The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1904-12-17

in the afternoon and continued the
bloody work there. A lot of the saw
ages had burrowed into the sand in the
bed of the creek at this point and were
lying there when we rode up, as mo-
tionless as SO many logs. But by watch
ing the sand closely we We're able to de-
tect precisely where the redskins were
concealed. If a little mound Of sand
looked as If it had been newly made we
guessed that an Indian was concealed
in it, took careful aim and fired. Some
times an Indian would pop out and take
be a eonVulsiye movement of the sand
and then all would be as quiet and still
as death.
The manner in which the Indians had
burroWed into the sand along the bed
of the creek and thus concealed them
the most singular and remarkable things
in connection with Indian warfare / had
ever seen or heard of. In most instances
they had scooped the sand out and made
their hiding places with their bare hands.
having no implements with which to do
it. But, cunning as were their tactics.
they failed to serve them to any good
purpose. Those who had concealed
themselves in the sand met the same
fate that befell those who scattered over
the hills.
A Papoose Saved.
/ recall peculiar incidentin connec-
ton with the killing of a lot Of Indians
concealed in one of the trenches. The
slaughter had been going on for some
time, when 8 member Of my company
heard the cry of little papoose amidsl
the walls and groans of the wounded and
dying, and instantly dropped his gun
and scrambled down over the bank tc
rescue it. He had not gone far when one
of the uphurt Indians shot him, the bull
let entering his back and passing gu
through one of his lungs. He contriVe6
to get the baby despite the wound, how
ever, and, laying it tenderly on the bank
he reached for his gun and sent bulles
through the heart of his assailant His
own wound was. Of course, a painful
one, butt did not prove fatal. He was
hauled back to Fort Lyons in one of the
wagons and within two weeks was Ut
and about again, apparently none the
worse for his narrow escape from death
Along about the middle Of the after
noon the hoWitZers were brought up te
the bank of the creek opposite a poin
where a lot of savages had burroWeG
into the sand and were lying in hiding.
and opened fire. The execution was ter
rible. The Indians were huddled to
gether in large numbers in the death
trap they had prepared for themselves.
and every one of them was killed.
A white trader and his Indian wife
and a half-breed chief and his squaN
were the only members of the band of
500 savages who were spared We had
put them in the council tent of the tribe
and set a guard over them, Col. Chiving-
ton intending to take them to Denver for
some purpose. The day after the mas
saere the half-breed chief, was fatally
wounded by the accidental CO discharge
of rifle in the hands of one of the
guards
Was Slaughter Justified
The Chivington massacre was indeed
a horrible affair. Chivington has been
severely criticised for his slaughter OF
hundreds of red men, women and chill
dren, but in passing Judgment upon him
and his methods it should be borne in
mind that the sayages had committed
innumerable unprovoked, atrocious and
revolving crimes, and that the people
of Denver and throughout the state de-
manded that swift ard terrible punish
ment be meted out to them. Judged
this distance of time by ethical stand
ards the massacre may be indefensible
Such slaughter of human beings even
under great proVocation would not per-
haps be commended by public sentiment
in any part Of the country to-day. But
the public is no longer compelled to suf-
fer from such outrageous crimes by the
Indians as at that time in the west Were
Of almost daily occurrence The people
of that section of the country in those
days had little sympathy with the In
dams, and, indeed, had reason to have
little. In many parts of the west it was
practically life and death struggle be-
tween the two races, and many white
people whose instincts and impulses
were on the whole humane and noble
regarded weIl-nigh any means of pun
ishing and bringing the redskins to ae-
count for their brutal crimes as justi-
fable in the existing cireumst
AS for the part myself played in the
massacre, it was only that of a soldier
sworn to obey the commands of his SUI
perior officers. / had enlisted and gone
out to fight, and /. fought in accordance
with the orders given me to the best OF
my ability.
Copyright. 1903. BY Joseph B. Bowiss.s
Army Struck for Pay.
The Moroccan army, on the march the
other day. against the rebel Riffs. struck
for overdue pay, and the general in com
mand had to get money from the war
min Sfnr hefpra tho m n rnh 4o Al f-,r,v,k s.