The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1876-06-08
4 STORY Of indian massacre.

We have announced briefly, that DR..
L. L. Armstrong, druggist of the Twenty
fifth Ward, had learned by telegraph
that his son George had been killed near
the Black Hills by Indians. The same
telegram conveyed the additional and
startling intelligence that ~forty-nine
men, of whom nineteen formed part of
the Cincinnati expedition, under charge
of Colonel I. F. Stone, had been massa-
cred at the same time.
The following is a copy of the tele-
gram in full:
LINCOLN, NEB., May 30.
To L. i. Armstrong, Cumminsviie, Ohio:
Well corroborated reports from the frontier
declare Colonel stones party massacred in
the Sand Hills about fifty miles this side of
Red Cloud Agency. Armstrong, Kelly,
Huddleston, West, Waliusky, Barr, Laboy-
teaux, Bauer, Wank, Oldwage, Shattinger,
Lott, Kruck, Mosaute, Caddale, McKeag,
Lenier, and two drivers, all killed. Eleven
of Stones expedition went with another
train and were not attacked. The attack
was a surprise. The day being warm, and
the roads very sandy, the men had put their
arms in the wagons and were struggling,
when they were cut off and murdered, with
little resistance. The train consisted of the
work expedition, from Nebraska City, and
had forty-nine men. 1t was the best equip
ped party that ever left for the Hills, all
killed. News brought into the agency by
half breeds and Sioux can be relied on.
w. s. LYNoHARD,
City Editor Daily Journal.
This expedition numbered twenty
three men in all, the lanes of those not
mentioned in the above telegram being
Wheelock, White, and Andrews. The
drivers accompanying were original
frontiersmen, known as Cred" and
" Black joe" 1t started by special car
from Cincinnati on the 18th of April,
and reached Fort Kearney, Nebraska,
on the 10Th. From the Daily State Jour
nal, of Lincoln, Nebraska, of April Is,
we learn that they laid over there on the
preceding day for supplies, and attracted
attention by the completeness and per-
lection of their outfit. The same paper
described the party at considerable
length, stating that they travelled accom-
panied by two good mule teams and two
wagons, full mining outfit, with an am
pie supply of arms of the most improved
pattern Spencer rifes), and every 0 n
venient and necessary article that could
be transported. "They were all dressed
alike in velveteen suits, buttoned tightly
up to the knee, and short round-abouts
of the same material, complemented with
close fitting caps and high top boots. If
there is any fun to be squeezed out of the
Black Hills, they will find it, and if we
ever hear of any of the Sioux Indians
wearing jaunty velvet suits, We shall
feel very sorry indeed"
Mr.. NJ. Bauer, DIR. Armstrong, MI.
West, of Newport, and Mrs. Turner, of
Dayton, Kentucky, mother of Colonel
Stone, afterward received letters from
their respective friends in the party, I'M
der date of April %. The expedition
had than reached Loup City, fifty miles
from Fort Kearney, en- route to the Black
Hills, and expected to resume the march
on the following Monday. Colonel
Stones wife, who accompanied the expe'
dition to St Louis, and remained there,
received later intelligence in a letter
from J. P. Kelley, her husbands cousin,
under date of May Z, in which he said
that they had travelled two hundred and
fifty miles beyond Loup City, in north
westerly direction, and that they were
then fifty miles from Custer City, their
destination, which is in the heart of the
Black Hills. The letter reported that
they were deeply in the sand, and had
been obliged to purchase a yoke of oxer
to carry them through that Colone
Stone vas very busy, and would write
after reaching Custer.
Nothing was said of Indians, nor of 9
division of the party. Yet, if the mas
sacre occurred as reported, it must have
been on the day following the date o
the letter. By this account the expedi
ton would be one hundred miles north
east of the Red Cloud Agency, and trav
cling still further away from it, which
would locate the occurrence at a grea
distance from that designated in tn,
telegram. The account could, of course
be substantially true in other respects
though in error as to the locality. Sur
prise is expressed by Colonel Stone
friends over the report that the party
separated at all, and especially tina
Stone should separate from his cousin
Kelley, and all of his most intimat.
friends. There is room here for tn,
theory, however, that the two partie
may have travelled for temporary con
~venience by parallel lines, and that the.
were not very far apart.
From the fact that hostile Indians hat
not appeared in the locality over which
the expedition travelled, it is questioned
by some whether the massacre wal per
petrated by Indians, or whether tn
glowing accounts of the wealth of tn,
expedition would not gather into tn,
trail of the party a body of whit
marauders, even more dangerous than tn,
Indians themselves.