Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1867-08-23
Indian Massacre at Plum Creek.
A MAN SCALED ALIVE.

iienshaw, have just arrived. oh tue
same train was man named William
Thompson, n native of England, who turn
ed out to be one of the telegraph repairers
reported killed. He attracted great deal
Of attention from the extraordinary fact
that the covering for the head which ma
ture had so kindly endowed him with was
absent. People fiocked from all parts to
view the CORY, ghastly badness, which had
come upon him so suddenly, without any
premonitory symptoms. The poor fellow
suffered horribly, if we might judge from
his facial contor,ions. He seemed weak
from loss of blood. He had received a
gaping wound in the neck, and bullet in
the muscle of his right arm. He was TAX
en- to the Hamilton House, and physi-
clan was sent for who attended to his
wounds. In pail of water was his scalp,
about nine inches in length and four in
width, somewhat resembling a drowned
rat, as it foated, curled up, on the wafer
His statement, which have been at some
pains to get accurately, is as follows:
"About 8 o'clock, Tuesday night, myself
and five others left Plum Creek Station,
and started up the track on hand-car to
hunt up where the break in the telegraph
was. When we came to where the break
proved 10 be, we saw lot of ties piled on
the track, but at the same moment Indians
jumped up from the grass all around, and
fred on us. We fired two or three shots
in return, and then, as the Indians pressed
on us, we ran away. An Indian on po-
ny singled me cut, and galloped up TO me.
After ming TO within ten feet of me he
fred, the bullet entering my right arm ;
seeing me still run, he dubbed his riiie,'
and Knocked me down. lie then took out
his knife, stabbed me in the neck and then
making twirl round his fingers with my
hair, he commenced saving and hacking
away at my scalp. Though the pain was
awful, and felt dizzy and sick, / knew
enough to keep quiet. After what seemed
to be half an hour, he gave the last finish
ing cut to the scalp on my left temple, and
as it still hung a little, he gave it jerk.
l Just thought then that / could have
screamed my life out. l can't describe it
to you. 1t just felt as if the whole head
was taken right off. The Indian then
mounted and galloped away, but as he
went he dropped my scalp within few
feet of me, which / managed to get and
hide. The Indians were thick in the Vi
cinity or | then might have made my es-
cape. While lying down could hear the
Indians moving around whispering to each
other, and then shortly after placing OBJ
structions on the track. After lying down
about an hour and half heard the low
rumbling of the train as it came tearing
along, and l might have been able to flag
it off had l dared"
Drs. Pecke and Moore of this city will
endeavor to reset the scalp on his head,
and they are confident they can do it well.
AS he is strong man, it is expected that
he will recover health and strength.
From Charles Radcliffe, supernume-
rary brakeman, who was in the caboose Of
the freight train when the attack took
place, we had the following
When the train ran off the track he was
asleep on the bench in the caboose, and
was thrown to the floor by the conclusion.
AT the same time he heard the yells Of the
Indians, and then volley was fired upon
the people in the caboose. In the cars
with him were William Kinney, conduc-
tor; Fred Lewis, brakeman, and a man
who had been fireman. The locomotive
was thrown off the track by ties placed on
it, and ran off ten feet, when it fell into q
hollow about four feet; the tender and the
five first cars were piled on top of one an
other, as they had been running at the rate
of 20 miles an hour. Lo king out of the
window of our car, they could see the In
dians in strong force on the south side OIL
of the track, shouting and yelling at some
thing in the foremost end-probably the
engineer and fireman. They closed the
door, but in few moments came out, and
the conductor told the brakeman to 90 and
flag off the train, which was coming about
three miles hehind. The brakeman re.
piled, :" / dare not-the Indians are all
around here" To which the conductor
replied, "D-n the Indians; 90 and flag
off that train, or by Cd she'll be into
u.s." S i'll he man hesitated, and the con-
ductor rushed down the track himself and
the brakeman, Lewis, and the fireman
went after him. Radcliffe hid himself on
the track under the car. He had laid
their for five minutes when he saw an In
dian cautiously approaching, drawn thither
by the light that hung in the caboose.-
Radcliffe got down from his hiding-place
and struck for the sand bluffs with the
speed Of startled deer. He heard some