Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-01-05

CHEYENNE Wyoming Territory, January
4th.-Now that the Ute delegation, under
Ouray, and their prisoners are en- route East
through southern Colorado, the following
from the Cheyenne Leader of this date will
explain whether they are liable to reach
their destination if the people of Colorado
can intercept them. The letter is to the
Pueblo Chiettain:
MRS. MEEKER's LETTER
GREELEY Coll, December 30, 1879.
To the Editor of the Chieftain-Dear Sir /
arise from sick bed to state few facts which you
and the people of Colorado demand. We three
captives of the Utes (Mrs. Price, myself and
daughter), were all interviewed separately, being
under oath by officers of the Government to tell the
whole truth of our treatment by the Indians, and if
they had outraged our persons, and each one Of us
gave in our testimony in answer in the affirmative
against the Indians. gave in my testimony for the
use OF the Government, to do with it Just as they
saw fit There was nothing said about it being sup
pressed on either side. just simply gave my tes-
tlmony to the Government officers, innocently sup
posing they knew their duty and would do it. |
also thought had done all that belongs to me to
do by telling these officers the sickening and
most humiliating misfortune that can befall
woman, and if they and the Interior Department
have not done their duty by the people of Colorado
1t is they who are to blame and not l. On arriving
broken down in mind and body and have had
long spell OF severe sickness, from which am lust
recovering. Yours truly
MRS. N C. MEEKER.
INDIGNATION OF THE PEOPLE.
This direct evidence from Mrs. n. c.
Meeker, that herself, daughter and Mrs.
Price were outraged by the hostile Utes, has
awakened the people to a proper sense of the
enormous crimes committed by the hostiles
The people had hoped and were prepared to
believe that the persons of the female cap
tives remained unharmed; but the truth is
out in full, and the Indignation is strong and
widespread. 1t seems fortuitous that Mrs
Meekers letter was first published in Pueblo,
for the Government designs transporting the
Indians over the Atchison, Topeka and Santa
Fe road, in order to escape the fury of a
prospective mob in Denver. But we mis-
take the temper of the Southern Colorado
people if they do not capture the hostiles in
the band under General Hatch and kill them
instantly. 1t is not improbable that the
publication of Mrs. Meeker's letter in Pueblo
at this time involves an intention to post the
people and bring about the desired result
Newspaper men here have long known of the
inside history Of the captivity of the women,
but refraiDed from using the same in defer
ence to the women themselves But now
that Mrs. Meeker has made public the story
of her terrible wrongs, there can be no
harm in telling it all. Immediately after
captivity the women were forced, under
THREATS OF TORTURE AND SLOW DEATH,
To yield to the lust of their hideous captors.
The women, suffering untold agony on ac-
count of the murder of their husbands and
fathers, were dazed and bewildered, and were
poVerless to resist Poor old Mrs Meeker,
over sixty years of age, and suffering from
flesh wound in the rear portion of her thigh,
became the victim of Douglass, who after
wards boasted of his protecting care. Joseph.
inc Meeker was held by Persune, and Mrs.
Price by johnson. The unbearable indignities
were simply augmented by other q tes, friends
of the three mentioned. In the hellish out
RACES the bucks were assisted by the squaws.
These women savages seemed to gloat over
the horrors perpetrated upon the white cap
tives of their own sex. During their captivity
the sufferings of the three women were inde-
scribabIy horrible. The hellish fends re-
newed their crimes time and time again. The
poor women feared they would never be de-
livered from a thralldom worse than death,
for death is unconsciousness, while their ex-
istence was living death and an earthly hell
every day. AS if all this were not sad
enough, the woes of young Josephine are in
creased by condition that is believed to be
horrible in the extreme. Female acquaint-
ances say that knowledge thereof causes
shudder to rack the frame of every one who
hears the sad tale.