The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1910-07-01

at this point they broke out in sad
lamentation in their own language
which partly partook of the savage
passion within them. Many of them
wore religious emblems and they paint
ed their bodies and decorated their hair
with feathers, no doubt as carefully
as they had always done before going
on the war path. At nine o'clock in
the morning the Father entered the
prison and knelt with them in prayer.
The Indians all joining him in voices
hardly recognizable-so soft and gentle
were they.
The gall0ws was erected on Front
street and near the east bank of the
Minnesota river. 1t was so arranged
that the cutting of one rope would
cause all of them to die at once. When
they were brought forth from their
prison, they assembled the scaffold hur-
riedly as though afraid of being left
behind and as soon as the white caps
were drawn over their eyes, all began
to sing j. Duly of Lake Shetek, who
had three children massacred and his
wife and two other children taken cap.
tives by the tribe, at a signal of a
drum, cut the rope which launched the
thirty nine Indians and half breeds into
eternity at one and the same mo-
ment. Great crowds witnessed this
awful scene, the like of which never
has and probably never will again take
place in all history. Little Grow, the
leader of the Sioux, had not as yet
been captured, and it was not until
July 3, 1863, that he was shot by
boy, on the prairies near Hutchinson,
Minnesota, and his son, who was with
him taken captive by the settlers.
Even after all these dreadful things
had transpired, the Indians still con.
tinued to harass the settlers-ther
thirst for blood had not been quenched
and two years later they came within
three miles of our home and killed two
of our neighbors, Messrs. Mack and
Root, took their horses and again left
the country. The next year they again
entered our community and murdered
the whole Jewett family, who lived on
the western part of the Winnebago
reservation, scarcely ten miles east of
us.
How often I remember hearing my
husband and a Mr.. Mead discussing
"reminiscences of early days and of a
fright the latter had during the up
rising of the Indians. | will here relate
the story for the benefit of my readers,
although it loses some of its force by
repetition. Mr.. Mead's homestead was
only two miles from us. He therefore
being near neighbor of ours both
before and for many, many years after
the outbreak.
In August, 1862 Mr. Mead and family
had been staying in Garden City for a
few days awaiting further news of the
Indian ravages before deciding what
course to pursue. When the report
came that the Indians were burning
New Ulm and afterward expected to
come on and take Mankato, he thought
it about time he was pulling up stakes
and leaving the country. He had pro-
visions at his farm, some eight miles
distant, and he planned to get them
to take with them on their fight. He
therefore took his wife and children
and neighbor lady and they hastily
made their way to the farm and had
a good start on their return journey
when they saw in the distance, six or
eight men riding rapidly toward them
on horseback from toward Gar
den City; they of course, thought these
men were Indians, as every one in
those days imagined everything, even
to a board standing on end, to be
real live Indian. Mr.. Mead turned
his team toward the village of Yer
non Center which was four miles dis
tant and urged his horses to their ut
most speed. Mrs. Mead, who was sick at
the time, was lying on a feather bed
which had been placed in the bottom of
the box for her, while the neighbor
lady sat in the rear of the box and
watched carefully the pursuit of the
wild Indians, reporting from time to
time that the red men were steadily
gaining on them; with each new re-
port, lash was given the horses which
We're already all but flying. Finally the
supposed Indians (who proved to be
only white men who wished to confer
with them) turned their horses in an
ether direction and rode rapidly away,
realizing that they were frightening the
driver of the swiftly moving team. MIR.
Mead never Stacked his pace until he
arrived in Vernon, his horses white
with foam and weak from exhaustion.
Upon making an inventory of his fam
lily and provisions after arriving there
he found new tin pail which had been
his seat in front of the wagon during
4 l. 4 =. l.