St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1879-11-14

The New York Herald gives full ac-
count of the White River massacre by
the Utes, as told by Josephine Meeker
herself. We give portion of it:
THE MASSACRE.
was in the kitchen with my mother
washing the dishes. 1t was in the af-
ternOOn. | looked out of the window
and saw the Utes shooting the boys
who were working OH the new building.
Mrs. Price was at the door washing
clothes. She rushed in and took john
ME, the baby, to fly. just then Frank
through the leg. | said 4: "Here, Frank,
is Mr.. Prices gun"
1t lay Oh the bed. He took it, and
just as we were fleeing out of the door
the windows were smashed in and half
IL dozen shots were fired into the room.
Frank Dresser fired and killed John
sons brother. We went into the milk
room, which had only one small win
dow, and locked the door and hid un-
der Il Shelf. Firing went on for several
hours at intervals. There was no shout
ing, no noise, but frequent firing. While
waiting in this hOrrid suspense Dresser
said he had gone to the employers
room, where all the guns were stored,
but found them stolen.
We stayed i'll the milk room until it
began to fill with smoke. The sun was
half an hour high.
took May Price, 3 years old, and
we all ran to fathers room. 1t WAS not
disturbed. The papers and books were
just as he left them. We knew the
building would be burned and ran
across Douglass avenue for IA field of
sage brush beyond the plOwed ground.
The Utes were SO busy stealing the an
nuity goods that they did not see us at
first. About 30 of them, loaded with
blankets, were carrying them toward
DOuglass's camp, near the river. We
had gone 100 yards when the Utes saw
us. They threw down the blankets
and came running towards us, firing as
they came. Bullets whizzed as thick
us grasshOppers around us. | do not
think they intended to kill us-only to
frighten us-but they tried to shoot
Frank Dresser, who had almost reached
the sage bush. Mother was hit by a
bullet, which went through her under
clothing and made flesh wound three
inches long. As the Indians came near
er they shouted: 1--WE no shoot Come
to usl" l had the little girl, and the
Indian named Pursune said for me to
90 with him. He and another Ute
seized me by the arms and started tow
ard the river. An UncOmpahgre Indian
took Mrs. Price and her baby, and
mother was taken to the headquarters
of Douglass. We came to wide, IL
rigating canal, which father had the
Indians build. | said | could not cross
it. The Indians answered by pushing
me through the water. | had on only
mOccasins, and the water and mud were
deep. The baby waded, too, and both
of us came ont wet to the skin.
CHIEF DOUGLASS EXPLANATION OF THE
OUTBREAK.
Chief DOuglass was considerably eX-
cited and made IL speech to me with
many gestures and great emphasis. He
recited his grievances and explained
why the massacre began. He said
Thornburgh told the Indians that he
was going to arrest the head chiefs,
take them to Fort Steele and put them
in the calaboose-perhaps hang them
He said my father had written all the
letters to the Denver papers and circu-
lated wild reports about what the Indi-
ans would do, as set fort 10y the western
press, and that he was responsible for
all the hostility against the Indians
among the whites in the West. He
said pictures of the agent and all his
family, women and children, had been
found on Thornburgll's body just be-
fore the attack on the agency, and the
pictures were covered with blood and
showed marks Of knives on different
parts Of the bodies. The throats were
cut. The one of the agent had IL bull
let hole in his head. He said | was
represented in one of the pictures as
being shot through the breast. Doug
lass said my father had made these
pictures, representing the prospective
fate of his family, and sent them TO
Washington to he used to influence the
soldiers and hurry troops forward to
fight the Indians. This remarkable
statement, strange as it may seem, was
afterwards told me by dozen different
Indians, and the recital and the partic-
ulars were always the same.
While Douglass was telling this he
stood in front of me with his gun, and
his anger was dreadful. He said father
had always been writing to Washing
ton. He always saw him writing W hen
he came TO the agency. 1t was wlite,
write, write all day, he said. Then he
swore a fearful oath in English and
said if the soldiers had not come and
threatened the Indians with Fort Steele
and the calaboOse, and threatened to
kill the other Indians at White River,
the agent wouldn't have been massa-
cred. Then the brave chief, who had
eaten at our table that very day, walk
ed OF few feet, returned, and placed
his loaded gun to my forehead three
times, and asked me if | was going to
run away. | told him | was not afraid
of him nor of death, and should not run
away. When he found his repeated
threats could not frighten me, all the
other Indians turned on him and laugh
ed at him, and made so much fun of
him that he sneaked off.
All hands took drink around nv
bed then they saddled their horses,
and PuIsune led my horse to me, and
knelt down on his hands and knees for
me to mount my horse from his back.
He always did this, and when he was
absent his wife did it. l saw Pursune
"a" 'hO same SdlldnG ACT once IOr his
squaw, but it was only once, and none
of the other Indians did it at all.
SYMPATHY OF THE INDIAN WOMEN.
On Wednesday and on other days one
OF S9panzisquait's three squaws put her
hand on my shoulder and said "Poor
little girl, | feel so sorry; you have no
father, and you are away off with the
Utes so far from home" She cried all
the time, and said her own little child
had lust died and her heart was sora