Ottumwa semi-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1899-1903, 1903-08-18

and badly scattered, and as the main
object of the expedition was the re-
covery of the Jerman captives re-
turn to the cantonment in all haste was
ordered.
1T was learned from the little girls
| that they were unaware that their
mother had been killed. They had
| been told by an Indian who could talk
broken English that their mother was
| with another party and that they
| should soon join her. They did not
| know what became of their father or
brother. Since their captivity they had
been subjected to every brutality that
the devilish cruelty of an Indian could
devise. Sometimes they We're COM
PEELED to walk for miles and when they
gave out they would be kicked and
beaten until they were unconscious.
Sometimes they would be compelled to
ride astride on very bony pony, and
! they often fell off, and were then tied
on the animal, lying fiat on their backs
on top of packs. Their two elder sis
tiers were beaten and abused terribly,
and cried nearly all the time. They We're
not permitted to talk to each other
and when they would forget and talk
to each other and Indian would come
up and knock them down and kick
them. The children We're finally suf-
ficiently recovered to permit OF their
being sent to Camp Supply, where
they could be more carefully looked
after.
Search for the Older Girls.
Immediately after the return of the
expedition TO the cantonment it was re-
lifted and started out after Stone Calf
and his band, with whom it was quite
| evident the elder Jerman girls were
still held in captivity. This expedition
and several others following it were
fruitless of results. The winter had
| now set in early and the country was
largely under snow, which obliterated
all trails. In the meanwhile the Tenth
cavalry had been caught in terrible
blizzard or 'norther' at it's cantonment
on the Sweetwater and suffered terri
bly,. Several of the command were
frozen to death and they had become
exhausted OF rations. Horses and
mules to the number of over half the
command had persisted from the cold,
and thus crippled the Tenth cavalry
started on it's return to Fort Sill
through another severe storm The
storm kept increasing in severity and
twenty men and an indefinite number
of horses and mules persisted on the
road back. The wrecks of wagons and
the bones of the persisted animals still
mark the route of that fearful Novem-
Der march
"Coincident with the movement Of
the Tenth cavalry, the Fourth cavalry,
under command of Colonel Mckenzie,
operated against the Indians from the
Texas station. This regiment captur-
ed one entire tribe of marauding In
dams, that simultaneously with the
outbreak of the Cheyennes, undertook
to raid through northern Texas. These
Indians were surprised in their camp
near the southern border of the Staked
Plains. and, deprived of their ponies,
1000 in number, and were sent back to
their reservations in the territory. The
ponies were nearly all killed by the Or
ders of the government, such proce-
dure being deemed the best way of
putting the marauding Indians hors du
combat.
Final Rescue of the captives.
''The Eighth cavalry had accom-
plished effective service in heading
the Indians off on the Cimmaron and
Canadian river trails into New Mex
leo, so the only recourse now left for
the Cheyennes was to return to their
agency on the Cimmaron or suffer Sc
we're punishment and the deprivation
of their ponies. At intervals during
the winter scouting parties were sent
out from the cantonment on Red river.
and it was not until February that the
Indians, after incredible hardships
during the excessively severe winter,
concluded to make their way to the
agency. They managed to elude OBJ
servation until they reached the al
most impossible labyrinths of the
Washita river midway between the
Red river cantonment and Fort Sill.
Their trail was found there, and i'm
mediate pursuit was taken UP and the
band was overhauled before they
reached the Canadian river. Here
Stone Calf, who was himself suffering
from frozen feet, surrendered his
tribe to the Sixth cavalry, with the
two elder Jerman girls. The Indians
were promptly disarmed and escorted
to the agency, on the Cimmaron, and
were turned over to the Indian agent
there.
"The condition of the captive women
was pitiful. They had been subjected
to every conceivable outrage. Their
limbs were badly frozen, and both were
placed in the hospital for treatment,
where they were given every kind at
tention that the military and Indian
Agency authorities could bestow. From
the moment of their capture to the day
of their rescue they had been repeated
ly whipped and their bodies were a
mass of sores and bruises inflicted by
their captors. They were condemned
to absolute slavery and We're beaten
and cudgeled worse than if they were
brutes. They were both the witnesses
of the horrible murder of their parents
and were denied the privileges of car
ing for their younger sisters, and were
also denied the comfort of talking
with each other while in captivity. AS
soon as they were sufficiently recover
ed to travel they were taken to Fort
Leavenworth, and were partially re
stored to health and to their friends.