Webster City freeman. [volume] (Webster City, Hamilton County, Iowa) 1884-1946, 1913-04-15
d the.wnrk Of organizing and pre-

reached Homer and Hooks Point
the story had grown until report
had it that all the settlers north o
Fort Dodge had been killed and tina
town was then besieged and the PEG
Die were liable to be all murdered
during the night; that a large force
was rapidly approaching Webster
City, killing the settlers and de
stroying their property as they
came. So perfectly panic stricken
and wild had the people become
that they paid no heed to anything
that did not lend additional fuel tc
the flame of fright. For instance
Judge Doane had been at FIT. Dodge
that day and when he left in the af-
| ternoon, all was quiet and serene
When he reached Homer, the people
| were gathered in groups on the
streets, telling how Fort Dodge was
under siege, and when he told them
he had just come from there and
| there was nothing in the story so
far as that town was concerned,
they paid no heed to him, but ran
away all the same. 1t is said that
Judge Pierce and Judge Doane and
their families alone stayed at home,
but inquiry shows that even these
stayed because Doane didn't have a
team to run away with, and Pierce
had loaned his wagon to Mr.. Register
further down the river, who, when
he heard the news, hitched onto the
borrowed wagon and made tracks
for the south, and left Judge Pierce
with no wagon or other vehicle to
run away with. AS the women folks
were unable to walk with any hope
of outrunning their pursuers if they
were really coming, they concluded
to stay and take chances.
The two scouts, having lost sight
of the fleeing one, thought no more
of the matter and rode leisurely
along until they found the whiskey
bottle and powder horn, and again
the idea that they were mistaken
for Indians came into their heads,
and it was exceedingly funny, too,
to them. They drank the whiskey
and laughed at the fellows folly,
but when they got to town and
found the uproar the people were in,
they did not dare to make the true
statement of the case, but averred
that they had been far up the coun-
try, and that they had seen no In
dams nor any signs of them. and
that it was all folly to be scared at
all about it. While their story had
a quieting effect, the work of guard
ing the town was not abandoned
and not few of the settlers de-
clared that both the scouts were so
drunk that they wouldn't know an
Indian if they saw one.
All night long, and until the next
afternoon, the settlers from the
north kept coming into town, and it
seemed that when one started to
run. his imagination turned many
objects in the rear into the likeness
of Indian pursuers. and SO not few
that came to town asserted that
they had seen the foe with their
own eyes. Thus again was the re-
assuring report of the two scouts
dscredited, and the theory of their
being drunk strengthened Josiah
Downing's people, six miles north Of
town We're engaged in making ma
pie sugar and had a quantity of sap
just ready to sugar Off but ev-
erything was quickly abandoned.
Mr.. Downing used to declare after
wards that his one regret at leav-
ing was that he had no poison to
put into the sap, that the Indians
when they came might eat it and
be poisoned, and he always declared
that if he had had any he certainly
would have put it in. 1t is well.
however, that he had none, for sew
eral of the younger men scouting
up in that direction before the re-
turn OF the family. finding there
were no Indians, went to the camp
and ate their fill Of the sugaH. and
among those was Angus McLaugh-
lin, whose earthly career would IN
dcubtedly have closed then and
there for he filled himself full of
that deserted sweetness.
South of town the panic was cv-
en- wilder than north of it. Many
settlers left their tables setting on
the floor with meals prepared, and
ran away, in some cases neglecting
even to shut the door. One settler
whose name we refrain from men
tioning, had put what corn he had
under the bed to save it better. and
left his house and everything in it