Daily Davenport Democrat. [volume] (Davenport, Iowa) 1864-1874, 1867-08-20

fty Of slc Indians Sensations
OF n Man who was scnlped but
subsequently, E.caped-A Devil
ish ueevel.
The st Louis Democrat publishes an in
terestng letter from a correspond u, who
~ss at Omaha when the remains Of the vic.
inns Of the late Indian strocity at Plum
Greek. on tho Pacific Railroad, were brought
to that city:
Two small boxes, 80 by II inches. en-
closed ell that was left OF the bodies. aud
both together would weigh about thirty
pounds. A short time elapsed, durin1 which
The collins had been prepared, aad one Of
the boxes was opened.
An APPALLING sIcnr.
Every spectator Involuntary stepped
back, for exposed TO view, surrounded by
cottor, lay a blsckened, charrcd trunk about
two feet in length. resembling a half burnt
log Of the same size. II was carefully taken
out, and We were allowed the privilege Of
examining il. The skull, burn, to a crisp.
almost fell to pieces a. We lightly touched
Il; the eyes, ike dry pith. rested on each
corner OF the orbitalbone; the lower portion
Of the face bad entirely disappeared The
teeth were all gone. and about half a dozen
hard Jumps could be distinguished rolling
around within the hollow skull The I.eck
appeared twisted, as if the mass Of flesh
and blood had writhed aud see,hed before
the fierce heat. but now II ~resembied a mas,
Of black, glutInouS matter. Of the entire
| body the spinal column alone remained, with
ihe ribs burnt short off. The thoras, pei>
Wis and limbs. all were gone. Near the re.
.ioa VI the heart was a hump Ct fatty mat,
or, but closely aihering y the bone. By
The apparently agoaizing position Of the
neck, and the grinning, CHASTITY skull, the
stuntcd bituminous relic seemed to be turn
ing its eyeless sockets, appealing to Heaven
for vengeance. II was an appalling sight,
and we have seldom witnessed . more i'm
p~ressive or solemn scene, than the one pre-.
sented in that lon,ly baggag, room, SUR
rounded by labortrs in their working
clothes, gazing on the two inanimatc objects
before u.
scALrED LIVING A
On tho same train was q man named Viii
liam Thompson, . native Of England, who
turned out to be one of the telegraph repair.
ers, reported killed. lie attracted . great
deal Of attention from the very extraordi-
nary fact that the covering for the head
which natured bad 40 kindly endowed him
with. was absent. People loched from all
parts to view the CORY, ghastly badness,
which had come upon him 40 suddenly,
without any p~remonitory symptoms. The
poor fellow suffered horribly. If We might
Judge by his facial contortions. He seemed
weak from loss Of blood. lie had received
a gaping wound in the neck, and a bullet
taken to the Hamilton House, and . ply
sic'an was sent for. who attended TO his
Wounds. In a pail Of water was his scalp.
about nine inches in length and four in
width, somewhat resembling . drowned rat,
o. It toated. curled up, on the water.
THE scALPED MANS STORY.
His statement, which We have been at
some pains to get accurately, is as follows !;
About nine o'clock, Tuesday night, my
sei and five others lefi Plum Creek Station,
aud started up the track on a hand car, to
hunt up wil.te the break in the Tel, graph
was. When We came to where the break
proved TO be, we saw . lot Of ties piled OH
the track, but at the same moment Indians
Jumped up from the grass oil around and
tired on US. We fired two or three shots
IN return, md then, as the Indians pressed
on us, we ran away. An Indian on a pony
singled me out, and g~alloped up to ne.
After coming to wlthin ten feet Of me he
fired, the bullet entering my right arm /;
seeing me sti! run, he "cluboed his rifs''
and knocked me down. He then took out
his knife. stabbed me in the neck, and then
Inaking a 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 10 keep quiet. After what seemed
TO be half al hour, he gave the last flush,
ing cut 20 the scalp on my left temple,
and as it still hung . little, he gave
it . jerk. | Just though then that | could
have screamed my life out. can't describe
1t TO yov,-it just felt as if the whole head
was taken right off. The Indian then
mounted and gal;oped away but, as he
went hc dropped my scalp within n few feet
of the, which | managed to get and hide.
The Indians were thick in the vicinity or |
then might have made my escape. While
j ing doxn | could hear the Indians moy>
| ing around whispering to each other, and
u SA'ftit Nv If~.tk ttiC WI
the track. After " ing down about an hour
and IA half heard the low rumbling Of the
train as il came tearing along. and | might
have been able to dag it off had | dared
TUE SAvAGrs AT TIE TRAIN
The n,ineer AMI fireman were shot and
tcalped but before the Indians burnt the
tran they plundcr.d the bcx-cars Of every
thing tina, might prove OF the least value
or what attracted their i3cklc fancy. Bales
4 c~alicoe>. c%et,ons, boxes OF tobacco, sacks
az flour, sugar, coffee, boots, shoes, bonnets
hats, saddles, ribbons, aud ~yeivets. They
decorated their persons by the bonfire which
they made of the boxes already. plundefod
their ponies were caparisoned with gaudy
pieces Of muslin, and their tails were adorn>
ed with ribbons Of vaTiegated colors. The
scalp locks Of the Indians were adorned in
the same manner, while hanging over their
shoulders were pieces Of rich velvet.
A DEvILIsn RsyEL.
Some of them caue across Z barrel
Of old Bourbon whisky. Quickly they
stove the head. and quickly they quafied
huge draughts Of the tire>water, which set
their brains on fire and rendered them delir-
ious. A violent war song was chanted
W tueJ WStc tbCU uueOItottu, Win IuIl-
Gus gesticulations in honor Of the victory
achieved over the pals-faces. At day break
they set fire to the wreck, taking fire from
the furnace and throwing il in the box cars,
and while the flames roared and cracked IS
the vino came on, and reared themselves in>
to pyramids and tall spiral columns, the Iu>
uians danced and held high carnival. The
dead bodies were thrown into the ERE, aud
. terrible yell announced to the scalped and
trembling man the fate Of the engineer and
fireman. Louder yelled the Indians - the
fire ragged on in it's terrible work, and as the
stencil Of the human holocaust spread, il
seemed to give intense satisfaction to the
tawny devils.
The SCALED SURVIVOR.
Thompson managed to crawl away, and
found refuge at Willow Island station, until
he WAS taken care Of by q party sent for
him when he was brought to this city.
Drs. Peck and Moore, Of this city, will
eneeavor 10 reset the scalp on his head, and