The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1913-01-23
LAST IOWA SURVIVOR OF MAS
SACRE DIES.
Mrs. Irene Thomas, of Albion, Pass.
es Away at Munden, Kan,
of Old Age.

of Old Age.
After having passed through the
terrible experiences of the Spirit
Lake Indian massacre, that has gone
down in Iowa history as one of the
coolest blooded Wholesale murders
ever laid at the door of the savage
Indian tribes of the pioneer days;
having seen one Of her children shot
down and killed, and her husband
wounded, by a painted warrior; hav-
ing buried her little daughter as a
result of the exposure caused by the
long journey through the snow and
cold to escape the red mems treach-
cry, Mrs. Irene Thomas, of Albion,
is dead at the venerable age of IS,
says the Marshaltown Times-Re-
publican.
Mrs. Thomas death occurred Sun
day morning at Munden, Kan, where
she had been for the past six
months. visiting her daughter, Mrs.
Emma Striker. The end was due to
old age, senile gangrene of the foot
developing. A telegram announcing
Mrs. Thomas death reached Albion
late Monday afternoon, and the body
in charge of Mrs. Striker and her
brother, Rev. Valentine Thomas, Of
Preston, Kan, reached Albion this
morning.
| Mrs. Thomas has not occupied her
| little home at Albion for the past
| eighteen months, or since she went
to the home of her son Sylvester, at
Hunter, Oklahoma, where she re-
manned until she went to be with
her only daughter.
Last Iowa Survivor of Massacre.
resident survivor of the terrible
gan on March 8, of that year, and
continued for three weeks. During
the period the bloodthirsty reds pill
LACED and murdered.
| 1t was at the James B. Thomas
home, which was then just across
the Iowa line in Minnesota, at a
point where the town of Jackson
| now stands, that the settlers OF
northern Iowa and southern Mime
sofa gathered following the massa-
ere at Spirit Lake. The Thomas
cabin was fourteen miles distant
| from the scene of the first outrage,
in which so many were killed. The
Thomases owned a double log cabin,
through which twelve portfolios
| were cut, and the barrels Of twelve
Misunderstanding rifles protruded. The
guns were kept loaded all the time,
fearing an outbreak from the war
painted reds who were still known
| to be in the country.
Long Expected Happens.
| The long-expected attack finally
came, and although ready, the set
| tiers were in way taken by sur
prise. At about 4 o'clock on the
afternoon of March 26, 1857, while
Mr.. Thomas and his son William, l l
years old, were out in the barnyard
making sugar troughs, getting ready
for the spring flow of maple sap, an
Indian, tall and straight, with his
face painted and his feathers fly
ling, was seen at the lowA Ahd OF
the barnyard, going toward the
house. Thomas and his son started
for the house, but the Indian made
a friendly sign and the father and
son slackened their speed No SOON
err had they stopped than rifles were
fired from here and there, behind
haystacks and outbuildings. Little
|
: through the head at the first volley
Mr., Thomas received ball through
his wrist. Not stopping to care for
his dead the father ran to the house,
the door was barricaded behind him,
! and for the next hour a steady ex-
change of shots between the Indians
and the imprisoned whites was kept
up.
A Young Mothers Experience.
For Mrs. Thomas, then only %
and the mother of six children, with
one OF her little ones dead, her hus-
band shot and fainting every few
minutes from pain and loss of blood,
the experiences Of the long hour that
j seemed centuries, are hard to real
ize. Between the duties of caring
for her husband and binding up his
wounded arm, and loading the rifles
as the men and older boys fired
them, Mrs. Thomas was kept busy
The younger boys moulded the bull
lets and the older ones and the men
returned the fire of the Indians.
While there were thirty occupants CT
the cabin, most of them were wo-
men and children, and upon the wo-
men devolved the most of the work
of loading the rifles.
After the hours fight the Indians
retreated, riding off through the
timber, and leading all of Thomas
horses and those of the other set
tiers who had brought their horses
to the Thomas premises.
Whether or not the fire of the
settlers was effective was never
known. as the Indians, if they lost
any OF their party, or any were
wounded. carried their dead or in
Jured with them on their retreat.
Seven Lose Lives in Attack. j..
In the attack on the Thomas cab
in and the other houses of the set
Element that were pillaged in the
same raid. seven people lost their
lives. William and George Woods,
who kept the little settlement store,
and were on friendly terms with the
Indians, had refused to join with
their neighbors in preparing for de-
tense, believing that the Indians
would not modest them. The Woods