Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-10-26
DEADMANiS HOME.
The Deadly Work Done by Savage
Baud.

We arrived at the crossing of the Niobra-
"a river at 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and
were then so Gar behind the Indian band we
were pursuing that it was determined to
give up the chase and wait there for Cap
tain Frayne's detachment to come in from
the west. We were making camp when "a
dog came ont OF a thicket on our right and
began bowling. Everybody saw at a glance
that it was a settlers dog, and everybody
realized in an instant what his actions sig--
nfed. Every man of the 200 stood looking
at the animal when he ceased bowling and
came forward. Hewas gaunt, fierce look
ing beast, and many Of the men held their
carbines ready TO shoot as he came trottins
up and halted at the feet of the major. Aft
or a long look into the officers face the dog
threw up his head and hOwled again-a
long drawn, quarering howl which sent q
chill over every man, and even made tho
horses look M from their feed
captain, detail Il sergeant and five men
to follow the dog" said the major as he
turned TO the commander of f. troop. Il
think thcre's Il pioneers cabin on the far
side Of the .hCket. II nothing is to DO
found within half mile, let a man return
and report, and will send out a larger
force"
AS we caught mp our horses tho dog ceas-
ed bowling and exhibited signs that he an
derstood. AS we mounted he trotted away
at the head Of the detail and led rs straight
for the tlcket. 1t proved to be Il fringe or
curtain hiding a lovely little valley, and as
soon rs we passed through it we saw the
cabin of pioneer half a mile away. We
wheeled into line opened out in skirmish-
ing order and approached the cabin at u
walk. When half the distance had been
passed, we saw wolf sneak out from the
cover Of the cabin and run for the brush
covered hillside. a moment later two great
vultures which were perched on the roof
and perhaps asleep took wing and flew
heavily away.
There are dead men in there" whispered
the sergeant as we came to 1t halt. sec
there! 1t was an Indian attack, and they
tried to burn the people out. Look at tho
bullet holes, See that tricl,le Of blood I'M
der the door,
The dog advanced 70 the door, snuffed at
the blood and then threw up his head and
howled dismally.
we must use this log to break the door
in continued the sergeant. The Indians
brought it here, but the fire was too hot.
See where the wolves have licked the blood
off the grass, There has been a terrible
fight here. Now, then, altogether and
hcave That one-two-three-Gnd the
| door gives way.'
We dropped the log and retreated a step
or two. while tine excited dog sprang into
the cabin and whned and barlcd and final
| " gave utterance to a howl 50 full Of
| lamentation that some OK the men closed
| their ears to the sound. Every man was
| palefaced and trembling. The sergeant
| should be the first to look in, but he hcsi-
| tated. and it was only after Il great effort
| that he pulled himself together and adj
vanced. On the rough floor, a. if they had
| craVled together 10 die, were four men, II
| woman aud t;yo children. the latter about
| and wears old Respectively. II was II log
| cabin, with boards instead of sash and
| glass al the windows, and there were hum
| dred, of c,evices between the logs through
which a bullet might find It's way How
long the fight had lasted we could not de-
termine. but all there had been dead for Il
hours at least.
You can see how IL was, said the SER
geant after sending off Il man to the COM
maud. Three OF these men came down
the trail ahead Of the Indians, fleeing for
their lives and warming other settlers
When they turned in here, the red devils
We're close after them, and the only thing
! to do was to fight. Look at the bullet
! holes, See how many wounds each one
has, The Indians fired from every direc-
ton, even down through the roof. 1t must
have been an all day Eight and the last
man or two was able TO handle a gun when
the Indians got he alarm and left. There
was the husband and father. In his dying
hour he lay down his rife and crept over
to his dead wife and children and flung his
arms over them. What that on the foor"
We removed the boards from the two
windows to let in more light, and on the
white surface Of split log used rs floor
board we found scrawl traced in blood.
There lay the splinter which had been used
rs pen, and within six inches OF it were
the fingers of u dead man. In the semi
darkness of day or the gloom of night his
rude pen had painfully and roughly written
in his own blood the words;
Over POO lujuus. All wiped out but me,
and I'm hard hit. Send word To-
That was all. The splinter fell from his
fingers, and he sank down and died. We
gave them burial in the grassy valley and
burned the cabin. and rs we broke camp the
dog went with us fierce, wildeyed and wolf
ish, but knowing that he was among
friends u. QUAD.