The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1874-12-10
FOnr Other Children. All Girls.
Carried Off by the r. ed skins.
Rescue OF the Two Younger Girls,
and Probable speedy Eeescue
of the Others.


| From the Chicago Tribune.l
LEAyENwoRTH, Kan, Nov. SOTO
day l met Sergeant of the Fifth Infan.
( try, who belonged to the detachment oil
| soldiers that rescued the Gormain girl.
from captivity; and from him get fuller
tidings of the revolving massacre of the
family, and the hardships borne by the
captives.
The first news of the massacre appear
ed in the Chicago Tribune about two
months ago. 1t simply consisted Of a
statement that the bodies of four white
persons, and the eharred wreck of an en-
igrant wagon, had been found on the
Smoky Hill, - miles from Sheridan
Station, on the Kansas Pacific Railway.
The bodies We're horribly mutilated, and
the only thing left TO identity the family
was small Bible, upon the fy-leaf of
which was written "Gornain, Blue Ridge,
Ga"
At first the report was not believed :
but within n week after the despatch to
which L refer was printed, a party sent
to investigate the story Of the massacre
returned and corroborated all that had
been published, and expressed the belief
that the ladies of the family had been
carried into captivity.
My informant. the Sergeant mentioned,
who has just arrived from the front,
obtained his version of the massacre from
the elder girl of the two recaptured. He
says the family-consisting of the father
and mother, one son grown, five daughters
and an lntant-were surprised by "A band
of Indians while encamped on the Smoky
Hill. The father, mother, son and the
oldest daghter-an invalid-Were horri-
bly, butchered and scalped before the
eyes of the younger girls. The other girls
and the infant were placed on ponies,
and forced to endure every hardships Of
travel known. The savages, finding
the infant a burden, Drained il with n
tomahawk, and then continued their flight
southwark with the four girls. Ada and
Lucy Gormain-the former aged 16, and
the latter 19-were compelled, in the
most brutal and shameful manner, TO
submit to the lustful embraces of the
savage devils. These two girls are vet
prisoners, held by Gray Eagles band of
Cheyennes, numbering 120 warriors,
although there is hardly n doubt of their
recapture, rs the troops are closing in on
the war-party, and, being mounted on
fresh horses, will certainly overtake the
savages, whose ponies are run down, and
hardly fit for active warfare.
The recaptured girls are aged respect
lively and years. The younger bore
the hardships of captivity much better
than her sister. The elder would not
have lived more tharfa week longer under
the savage treatment. Both were almost
naked, emancated, and, ut the time Of
their rescue, presented spectacle of hui
man Indebtedness and despair almost
without a parallel in the history Of savage
barbarism.
The soldiers ofthe rescuing detachment
made covering for the bodies of the half
naked children from their own clothing,
and, in every other way possible, minis
tered To the comfort of the little sufferers.
The younger girl does not seem to realize
the fate Of the family. When retaken,
she asked the soldiers, in the simplicity
of child-like curiosity, what tribe they
belonged to. The rescued girls, now at
Camp Supply, viii be sent to Fort Leav-
enworth as soon as they gain strength sniii
cient To travel
From what we can learn, the Gormain
family lived on a spur of the Blue Ridge,
not far from Ringgold, Ga. They
were on their way to Colorado when the
massacre and capture occurred.