Waterbury evening Democrat., 1889-09-13
DOWN THROUGH THE ICE.
Horrible Fate of Three Horse Thieves and Their Slayer.
The Mysterious Disappearance of Nc Brasl-a EIAn Explained After Thirty Five Eoars-Startling Confess
 s;ol, Of g Dying EZa:l.

ffti4JLI .uiAy vouched for by Rev. Mr. Gassrnan, was | written for the San Francisco Examiner l from facts furnished by him: In 1851, iH Br0wrv;lie, Neh., Q man named 1 George Tract. who was a commission mer- l chant on 6 small scGle, nysteriously disap- l peared.
 There was no clew whatever as to his 1 fate, and the idea was general that he was in some way disposed Of at the same time that threo hor5e-tnieves were gut out Of the way br n vigilance committee.
 His wife stated that he had gone out that evening at seven o'clock, saying that he might not return until late This was the last ever seen Cf.hinl.
 Another queer circumstance was tho fact Shat the three horse-thieves who were taken from the iait the salno night that Tract disappeared were never heard of again. 1t was al old custom iii Nebraska to string such people r9 to 2 tree, with a plaoard attached to their persons, but on this occasion all trace Of them was wiped out. The sheriff said @ gang of masked men had taken them from the jail, and that
 was the last Of his knowledge of them. 1t was not customary fer 9 sheriff to follow lynching parties iii Nebraska in those law less days
 The disappearance Of Tract was a source of Wonderment for years, out the secret of iAio NtNts*tt 'lSth- Gt lS -1~s'C him.
 Residents Of I3eownvllle, Neb, will, on reading this article, realize for the first tir,o what became Of Tract. and several parties who were with him ou that fatal night and saw him die will recognize the truth of this narratloa. Lest some of them might feel troubled a5 tic revelations made here, they can feel agsurel that while the facts are given truIhfully tho names of the I-1Nx-7 al -b FTrcp+'. Hcotk are in the possession now cf no living per son. The truth of the story is as follows:
 The night cG December 2, 1854, three fcrsc-thioves wore taken from the rude log jail ct Brovvnv;l1e. Eab., and put to death under peculiar circumstances. They wcro thrust through Q h0i6 in the ice by S party | of masked mon, most of whom arc yet alive. One Of the mon who was drowned was 8 murderer, and the other two were horac-thovcs and regular desperadocs. paIishioncr of Rev. flawrcace Gassnlan made tho following statement on his death 1 bed:
 "I helped to drown them, and t was such an awful thing that t has haunted me ever since. We took thero naadcuied from the 1 jail Gt DroETIviIo, and about two o'clock in | the morning Jed them to tho river. It W2s winter, and the ice was foot thick and full 1 ot Gir-hOles.
 l 1 awful fate in store for them until we 1 reached place in the middle of the river, l where there yvas an air-h0lo about ten feet l across.
 1 eve set the lanterns down alongside the 1 hole, and then, for the first time, they real izcd what they wore there for. l ''VTo told them to 1zneel by tho brink and
 pray, if they wanted t0. One knclt and the
 other two began to struggle, but it was TO ! VIC dragged them to the edge where the i other was l7rcaliac. Lo cla3ped lis mana 1 cied hands ct the eJge Of the ice, and tten, l lifting tEcn above his head asked the curse | of Heaven On uS Gil.
 1 Around hin st50d . determined group, 1 and below the dark, rushing water, where l the swift, sU!5aiag currents oE tho river 1 sped bano2th Us.
 1 sSoIuo oi tho crowd began to weaken, 1 but tho ma ;oTity Wclo determined, and, as the poor fellow was calling down tle curse 1 upon us, soIno one hit him alongside tho 1 head with tho butt Of Q revolver, and he l fell on his side stunned. They pushed him
 in, and he disappeared in q second. 1 ' The other two men were then pushed 1 struggling over the edge Of tho ice. They l fought as desperately as men can who
 were handcuffed. Ono Of them got his
 teeth in one Of his captor's clothes, and l when they WTGDttlCit tlls NSEI EV"O | teeth came ont.
 t"They were pushed into the water, but
 they held on to the edge of tho ice with | their lnaCacled hands, cursing and blas- 1 pheml4g horribly.
 1 "Gliisman stampad Cn these hands with 1 tho heel Of his boot until he mashed the I fingers to pieces, and, while ho was doing it, the other man, still in tho water, sud 1 denly caught his foot, and, before any enc
 knew what was being 6ono, his other foot
 slipped and he was in the hole. "Both men let go the ice thsn and grabbed
 him. A dozen hands wero stretched over ] the hole to rescue tho poor fellow, but the ] others held him with their teeth and manacled hands. Baforo this they were trying to keep their bodies as far out of the
 water e.5 possible tc keep from the resistless
 current, but tho instant they get their vic-
 tim they sank es far as they could.
 'It was Q terrible scene. We beat on their l faces with cur rov0lvcrg to make them let go, but they had tho death grip, and the cur l rent, which was running like G nliu-race, | sucked tho three struggling men under and
 we had to let go to save ourselves.
 s'Two or thrco hands that held the man we
 wero trying to rescue let go, and the addi- 1 tional strain wes too much for the rest, and l they had to loosen their grip also, and the three disappeared together.
 ssThe name of the man we tried to rescue 1 was George Tract. No ono cared to investi- gate tho anteoedent5 Of the men taken from
 the jail, but the disappearance of the other
 man was tho tallz Of tho town for long l time.
 "Itwas aterrible mystery, and those who l knew never breataed q word.
 q am dying and want to tell sone one be- | fore go that the mystery surrounding the 1 disappearance Of George Tract may be cleared up. He had no friends outside of his relatives to mourn his loss, and was so brutal
 in stamping on thoso poor fellows hands
 that it seemed ike justice to have him die l with tho others"
 l Cur Duty to the Indian.
 According to the Carlisle (Pa.) Red Man,
 the highest duty of the Nation to the h. 1 dians requires that the Nation shall create 1 means to mako the Indians acquainted with
 tho people Of this country, it's resources,
 and the demands Of good citizenship in it. | Also that the Nation shall use methods in dealing with tho Indians which will enable
 the people to become acquainted with and | ~.;o ,,I I,ol- >sT,l +a fn