The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-03-26

my coming. Suddenly a half dozen stall
wart Indian bucks darted from the brush
at either side of the trail and covered Seeta
and me with their muskets. OF course dis
erection told me to make nc resistance. 1t
was only a moment until the bucks had
disarmed Seeta and me and had taken our
ponies. Then as they led us into the In
dian village we fully realized that the cpl
sode meant u capture.
stThere were about 800 Chilkat braves
and squaws in the village. They were in
their war paint and had been giving war
dances. AS Seeta could speak the Chilkat
language, and as Icould understand some
of it, I learned then for the first time that
the tribe was in fighting humor because
the palefaces had poacbed on their hunting
grounds. The Indians treated Seeta and
me with great courtesy and good will for
one week, although they kept us under
guard constantly. Then our tortures be-
gan. They tied our hands and feet with
thongs of buckskin and pegged us to the
ground, fiat On our backs. The thongs
were drawn SO tightly around my wrists
and ankles hat they sank into the flesh
and interfered with the circulation of the
blood, and I suffered the most ~excruciat-
ing agony. Every night Seeta and / were
tied down in this amer, and a strong
guard kept over us by two or three young
bucks. While I was lying thus fiat on my
back and unable to move the Indian
guards threw mud in my face and walked
over me.
"After I had been tied down every night
for six weeks then I was doomed to a new
form of torture. One morning after ]
had been unpegged from the ground the
Indians held O war dance around me.
Then they tied a buckskin lariat around
one of my ankles and fastened a soft Carl
bou robe over the back of my head and
shoulders. A big buck mounted a pony,
with the lariat in his hands and started
over the rough ground at a lively gallop,
and I was dragged behind as if / were a
captured fox used in making a trail for a
pack of young hounds. The Indians had
tied the caribou robe on my head to pre-
vent my skull from being fractured and
my brains from being knocked out. Oh,
I tell you, those Chilkats are considerable.
"Of course I had not been dragged over
the ground but a short distance until I
was knocked insensible. When / regained
consciousness, it was late at night. ] was
fiat on my back, pegged down, and I was
weak and faint. A beautiful young Chill
a S11Iy AOu ONC1 i O14 OAaJ naS -
ing near me. She whispered in broken
English and informed me that she would
try to arrange a plan for Seeta and me to
escape. She said that the Indians had ON
sidred me almost dead. and for that reason
only one buck had been detailed to guard
me that night, and he had crawled into
the brush to sleep.
"Shs told me to play sick, SO that the
vigilance of the night guard would be re-
Taxed. She said that she had bitterly de-
nounced me in camp in order to ward off
any suspicion that she might aid me. In
her simple way she expressed great love
for me and said she wanted to see me es-
capt and that when the Indians quit the
warpath and peace was restored I could
return and marry her. OF course under
the circumstances I could not protest
against even an Indian maiden's popping
the question to me, and / made a marriage
engagement then and there in a hasty ac-
quiescence to her proposition. By this time
my head was aching from the bruises, and
the fever was making me suffer from
thirst. I asked the Indian girl for a drink
of water. She crawled away quietly on
her hands and knees in tho dark, for dis
covery would have meant death. In due
time she returned in the same way and
brought me a leather pouch full of water.
She had carried the pouch by a string
around her neck. Before she left for the
night she kissed mo and said that her
name was Annota. How appropriate The
name means laughing rlil.
Zone night she informed me that was
to be killed one week from that day, but
that the braves in their council had not
/ dacided bv what form of torture they
would kill me. Then Annota informed
me that II possible she would have two of
| the heatest nonies In the camn saddled and