The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1889-10-26

was ordered, the soldiers made coffee
ate hearty meal of dried beef and
hardtack, and had a brief rest. At 2
they were in the saddle and moving
ahead. Colonel Baker
crossed the river and moved up the
west bank with one company while |
the ether followed the eastern shore.
In the first gray sha dowings of
dawn the Piegan camp was sighted.
Moving up through piece of wood |
on the east bank the second company |
halted. The river was frozen solid,
but the banks were too high for cav
airy. The company under Colonel
Bakers immediate command was
not yet in sight. No time was to be
lost. Hastily dismounting the COM
pany, armed with rifles and revol-
vers, stole across the Marias. there
&. anre sa'ic "a p, 5
solitary Indian was deserted feGniaa|
half asleep against tree. There was
not even dog to raise note OF
alarm. The sentinel seemed dazpd
with the cold. 1t was not until the
captain of the advancing company
rushed upan him with leyeled revol-
yer that he became aware of danger
He was armed with an old-fashioned
fiint-lock musket, obtained from the
agents of the Hudson Bay Company.
The captain saw his finger curl
around its trigger as clearly as If he
were but spectator. He held it half
leveled from the hip.
"I'm dead man !" muttered the
captain. The trigger Was pulled, but
the weapon failed TO discharge, and
within the second a bullet from the
captains "A Colt crashed between his
eyes. AS the Indian plunged for
ward the captain struck him Il fearful
blow on the head with the revolver,
breaking it short off at the stock.
Through the rest of the fight he bran
dished its useless but. That shot was
the first warning to the sleeping Pie
gans. Running through the camp the
soldiers, now reinforced by Bakers
company, poured terrible fussilade
into the teepees. Every Indian was
shot down as he struggled into sight.
Squaws and children were not spared
in the indiscriminate massacre. 1t
was a horrible butchery. Some three
or four squaws and half dozen chli-
dren all wounded, were alive when
the slaughter ceased. One hundred
and sixty-nine Piegaus stretched
lifeIess' on the snow. A sergean
came up with poor, covering wretch
of a renegade white. who had beer
dragged from teepee.
He fell upon the ground. clasping
Col. Baker by the knees and begged
for life.
"Y0u know me, Colonel Baker,
he cried. "You have seen me ;
hundred times at Fort Ellis. Spar
me! Oh spare my life !"
Sergeant. you know the orders
F don't want to be troubled" sait
Colonel Baker grimly.
The sergeant put his revolver t.
the renegade's head and blew out hi
| brains.
With daylight it was discovered
, that several of the Piegans had bee
, suffering from smallpox. which de
= yelops into a severe type among tn
. Canadian Indians every few years
) Colonel Baker Immediately ordere
the bodies, the teepees and all thei
belongings. including the stolen bul
9 falo robes. to be piled in one hea
l and burned. The cavalry move
t south with the funeral pyre of tn
: dead Piegans blazing at their back
t The days deed was an atrocious ont
o It cannot be questioned. HoWeve
t great the otfense of the Plegans.
n did not merit indiscriminate and ul
}; merited slaughter.
x In the spring an unscrupulot
It trader went up to the Marias an
found that the green buffalo hide
j. were hardly injured. He brougf
J. them in and thew were shipped Eas
y The second chapter of the TRACED
.s lies In Philadelphia. The winter
,e 1871-'72 opened with unusual gayet.
n Snow had fallen early and the sleig
n ing was magnificent. Hundreds
70 sleighs dashed over the suburbf
ID drives, and thick, warm butfa
i. robes-the poisoned robes of the Fl
le gans-stayed the winters vino
OF Within a month black smallpox
a the most yirulent type broke out
ID Philadelphia, and every quarter W
a effected. Four thousand lives we
W lost from its ravages before it disa
v, peared at the end of three winte
W ceaseless struggles. The buffalo rob
It. stolen from the Crows had done thu
e. work. The Piegan massacre "
q. avenged-and on the innocent.