The Wichita daily eagle., 1901-04-19
A wHITEcAP .suRYln,.n

Z There were five men instantly killed IN
the attack made by the Whiteeaps on the
stronghold of the two Burris brothers
IN the Indiana hills and several were
i seriously wounded The bodies were car
ried away from the scene secretly. one
+ BY one, and taken charge Of by their fam
lilies.
+ The STAFF correspondent rode over the
hills on mule back for two days. but
could find nobody that would admit that
any relative was among those killed.
+ Ct a more or less intimate bond Of re-
lationship united almost everybody in the
( country The night riders We're simply
sticking to their policy OF keeping ev-
/ erything dark. Not even in death was
a member to be permitted TO reveal the
secrets Of the grim and cowardly brother
hood.
+ One morning the village saloonkeeper
said to the staff correspondent: Thar 3
a buIyin' over TO Ephrum Church this af-
ternoon. D'yu want TO go over?'
Ephrum church was a little log and
frame building, all TOO small for the
great crowd which had gathered. II stood
Ike a weather-beaten and lonely sentinel
/ at the top OF hill, surrounded By thick
woods. The trees shut of the view in
every direction, and the winding trails,
often following the dry beds of the
"cricks," lost themselves in the hills
the brushwood had been beaten down and
the big trees were girdled and dead. To
these trees were hitched more than q
hundred gaunt and bony horses, their
riders filling the little church and stand
ing and sitting on the ground all around
It. With the horses were a few small and
rickety wagons, the boxes filed with
chairs, on which some OF the women had
ridden to the ''buryin''
People had come from a rsdills of
twenty miles. Every one OF them knew
OF the raid Of the night riders and it's
tragic results. Every one of them knew
that two Of the men killed by the Burrss
boys were to be buried that afternoon
from "Ephrum" church. Yet not one Of
them would talk about it. at least 70
stranger. nor even admit that he had
ever heard of the battle between the
Whitecaps and their intended victims.
To these people a "buryin ." was an i'm
poTtant social function. Men met and
shook hands in shy and shamefaced
way who had not seen each other before
for months The women sat in groups
under the trees and talked over the
births, weddings, and deaths Of the last
six months. All the politicians in the
county were there, too. busy shaking
hands and making friends. after the
manner of politicians the world over.
At noon all the gathering ate lunch
under the trees. The 'buryin' - took
up" at ? o'clock. The presiding minister
was an old Dunkard, venerable and dig
nified- He stood at one end of the church,
the two rough coffins before him The
men, most of them in tneir shirt sleeves,
and the dry-eyed women filed the plain
wood benches and stood ali along the
walls.
The old preacher raised cracked and
wavering voice and started Rock Of
Ages" The people Joined in with multi
piled dfscords. There was no musical
instrument to lead the way. At the end
of the first verse half a dozen OF the
younger men at the back Of the church
got up and went out into the open air.
They, like a large part Of the cOngrega-
ton, had brought their guns with them,
and together they wandered down into
the woods, taking snap shots AT SPUR
rels. When that amusement grew tame
they went back again and stood along ths
side walls of the church.
The minister preached a long sermon
on the suddenness of death. but he made
no reference TO the Whitecap ARRAY
which had put an end to the two breth-
ren before him.