The Ronan pioneer., 1917-01-26

their lost horses, but finally rounded
up the balance and pulled out down
Birch Creek. Then we went to their
camp and found the remains of Col
onel Shoup's wagons, which had been
burned. We found all sorts of mer-
chandise scattered around
Murdered Freighters Found.
Soon 7 found two of the murdered
freighters, who evidently had put up
a hard fight before they died. Later
Colonel Shoup, Dave Woods and Bill
ly Price came along with a pack
horse, some grub and a pick and
shovel. The two men l found We're
Jim Hayden and Dan Combs. Dave
Woods found the body of AL Green,
another freighter, in the creek, where
he evidently fell when shot. Colonel
Shoup saw magpies flying around up
the creek and found a fourth freight
ers body beside that of dead mule
We never discovered his identity.
Hayden's gun was broken and
bent, the barrel still gripped in his
hands. Dan Combs had his mule
whip lash wrapped around his hand,
and the shot-loaded butt was covered
with blood and hair, which showed
that he had done some work with it.
The only freighter unaccounted for
was AL Lyons. We judged that he
had escaped, and this later proved to
be the case. We were just on the
point of leaving when we found a
fifth body of white man in the
brush about ten feet from where
Green lay. He had died fighting
with an axe, which still was gripped
accounted for at least one Indian
working his way through with the
outfit. He had $50 IN his watch-fob
pocket.
After burying all of them we start
ed back to Salmon. There the China
men were able to talk more and told
us about the massacre. 1t seemed
that 60 Nez Perce warriors lode on
to the freight outfit and took them
to the Indian camp, putting the Chi
namen to work cooking the grub in
the wagons The squaws knocked
the head out of a barrel Of whiskey
and emptied dozens of cans Of food
and used the cans for cups.
Cinnamon Hide in Creek.
The Indians then began to abuse
the Cinnamon. They made one OF
the Chinks get down on his hands and
knees and an Indian rode him with
spurs. Then the squaws began to
get nasty and burned sticks and prod
ded the freighters IN the neck with
them. Finally Dan Combs said: '"The
next squaw that touches me is going
to get this bull whip over the ears. .
Just then one poked him in the cal
with hot coal and he let her have
the loaded butt end of the whip over
the head. She went down like a beef
and general fight started. Hayden
used his gun as a club after shooting
once, and every one ducked for the
willows but the Chinks. All the
whites but Lyons were soon killed.
He got away and finally got back to
the stage road at Eagle Rock, 1876
miles from the massacre. The Chin
amen got into the creek and hid
until night in the water with only
their noses sticking out. The Indians,
after getting over their drunk, fin
ished burning the freight outfit and
left after mutilating the body of Hay
den.
returned to junction and over the
divide to Williams junction, where
l reported to Howard's command. !
stayed with him as scout until How
ard was relieved by General Miles on
the Yellowstone. The Nez Perces
were rounded up by General Miles in
the Little Bear Paw moun 'ins in
October.
l believe that all of the men
mentioned in this story are dead ex-
cepting Falkner, Pat Dempsey, who
lives in the Flathead, and me.