Year: 1877




at was awful, sir. The boy here says
that the Indians appeared soon after l
left and asked for powder. She wouldn't
open the doors, and they got a log and
were going to batter their way in when
she killed the two l saw as | rode up.
They then surrounded the building. and
the battle opened. There wasn't bet
ter wife and mother in this world, sir,
and | never dreamed she had such pluck.
When L think-when l think, sir, how
she must have looked for me back. and
how she wondered what had become of
me, and how despair crept into her
heart, II wish l was dead. The other
two children were girls, one aged twelve
and the other seven. The boy says that
Mary, the oldest, used the revolver from
one of the doors while her mother de-
Tended the other, and that little Clara
carried cartridges to both of them from
the closet. There was half story cham
Der to the cabin, and the boy was sta
toned up there to look through the crew
ices and watch for me. When his moth
er knew that part of the Indians had
suddenly withdrawn, and when she
heard the firing on the bluffs, she called
him down from his post and gave him
rifle which l had laid away to sell to
some Indian. He says that she was very
pale, and that her hands trembled, but
she kept the Spencer going. Lying
among the rocks, nearly a mile away,
and with an Indian rifle popping at me
every second, l heard that catbine above
all the din My post couldn't stand an
Indian attack. and l knew it, as there
we're too many windows and doors to de-
fend. The house and store-room were
connected by doorway, but there were
no lOOp-hOles at the end of the store
room and the Indians could gather there
and be safe. 1t was about s o'clock in
the morning when took to the bluffs,
and when noon came | could still hear
the carbine going. / was wondering all
the time why the devils didn't set fire
to the post. but they had other plans. l
had three kegs of powder, lots of lead,
two barrels of -four, twenty pairs of
blankets, fifty powder horns and various
other goods in there, and they wanted
them. They several times called. upon
my wife to surrender, but she kept up
the fire and encouraged the children.
About one o'clock all the Indians sur
rounding me, except about half dozen,
drew off and joined those around the
post. was in safe place and yet it
was in bad place. They couldn't reach
me with their bullets, and yet they had
positions from which they could have
killed me had | stood up or moved six
feet right or left. The excitement kept
pain away for an hour. but after that /
was pretty badly used up, having not a
drop of water to wash my wounds or
quench my thirst"


about one O'clock" he went on, af-
ter short rest, "all firing ceased, and
| believed the post had been captured.
Half crazy with anxiety and distress /
rose up, determined to dash out, but the
bullets came so fast that was frighten-
ed under cover again. Few men ever put
In such an afternoon as l did there.
Pain and thirst were terrible enough, to
say nothing of my mental distress. l
hadn't the least hope of getting out
alive. and along toward night got reck-
less as to consequences. l should have
made dash for the river, which was in
plain sight and not over half mile
away, and was just on the point of ris-
ing when yells and shots from my cabin
held me- For about five minutes there
was lively roar of firearms, and over
all other noises | could hear that car
bine going boom boom boom The
Indians who had been left to watch me
now opened fire and began yelling, and
it wasn't long before | suspected the
truth. You see. as / suspected and as
the boy afterwards related, the murder
Gus devils found they couldn't capture
the post by assaults on the doors. That
brave little woman and poor children
were too much for forty or fifty Indians.
After losing nine or ten killed and over
dozen wounded, the reds collected at
the west end of the store-room, out of
range, and went to work to tear out the
logs. They were three or four hours get
ting things ready, but when the time
came all the end of the building went
down at once. My wife and children
were ready for 'em. They defended the
doorway for full fifteen minutes, or un-
til all but this boy was shot dead When
the Indians finally swarmed in ne was
the only one left to wreak vengeance on.
They tomahawked him, started to scalp
him. and he was the same as dead for
hours. He is sure the others were dead
before the Indians got through the door,
and l praise God for that consolation,
while 1t drives me crazy to think of it. "


There was period of silence, the boy
xuanp;rn, h;ffarlu and thor, Groay hrooad