The National tribune., 1888-06-07

drRa IN bne outer DdfDof, ne SLSailntly cTOSSSu
overland to the post, 1nnoticed by his treach-
erous captors, who were then carefully watch
ing every man that passed in or out of the
Redoubt. He aroused Oovarov and Repin, the
two magnates of the odinotschka, and sitting
in their beds they listened to his horrid reci-
tation of
THE LooTING MASSACRE
at Yakootatskie, and of the intention of these
Koloshian fends outside at that moment to
repeat this work of murder and pillage at
KOnstantinOvski.
The immediate problem with these aston
ished and enraged traders was not one of de-
fense but rather how to capture and destroy
those seventy y-odd desperate, alert villains,
plotting at that very moment under and around
their stockade together with the 22O in reserve
lurking then at the mouth of Copper River,
waiting for some signal TO join in the internal
work for which they hungered. Shutting the
gate of the fort and simply bidding these cruel
savages defiance was not enough satisfaction
for the now furious Slavonians. They resolved
to kill them all by recourse to the same subtle
treachery by which the K0lOshes were seeking
their own destruction.
Repin who was a Creole and who was also
very familiar with the KenaitZe habit and
language, sent for several of the leading In-
dians and Shamans of the large Choogatch
| village near the Redoubt, and for few of the
most discreet and courageous of the Aleutes,
who, as depOrted sea-otter hunters, were doml-
ciled in barrabkies or huts side by side with
! the Choogatches. As these men were sent for
and came in one by one to the peredOvchiks
/ quarters, they at first thought nothing of the
! message, since it was q common thing for the
/ Russian agents so to do; but, as they filed the
room and faced each other their stolid faces
began to show unmistakable
SIGNS OF SURPRISE.
When they had all assembled, Oovarov bolted
the door, placed himself against it, and then di-
rected the ChOogatch from Alaganik to repeat his
dreadful story; the effect of it upon these
startled natives can be better imagined than de-
scribed, since they all had blood relatives who
were murdered at Yakootatski.
After long discussion, these heated and
thoroughly infurated men agreed to pass the
rest of the day this was ia the morning, Sept
( 20, 1861 by continuing to simulate friendship
for the Koloshians, who were still busy enter
tanning their brethren with dances and feast
ing, gifts of furs, beads, ETC.; then as night
came on, to prepare a big feast down in the
Choogateh rancheries, and coax all of the Sit
kans to participate then, as these bloody
handed guests were fully engaged to pass swiftly
and silently among their own people and in
form them OF the recent massacre at Yakootat
Bay, to arm themselves quietly, and at given
signal to unite as one man and cut or shoot
down every one of these Koloshian tigers.
kans attended the feast, and were slaughtered
to man. But Is or 20 of them did not leave
their camp; they remained with the big canoes
to guard their cargoes from possible theft. The
moment however, that those shots aud shouts
arose from the village below IN the still night
air which signaiized the death of their COM
rades1, these Sitkaus, with the quckness of in
stiuct that all reptiles possess, OWNED the
dread meanings they instantly lanched their
smallest canoe and sped with il out into the
harbor, and into the darkness of a threatening
weather then brewing at sea.
THE FRANTIC, DESPERATE ENERGY
with which these guilty, terrified savages urged
that canoe away from kOnstautinovski may be
| better appreciated when it is stated that they
traversed the entire distance Of 80 miles be-
tween Noochek and Alaganik IN less than seven
hours They happened to strike the mud flats
! of the Copper Delta just as the tide was high
and still flooding, so ran up to their comrades
in reserve at Alaganik without any loss Of
| time.
! These waiting sayages there were simply
| panic-stricken by the unexpected news. 1t
would not do to remain on shore single hour
1 longer than necessary to reload and lanch the
/ big canoes which, with mingled yells Of fear
and rage, they proceeded at once to do a
strong westerly wind was blowing, and into
the teeth of it the frightened Indians dashed
with their seven canoes deeply laden with their
plunder,and manned by more than 220 desperate
| warriors. When that feet reached the outer bar
of the Copper River tIe tide was then cbbing
| strong and in thus running it met upon this
bar the full sweep Of an open sea- as it rolled in
under a dense fog and before a heavy gale.
| This meeting Of opposing waters suddenly pro-
| duced a prodigious and overwhelming line of
! gigantic coming breakers; into that Gordon of
destruction, wrapped in the darkness ofa gloomy
fogight, this fotilla of painted sayages swept;
| not for moment even could the frantic self
preserving efforts of these doomed Wretches
prevail the hoarse roar of those resistless foam
ing ayaanches of the ocean instantly stifled
their sbTill sbrieks and hoarse cries-those
furious surges smote them and carried them,
everyone of them, down TO death
Three days later, as the storm abated, Oovaroy
aud Repin appeared here in baidarS from
Noockek, leading large force Of Choogatchie
and Aleutians Cautiously entering the delta
they proceeded up directly to Alaganik, where
they found
no TRACE OF THEIR ENEMIES,
but two old q Midnooski" " squaws who had man
aged to escape from the fury Of the batfied
Sitkans, crept out from the huts and informed
the Russians that the massacre of Yakootat had
been fully avenged they told the story of this
Koloshian flight into death, and proved it by
pointing out the wreckage and those corpses
which still remained above, though, even then
Utmost bWdIlOHeu bg the Unu Dl Tue SulILl1E
river mouth fats in that short time
" God knows it, and God has done it ;" said
the rough Muscovites as they inYoluntarily un-
covered their heads aud piously crossed them
selves; then satisfied by this remarkable, full
and complete punishment Of the Koloshians
whereby the russians had not lost a single
mans life, they returned to Konstantinovski
with the news and their exultant native allies
Although the Russians as early as 1853 were
we'll acquainted with the location Of the mouth
Of Copper River, since il was declared so plainly
by its enormous breadth Of muddy delta and
sand bar channels yet they never made an
earnest attempt to explore its upper waters
until 1847 They were warranted, however
for such Indifference, since all the peltrieS
brought down by the Madncyski Indians were
few and ordinary, and the several uneducated
Promisblynikes who had repeatedly essayed
the ascent of its river speedily returned say ine
that the current was SO swift and shallow
blocked with mighty glaciers, and banks 81
tangled with underbrush that the labor o.
navigation was fairly sdperhuman. But as
sea-otters grew scarce and the revenues Of thC
Russian American Co. declined the chief man
ager at Sitka in l547 directed IN exploration e
be made of Copper River, 50 that the rumored
mountain of pure copper" on its banks should
be located and worked, since it had been &
common report from the earliest days Of Sla
yonian occupancy Of the northwest coast thai
this metal was ia abundance there and easiy
procured hence the Russian name of Maid
Aeyski kaichka," or Copper River. The SitkaI