Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1875-03-27
RESCUEDFRON THEINDI
ANS.
The PitifuI story OfTwO Lit
tie Kansas Sisters.

GnCGS. La TIC ldblCI pdkt vi S)cp-
tember last scouting party from
Fort Riley, operating on the Smo-
ky Hill River in Western Kansas,
came upon three Or four dead bod.
les, partially decayed and mangled
by the wolves and near them what
appeared to bean emigrant's outfit.
A party of Indians had been Prov
ling around In that locality for sew
eral days before, and the conclusi-
on was clear that they had GENE
upon party of white movers"
and had murdered them.
Among other things found about
the scene of the tragedy, was FAM
| lily Bible, on the fiy-leaf of which
was the name Germain," with
other entries indicating that the
owner once lived in Georgia. With
this slight clue to the massacre, the
military authorities succeeded in
discovering that a family named
German, formerly from Georgia,
and consisting of an elderly father
and mother and several children,
had started across the plains to Col
orado about that time, and had not
since been heard of.
Their identity with the remains
found on the Smoky Hill was not
certainly determined, however, land
the affair was dropped and lost
sight of, as in many similar cases,
until on the 9Th of November, in a
fight with the Indians in the Red
River country, General Miles,
troops rescued two little white
girls, aged IL and 8,who gave their
names as Addie and Julia German
and who stated that they had been
captured, and their parents, sis
ter, and two brothers killed, in
| Kansas.
Early on the morning of the 18th
of September, while encamped on
Smoky Hill, they were surprised
and surrounded by party ofabout
twenty Indians. The father and
mother, sister aged 81, and two
brothers aged 10 and Is, were muir
dered and scalped, and the body of
the sister burned. The four other
sisters were compelled to mount
ponies and accompany their MUIR
derers as captives. The tive young
girls, the ones rescued in NOvem-
Der, were soon separated from their
sisters, and subjected to terrible
privation and suffering, being once
left behind by their brutal captors
on the open prairie without food or
coverings and subsisting for week
in this desolate and helpless plight
on wild grapes and hackberries.
They also stated that two other
sisters were taken prisoners at the
same time, and were probably still
in the hands of the Indians, and
since then all possible efforts have
been made to release them, result
ing finally in their restoration at
the Cheyenne agency on the LIST
instant The story of the surviv-
ors of this terrible outrage Is thrill
ing and pathetic in the extreme.
They state that their family reno
we'd from Georgia to Missouri five
years ago. and remained there three
years, when they went to the vicin-
ity of Elgin, Howard county, Kan
sas, from whence they started on
the LIST of September last, with a
team and their household goods,
for Colorado.
The two elder sisters were kept
with the main party, but were not
permitted to sleep together or con-
verse with each other. The route
of the band led south, through Kan
sas, to the camps of the Cheyennes,
in the Southwest, and the journey
occupied three weeks. The march
was marked by a series of daily
murders from the first to last. AT
one time, near Pierceville, in Kan
sas, three fresh scalps and the clo-
thing of a man, woman and little
girl were brought into camp, and
on another occasion, q mans coat
and woman's side-saddle were
among the days trophies
The girls think that at least TWEEN
ty persons were killed in the three
weeks raid, most of them in the
border counties of Kansas. 1t will
be remembered that these murders
were reported at the time, and that
they had the effect of almost de-
populatiug that portion ofthe Kan
sas frontier. 1t was then supposed
that the Indian force was several
hundred strong, but from the story
of these girls, it does not appear to
have numbered half 4 hundred all
told. The captives were treated
with persistent harshness and of
ten real cruelty.
They were forced 10 don The In
dian costume, to perform camp
drudgery, and to live on food that
a decent dog wonld have refused
Upon arriving at the main camps,
the eldest of the two girls was taxi
en- bV Chief Stone Calf. and the