The Albany register. [volume] (Albany, Or.) 1868-18??, 1875-02-12
ed to watch it's con-

fathers, and laughed to watch it's con-
vulsive death struggles.
There, it is all over The brawny-
muscled men lie stark and cold. and
their sweet, sanity wives have finally
passed beyond the reach of their tor
mentors.
BUT THE CHILDREN
The orders were to kill all except
those who were too young to remember.
Bill Stewart and Joel White were 50 set
apart" to kill the rest. My informant
was first told the following by an Indian
who witnessed the transaction, and
afterwards heard it from white men.
The old Indian cried while telling it,
My informant has testified to the fact
that the statement is just as he received
it:
The little boys and girls were too
frightened, too horror-stricken, to do
aught but fall at the feet of their
butchers and beg for mercy. Many
sweet little girl knelt before Bill
Stewart, clasped his knees with her tiny
white arms, and with tears and plead
lngs besought him not to take her life.
Catching them by the hair of the head,
he would hurl them to the ground,
place his foot upon their little bodies,
and cut their throats i''
THE FIELD OF DEATH.
A man who saw the field eight davs
after the massacre related to me the
| following Men, women, and children
were strewn here and there over the
ground, or were thrown into piles.
Some were stabbed, others shot, and
still others had their throats cut. The
CHASTITY wounds showed very plainly,
for there was not single rag Of cloth
ing left on man, or woman, or child,
except that torn stocking-leg clung to
the ankle of one poor fellow. The
wolves and ravens had lacerated every
one of the corpses except one. There
were 1877 in all, and each bore the
one. It was the body of a hand
some, well-formed lady, with beautiful
face, and long, flowing hair. A single
bullet had pierced her side, and stilled
the beating of her heart. It seemed as
if the gaunt, merciless wolves had
deemed her too noble and queenlike for
their fangs to mar.
THE HEAPS OF SLAIN
Most of the bodies had been thrown
into three piles. distant from each other
4 about two and q half rods. Old and
young, matron and maid, white haired
men and tiny sucking babes, boys and
girls, all were thrown indiscriminate!y
! together.
One young woman lay in the sage
brush in hollow or sag 175 yards
southwest from the main body. She
was badly mutilated by the wild beas ts
but it was plainly to be seen that he
head had been half cut off
There were no scalp marks. indians
would certainly have taken scalps OF
| ! L,
been the only thought The closest ex
animation was made, and not the slight
est traces of the scalping- knife coulG
be discerned.
Two months afterward single Nor
mon-all honor to the man !-gathereC
up the bones and placed them in the
very hollow the emigrants had dug in
side the corral. He acted upon his OWL
responsibility, and went alone and un
aided. He did the very best he could
but the task was horribly disagrecable
and the covering of earth which he
placed over the bodies was necessarily
light. The ravenous wild beasts soor
dug up the bones, and they became
scattered all over the ground. The
kind hearted old Mormon deserves none
the less credit, and all good men will
pray God to bless him for doing wha'
he could for the bones of the murdered
party.
There has been much doubt as to the
number of the slain. This man tells
me that just 1877 skulls were found
This does not include Aden's, nor the
| three killed on the desert. The tota,
number of the emigrants massacred, sc
far as is known, is 131. Two children
are said to have been murdered after
! ward, making 133.