History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 20

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080

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As the command advanced through the cañon, they came to an old coal-mine, and in it was found the dead body of an Agency employe named Frank Dresser. He had evidently been wounded, and crawled in the mine to die. His coat was folded up and placed under his head for a pillow. Beside him lay a Winchester rifle containing eight cart- tridges, and marked "J. Max Clark." Young Dresser had succeeded in escaping from the Agency massacre badly wounded, but could not reach the troops.

E. W. Eskridge was found about two miles north of the Agency. He was stripped to an

entire state of nudity, and had his head mashed as though he had been struck with some heavy ap- plianee. He was formerly in the banking business at Marshalltown, Iowa. He was a lawyer by pro- fession, and had only been at the Ageney a short time, having been sent there by Hon. William N. Byers, of Denver, in response to a request from Father Meeker for a clerk.

In one of his pockets, a letter was found. which read as follows :

WHITE RIVER, September 29, 1 o'clock P. M.

Maj. Thornburg :

I will come with Chief Douglass and another chief and meet you to-morrow. Everything is quiet here, and Douglass is flying the United States flag. We have been on guard three nights, and will be to-night-not that we expect any trouble, but because there might be. Did you have any trouble coming through the cañon ?

N. C. MEEKER, United States Indian Agent.

This note Father Meeker had sent out but a few minutes before the massacre commenced. Two Indians accompanied Mr. Eskridge, and, doubtless, were his murderers. One of them was Chief Antelope, a worthless raseal.

On entering the Agency, a scene of quiet deso- lation presented itself. All the buildings, except one, were burned to the ground, and there was not a living thing in sight, except the command. The Indians had taken everything except flour, and decamped. The women and children were missing, and nothing whatever could be found to indicate what had become of them. They had either been murdered and buried or else taken away as hostages.

The Indian Agent, N. C. Meeker, was found lying dead about two hundred yards from his head- quarters, with one side of his head mashed. An iron chain, the size of which is commonly known as a log-chain, was found encircled about his neck, and a piece of a flour-barrel stave had been driven through his mouth. When found, his body was in an entire state of nudity.

The dead body of Mr. W. H. Post, Father Meeker's assistant, was found between the build- ings and the river, a bullet-hole through the left

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ear and one under the ear. He, as well as Father Meeker, was stripped entirely naked.

Another employe, named Eaton, was found dead. He was stripped naked, and had a bundle of paper bags in his arms. His face was badly eaten by wolves. There was a bullet-hole in his left breast.

Harry Dresser, a brother to the one found in the coal mine, was found badly burned. He had, without doubt, been killed instantly, as a bullet had passed through his heart.

Mr. Price, the Agency blacksmith, was found dead, with two bullet-holes through his left breast. The Indians had taken all his clothing, and he was found naked.

The bodies were all buried near the Agency, but will be taken up in the spring and re-interred at Greeley, where a monument will be raised in their honor.

The complete list of the killed is as follows : Agent Meeker, Assistant W. H. Post, Frank and Harry Dresser, E. W. Eskridge, E. Price, Fred Shepard, George Eaton, W. H. Thompson, E. L. Mansfield. Another employe and sole survivor of the males at the Agency was absent at the time, having left a day or two before.

With the exception of Eskridge, all the em- ployes were from Greeley, and were members of the very best families of that excellent community. The young men had been particularly generous and just to the Indians, and the latter professed such friendship for them that, in a letter written by an ·employe to his relatives in Greeley only the night before the massacre, the writer expressed his

confidence in the friendship of the savages by stating that he felt himself as safe as if he were at home in Greeley. Whatever complaints the Indians made against Father Meeker-and they were too trivial for serious consideration -- there was no out- ward appearance of enmity on their part toward the employes, and the murder of the latter only serves to establish the fact that Indian friendship for the white race amounts to nothing more than a cloak for treachery.

The desolated Agency and the haggard corpses scattered around the ruins gave nothing but a ghastly suggestion of how the massacre was ac- complished, and it was not until some time after- ward that the wretched story was told by the rescued captives. It appears that the attack had been made shortly after noon on Monday, perhaps half an hour after Mr. Eskridge and his Indian escort left the Agency with Father Meeker's letter to Maj. Thornburg. The Agency employes were at work upon a building when the savages sud- denly opened fire upon them. The terror-stricken women and children hid themselves while the massacre was in progress, and, consequently, saw little or nothing of its horrid details. Frank Dresser hid himself with the women after being slightly wounded, and, later in the day, made his escape to the brush, but was afterward found dead in the coal mine, as already stated. The women and children attempted to escape at the same time, but were captured almost immediately after leav- ing their place of hiding. An account of their experience while in captivity will be found in a subsequent chapter.

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CHAPTER VI.

CESSATION OF HOSTILITIES-RESCUE OF THE PRISONERS.

W E come now to the most remarkable feature of the Ute campaign -- the sudden cessa- tion of hostilities at the very moment when the power of administering punishment to the Meeker and Thornburg murderers was in the hands of Gen. Merritt in the north, and Gen. Hatch in the south. Nearly, if not quite, three thousand Fed- eral troops had been rushed into Colorado with wonderful celerity, and were now distributed within striking distance of the foe. Officers and men were alike burning to inflict severe and summary punishment upon the cut-throat assassins who had not only made war upon the Government, but had characterized their revolt by inhuman atrocities upon non-combatants at the Agency. Colorado, as with one voice, demanded that the war which had been begun by the Utes themselves should be con- tinued until they cried " Enough !" Although Ouray protested that his Indians were not impli- cated, it did not seem necessary, for that reason, to spare those really and truly guilty. "Let the troops advance," said Gov. Pitkin, "and it will be easy to determine who are the hostile Indians. Those who get in the way of the troops and show fight are the ones who ought to be punished."

But the high and mighty Moguls of the Interior Department evolved another scheme and put it into execution. They said, in effect :

"The troops must not advance upon the Indians. If they do, some good Indian who did not fight at Milk River, nor assist in the Agency massacre, may be killed or wounded. The war is over anyhow, since Ouray ordered the Utes to stop fighting. Ouray says he will surrender the insur- gents, and a trial by a civil tribunal will cost much less than an Indian war. It is a pity that Meeker and Thornburg were killed, but if we can find out who killed them, through Ouray, we will do

something terrible with the murderers-perhaps send them to prison."

Economically considered, perhaps, this was sound doctrine, but it grated terribly on the nerves of Coloradoans and the army. Gen. Sher- idan gave expression to his disgust in very vigor- ous English. Gov. Pitkin sent the following ringing telegram to Secretary Schurz:

STATE OF COLORADO, EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENT, DENVER, October 22, 1879. Hon. Carl Schurz, Secretary of the Interior :

Information from Southwestern Colorado satisfies me that many of Ouray's warriors were in the Thornburg fight. To surrender the criminals, Onray must surren- der his tribe, which he is powerless to do. They adhere to him for protection only, and will not submit to punishment. Neither will they surrender White River Utes, who are bound to them by the closest ties, and are no more guilty than themselves. They whipped Thornburg's command, and now Merritt retires. It cannot be disguised that the fighting men of the tribe are hostile and flushed with victory. They are sav- ages. They take no prisoners, except women. Their trophies are not banners, but scalps.

If the policy of military inactivity continues, our frontier settlements are liable to hecome scenes of mas- sacre. Unless the troops move against the Indians, the Indians will move against the settlers. Must 300 miles of border settlements be subjected to this peril? The General Government is doing nothing to protect or defend onr settlements. The State cannot defend all this border except by attacking the enemy.

In behalf of our people, I represent the danger to you, and urge that the Government recognize that a war with barbarians now exists which involves the lives of numerous exposed mining settlements. It can be terminated only by the most vigorous and uninter- rupted warfare.

(Signed) FREDERICK W. PITKIN, Governor.

The only effect of these and other remonstrances was to secure the retention of troops in the State, whereby the Indians were held in check and the

HARRISON REDUCTION WORKS, LEADVILLE COL.

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people of Colorado were preserved from the terrors of Indian raids. Merritt's command remained posted at White River, and Hatch's troops in the south were disposed at various points, as military prudence suggested. The hostile Indians kept a close watch on Merritt's forces, and Lieut. Wier, of the Ordnance Department, was murdered by them while out hunting a short distance from the Agency. A scout named Humme, who accompa- nied Lieut. Wier as a guide, was also killed. Sub- sequently, the Utes stole the Government herd of beef at White River, besides committing numerous depredations on ranchmen of the reservation ; but these little eccentricities were kindly overlooked by the " Peace Commissioners " who were solving the problem by diplomacy and conciliation-two parts of the latter to one of the former. It is but fair to say, however, that the Commissioners were only acting under directions from the Interior Depart- ment.

But to go back a little. There was just one good result of the cessation of hostilities for which the powers that be in Washington ought to receive credit, and that was the rescue of the women and children prisoners, from the clutches of the Indi- ans. These prisoners were not held for safe-keep- ing and delivery to their friends, but as hostages, and it was with great difficulty that they were rescued.

Gen. Charles Adams, a well-known Coloradoan, was entrusted with this delicate mission. He had been an Indian Agent, and was well acquainted with the Utes, besides being a personal friend of Chief Ouray. It was, in fact, entirely through the influence of the latter that Gen. Adams met with his unexpected success in his negotiations. Ouray is a veritable red Richelieu. Diplomacy is his delight. Fighting has few charms for him, though he is brave enough upon occasion. But his diplomacy has saved his tribe on more than one occasion, when fighting would have been of no avail. In the matter of the captive women and children, Ouray was quick to see that, while any cruel treatment at the hands of their captors

would inflame the country against the Utes, the release of the prisoners, unharmed, would be the strongest card the Indians could possibly play, and so he bent the whole force of his energies to accomplish their release and delivery to their friends.

It has been quite the custom to accord the Indians great credit for surrendering the captives. When the true history of their captivity comes to be understood, as revealed by the official examina- tion, it will be known that the original purpose of the red rascals was not to surrender their prison- ers at all, and that they were only talked into it by the persuasive eloquence of Ouray's. emissaries, who, doubtless, expatiated largely upon the advan- tages which would accrue from their surrender.

Gen. Adams, on the other hand, was not author- ized to offer any terms for their surrender, and it is entirely safe to say that he could have accomplished nothing without Ouray's assistance, and Ouray could have accomplished nothing without profuse promises of immunity from punishment, which, unhappily, bid too fair to be realized at this writing.

The instructions to Gen. Adams from the Inte- rior Department reached him at Denver on the evening of October 14. Their purport was to the effect that, as the Indians had ceased fighting, in obedience to Chief Ouray's orders, and as Ouray was ready and willing to co-operate with the Gov- ernment in settling the difficulty, Gen. Adams should put himself in communication with Ouray, and together they should proceed to secure, first, the release of the captives, and secondly, the sur- render of the guilty Indians. Later, Adams, Ouray and Gen. Hatch were constituted a commission to investigate the White River and Thornburg mas- sacres, but, for the time being, Adams was merely appointed a special commissioner of the Interior Department to rescue the white women and children.

Adams left Denver October 15, for the South- ern Agency, and arrived at Ouray's camp on the night of the 18th, where he and Chief Ouray fully discussed the course to be pursued. The hostile camp was then located on Grand River, nearly one

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hundred miles to the north, but Ouray was in con- stant communication with the hostiles by means of Indian runners, who, indeed, had been going and coming continually. All necessary arrangements were made, including a strong Indian escort, and Adams started on the morning of the 19th of October.

The escort consisted of Sapovanero Shavano, the young Chief Colorow-not the celebrated chieftain of that name-and ten Indians. Count Von Doenhoff, an attache of the German Legation at Washington ; Capt. Cline, the well-known frontiersman, and one of the Agency employes, accompanied Adams. The party was under the surveillance of Indian runners from the time of leaving the Agency until its return. These were sent out by Ouray, and reported to him from day to day the progress of events. Ouray was not en- tirely confident of the success of the mission, as it appeared, and if it failed, he wanted to know ex- actly who was responsible for the failure. He had sent out the expedition himself, and felt responsi- ble, at least, for the safety of its members.

Not counting the German Count, the commis- sion was admirably organized. Gen. Adams was known to all the Indians of the tribe, and to many of them he was endeared by many acts of gen- erosity and kindness which had won for him among them the appellation of "Washington." Capt. Cline was even more highly esteemed by the Indians. For years, he had been the only white man living on the reservation. In another place, it was stated that the wagon road leading to Ouray City crossed sixty or seventy miles of the reserva- tion, and, of course, a stage-station and stopping- place for teams was necessary on that part of the road lying within the reservation. This station was kept by Capt. Cline, by permission of the " lords of the soil," and they even went so far as to mark out a considerable scope of country which Capt. Cline should have for his own use and ben- efit. "Mother Cline," as the Captain's wife was universally known, was also greatly respected by the Indians, and the worthy couple enjoyed, in the

fullest degree, the esteem and confidence of the whole tribe of Utes.

The expedition followed the old Mormon road as far as it was practicable, about forty miles be- yond the Gunnison River. The wagons were then left behind, and the party struck out on horse- back. Their first camp was at the Gunnison, whence Sapovanero sent out two runners to inform the hostiles of their coming. The second night's camp was on Grand River, twenty miles distant from the hostile camp, which was reached at 10 o'clock of the third day. At Grand River, they were met by two envoys from the hostile camp- Henry Jim, the White River interpreter, and Cojoe, an Uncompahgre Indian. It is a curious fact that the first hostile Indian who met Gen. Adams en route, and the first Indian he saw in the camp of the hostiles, were Uncompahgres, though it has been long and loudly denied that the Uncompahgre Utes had anything to do with the outbreak.

Just before reaching the hostile camp, the com- mission was met by two other Indians, who in- formed Adams that he had been graciously permitted to enter. Nothing was seen, however, of the captives at first, and it was soon ascertained that they were in another camp, on Plateau Creek. Without waiting for "permission" to proceed further, Gen. Adams and his party rode on to Plateau Creek, and accidentally discovered Miss Josie Meeker, in spite of efforts to secrete her. The other captives had been hidden away, and were not produced until some hours later.

These hours were consumed in a " medicine talk," which lasted five or six hours, and was very stormy. The young bucks wanted to kill the com- missioners, but were overruled by their elders. This part of the powwow being conducted in classical Ute, without interpretation, Gen. Adams never knew, until some time afterward, of the danger which menaced him. It was finally re- solved that the commission should be suffered to depart, but without the white women and chil- dren.

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This aroused the ire of Sapovanero, who had been instructed by Ouray to bring back the cap- tives without fail, and who felt the importance of his mission. He made a lengthy speech, in which he threated the stubborn chief with Ouray's sov- ereign displeasure if they did not obey his com- mands. Although this speech made a decided impression, it was not immediately conclusive. Chief Douglass desired that Adams should go to White River and have the troops removed from there, promising to surrender the captives on his return if he was successful. To this Adams de- murred, but promised, if the prisoners were at once surrendered and started south, that he would go on to White River and use his influ- ence with Merritt to prevent any advance-an easy compromise, as Merritt had no orders to advance.

This arrangement was eventually agreed to, and shortly the captives were unconditionally surren- dered, though with evident reluctance.

The joy of the poor prisoners knew no bounds when assured that they were in the hands of their friends once more friends indeed, although entire strangers as far as previous acquaintance was con- cerned. They had been captives twenty-two days, and had almost despaired of succor. Miss Meeker and Mrs. Price had borne up wonderfully well under their privations and sufferings, but poor

Mrs. Meeker was nearly worn out by anxiety, suf- fering and exposure. The two children of Mrs. Price had fared better than the elders, and were enjoying tolerably vigorous health.

Gen. Adams at once departed, with an Indian escort, for Gen. Merritt's headquarters, communi- cated to him the facts above recited, and returned to the Southern Agency, via the hostile camp, and over the same road he had followed when going in, reaching the camp of Ouray on the 29th, and Denver a few days later.

The women and children, in charge of Capt. Cline, had proceeded directly south, reaching Ouray's house on the evening of the second day, where they received a warm welcome from the veteran diplomatist, who was greatly elated over the success of his scheme. Thence they traveled, by easy stages, to Denver, everywhere being greeted with demonstrations of joy over their escape, and at Denver they had quite an ovation. Their arrival in Greeley, however, was the most affecting incident of the latter portion of their trip. There they met their old friends, neighbors and relatives, whom they had little thought ever to meet again under such circumstances and sur- roundings. It was as if the dead had been re- stored to life, and no language can fitly portray the feelings of the rescued prisoners, or their friends who welcomed them " Home again."

CHAPTER VII.

SAD STORY OF THE CAPTIVES.

R FROM the moment of their release until long weeks afterward, the story of the captives was on every tongue. It filled columns of every newspaper in the country, and crowds flocked to hear it from the lips of the heroine of the Agency, Miss Josie Meeker, who yielded to the solicita- tions of the public and appeared a few times upon the rostrum, not to lecture, but to tell the plain, unvarnished story of the Agency massacre and

the experience of the captives during the time they remained in the hands of the hostiles.

Not even Miss Meeker herself could give an adequate idea of their intense and overwhelming sufferings, not alone from brutal treatment, although that of itself was bad enough, but from the an- guish of their hearts over the recent horrid death of their dear ones, and from anxiety lest they should share the same or a worse fate by the same

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cruel hands which killed and mutilated their friends.

Consider the circumstances : Mrs. Meeker was an aged and infirm woman, whose husband, the companion of many years, had been bloodily butchered, almost before her eyes-indeed, after her capture she had been driven past the cold and lifeless body of her husband, lying stark and stiff, in the embrace of death, upon the ground, yet she had not been permitted to even touch the remains, much less to bid them the farewell affection prompted. Mrs. Price, too, had lost her husband in the same cruel manner, and her two helpless little ones were not only fatherless but prisoners, like her, with savages, who were far more likely to kill them than treat them kindly. Miss Meeker, a young lady of education and culture, the pet and pride of her dead father, whom she loved beyond measure, was in such distress of body and mind that she might have been expected to break down entirely, instead of keeping up her courage with undaunted spirit and compelling the admira- tion of her inhuman captors. While there is life there is hope, of course; but in this case it did not seem that their chances of escape were worth hoping for. One advantage they had, however, and that was their intimate knowledge of Indian nature, acquired during their residence at the Agency, and to this and Miss Meeker's courage they probably owe their lives to-day.

On emerging from their captivity, they were met at Chief Ouray's house by Mr. Ralph Meeker, Mrs. Meeker's only son, who is an attache of the New York Herald, but whose visit to Colorado was in the capacity of special agent of the Interior Department to assist in the rescue of the prisoners. Mr. Ralph Meeker arrived out too late to accom- pany Gen. Adams, and was forced to remain at the Los Pinos Agency until his mother and sister reached there in charge of Capt. Cline, as already stated. During their journey from the Agency to the railway at Alamosa, little was talked of other than the experiences of the eventful days of their captivity and sufferings, and, at the suggestion of

her brother, Miss Meeker dictated a letter to the Herald, detailing the leading features of events at the Agency before, during and after the massacre, with an account of her wandering in the wilder- ness and final rescue by Gen. Adams' party. The narrative is too interesting to be abridged, and no apology need be made for inserting it entire :

MISS JOSEPHINE MEEKER'S STORY.

"The first I heard of any trouble with the Indians at my father's Agency was the firing at Mr. Price while he was plowing. The Indians said that as soon as the land was plowed it would cease to be Ute's land. Two or three councils were held. The Indian woman Jane, wife of Pauvitts, caused the whole trouble. It was finally settled by the Agent's moving her corral, building her a house, putting up a stove and digging her a well. But Johnson, who was not at the council, got angry with the Agent and the Indians when he found the plowing resumed. He assaulted father and forced him from his house.

" Father wrote the Government that if its policy was to be carried out, he must have protection. The response was that the Agent would be sustained. Gov. Pitkin wrote that troops had been sent, and we heard no more until the runners came, and all the Indians were greatly excited. They said there were soldiers on Bear River, sixty miles north of the Agency. The next day, the Indians held a council, and asked father to write to Thornburg to send five officers to come and compromise and keep the soldiers off the reservation. The Agent sent a statement of the situation of the Indians, and said Thornburg should do as he thought best. The Indians who accompanied the courier returned Sunday to breakfast. A council was held at Douglass' camp, and also at the Agency.

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History of the Arkansas Valley, Colorado, Part 20

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co Publication date: 1881 Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co. Number of Pages: 1080

Author: O.L. Baskin & Co
Publication date: 1881
Publisher: Chicago : O.L. Baskin & Co.
Number of Pages: 1080