Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1886-10-27
Mlistellameuns &eadiug.
LITTLE CURLY HEAD.

We were bending away to the north to
strike the Solomon river, in Northern
Kansas, and had just got out of the broken
ground, when our eyes rested on a singu-
lar object on the grass. Everybody made
a guess as to what II was, but all fell far
short Of naming the article until we were
close upon it; then it was seen to be q
feather-bed. The entire command was
astonished and mystified for the moment,
but after bit everything was made plain.
The scouts jumped down and announc-
ed that wagon drawn by horses had
passed that way about four days before.
Some settler, anxious to secure better
"squat," had broken away from the Smoky
Hill route in search of new location.
He must have been fool-hardy or O very
ignorant man, for he was running right
into the hostile country. When the scouts
announced that the horses drawing the
wagon had been on gallop at this point,
we felt assured that we had only to follow
up the trail a few miles to come upon o
scene of horror. After riding for half
mile, and just as the wagon made sharp
turn to the west to avoid the Outcropping
of rocks, we came upon the dead body of
little boy about three years old. He
was nestled down in the high grass, and
was resting on his side, with one hand
under his face. We at first believed him
to be asleep, but when one of the scouts
crept up and bent over him he gave us a
sign that the poor little fellow was dead.
We dismounted and formed little circle
around the body. Itwas wonderfully pre-
served. The big eyes were closed, the
chestnut curls were still damp with the
morning dew, and it was hard to believe
that he was dead.
"He was either thrown or jostled out of
the wagon with the bed," said one of our
scouts as he leaned on his gun and looked
down upon the dead boys face. "The In
dians passed him by unnoticed, and he
probably wandered around for two or three
days. Pm thinking he died yesterday of
hunger and lonesomeness. 1t was Gods
mercy that he went that way"
Two of the men lifted up the little body
and deposited it in one of the wagons,
and we then pushed ahead on the trail.
The settler had made gallant race for it,
and his team must have been a powerful
one, for we did not come up with wagon
until we had gone fully five miles from
the spot where we had found little curly
head. When we gathered around it ev-
ery man thanked God that the child had
died another death. The naked, gashed,
hacked and butchered bodies of the moth
er and two other children were lying on
the trampled grass around the wrecked
wagon. Every thing went to show that
the savages had slowly tortured them to
death, probably being two or three hours
at it. But the worst sight of all was the
body of the husband. He had made a
brave fight at the last, as the carcasses of
three Indian ponies near by went to prove.
They had staked him out on the ground
and tortured him in every way known to
savage cruelty. His ears and nose had
been cut off, his tongue cut out, his cheeks
slit open, his eyes gouged out, his fingers
and toes cut off, the cords of his legs
and arms pulled out, and finally, as
grand climax, he had been disemboweled
and fire builtin the cavity. Each man
in his heart prayed that the settler was
dead long before this croWning act. The
wagon had been plundered and the horses
driven away and nothing was left for US
but to dig wide, deep grave and place
therein the dead. Side by side we laid
them in, little curly. head between father
and mother, and as the grave was filled
and we took up the line of march every
man in that long column bent his head in
reverence. detroit Free Press.