them of setting right the terrible wrongs
they had suffered, to an ignominious death
on the testimony of the most worthless
villains, on confessions extorted by vari-
Gus articles from the unwary, and on the
word Of that Titus Oates of this Indian
tragedy, the mulatto Godfrey, who appears
to have enjoyed horrid notoriety both in
the massacre and on the witness stand.
The reviewer quoted by the Repu1-
7ican continues with regard to the tri-
al at Ma1tkaeo, and says that "this hor-
ria mockey~df justice which furnished
the ol"sing scene of the Sioux lnassacres
withstand out alone and prominent be-
fore all others as the most atrocious,-
in that long dra1.a of 41drrt,s, the most
horrible"
The RepuIl can considers this as
embodyiny "much truthv' Or it
would say that the fiendish massacre of
deteLseless, unsuspecting womee aud
children is but a minor affair when COM
pared with the trial and sentence to
death Of band of murderers What
nau'e can be applied to sentiments such
as these, or what feelings can be enter
tanned toward the man who gives ut.
! tcrapce to them?
The trial of tn. Indians was conduct
ed with all the forms of just &C, and the
tends given all the benefits that could
be cloimed by white man who might,
in moment Of passion, take the life OF
follow creature 1t is not to be sup
posed that the same length of time
could be occupied in each case as in
an ordinary trial for murder; but the
records show that altogether too much
time was wasted upon them. With
regard to the guilt Of those sentenced
to death and afterwards pardoned by
the President and sent across the Mis-
souri,, it is well-known fact that they
were among the forces which engaged
Gen. Sitley last sammer.
Perhaps one cause Of the holy hor-
ror Of the Republican at the idea Of
giving bounties tor Sioux scalps is,
that its managers were in portion Of
the State where they were completely
out OF danger. They witnessed none
Of the actual horrors of the massacre,
and thus their ,nilk-and-water feelings
had no liability to be soured into the
loathing for the miserable creatures
which fills the breast of every man in
the Sank, Red River, and Minnesota
Valley districts We hope that the
Republican enjoys the humanitarian
feeling which makes the condemning
of the murderers to stand out as s'atro-
cious" beyond the massacre itself but
we pity the tenderness Of its Uranium.
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