398 NATURAL AND CIVIL 



than" one hundred women inhumanly stabbed 

 and butchered, lay naked on the ground with 

 their bowels torn oVit, and still weltering in their 

 gore. In some, their throats were cut ; in oth- 

 ers, their brains were oozing out, where the 

 hatchet had cleaved their heads ; and in others, 

 the hair and the scalp had been torn off, and 

 nothing was to be seen but the bloody skull. 

 Devastation, barbarity, and horror, every where 

 appeared ; and presented a spectacle too dia- 

 bolical and awful to be endured or described.* 

 It is difficult to believe that the Frencb offi- 

 cers had contemplated any such proceedings. 

 As soon as the capitulation was signed, St. 

 Luke le Corne, who had much influence among 

 the Indians, sent for colonel Frye, who com- 

 manded a part of the Massachusetts troops. Frye 

 had been in Nova Scotia under Winslow, in 

 1755, and had protected several of the French 

 inhabitants from the fury of the Indians. Le 

 Corne told him that he had observed, and that 

 he well remembered the humanit)% that he had 

 shown to his countrymen in Nova Scotia ; that 

 he should embrace the ]:)rescnt opportunity to 

 express his gratitude, and reward his humanity ; 

 and that neither he, nor any of the Massachu- 

 setts troops, should receive any insult or injury 

 from any of the Indian tribes. Frye believed 

 in Le Corne's declarations ; but during the 

 v/hole outrage and massacre, Le Corne neither 

 appeared himself, nor sent any party to afford 

 protection, or to moderate the Indian vea- 

 geance.f 



* Putnam's Life, p. 39. 



t C«l. Joseph Frye's reUtion lo the Aulhej', 



