CRUELTY. 421 



been beaten out against walls or trees, were collected and 

 buried. They found at one farmhouse the scalped and 

 mutilated body of an old man lying on the floor of the 

 living-room. On the floor of an adjoining bedroom the 

 corpse of an old woman was found in the same con- 

 dition. On going into another bedroom a most pitiable, 

 sickening sight met their eyes. Three young girls, the 

 eldest about twenty, the youngest not more than four- 

 teen, scalped and terribly mutilated, were hanging against 

 the walls by large nails driven through the palms of the 

 outstretched hands. They had been in this position for 

 several days. The youngest had been dead some time ; 

 another died almost immediately after being taken down ; 

 the third lived for a day or two, and gave some account 

 of the massacre. The ringleader of the outrage was 

 well known to the family, and had always been regarded 

 as a special friend. He had often taken meals with them ; 

 and on the morning of the massacre he and two or 

 three others came in. friendly as usual, shook hands all 

 round, and asked for something to eat. A few moments 

 after, this friend suddenly drew his tomahawk and 

 crushed in the skull of the father. The women ran 

 into the bedroom and attempted to barricade themselves. 

 A yell brought twenty or thirty more Indians, who sur- 

 rounded the house, cutting off all chance of escape. 

 The door of the bedroom was then broken up and the 

 mother killed by a blow. The three girls were then 

 stripped of all clothing and successively violated, the 

 special friend being the first to begin the outrage. 



The girls were thus kept all day serving the lusts of 

 these fiends, in the same room with the dead body of 

 their mother. 



Just before night an Indian came in with some report 

 which seemed to alarm them, and after consultation one 

 went out and brought in an axe and some large spike 

 nails. The girls were then taken singly into their own 

 bedroom, forced into a standing position with their backs 



