The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1882-06-23

I deceived They trusted implicitly h. the
word of the white men, and az their sugEes-
tions set fire tC a number of their houses in
oIder to prevent them becoming harbOring
places for the hostile and lighting Indians.
After they had surrendered their arms, the
fell purpose Of their captors soon became
manifest They were made prisoners, bound
hand and foot, and confined to several Of the
houses
Then a council Of war was held and vari-
Gus me thods Of putting them to death were
discussed Their fate was soon decided, cut
it took a little further time to determine the
fittest mode Of butchery. One excited from
tiersman suggested that they should be Sc
curely confined in two large houses and
burned alive. The idea was met with shouts
of approval, but one who had an eve for fu-
ture glory advised that the victims be toma-
hawked and scalped. He said that it was
only right and fair that they should have
some trophies OF their campaign and what
more appropriate than the bleeding scalps Of
the doomed Christian Indians Though ap-
proving cries were accorded to the man who
proposed burning them to death it is written
that the scalping and tOmahawking sugges
ton was received with even greater dem
onstration of delight It was at once adopt
ed. The following morning was appointed
for the bloody deed, and the Indians were
told that they must die on the morrow At
first they were inclined to treat the affair as
a joke. They could not believe that the
whites were capable of such barbarity The
demeanoI Of their captsrs, however, soon
showed that it was no laughing matter
Tns.uH -fs e II
they behave? Never was tIuer heroism
manifested than by that band Of unlettered
Indians who had nothing but faith to buoy
them mp. The night was passed i'm prayer
Hy mns of praise were cb-1ted and each one
We'd i'm encouraging the other Co face death
with Christian fOrtitude. They had been
divided in two parties and imprisoned in two
large hORes. The murdersrs kept watch
outside The Fisintiye hymns or the doom
ed Indians asCeuded heaven ward, but pro
duced no softcniug effect upon the hardened
hearts Of the white savages.
At sunrise preparations for the crime
were made. Two buildings were selected.
and were most appropriately called 'slaug5l-
ter houses The men and bows were to be
killed in one, and the women and babes ln
the other. All being ready the slaughter be-
gan Never had the sun risen on q more H.
human spectacle. The butchers were white
men, presumably Christians; the victims rcd
men, women and children, who had done no
wrong. Babes were torn from their moth
ers' arms, Drained with tomahawks and
scalped in sight Of their shrieking and heart.
broken parents. The sayers almost waded
in blood. After the children had been dis
1ral
one by one by their long dark hair in the
centre Of the shambles they were soon hur-
ried into eternity by one quick and stunning
blow from tomahawk. Their scalps were
then cut of after the most approved Indian
fashion. The white men were intoxicated
with the slaughter. While the women and
babes were being thus brutaIv slain in one
house, the men and older BOYS met with a
similar fate i'm another Il is useless to
dwell on the horrible crime. After ninety
victims had been dispatched, David William
son and his gang marched back to their
homes David ZaisbergeU was hsrror strfcF-
en- when BE heard Of the massacre. He did
not, however, d laE his efforts to convert and.
civilIze the Indians 1t is recorded that az
ter lapse of sixteen years some Of his con-
verts led by ZeisbeIger returned to the Tus-
cafawas and settled there one more. Their
stay was short The influx Of the whites
was so great, the temptation of Ium so
strong, the ouUrages so frequent that the
fertile valley was soon Torsaken by the In
dians, who retired first to Canada, and then
to the MoTayian mission station In Kansas.
The good and pious Zeisberger died in 1905.
having labored foT sixty years among the
red men.