The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1877-04-05

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ssnas - go
H. y - pscpoeed tnas ev0y man expre.s
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t ~ .eeP : O. s'sn ss'sy Msnsed % know y
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~ 9eve me g nndez1tand what might ex-
pees = 1consueas g OPP.
~, u. 1l8ps ss11: n4nt. - n8otnef
- uAe n e pEeaon Of ue people.
1neW oare NOS refuae, % 1 had every man
sps "a. ano e pee nlmseiL Al saad tney were
~ llnnS % caiy o9s me counse. o. tnear leaders;
~ Des ~ 10y ~ ileils tnsn ny Ma.
In men wanted e Know my ieellngs.
saeu' nave AlIea139 e 41teseq tn9M.
9S1y eye n, ~ 4. uPo1 me q PHuse0. Dut, saao
e; 49, -; e s. you PleAse. Nlu not op-
Pm I: , x01 ny ionge1.
WI you AeeP caose Aaouen was me
queeoon.
VAL ~" was my answer.
will here say that fear of offending Brigham
Young and George A. Smith had saved my life.
Wa near being "blo0d-atOned" in Paruwan
under ]. G. I. Smith in 1854. but Of this have
spoken in my autobiography.
Saturday morning all Was ready, and every
man assigned to his post Of duty. During the
night or rather just before daylight, johnson and
6hurtz ambushcd their Indians the better to de-
ceive the emigrants. About eleven o'clock a m.
the troops under Nal. Higbee took their position
on tho road. The white flag wns still kept up in
the corral Higbee called William Bateman, Of
the ranks, to take = Dag Of truce to the corral.
He was met about bali way with another white
dag from the emigIant camp. They had . talk.
The emiGrnnt Was told that we had c9me to res
cue t6em # they Would trust us Both men with
hags returned 70 their respective places and re-
ported, and were to meet again and bring
word. Higbee called me out to go and in
form them OF the conditions, and, if
accepted, Dan Mcfarland, brother to John Nc
Farland, the lawyer; who acted as aid-de-camp
would bring back word. and then two wagons
would be sent for the firearms, children, cloth
ing. etc. obeyed, and the terms proposed were
accepted, but not without distrust.
had as little to say as possible. In fact, my
tongue refused to perform its office. sat down
on tho ground IN tho corral near where some
young men were engaged in paying their last re-
spects to some person who had just died Of n
wound. large, feshy old lady came to me
twice, and talked while sat there. She related
their troubles; said that seven of their number
were killed and forty-nine wounded on the first
attack; that seyenNl had died since. She asked
me II was an Indian Agent. l said: . In one
sense am ~ the Governor hAs appointed me
farmer 70 the Indians" 4 told her this to satisfy
her. hehzd afterwafd that The same question
was asked and answered IN the anne manner BY
Mcfarland. who had been sent BY Higbee TO the
corral TO hurry me mp for fear that the Indians
would come back and be upon them:
When all was ready, Samuel McMurdy. coun-
selor to BishoP P. X. Smith (Klinger Smith),
drove ont on the lead HIS wagon had the sey.
enteen children, clothing and arms. bamnel
knight drove the other team, with the i've
OLD. walked behind the 'front.' wagon to direct
the course and shnn being in the heat of the
slaughter; but this kept to myself When we
got turned fairly to the east, l motloned to
McMurdy to steer north across the valley. ] At
the same tune told the WOMEN who were in the
next wagon TO follow the road up to the troops
which they did: Instead OF saying to McMurdy
said, to the contrary, to drive on, as my aim was
70 get out OF sight before the ilring commenced,
which we did. We we're about half mile ahead
OF the company when we heard the first firing
we had drlven over ridge OF rolling ground
and down on low hat
The ming was simultaneous along the whole
hne; The moment the hrlng commenced
McMurdy halted and tied his lines across the
rod OF his wagoh-box, stepped down, and
cooily. with a. double-barreled shotgun,
walked back to knights wagon, which had
the wounded men. and was about TWEEN
ty feet. In the rear. As he raised his
piece, ne saad: Lord, my God, receive
their spirits, for it i for the Kingdom ct Hea-
vens sake that we do this, " fired, and killed two
men. saul hnlght had Misunderstanding rifle,
and ne shot and Killed the two men: then struck
the wounded boy on the head, who fell dead. In
the meantime drew fve-shooter from my belt,
which accidentally went off, cutting across Nc
Murdy buckskln pants In front McMurdy said /:
Brother Lee, You are excited. Take things
cool; you was near killing me. Look where the
t 1a Gu. 70 .h sne place IN ms pahs AZ
looked up and saw an Indian have little boy
by the hair Of his head, dragging him out of the
hind end OF the wagon, with knife in his hand,
getting ready to cut his throat sprang for the
Indian with my revolver In my hand and shout
ed at the top of my voice: !" Avick, coma cot
too sooet' tstop you fool.) The child was ter
ror-stricken. His chin was bleeding. l sup
learned it was done by the wagcn-box u.s. the
Indian yanked the boy down by the hair Ut the
head. had no sooner rescued the child than
another lndlAn aelzed little girl by the hair. l
rescued her, and as soon as could speak told
the Indians they must not hurt the children;
that would die before they should be hurt; that
we would buy the children from them.
By this time the Indians had rushed up around
the wagon in quest Of blood and dispatched the
TWO runaway wounded men.
In Justice to my statement l would say that if
my shooter had not Prematurely exploded
would have had hand in dispatching the five
wounded. l had lost control OF myself, and
scarce Knew what was about. saw an Indian
pursue a little girl who was fleeing. II He
caught her about one hundred feet from the
wagon, and plunged his knife through her.
said to McM1rdy he had better drive the chill
dren to Hambllns Ranch and give them some
nourishment, while l would goodwin and get my
horse at camp. Passing along the road saw
the dead strung along a distance Of about half
mile. Women and children were killed BY the
Indians. l saw Shurtz with the Indians and no
other white man with them. When 1 came to
the men they lay about rod apart.
Here l came up with Higbees Bishop
Smith and the rest Of the company As
came up Higbce said to me: Let US
search these persons Tor valuables, and asked
me TO sss'st hm, and gave me bat to hold.
Several men were already engaged IN searching
the bodies lFephed fnat was mweii, and
wanted to get upon my horse and go to the ranch
and nurse myself My request was granted.
Reaching Hamblm's ranch, being heartslck and
worn out, lay down on my saddle blanket and
slept, and knew but Little OF whnt passed during
the night About daybreak In the morning
heard the voices OF Col. Dame and Isaac q.
Ao 10y ".eAy "uA.' psss' ~
tween tnem, wmcn drew my attentlon. lame
said he would have to report the destruction of
the emigrant camp and company. Haight said:
Z" How; as an Indian maasacre!" Dame said he
did not know SO well about that
The reply seemed to irritate Haight who spoke
quite loudly, saying: How the he'll can you re-
port It any other way without duplicating your
self7'
A. this Dame lowered his voice almost to 9
whisper. could not understand what he said,
and the conversation stopped. 1 got up and saw
children, and among others the boy who was
pulled by the ha,r OF his head out of the wagon
~ an Indian and saved by me. That boy took
n os' a.a Yep. nome un1i II. rolney me Gov-
enc tnne mem East ne ppok the boy with 9TH
=. e. 1na. Doys name ws ~ william fancner.
= =. .ss 49,. va sle uan. ne was
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