lii INTR OD UCTION. 



Instances of the brutal treatment of white women, cap- 

 tured by the Indians, are unfortunately only too numerous. 

 I may, however, here refer to the case of Mrs. Blynn and 

 child, who were captured by ' Satanta,' chief of the Kiowas, 

 near Fort Lyon, while on their way to their, home in the 

 States. ' Satanta ' kept her as his captive until the time of 

 the fight of the United States' troops with the Kiowas in 

 1868, when, in order to prevent her recapture, she was ruth- 

 lessly murdered. When the bodies were discovered by 

 the troops there were two bullet holes penetrating the 

 brain, and the back of the skull was fearfully crushed, as 

 if with a hatchet ; whilst the marks on the child led to 

 the conclusion that she had been seized by the feet and 

 dashed against a tree. 



Another case was that of the Germaine girls, who were 

 captured on the banks of Smoky Hill Eiver in Western 

 Kansas, on September 10, 1874. The family consisted of 

 father, wife, and seven children ; six of whom were girls, 

 whose ages ranged between five and twenty-one years. The 

 following is the account given by Catherine, of the attack 

 and of the treatment which she and her sisters received : 

 'The next morning I went down the river's bank to 

 drive up the cattle, and when returning heard shouts and 

 yells. Eunning towards the waggon I saw my poor 

 father shot through the back and my mother tomahawked 

 by a big Indian. They were both scalped while yet 

 living. An old squaw ran up and stuck an axe into my 

 father's head and left it there. Eebecca seized an axe 

 and attempted to defend herself. She was soon over- 

 powered, and knocked down insensible. While lying on 

 the ground covered with blood, several Indians outraged 

 her person. Then they tore her clothes off and covered 

 her up with bed-clothes from the waggon. These were 

 set on fire, and my darling sister was burned to death. 

 Stephen was killed next, his scalp being taken. Sister 



