A RIDE THROUGH THE LAND OF THE NEZ PERCES. 355 



them." Meanwhile, the members of his 

 band who were with him at the conference 

 had been quietly gathering all the ammu- 

 nition they could find. The council ended 

 when Joseph pledged his sword he would 

 come in a month from that day. The In- 

 dians then mounted their horses, rode 

 quietly up the hill, turned, looked back on 

 the valley, gave a wild yell, and galloped 

 away. 



The month which followed was one of 

 great anxiety to the settlers and the troops 

 at the fort, for they were few in numbers, 

 and there were grave doubts of Joseph's 

 sincerity. When, however, the time had 

 almost passed, reports came that the In- 

 dians were quietly preparing to move to 

 the reservation. The anxious faces re- 

 laxed, for the cloud seemed to have 

 passed by. 



Suddenly the storm burst. A man rode 

 wildly into the village of Mt. Idaho with 

 news that the Indians had broken out on 

 the Salmon, and had already murdered n 

 settlers. A nam named Day volunteered to 

 ride to Fort Lapwai, over 70 miles away, 

 to give the alarm to the garrison. When 

 he had ridden some 30 miles across the 

 prairie, he was attacked and severely 

 wounded. He turned back to Norton's 

 ranch, where he found 9 persons — men, 

 women and children. Norton abandoned 

 everything, and all started for Mt. Idaho. 

 The fate of the party is best told by Gen- 

 eral Howard : 



"They set out with a wagon with 2 on 

 horseback, about 10 p. m., and had gone 

 about 10 miles when the Indians came up 

 and began firing on them. Soon Norton 

 and Moore, the horse riders, were badly 

 wounded, and compelled to abandon their 

 horses and get into the wagon. The team 

 was, however, soon shot down and the 

 wagon came to a halt. Miss Bowers and 

 little Hill Norton got out of the wagon 

 and made their escape unharmed. Mr. 

 Chamberlain, his wife and 2 children at- 

 tempted to escape in the darkness, but had 

 gone only a short distance when they were 

 discovered by the Indians. Chamberlain 

 and his little boy were killed. The boy was 

 murdered, according to the mother's state- 

 ment, by having his head placed beneath 

 the knees of a powerful Indian, and so 

 crushed to death. The other child was 

 torn from its mother and dreadfully 

 wounded, a piece of its tongue being cut 

 out and a knife run through its neck. Mrs. 

 Chamberlain was repeatedly outraged by 

 the Indians, and received severe injuries. 

 The remainder of the party sought shelter 

 between the dead horses. There Norton 

 was struck by a ball and killed. Moore 

 was shot through the hips, Day through 

 the shoulder and legs, and Mrs. Norton 

 through both legs. The Indians kept up a 



desultory firing until daylight, when they 

 withdrew. Miss Bowers having in the 

 meantime reached Mt. Idaho, the alarm 

 was given, and several men started for the 

 scene of the massacre. The wounded 

 were brought to town. Day died the fol- 

 lowing afternoon. Moore lingered 6 weeks 

 and then died. Mrs. Norton, Mrs. Cham- 

 berlain and her child in time recovered." 



The fiend who was responsible for all 

 this was lauded by many at the time as a 

 humane Indian, fighting for his rights, and 

 one who waged war after the manner of 

 civilized men. Not long ago, when the 

 great men of the land assembled to dedi- 

 cate the tomb of the hero at Riverside, 

 Joseph posed in the streets of New York, 

 when his bones should have been rotting in 

 a murderer's grave. 



A troop of cavalry reached Norton's 

 July 2d, and the next day 2 scouts, who 

 were familiar with the country, were sent 

 out to ascertain if there were Indians 

 near. Soon one of them came riding 

 rapidly back, and said that they had been 

 jumped by Indians, and that his co'm- 

 panion's horse had stumbled and thrown 

 his rider. Finding they could not catch 

 the animal, the dismounted man told his 

 companion to hurry back to camp and 

 give the alarm, and that he could easily 

 find shelter in the timber near by. Lieu- 

 tenant Rains was at once sent forward 

 with 10 picked men and the scout. Firing 

 was soon heard, and the entire command 

 moved rapidly forward, only to find 13 

 dead men. 



To return to our ride. A few miles 

 across the prairie we came on 2 little 

 mounds of fresh earth, close by the way- 

 side. They were the graves of the scouts. 

 Farther on were 3 others, the graves of 

 some of Rains' men. I rode off to a clus- 

 ter of low rocks which cropped out on the 

 prairie a short distance from the trail. Be- 

 hind these 7 men had made their last stand, 

 only to be shot down. The rocks were lit- 

 erally covered with marks of bullets. Far- 

 ther on, in a little depression of the prairie, 

 Lieutenant Rains' body was found. 



Norton's was soon reached, and our -ani- 

 mals unsaddled and put in the immense 

 barn, which was filled to overflowing with 

 hay and grain. Near by was the house, once 

 a large and comfortable structure, but now 

 the picture of desolation. It was common- 

 ly known as Cottonwood House and was 

 the only stopping place on 50 miles of the 

 route between Mt. Idaho and Fort Lapwai. 



We soon had a roaring fire on the 

 hearth, warmed the coffee that was in our 

 canteens, and proceeded to feast on dry 

 bread and cold pork. By that time it was 

 pouring rain. In the house it was com- 

 paratively so comfortable that I told the 

 guide we would better stay there all night, 



