New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1883-04-11
BURYING THE BABY.

EURYING THE BABY.
i remember that the far away reports
Ut rifles reused MS from sleep III the
gray Of dawn. and rs we stood on ON
feet and listened more intently, we
could now and then catch the echoes Of
an internal war-whoop.
There We're twenty OF us, miners all,
and we were in the foot hills Of the
Rockies, not more than half mile from
the great Overland Trail.
Boys. them sounds means an Iniun
attack and a butchery," whispered our
leader as we listened; and without an
other word we picked up our traps and
headed for the spot at = half run.
Two immigrant families. farmers
from Indiana, who had started for the
land Of gold and had separated from
the train from whim or accident. had
encamped in 4 bit Of green valley be-
side the trail. There were thirteen
souls OF them, and one might wonder
II the bravest among them did not
shudder with fear as the night crept
down and the howl Of the wolf came
from the rocky hills.
The men had seen their danger, and
both had set out to act as seDtinels
through tho long night. Hour after
hour had passed away without an
alarm, and just as dawn was breaking
the merciless savages, creeping along
like snakes, had found one Of the senti-
nels asleep. A thrust from knife fin
ished him SO quickly that he did not
even throw up his arms. Perhaps he
uttered single cry or a groan and
alarmed the other, for the second one
was shot while running toward the
wagons.
Then. with both men dead, came the
rush upon the women and children.
Only fiends could do such work as was
done there, and when we came to look
at it tho strongest men in the party
grew white and faint. Every head but
one was scalped, and no doubt the
scalps had been taken while the victims
lived. The bodies were hacked and
gashed hands and arms severed. brains
beaten out-children flung into the
campfire, and the spectacle was one to
live in memory when all else had been
forgotten.
The fiends had finished their work of
butchery before we were near enough
to open fire, and it was poor consolation
to save the wagons. While all the
bodies were yet warm, life had departed
from each and every one. We were
collecting them in heap, to make
ready for burial, when A sudden wall
startled everybody.
''Ow-Ow-ow owl came the sound,
and each man looked in the air above
and on the ground below.
THAT ERE noise p,irceeds from a
baby, or I'm not the father of thirteen
children back in Ohio!' exclaimed
Jackson as he made for the nearest
wagon.
He was right. Down beside chest,
almost smothered under bed-quilts, was
;kyear-old boy baby, but alas! when he
was handed ont we found he had been
fatally wounded by bullet. jackson
sat down on the grass and chirped to
him and rocked him to and fro, while
the rest of US looked on in wonder and
doubt, but in quarter Of an hour the
baby was dead. 1t had gone to sleep
the night before in his mothers arm. q
battered old rattle-box clutched fast in
his tiny hand, and he never let 90 of it.
There it was in his hand as death stiff.
fened his fingers around it.
Well, there was 4 general breaking
down when We saw the little one was
going. He threw up his hands, gasped
once or twice. and then settled back
with such smile on his face as babies
wear when thoir dreams are sweet. Old
Jackson was crying like child. and
some OF the men hid from each other
behind the wagons. 1t was a long time
before the old man arose, laid the little
body down among the prairie flowers
and huskily whispered:
''We'll bury him by hisself. One o.
them bodies out there was his mother
but rs we can't tell which from which
We'll make no mistake
There was one large grave for thu
mutilated remains, and when the eartl
had been pressed down above them anC
rocks rolled down 10 prevent tho worl
of the wolves, we went to the center O
tho dell and there, under lonely pine
we followed out q resting place fol
baby. When all was ready jackson
took the body up in his arms, dropped
his hat on the grass, and looked around
and said:
Hats of. men! We are nearer seein'
angels this mornin' than any Of us will
over come agin!''
Slowly tenderly grievingly tho lit.
tie form was laid away, and it was
Jackson's coat that came OF his bach
to cover it before the earth was filled in
Every single man in our band took the
shovel by turns to fill in and round uT
the grave and protect it, and before We
went away there was head-bOard Il
mark the spot, and on the board a knife
had engraved the single word
"B A B Y!'-Delroil Free Press.