Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1870-03-26
INDIAN CAPTIVES.
The Capture of the Fitzpatrick
Girls i'm Texas by Kiowa Indians
The Mu rder of their Parents
Whereabouts of their Relations.
MoNrAeuE, TEXAS, February II, 1s7t

MONTAGUE, TEXAS, February IL, 1870.
! In this distant part of the country
where the mails are not very trustworthy
it is not surprising that only recently
saw letter from Washington, dated il
November, 1869, giving an account o.
the release of two little girls who had
been captured by Indians, and Their
arrival at the national capital under the
care of Colonel Leavenworth, to whom
they were indebted for their release. As
from the disposition proposed to be
made of the children, it would appear
that they are without relatives desire
to narrate the circumstances attending
their capture, so that their surviving
friends may be enabled to take them
home, if desirous of so doing.
The parents of the girls, whose correct
names are Alice and Susan, were named
Thomas jefferson and Martha Fitzpat-
rick. They lived on Cedar Creek, some
eighteen miles southeast of this place,
and were persons in moderate circum-
stances. On the 9th of January, 1868,
a neighbor of theirs, A. H. Parkhill, ar
rived at their farm with the intelligence
that band of Kiowa Indians were on a
raid near by, killing and scalping all who
fell into their power, and burning houses.
Mr.. Fitzpatrick, with his wife, the two
girls and an infant boy of two years of
age, accompanied by Mr.. Parkhill, i'm
mediately started for the home of the
latter, about half mile distant, closely
pursued by the Indians. They had not
gone far when the savages came up with
the fugitives and attacked them. The
two men fought with the greatest desper-
alton, but were finally overpowered,
killed and scalped and their bodies hor-
ribly mutlated Mrs. Fitzpatrick was
scalped alive and stabbed twice in the
back, the Indians leaving her for dead.
On their departure she wrapped her
head in part of her dress and endeav-
ored to reach Mr.. Parkhill's house. She
walked short distance and fell. When
found she was dead The tragedy oc-
Cured about FIVE clock in the evening
but the bodies of the three victims were
not discovered and brought in until the
next morning
The babe was carried by the Indians
about half mile, when the wretches
dashed out its brains and flung its corpse
on the roadside. The girls, however, we're
borne off uninjured being consigned to
the care ofa squaw. AS soon as informa-
ton reached the citizens of the presence
of Indians, they organized band and
started in pursuit; but the night being
very cold and the sleet falling heavily,
their trail was repeatedly lost, and they
succeeded in making good their escape
The dead bodies were buried in one grave,
beside number of others who had lost
their lives at the hands of the same band
of savages
Mr.. Fitzpatrick was, / think, native
of Indiana. He had been twice married,
and by his first wife had two daughters,
who resided at last accounts in Tennes-
see. His father was residing here at the |
time of the murder, but returned to In
diana soon after, and is doubtless there
now. 1t is not unlikely that he is igno-
rant of the fate of his grandchildren, and |
it would be well for the authorities to
ascertain his whereabouts and restore
them to his keeping as the legal and most
guardian for the orphans,