The Hardin tribune-herald. [volume] (Hardin, Mont.) 1925-1973, 1937-09-17
MASSACRE STORY
BY Y
MRS. SPOTTED HORN BULL"
TELLS OF NOTED CUSTER
BATTLE

tfTo" IL NIncInuat Oazette, sept, 1881
E. p. McFadden of Pittsburgh,
who now lives among the Indians
Of the northwest, has picked up
many bits of the unwritten history
of Indian outbreaks. He lives next
door to Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull"
wife of a Dakota chief, on the
Standing Rock agency: She has
talked with MIR. McFadden about
the Custer massacre, in which she
claims to have participated.
The co~pper-colored Amazon, by her
own account, was a prominent actor in
the field of battle. Her tribute to the
merits OF her better half are not at all
flattering to him. She brands him as
having been an arrant coward. While
on General Clusters daring and BRAY
cry but little on his generalship, was
going on, Spotted Horn Bull was in
command OF his tribe. He weakened
before the bullets Of the whites, Mrs.
Spotted Horn Bull, says, as she rushed
to the rescue. She declares that she
melted her tribe by words and deeds
declares, were not equaled by any other
Indian tribe in the fight.
She was in the foremost ranks of
the combat and with her own hands
scalped and mutilated the bodies of
dozens of soldiers. She describes the
conduct OF Custer as wonderfully brave,
such as to command the respect of the
Indians while practicing their horrible
methods of warfare On the soldiers,
left the bodies of General Custer and
his brother, Capt. Tom Custer, un-
touched. Custer fought to the last. He
is believed to have been the last man
killed. The squaw, Mrs. Spotted Horn
Bull" tells of seeing his body on top
nf thnCa nf q n,.N,1rN nc r@1Is1,~ r. -,--
lying across the body of a little chief"
the Indians name for a sergeant.
Mrs. Spotted Horn Bull is now a
wlthered old Squaw whose reformation
seems to have been accomplished. She
remains close to the agency at Stand
ing Rock and seldom speaks of the
scenes of bloodshed in which she wa
dence. She evidently knows who killed
General Custer but firmly refuses to
Respect for the Clusters
1T is a source of wonder to the
whites" Mr.. McFadden states. that
the bodies of General Custer and his
brother, Tom, were not mutilated in
the massacre; 1t was well known that
'Raln-ln-the-Face' had sworn that he
would eat Tom Clusters heart. The way
he came to make the threat was as
follows:
"Rain-in-the-Face had committed
some depreciation in Nebraska for
which he was wanted by the federal
officers-horse stealing, I think it was.
He took refuge at Standing Rock. Gen.
eral Custer sent a sergeant with a de-
tail from Fort Lincoln to bring him
in. The sergeant vas compelled to re-
turn without his prisoner. The general
then said to his brother, Tom, go to
Standing Rock and bring back Rain-in-
the-Face or leave your own body there
The captain who never failed to obey
orders speedily left for the agency with
a detail of cavalry.
1T so happened that the day he
reached Standing Rock was the day
on which rations were issued at the
agency. There were fully 5000 Indians
at the place. Captain Custer placed
his detail so as to surround the trad
ing post. He dismounted and with a
revolver in n hand and a sword in
the other, entered the building. When
he got inside he asked: Where is Rain
in-the-Face?'
Silence fell on the room which was
filled with the Indians, all friendly to
Rain-in-the-Face. The order was
obeyed. The captain stepped up to the
wanted chief and clapped his revolver
against his head: I want you, Rain
in-the- F'ace,' he said. If you make an
attempt to escape I will blow your
brains out. I have only one life to lose.
II they shoot me I will surely shoot
you
submit to arrest. Going out the door,
way Of the agency he said: It's your
mine-.and then I am going to eat
v0llr heart"