New Ulm review., 1922-08-23
SPELBRINK, TELLS
MILFORD STORY
Continued from page ~

in fact, the only good harvest up till
that time.
August 1S broke clear and bright.
1t was an ideal harvest day. All was
we'll at 8 and 9 o'clock in the morning.
At 10 o'clock, higher rises the sun and
warmer grows, the day. Otherwise,
everything was fine" But-see that
half naked fellow over there, racing
over the prairie, with nothing but
shirt on? And now-four Indians,
seemingly in war dress, were evidently
following. Strange.
Clouds of Smoke.
What is that in the edge OF the
timber? Clouds of smoke. Strange.
Then a house afire. Then a fusilade
of shots.
Then, like bolt from clear sky,
savage fury broke on the dull PLAIN.
The gun and the tomahawk did their
deadly work.
Settlers tried to flee, but one after
the other went down to death before
the fury of the redskins. All day long,
the savages pursued and killed, till
all went down-no, not ala few
escaped-and after the sun went down,
the stiffness of death followed, with
only a glow here and there OF the
smoulderings flames OF the burned
houses. The mangled and torn bodies
of the settlers, of neighbors, were
strewn over the plains. That was the
outbreak. That was, the massacre.
That was Milford's bloody day.
Story in Detail.
Mr.. Spelbrink told OF the move
ments of the Indians in detail. How
they first came to the Massapust home,
peaceful enough in their outward be-
havior. How they asked for drink
of water. A girl gave it to them.
Then suddenly, without warning, the
Indians shot and killed. One boy
escaped. The Indians fired the house
and then they saw two teams headed
for the Sioux agency. While the red
skins were occupied with the passing
travellers, John escaped. He passed
his dying sister as he ran. She begged
him to- take her with him, but he
couldn't. He ran down and hid in
slough. From his hiding place, he had
to witness an Indian taking his dying
sister by the hair, pull out his scalping
knife, cut and slash and cut, till the
head was cut off, the Indian carrying
it by the hair. At this point, the boy
showed more of his body than he
should and was noticed by the Indian,
who went for the boy. But the boy
ran for his life, and that was the fellow
Spelbrink saw running across the
prairie with only shirt on. That was
the beginning of the outbreak in Mil
ford township.
Sick Woman Killed.
The next place was John Stocker's
place. Mrs. Stocker was sick in bed.
She had been friendly to the Indians,
but they shot her dead in bed. Mr..
Stocker and young girl went into the
basement. The Indians dragged
heavy objects on the trap door and
fired the house. A small opening under
the sill was enlarged by Stocker, first
by the use of the hands, then using a
shingle which had been used as cover
over milk pans. When he had the
hole big enough, he asked the girl to
60 first, but she didn't dare, so he had
to 60 first. The girl was small and
couldn't reach up to get out through
the hole, but found a crock to step on
and got out. Both escaped to the
cornfeld adjoining the house, but were
separated in the cornfeld. Finally,
after a long search, the girl found
Stocker sitting on the bank OF creek.
1t took them eight or ten hours to get
in to New Ulm from there. That
little girl is still living, now the widow
of the late City Clerk Schilling. d.
Woman Hid For II Days.
Mrs. Hartman heard firing at noon
and thinking that the Indians were
killing some cattle ran out. She first
found the hired man dead. Then her
husband, who was shot. He asked her
to drag him into a cornfield. She
probably might have succeeded, but
just then two Indians came into sight
and he told her to save herself. She
didn't want to leave him and he had
to talk harshly to her tt get her to run
and hide in the cornfeld After dark,
she slipped back to her husband and
found him dead" She hid in the corn
field and in the woods for II days, and
was finally found and rescued by al
party, including her own brother.
At that time, she, was engaged in
gathering aplums and nuts and digging
potatoes to store up for winter, think
ing she was the only white person still
alive in all the neighborhood.
Mr.. Spelbrink told of the terrible
happenings at all the various settlers
homes and dwelt on the courage of |
two men who went back alone to save
a boy, who had been lett for dead, but |