Connecticut western news., 1872-08-09
An Indian Massacre.

In describing the memorable massa- ere of Lieut.. Kidder and his party on the plains, Gen. Custer writes as follows:
 As if impelled by one thought, Con- stock our guide, the Delawares, and half-a-dozen officers, detacbed themsel- yes from the column aud, separating into squads of one or two, instituted search for the cause of our horrible sus- picions. After riding in all directions through the rushes and willows, and when about to relinquish the search as fruitless, one of the Delawares uttered shout which attracted the attention of the entire command at the same time he was seen to leap from his horse and assume 8 stopping posture, as if critical lv examining some object of interest. Fastening, in common with many others of the party, to his side, sight met our gaze which even at this remote day makes my very blood curdle. Lying in irregular order, and within a very limit ed circle, were the mangled bodies of poor Kidder and his party, yet so bru- tally hacked and dis6gured as to be be- yond recognition save as human beings.
 Every individual of the party had been scalped and his skull broken-the latter done, by some weapon, probably a tomahawk-except the Sioux chief Red Bead, whose scalp had simply been removed from his head and then thrown down by his side. This, Comstock in- | formed us, was in accordance with a GUS tom which prohibits an Indian from bearing off the scalp of one of his own tribe. This circumstance, then, told us who the perpetrators of this deed were. They could be none other than the Sioux, led in all probability by Paw nee Killer.
 Red Bead, being less disfgured and mutilated than the others, was the only individual capable of being recognized. Even the clothes of all the party had been carried away some of the bodies were lying in beds of ashes, with partly burned fragments of wood near them, showing that the savages had put some of them to death by the terrible tortures of fire. The sinews of the arms and legs had been cut away, the nose of ev- cry man hacked off, and the features otherwise defaced SO that it would have been scarcely possible for relative to rec gnize one of the unfortunate vic- tims. We could not even distinguish the officer from his men. Each body was pierced by from twenty to fifty arrows, and the arrows were found as the savage demons had left them, bristling in the bodies. While the details of that fear full struggle will probably never be known, telling how long and gallantly this ill-fated little band contended for their lives, yet the surrounding circum- stances of ground, empty cartridge shells and distance from where the attac6 be- gan, satisfied us that Kidder and his men fought as only brave men fight when the watchword is victory or death.
 As the officer, his men, and his no less faithful Indian guide, had shared their final dangers together and had met the same dreadful fate at the hands of the same merciless foe, it was but fitting that their remains should be consigned to one common grave. This was accord ingly done. A single trench was dug near the spot where they had rendered up their lives upon the altar of duty. Silently, mournfully, their comrades of @ brother regiment consigned their mangled remains to mother earth, there to rest undisturbed, as we supposed, un- til the great day of final review. But this was not to be SO while the closest scrutiny on our part had been insuffi- cient to enable us to detect the slightest evidence which would aid us or others in identifying Lieut.. Kidder or any of his men, the marks of @ mothers affec- tion were the means of identifying the remains of her murdered son, even though months had elapsed after his un- | timely death,