[buki'ke] lake of the WOODS TRAGEDY 2S 



'^ In the first place, the majority of the Indians implicated were 

 averse to putting him to death. In the second place, it was through 

 sheer bravado that a crazy-bramed Indian set at naught the conse- 

 quences which held the others in awe. 



" A third particular I have gathered is, that scarcely had the deed 

 been perpetrated, than a deafening clap of thunder struck terror into 

 the whole band. They fled from the spot, believing that Heaven was 

 incensed at what they had done, 



" Finally, that the portable chapel and, namely, the chalice, which 

 was plundered, had fallen into the hands of a widowed squaw who had 

 several grown-up sons, the pride and wealth of the tribe. In a remark- 

 ably short lapse of time, all, or nearly all of them perished in her 

 sight. This she ascribed to the chalice, which her sons had given her; 

 so she rid herself of it by throwing it into the river. 



"This,'- concludes Father du Jaunay, "is all I have been able 

 to gather from the various accounts of the Indians. I met here with 

 a native, who claimed to be a Sioux and to have been present at the 

 massacre; but on being warned that he was an imposter, I did not 

 think it proper to question him, trusting to time to throw more light 

 on the occurrence.'^ 



In the Archives of the Gesù at Eome is preserved the following 

 letter, from Father Lafitau to the Father General at Eome. The 

 letter is dated at Paris, April 4.th, 1738, and the original is in Latin: — ^ 



" As to what relates to Father Aulneau, nothing more has been 

 learnt than what has already been written. He had followed an 

 officer whom the Governor of New France had commissioned to dis- 

 cover the way across the continent to the Western Ocean, as yet 

 unknowTi from this side. He had reached the sources of the 

 Mississippi and had penetrated further west. But, according to the 

 custom of adventurers of that class, who are alive to their own 

 interests which they consult rather than the common weal, the party 

 had, in barter, sold powder and other munitions of war to the tribes 

 they met with. 



" Some of the Indians, incensed at this species of traffic at which 

 their enemies gained an advantage, took occasion of an expedition this 

 officer had planned and had entrusted to his own son as leader, with 

 Father Aulneau — who had a presentiment of his death, as his letters 

 attest — to accompany him. 



" In fact, the savage band stole upon them unawares, and 

 slaughtered them all. Father Aulneau received two thrusts of a knife, 

 and was decapitated.^'^ 



^ The Aulneau Collection, jjip. 91-92. 



' Father F. Nau, writing in 1738 to Father Aulneau's mother, said: "A 

 party of Frenchmen had captured, last autumn, the murderer of our dear 



