Arizona miner., 1868-04-04

Ue LUdcSs BO'ttes Cf Her ItT,ms Cu OV .
 Meir LimJs, etc.
 Again we are called upon to record another . nhuman butchery of white men by Indian l murdercrs. which took place on the morning | of Saturday, March 2lst, le6s, at point on the Prescott and IIardyville road, between Camp Willows and the Cottonwoods, eighty miles west from Prescott. We arc indebted to private James Define, of Co. E, l4th |. \. ! Infantry, for the following account of the af- fair, as given him by the wounded mail rider, Charles Spencer
 "CANP WILLOW GROVE. Arizona,
 March 23d, l>dn.
 "T nm extremely sorry tc have to inform yoa that Charlc, spencer has been severely wounded by Indians. but. am happy to state not nor tally He is now In the hospital. at this post. and is doing as well as could be expected. He, and the escort started from this post with the mail for Hardyyille and California. on the morn ing of the Fist inst. at the usual time, o'clock. Before they got to the Cottonw oods, four miles from here they were fired into by a party of Wallapa Indians, and the escort. consisting ol Corporal Troy and Private Flood, were killed at the first fire. as was, also the muc which the mail carrier was riding. Spencer. as quick as possible. discngRgrd himself from the saddle grabbed his seven shooting rife. and ran behind a grease-wood brush. which was the only pro tecton close at hand. Soon after getting behind this cover. he saw a party of the savages go up Co the dead body Of the corporal, strip and mu- tilate iL While they were engaged in this bru- tai work. Spencer kept up steady fire on them, and had the satisfaction of killing two of the red devils. The others then ran for shelter; Spencer did the same thing. and on reaching a safe re- treat and just he was about to get securely covered. he was fired upon by about a dozen in- dians who were hid behind some rocks One of their shots hit him in the thigh. passing through the feshy part. causing him to fall. They then rushed towards him. thinking they had him sure In this they were mistaken. for Charley had not yet commenced tO fight. He soon gathered him self up, and made the sayages hunt their holes | He then crawlcd into a cavity. between some rocks, and took q rest which he needed. During | all this time. party of Indians were stripping l the bodies of the murdered soldiers and cutting i up the carcaSses of the hor.cs and mules. which occupied them for about twenty minutes They i then surrounded Spencer and tried to shoot him | out, but he could shoot and hit. to. and they ! found that that was no go. Then they tried to scare him out with yells but he yelled back de- ! fance at them. and, whenever opportunity offer ! ed sent a bullet aiter them. Changing their tactics they tried to biarney him by telling him tb Ep uNlilt AIAA utA4 uhl want VI NH iillh and would not shoot any more. But he would not be blarneyed ny them. At length. about { o'clock P. N. they got up and dusted. The cause of their leaving was the appearance of a squad of soldiers sent from this post to ascertain the cause of the firing which had been heard Ut inc camp The men came upon the dead body of the corporal. hastened to camp and reported
 when a wagon and twenty men, under Lieuten- Robinson. started Co bring in the bodies. Spen- cer heard the rumbling of the wagon. but being unable Co go to it. on account of lameness from bis wound he yelled and discharged his pistol
 by which means he attracted the attention of the Lieutenant to his situation. He was immediate ly placed in the wagon and brought to camp. where all the care and attention necessary was. and will be rendered him. by officers and men. He says there were all of 75 Indians. more than half of whom were armed with guns
 Johnny O'Donnell, and the station keeper mail Saturday last, called upon us, and in their account of the above affair, blamed the officer in command at the Willows for not sending troops to the scene of conflict earlier in the day. They said that, upon hearing the firing, in the forenoon, he was asked to send out men, but did not then do SO. Tn exculpation of his conduct, he says he looked for the arrival of Major Price and command
 and took it for granted that the command
 was encsmped at the Cottonwoods, ard that
 it was they that did the shooting. Be thi,
 as it may, our humble opinion is that troop. should have been sent out upon hearing tiIt
 continuous firing. We have been told, also that Major Price was expected from the East
 instead of from the West, and if this be tn, case, we cannot, for the life of us, account foi } the officers apathy We do know tLat i 5 citizens were placed in a similar position tC that of the troops, they would have gone out r and seen what the matter was
 ? Up to this time, we have not learned any thing in regard to the mail, but suppose tha 5 it, and the mule upon which it was packed ' fell into the hands of the Indians This mai left Prescott Thursday morning, siareh 18th , Those of our citizens who sent letters by il f need not, of course, expect answers to them 3 Seerum and his warriors will probably destro, , them.
 The details of the fight and struggle fol 1, life made by Spencer, against 75 or 100 infu , riated savages, as related by O'Donnell, pu 3 us in mind of the heroic deeds of some of tn, pioneers of the Dark and Bloody Ground. : Luckily for him, on starting in the morning
 be provided himself with plenty of rifle anc pistol cartridges, which enabled him to kceI ? his enemies at bay for so long time. Once during the afternoon, a single Indian ap , preached Spencers fertilization" telling
 him, in broken English, to come out and gc