Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1877-06-29
THE INDIAN A
A Letter From The Front.
LEWISTON, June IS, 1877,

little scares, such as agitated the Base
Range when l was a happy denizen OF
Eureka, but nj possessing all the
horrible characteristics that are an &C.
compartment to the violent out.
breaks of savage retaliations for real
or fancied 0 and with the sauna
history the innocent suffering,a and those
whose incompetency has precipitated
II escaping with slight censure. The
telegraph has undoubtedly kept you
informed of all the bloody details that
have occurred in this region, includ-
ing the massacre on Cainas prairie
and the subsequent defeat of the Unit
ed States troops at the foot of White
bird canyon. At the time of the out.
break l was attending to some stock
interests about five miles from Mount
Idaho, aud did not hear of the massa
ere until the day after its occurrence,
when my companion and self we're no.
titled OF our danger by parties seeking
the town for protection. We lost a
great deal Of interest in our cattle on
receipt of the news, and rode our
horses at a pretty lively gait from
camp into Mount IDAHO, where we
found everybody under arms and
m~onentariiy expecting al attack. 1t
seems, however, that the Indians at
ter committing their atrocities held a
WAL dance 10 celebrate the event, and
then gathered in the mouth Of White
bird canyon, where, as stated above,
they whipped the soldiers without
any trouble. / left the town the same
I lyantYU nF nv arrival and vpn1n The
trip to Lewiston, although our party
had to travel through a rough coun
try to reach it. We found after arriv-
ing here that a company of sixty men
bad been organized and were about
starting for the scene of hosti lities.
THE SITUATION.
very much doubt the probability
OF any chastisement being inflicted on
the savages with any force that can be
gathered together in this region. The
country for hundreds of miles is
broken up into canyons and mountain
ranges, interspersed with small val
ieys, the latter having in the last few
years attracted "A sparse population of
ranchers and stock men. The isola-
ton of these valleys, and the impos-
sibiiity OF concentrating enough force
at o point that would afford protec-
ton to The settlers, place them at the
mercy of the Indians, ii tie red devils
continue their m~arauding. The cause
OF the outbreak is The old story; Treat
les made only to be broken; valleys
set apart for the exclusive use of the
savages and afterward settled by white
men,, without any regard to their rights
and the obligations of the Gov
ernment entered into with their
WARDS, and a contempt on the
part Of the savages for the handful of
soldiers stationed in the country, and
representing the boosted power of the
United States. The incompetency Of
General Howard is notorious, and his
praying. snivelling, moral suasion
treatment of the red scouudrels, only
excites contempt among the hardy
mountaineers. We remember Cen
eral Crook, and the effectual way that
he subdued the Snakes up on the
Owyhee, aud sigh for his presence.
No matter who we're the wronged in
the first instance, the Indians have
massacred innocent parties, and the
only future safety of the Inhabitants of
Northern Idaho lays in an efiectual
and complete subsection of the hos
tiles.
A "REMINISCENCES.
The whole section Of country stretch
ing off toward Montana is a dark and
bloody ground, and the scene of many
a tragedy committed both by Indians
and white desperadoes. One of these
incidents / now recall, that happened
on what was called the Elk trail, a
route leading to the then just discov.
cred mines in Montana Territory. At
the time mentioned it created great ex-
element, but now lives only in tradi-
ton. Lloyd Magruder, the owner of a
large pack train business that he had
followed in Northern California for
years., came to this portion of the
country in 1861, attracted hither by the
Salmon river gold excitement. He
packed into Florence for some time,
and also to Bannock and Virginia City,
| after gold was discovered in that Terri-
tory. / think that il was on his second
trip that he delivered u large load of
goods and received some $50, 900 in
gold dust in return. Several thousand
dollars was also intrusted to hun TO
forward from Lewiston 10 parties in
San Francisco. The Territory was
over-run with as numbering a set of
desperadoes as ever went unhung, and
scarcely a stage left the towns that was
not robbed. and the passengers were
lucky IL they escaped with their lives.
Magruder was somewhat alarmed as to
his safety in attempting to carry so
large a SUN of money, his force only
con sisting of three men besides him.
self, and he was very glad to accept
the offer of a party who agreed to
make the trip with him from Virginia
City to Lewiston in consideration of
their being fed and provided with
transportation. These men were MEM
bers of Henry Plummer's famous
gang, who, having heard of the large
sum of money in Magruder's possess
ion, determined TO get hold Of it.
Their names were Romano, Howard,
Lowery and Page. The trip was with
out incident until the train had reached
a point about 100 miles from Lewiston,
on a mountain in the Bitter Root range.
The men, by the alacrity with which
they performed their duties, had
gained Magruder's confidence, sharing
the watch kept nightly, and not the