Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1873-05-09

lava beds. The object was mainly to find out
how the Modocs were situated, and whether
the mortars could be brought up and used eff
fectively against them. As the troops ap-
preached the cave in the lava beds, about half
past ten, the command was brought to a halt
and the men allowed to take rest. While in
this position, the Indians opened fire from
bluff to the eastward of where the troops
were stationed. Capt. Thomas Immediately
threw his men into skirmishing order, with
Lieut.. Wright's company on the right. The
latter, however, had not got into position be-
fore they were fanked to the right by a party
of fourteen other Indians, that had come up to
the advance of those who had fired first. The
cross fire ON Wright's men proved very demor-
alizng, and they broke back in confu-
sion, leaving their gallant leader in an exposed
condition, and supported by few of his nom
commissioned officers. In the meantime an
other small party of Indians had obtained a
position to the left, and opened ral1ing fire
on the two batteries of artillery. 1t was a
fearful trap, and the first four shots were only
fired to draw the troops more directly between
the fire of the twenty-four Indians on the right
and left. The rout was complete. The officers
and non-commissioned officers mostly lay
stretched on the rocks with their
life blood ebbing fast away, and
confused and demoralized as they were, the
men became an easy prey to the Modocs, who,
confident in the protection of their native
rocks, shot them down like so many frightened
deer. Forty-nine were killed and wounded out
of a command of siXty-nine men. The officers
killed are, Captain Evan Thomas, Fourth Az
tillery: Lieutenant Albion Howe, Fourth Ar
tillery; Lieutenant Thomas Wright, Twelfth
Infantry, and Lieutenant Arthur Cranston, of
Battery A, is missing-probably killed. The
Modocs, it is stated, were armed with Spencer
carbines and breech-loading muskets. Their
loss could not be ascertained, as their dead
and wounded were secreted in the
caves. Colonel Green, in an official
dispatch, containing the report of the disaster,
says: "Justice to the memory of the gallant
dead compels us to record the following we'll
authenticated facts: When Capt Thomas
found himself and his men surrounded by the
vindictive foe, true to his nature as a soldier,
he sought to cheer the soldiers on to the bit
ter end, obtain, if possible, life for life, and
sell their lives dearly, saying: Men, we are
surrounded. We must fight and die like SOL
diers' In his noble efforts to sustain the cour-
age of his small command, he was ably second
ed by Lieut.. Howe and Lieut.. Wright. After
receiving his mortal wound he buried his gold
watch and chain among the rocks and emptied
his revolver among the enemy before dying.
If living, he would also write in terms well de-
served the praise of Lieut.. Harris, who was
similarly situated"
Governor Beveridge, of Illinois, has issued
a proclamation setting apart the 3Oth day of
May as decoration day.
Payment of policy of life insurance was
some time ago refused by prominent New
York company, on the ground that death had
resulted from suicide, which, by the terms of
the policy, freed the company from liability.
The case has been carried through the courts,
and the Supreme Court decides that the COM
pany, Notwithstanding its stipulation, must
pay, as the suicide was committed during in
sanity, and was not, therefore, voluntary,
intelligent act.
A dispatch from Gen. Gillem to Gen. Sher-
man, dated Lava Beds, 2Sth, says "The In
dians occupy a position in the rocks about
four miles south of their caves. 1t will be i'm
~
or en- route to this place. The circumference
of the lava beds is about thirty miles"
On the night of the Goth, at Harrodsburg, KY,
mob surrounded the Jail and demanded of
the jailor a negro boy named Robert Curd,
who was under sentence of Imprisonment for
committing an outrage upon woman some
months ago. Recently the jailor had allowed
the boy to 90 after his cow every evening, and
a few nights previous he had made another as
sault upon a colored girl. The boy was sur
rendered to the mob, and the next morning his
lifeless body was found hanging to a tree. 1t
is stated that the mob was composed of colored
men.
Governor Dix has signed the New York City
Charter.
The special commission at Vienna appointed
by the President to examine into the alleged
irregularities of the original commission, have
reported to the effect that some of the sus-
pended commissioners appear to be implicated
on charges of improperly receiving money. 1t
leaves the following persons free from the
charge of any irregularity, viz: DR.. Anthony
Ruppaner, Thomas McElrath, Lewis Season
good, J. C. Botten, G. L. Blodgett, H. G. Gar
retson, Edward Gotthiel, Clayton McMichael,
Isaac Cook, A. G. James and William f.
Rounds. They recommend that no part of
the suspended commission be restored at
present.
The Third Assistant Postmaster-G General de-
sides that postal cards that have been once
properly transmitted through the mail, and the
stamp thereon cancelled, can, after their being
to the sender in sealed envelope
with remittance, be transmitted to the per-
son originally addressed, with the word Paid''
stamped or endorsed thereon, by placing upon
the card a one-cent adhesive stamp. The Post
master General decides that no discount can be
allowed to purchasers or agents who desire to
keen postal cards on hand for sale to the pub
lie.
Representative James Brooks, of New York,
died in Washington on the night of the 30th
ult., of a malarial disease contracted in India
while he was making trip around the world,
and which was accelerated, undoubtedly by
the shock given his nervous system by the
censure of the House of Representatives last
winter in the Credit Mobilier matter. He was
in his sixty third year.
James w. Tate has been renominated as the
Democratic candidate for State Treasurer of
Kentucky.
President Grant visited his old home at Ga
lena ON the 1st, where he met with cordial
reception. All the public buildings any many
private residences were Illuminated.
Commodore A. Il. Smith, United States
Navy, who was in command of the frigate
Congress when she was sunk by the Merrimac,
died at st. Louis, on the 30th ult., aged 70
years.
Up to the 1st, $40 bodies had been recovered
from the wreck of the Atlantic.
Washington telegram of the I'd gives the