THE MURDEROUS INDIANS.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Issue 11, 15 December 1877, Page 2

THE MURDEROUS INDIANS.

A THItILLISU STOKY OF THE WESTERN PLAIN'S. The women, one a Mrs. Cowan, and the other her sister, Miss Carpenter, were mounted upon Indiau ponies, while the man, a Mr. Carpenter, (all of Radersburg, M. T.,) came afoot. They had been members of a pleasure party to the Geyser region, which had been captured by the retreating Xez Perces of the 24th August, and had a miraculous escape. They were just making their camps when a small party of Indians came in, soon to be followed by a second, who told the whites they mast go to Joseph's camp. This done, the savages moved on. after a while mounting themselves upon the horses of the excursionists, to whom they the use of their ponies. The second day, when in a ravine, a body of some sixty Indians suddenly surrounded the devoted party of ten whites, who were, with one exception, close together, and began firing upon them—one Oldham being killed, and the three I have mentione 1 and a Mr. Cowan escaping unhurt, and the remainder either getting into the timber or being killed, which is not yet known. But for the escaping four an experience was reserved not often recorded, except as an episode of Indian warfare, and may be briefly narrated as follows :

" After the skirmish the two men and two women were carried along with the Indians, the monotony being finally relieved by the shooting of Mr. Cowan. He fell from his pony, and, being caught in Mrs. Cowan's arms, was again shot and his brains beaten out as she held him in her arms. Ih.- was a lawyer at ttcderxburg, and received his shot from a Nez Perce who had lwen wounded in the head in the Gibbon light. The second shot was administered with a revolver by another wounded savage, and the third completed the work by dashing out his brains with a rock, and his shrieking wife Was pulled off by a crowd of Indians, who thirsted for her blood. The poor woman, hardly a year married, begged the savage brutes to kill her outright, not supposing she would be spared a moment, but no murderous attempt was made upon her young sister.. The brother, Carpenter, was next singled out, and, being taken otf a short distance, and ordered to kneel, a burly savage raised his gun to fire, when the intended victim, bethinking him of the Jtoman Catholicism of the Nez Perces, crossed himself. As the magic symbol was traced before the Indian who was to shoot him, he hesitated, dropped his gun, rose to his feet, and told Carpenter to go, as, after that, ' I can no kill you,' he said. A council of five was then held to .decide the fate of the three trembling prisoners, at which young Carpenter was his sisters being sheltered, for the time, in the camp of the chief, White Bird. The action of this chief forms part of the romance of this episode. From the beginning he appears to have objected to dealing violently with the prisoners, and advocated the release of the entire party. He continued his kindly offices even after the attack upon the unfortunate company, and the murder of Cowan. During the council the demand for the blood of the threo prisonera was loud and determined, one Indian detailing, with savage earnestness the fact that the whites had killed his squaw, his father and his son, and, appealing for the chance for revenge, he could not bo appeased. The while voung Carpenter sat by, his life and that of his two sisters hanging in the balance, and the arguments of the savage council proving of deadly interest to him, who but an hour before hail knolt down to dio, leaving his sisters to the mercy of the Indians.

While tho council was sitting young i Carpenter, despairing of success, and , fearing for the lives and honor of his . Bisters, appealed to it to sacrifice him and I spare them, asking that if he were to be killed that they be sent in safety to tho settlement. To this a warrior named , Joseph (not tho chiof), who had shown friendly intentions from the beginning, responded, that if possible the wish should be mated, and that he himself would perform the service. But they all escaped. The couneM of five voted three to two in favor of release and life, and White Hird bore the •news of their MOtpe to the camp, where 'the trembling women awaited their fat<\ And then White Bird, lately so 000 l and deliberate, became nervous and excited, fearing reconsideration by the council or defiance of Its conclusion by the bloods and gquAWi, ' You go quick—go by this trail—don't stop ♦.) cdtup or oat, orwator

vour ponies—don't go up the river—i hurry to the Hot Springs and join your i people there—get »way—hurry I' And mounting the almost naked women upon | brokendown ponies, and giving each a [•malt piece of bread and some matches. Carpenter himself going on foot, White Bird guided theui a mile out of cainp. and then left them to wend their way to where they met Lieutenant Schofield. The women were hatless, shawless; the man hail been robbed of everything except his shirt, trousers, and boots, and, as the trail was rough and the nights were very cold, the trip to tho soldiers' camp almost without food, with no protection for the women but an old quilt presented by White Bird, and made iu momentary dread of recapture, must have been one to which the term horrible may be aptly applied. This is the story as obtained direct from the escaping party; and while late news from the Yellowstone indicates the escape of all but perhaps three of the excursionists, it is yet impossible to conclude positively as to the number killed."