Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-04-19
sAs. saD srsss.

Would to God IL we're not true story
bat, alas. IL is only too true. The fsz
away reports Of yifies ro1sed N from
sieep 10 the gray of dawn, and q ve stopd
on our feet and listened moro intsntiy,
we could nos and theu catch the echoes
OF an internal war-vhoop.
There were twenty Of us, miners all.
and We were in the foothills OF the kock.
les, not more than half . mile from the
great overland trail.
Boys, then % inds means an Indixn
attack and b, tclery,s whispered our
leader AZ We listened; and without an
other word We picked up our traps and
headed for the spot at half run.
Iwo emiRrant families, farmers frou,
Indiana, who had started for the land OF
gold and had separated from their train
through vhim or accident, had encamped
IN bit Of green valley beside the trail.
There we're thirteen souls Of them, and
one might wonder II the bravest among
them did not shudder With fear an the
night csept down and the howl Of the
wolf came from the rocky hills.
The men had seen their danger and
both had set ont TO act as sentinsls
through the long night. Hour after hour
had passed away without an alarm, and
JUST N dawn was breaking the merciless
savsRes. creeping along like snakss, had
found one Of the sentinels asleep. A
thrust from a knife finished him 60
quickly that hedid not even throw up
his hands. Perhaps he 111asoa . sin0lo
cry or groan and alarmed the other,
for the second WAS shot while running
toward the wagon.
Then, with both men dead, came the
rush upon she women and children.
Only fiends could do such work a. vas
done there, and, when We came to look
at 1t, the strongest men in the party grew
white and faint. Every head bat one
vas scalped, and no doubt the scalps
were taken while the victims lived. rhe
bodies were hacked and gsshed, hands
and srms severed, brains beaten out,
children hung into the camp firs. The
spectacle was one to live in the memory
when all else was forgotten.
The ficnds had finished their work of
butchery before We we're near enough to
open Gre, and It was poor consolation to
Save ths wagons. While all tho ,dies
were yet warm, life had departed from
each and every one. We were collecting
them in heap, 10 make ready for burial,
when u sudden vail startled everybody
present.
"Ow-ow-ow-ow!' came the sound, and
each man looked in the air above and on
the ground below.
THAT ere noise proceeds from q baby
or I'm not tho father Of thirteen children
back in OHIO" exclaimed Jackson. A he
made for the nearest wagon.
Hc WAS righs. Down beside chest,
almost smothered under bedquilts, Waz
year old boy baby; bat, alas. when he
Was handed ont We found that he had
been fatally wounded by bullet. Jack
son sat down ON the grass and chirped to
him and rocked him to and fro, while
the res. of US looked on in wonder and
doubt; but in a quarter of an hour the
baby was dead. He had gone to sleep
the night before in his mothers arms, a
battered old rattle. box clutched fast in
his tiny hand. and he never let 60 Of it.
Tnere II WAS in bis hand al death stif.
fened his fingers around it.
Well, there was n general breaking
down when We saw that the little one
was going. He threw up his hands
gaspel once or twice, and then settled
back with such smile on his face as ba.
bies wear when their dreams are sweet
| Old jackson was crying like child, and
some Of the men hid from each Othel
behind the wagons. II was long time
before the old man arose, laid the little
body among the prairie flowers, and hus
kily whispered:
.Ws'il bury him by himself. Ono d
them bodies ont there was his mother
but 10 We can't tell which from which
we'll make M mistake"
There was one large grave for the mu.
tilated remains, and when the earth hac
been pressed down above them and rocki
had been rolled down TO prevent ths
work Of the wolves, We went 10 the cen
ter Of the dell, and there, under Ion.
pine, we followed out a resting place fol
baby. When all was ready, Jacksol
took the body mp in his arms. droppet
his hat on the grass, and looked arount
and said:
Hats of, men! We are nearer seein
angels this nornin' than any Of ~ VII
ever come aQin.'
Slowly, tsndsEly, RrisvinRly tbs littl'
form vas laid away, and IL was JAckson'
coat that came on. his back TO cover j
before the earth was filed in. Ever
single man in onr band took the shove
by turns to iill in and round mp the Rrav'
aud protect IL; and before 10 vent ava,
there was q headboard 10 mark the spot
and on the board a knife had engraved
the single word BABY"