USA > Kansas > Lincoln County > Indian raids in Lincoln County, Kansas, 1864 and 1869; story of those killed, with a history of the monument erected to their memory in Lincoln court house square, May 30, 1909 > Part 3
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This thirtieth day of May, 1869, is said to have been one of those lovely days that only Kansas can produce at that time of the year; and being on Sunday the Lauritzens and Petersen turned out to enjoy the Sabbath day; and at the same time investigate their own, and the Christiansen prospects for a crop. They had a little breaking done and a little sod corn put in. The Christiansen breaking was north of the creek, and about directly north of his house, and the Lauritzen boy was at the Christiansen house; so it is easy to understand that his parents were on the way
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to visit the Christiansens; but went across the creek to see the Christiansen crop first, and that was what cost them their lives. The Indians tried very hard to burn the Christiansen house after they had finished their fiendish act on the north side of the creek; but the brothers escaped injury, and kept the Indians far enough away to prevent firing the house. If Lauritzen, his wife and Otto Peter- son had gained the house, they would have been saved. During the night the Christiansen brothers with their families escaped down the river to the Schermerhorn ranch on Elkhorn creek. They took with them the Lauritzen boy. He was afterwards sent to some relative in Chicago. If rumors are right, he is now farming in Iowa.
This will prove that they knew at the Schermerhorn ranch, early the next morning, from two different sources, that the Indians had done some mischief, and at least three settlers had been killed. There was a detachment of soldiers there, but they did not stir to protect the settlers, nor to punish the Indians. But I will come to that later on.
Mr. and Mrs. Weichell and Meigerhoff at their home evidently saw the Indians coming, heard the shooting and their war whoops and ran down the creek to the Saline river. They were certainly trying to get down to the Schermerhorn ranch. But the Indians discovered them in their flight and started in persuit of them, and they had a running fight all the way. Weichell and Meigerhoff had as good fire arms as money could buy at that time. But the ammunition gave out, so they were an easy prey for the Indians, and they were overtaken on the north line of the southeast quarter, of the northwest quarter of sec- tion two, Indiana township. That makes it about one mile and one-half west of Lincoln Center. Here Meiger- hoff and Weichell were killed and Mrs. Weichell taken prisoner. It was also near here that Mrs. Alderdice was taken prisoner and her two children killed and one wounded. The latters name is Willis Daily. He was picked up and carried to Mr. Mart Hendrickson's house, the next day after the battle, where the arrow that had wounded him was extracted by Mr. Washington Smith assisted by Phil. Lantz. One of Mrs. Anderdice's boys that was killed, was
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a full brother to the wounded Willis Daily, they being sons of Mrs. Alderdice by a former husband. This kill- ing took place some time about six o'clock, on Sunday evening, May 30th, 1869.
Mrs. Alderdice was taken prisoner and her children kill- ed about a quarter of a mile southeast of where Weichell and Meigerhoff were killed, on the Nick Whalen farm. The southwest quar er of section one.
The Indians then crossed the Saline river and went a- bout due south to Bullfoot creek, where they camped on the Opplinger farm at a stone cave before described. Here the Indians took Mrs. Alderdice's three months old baby, choked it to death and then hung it in a tree.
At one of Mrs. Weichell's visits here, she gave another version of the killing of Mrs. Alderdice's baby. She was allowed to have her baby for three days, but it was crying a good deal, which annoyed the savages so much that they then wrung its head off and threw the several parts of the body into the stream. Either version is hard for us to read about now. What heart rending agonies for the poor mother, that was so utterly unable to prevent the cruel act. That made three of Mrs. Alderdice's children killed, and one wounded. The wounded boy is still living in Blue Rapids, Kansas. The Indian- left the next day May 31st without hindrance from the soldiers.
I have tried to make it as clear as I can what happened to each one of the victims so as to be understood. We know how Mrs. Weichell got down to the Saline valley, but how and why Mrs. Alderdice was there is something of a mystery. Her husband, Thomas Alderdice, together with a few other citizens was at Junction City at the U. S. land office, which was located there at that time, for the pur- pose of contesting a piece of land in the Saline valley that had been filed on by a minor, hence there were not many men in the neighborhood, and in all probability the Indians knew that and for that reason they raided through the valley. The letter here submitted from Eli Zeigler, of Salem, Oregon, a brother of Mrs. Alderdice, seems to state for a fact that he got his dinner that day with her, but he is not able to state whether it was at her own house or at
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some other house; but it is supposed that she went with her children to visit Mrs. Timothy Kine and they went to- gether to Nicholas Whalens house. Mrs Kine was alone also with a small baby and when the Indians came she es- caped to the river and the Indians failed to find her. She was saved but she got so scared at the time that she has been a mental wreck ever since and is now in an asylum. She managed, however to cross the river and make her way to the farm of Ferdinand Erhardt, on Bullfoot dur- ing the night or early in the next morning. The child in her arms at that time is now Mrs. John Linker and resides in Lincoln Center.
It has been told quite often but has never yet been put on paper that the settlers when they got home and heard what had happened to Mrs. Alderdice and Mrs. Kine and the children, they held a council of war and decided to in- flict capital punishment on Nicholas Whalen and Tom Noon for deserting the women and children in that way. Mrs. Kine, however, interfered promptly and said that there had already been too much trouble and said that Mr. Whalen and Tom Noon had done the right thing under the circumstances as they could not have protected them against so many Indians. It seems that when the men left the settlement for Junction City, they had requested Mr. Whalen to take care of the women and children, and he had promised to do so. The two women and all of the children were evidently on their way to the Whalen house as it was getting close to evening when they were over- taken and the Alderdice children were killed on the Whalen farm. Naturally Mr. Whalen could not be held respon- sible for what happened out on the prairie. This is the only theory that can be advanced why the two women and the five children were there at that time. They simply failed to reach the Whalen house before they were over- taken by the Indians. Mrs. Kine escaped and concealed herself and the baby in the brush in the river bed.
After the copy for this book was ready for the press I visited Mrs. Kine at Leavenworth, and was able to obtain from her a very clear statement corroborating the above, except as modified by her story. She says "Mrs. Alder-
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dice and I,and Tom Noon and wife were visiting at Nick Whalen's house on the day the Indians came into the valley. When we heard the shooting and shouting, at the time Weichell and Meigerhoff were killed, about five p. m., Whalen left the house and went off to corral his horses and take them to a place of safety; while Noon and wife mounted their horses and fled, leaving Mrs. Alderdice and myself and our five little children alone in the house. We women took our children and ran to hide ourselves. I reached the brush, but Mrs. Alderdice and her four child- ren were overtaken."
Mrs. Alderdice and Mrs. Weichell were carried to the south fork of the Platte river in Colorado, between Jules- burg and Sterling. Here they were kept captives by Tall Bull, the Souix chief, until the eleventh day of July 1869, when during the battle Captain Cushing under General Carr, found the two white women in Tall Bull's tent. Mrs. Alderdice was mortally wounded and breathed her last, as the soldiers entered the tepee. Mrs. Weichell was also badly wounded, but was able to sit up. The Indians evi- dently meant to have killed both of the women, but were taken by such a sudden surprise that they did not have time to complete the dastardly deed. Mrs. Alderdice was buried there, and Mrs. Weichell taken care of and lived to tell the tale of their hardships during that one month and twelve days of their captivity. The story can perhaps be better imagined than described, so I shall not attempt to describe it. This rescue is known as the battle of Sum- mit Springs.
CLUBBING OF JOHN H. STRANGE AND SHOOTING OF ARTHUR SCHMUTZ.
The same day, May 30, 1869, two or three stray Indians came as far east as the north half of the northeast quarter of section eighteen, Elkhorn township, near the home of John S. Strange., and found two boys about fourteen years old. One was John Harrison Strange, a son of Reverend John S. Strange, and the other Arthur Schmutz. The Indians professed friendship, but the boys evidently did not take it that way, as one Indian rode up and raising to his full height dealt young Strange a terrible blow with a club He died without a struggle. The Schmutz
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boy started to run when he saw what had happened to his playmate, whereupon he was shot with an arrow. The arrow shaft was extracted all except part of the arrow head, and the boy was taken to Fort Harker and placed in the government hospital where he died, and he was buried at Fort Harker. He lived and suffered for ten weeks be- fore death relieved him.
BURIAL OF THE DEAD.
The Alderdice children were buried on their grand- father's farm, (M. Zeigler), on the northwest quarter of section 22, Colorado township, near where the Monroe school house now stands. The Strange boy was buried on the Schermerhorn ranch, and afterward removed to the Lincoln cemetery.
When the funeral of the Strange boy took place every- body was armed as that was customary in those days. A buffalo came from the south and as the settlers were in need of a little meat they gave chase as soon as they had the body lowered in the grave. The buffalo was over- taken at the Saline river and it was killed and divided. This will show that the settlers were always ready for an emergency. If it had been a party of Indians they would more than likely have given battle to them as well as to a buffalo.
Weichell and Meigerhoff were buried about a mile and one half west of Lincoln Center just where they fell. The bodies still rest there, and the exact spot is now uncertain.
From there the funeral party went up to Denmark and found Mr. and Mrs Lauritzen and buried them. They were also buried where they were found, and they still rest there as they were never moved. The civilians that buried the dead (there were no soldiers), were J. J. Peate, A. Campbell, of Salina; Lon Schermerhorn, Volney Ball, Ed. Johnson, Isaac DeGraff, D. C. Skinner. R. B. Clark, William E. Thompson, George Green, Z. Ivy of Tescott and a few others. Those men came up the valley to perform the last sad rites. Otto Petersen was not found until some days later when Rev. T. M. Strange, and others came up the valley and found his body, and he was buried where he was found. The three are certainly buried on or close
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to the southwest quarter of section 24, one half mile south of the Lutheran church at Denmark.
RETURN OF THE SETTLERS.
Peter and Lorentz Christiansen and their wives were saved. Helena, the daughter, was working at Wilson, Ells- worth county, and Christian, the oldest son, was working at the Schermerhorn ranch at that time, so there were only the two brothers and their wives and Hans, the youngest son of Peter Christiansen and the Lauritzen boy to move down to the Schermerhorn ranch. They arrived there early in the morning of May 31st and told what had happened on Spillman creek the day before. A government wagon hauled the two families to Fort Harker from the ranch, but not being able to find any work there the two families went to Junction City, where the men secured work at their trade as blacksmiths. There they remained until December, 1870, when they again moved back to Spillman, arriving there on the first day of January 1871. There were quite a number to come on that day, and two or three families had come a short time before so there was more security felt among them, but it took them a long time to get over the Indian scare. When the Christiansen brothers again returned to their land they found the graves of Lauritzen and his wife. Her hoop skirt was sticking out of the ground, which was all that the Indians had left on her body except her stockings; otherwise she was nude. I often wondered why she was killed, as the Indians were seldom known to kill women, and I sometimes think that she killed herself, or that her husband killed her, rather than have her go into the hands of the Indians. They evidently knew what her fate would be if that had happened.
ELI ZEIGLER'S ACCOUNT OF THE SPILLMAN CREEK RAID
Eli Zeigler, the brother of Mrs. Susanna Alderdice, has written the following account of the Spillman creek raid, and it is here copied from the Lincoln papers of Novem- ber, 18, 1909.
"Salem, Oregon, February 24, 1909, "J. J. Peate, Beverly, Kansas:
Dear Friend and Comrade-At your present request I
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will tell you about the Indian raid on Spillman creek as I saw it May 30, 1869. 1676763
"It has been a long time and I have seen no one to talk with about it for years. I have seen John Alverson a few times but do not remember that we talked about those days, but will try to tell the tale without exageration. There were but few settlers on Bacon creek, and hearing of an abonded claim near Bacons, and that there were eight or ten acres broken on it, I concluded to take it. I understood that the man who did this breaking, fearing an Indian raid, had left the country.
"John Alverson, my brother-in-law, took his team, which we loaded with corn and oats to plant, also provisions for two weeks for ourselves and horses, expecting to be away that length of time. We started from father's place (near where Beverly now is) Sunday, May 30, 1869, and got up to Thomas Alderdice's at noon and ate our dinner there. Thomas Alderdice, I think was in Satina. I do not re- member of talking with any man in that settlement. Re- port said that the Indians had been on the Solomon river a few days before, but they had been driven off by a com- pany of soldiers. My sister, Mrs. Alderdice, mentioned that and told me to keep a sharp lookout. After eating dinner with my sister, I bade her sood bye-little think- ing that she would be in the hands of the Indians before sundown, her children killed or wounded, and that I would never see her again. After going a short distance I saw a man on horse-back up toward the head of Lost creek, riding fast toward the west. John thought he looked like an Indian spy, but I thought it was some one looking for cattle. We kept close watch on him to see where he was going, but he gained so rapidly on us that we could soon see him only on the highest hills. He was still riding at full speed the last we saw of him on the hill east of Trail creek, and the course he was taking he would cross Trail creek about where the wagon road crossed, or a little above We kept on going on across Trail creek when Johh made the remark that he did not like the appearance of things. After we left this creek going towards Spillman creek, as we approached the highest ground we could look up the bottom on the south of Spillman and there we saw a party of horseman quite a way up the creek, and coming down the bottom quite rapidly. We stopped a moment to look at them, and John thought they were Indians, and that was their spy who went ahead of us, but I thought that they were soldiers, returning from the Solomon river. They deceived me the way they rode, riding like a com- pany of soldiers in uniform line, and coming at a fast
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gallop. The sun glistened on their guns so plain that I still thought they were soldiers, but John would not have it that way, but said they were Indians, and I had about made up my mind that they were. They were getting by this time about opposite us and we had tried to count them several times. As near as we could make out there were between 45 and 60 of them. At this time they were still south of Spillman creek and a little above the Dane settle- ment.
"We had made up our minds that there was no way of avoiding an attack. Just hen we stopped, and we stopped a moment; the distance between us being about one-half mile. Then they all started for us on the run, except ten or fifteen who went down the creek toward the Dane settle- ment. There was a knoll just north of us, and I thought best to get on that and tight them, thinking that we would have time to unhitch the horses and tie them to the wagon before they got to us. So we drove to the knoll. I jumped out to unhook the horses, but John thought it would not do to stop there, there being so many Indians he thought best for us to get to the creek. I jumped back into the wagon and we sta ted toward Trail creek. going in a north- casterly direction to the nearest point. We came to the creek about half a mile above the crossing. As we were not very well armed we talked the matter over while go- ing to the creek. I having a needle gun and about forty rounds of cartridges and John an old muzzle loader, we concluded that I would do the shooting and John would hold the load in his gun as a reserve shot.
"When we got to the creek the Indians were close be- hind us. I looked across the creek and thought there was a little bank on the other side that would protect us some. So I drove across, but John misunderstood me and jumped out into the creek and I drove up the bank. John ran along under the bank on the side I was on; the Indians were coming across the creek within a few yards of us, shooting and yelling. John was calling for me to get out of the wagon, when I got to that little bank, I stopped the horses, seeing nothing more could be done to save the team and that we must defend ourselves, I dropped the lines, grabbed my gun and jumped out on the off side of the wagon. Reaching in the box for my cartridges, I could get only the box, about 20 rounds. While I was getting the cartridges the Indians were close all around. One of them rode up and picked up the lines just as I had laid them down and he held the horses. I thought sure I'll put a hole through you, but before I could get my gun around he jumped off his pony down beside the wagon,
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and still held the horses. The Indians were shooting all this time. John was calling for me to get under the bank. Just then another Indian darted up right close to the wagon and I thought I would get him, but before I could cover him with my gun he jumped his pony on the oppo- site side of the wagon, so I could not get him.
"John was still begging me to jump over the bank and I had about made up my mind to. As I stepped out from the wagon I looked toward the rear and behind the wagon and saw three Indians standing about four rods away, having me covered with their guns. I had no time for a shot, so made a spring for the creek bank; my foot slipped and I fell just as they fired. I think they over shot me. I also think that the slip is what saved me. I kept going on my hands and feet over the bank. As they were pour- ing the shots right at us at short range we saw a log lying up the bank a little below us, we ran to that, thinking that would protect us on the side. We expected a good, long, hard fight, but as we ran to the log and jumped over, gett- ing ourselves into position, the Indians I guess saw that we were going to try to protect ourselves. They kept back on the bank out of our sight, and drove the team away just after we got behind the log, and the Indians quit shooting at us. Then we could hear shooting down the creek near the Dane settlement, when John said, "My God! They are fighting down at the Dane settlement." This firing did not last long, and we thought it was the small band that went down that way, and that there would be enough of the whites there to stand them off and get in position by the time the band that had attacked us con- cluded to withdraw and go down and re-enforce their com- rades.
"We kept waiting behind the log for some time, expect- ing the Indians were going to slip upon us in some way around the creek banks, and we were prepared for them. If John had had a good repeating gun when we were under the creek bank, he had plenty of opportunity to make a few GOOD Indians, but did not dare to shoot that one load out while by himself. We lay there by the log quite a little time in readiness. We did not hear any more of the Indians, and did not see anything of them. I then crawled up the creek bank to take a look. Away down on the east side of Spillman creek I saw two or three horseman, which I thought were Indians. Concluding that the In- dians had left us, we decided to try and go down to the Dane Settlement.
"We expected the Indians to lie in the ambush for us along the creek, therefore we worked our way slowly and
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carefully, every little ways going up the bank to see if we could see anything of the Indians.
"Seeing no signs of foes, we could keep on going, and we passed the Dane settlement before sundown. We could go up the bank watching closely and listen, expecting to hear somebody or see where the Indians had been. We knew there were settlers near there, but did not know where their house was located. Not seeing their house, we passed on. Continuing our journey along the creek slowly and cautiously, we thought that the Indians had not gone farther than the Dane settlement, and that they had probably gone back, as we could not see or hear anything of them. It was now growing dark, and we thought best to keep on the safe side and keep close to the creek, so in case they had gone farther down, and were on their way back, we would meet them in a place where we could have the advantage.
"We followed Spillman creek down to its mouth, then down the Saline. I do not know what time of the night it was, but it was several hours after dark. We had not seen or heard anything since leaving our log on Trail creek, and concluded that the Indians had not passed down Spillman creek farther than the Dane settlement, that they had not been in the settlement on the Saline river. We were about a mile west of where the depot now stands at Lincoln, when the stillness of the night was broken by a loud war song northeast of us and down the valley. John said, "My God, Eli, they have been down to the settle- ment." We heard more singing farther down and nearer the river. "Yes John, I fear it is a big party, and think it is a different party from the one we ran into."
"I thought this was a larger party that had come down the Saline, probably dividing on Wolf creek. We could tell they were moving up the Saline bottom by the noise they made, sounding like a large party or else they were scattered out. They did not seem to be coming very fast, some were singing and others talking loudly.
"We got to the bank of the river, one of the bends which points to the north. When they got opposite and close enough we were going to fire towards them, we were going to fire together and I was to keep on firing while John loaded again. If the Indians came toward us, we would cross the river, but we did not think they would attack us in the dark. By this time they were pretty well north of us, but quite aways out of the bottom. All at once they commenced hallooing and fired several shots. As the last shots were fired, we heard a woman scream one loud pierc- ing scream more of horror than of agony, then all was still.
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"We could not imagine who it was that had fallen into the hands of the Indians, there being no one living in the direction from from which the scream came. We almost held our breath while we listened, wondering what the Indians were doing, and which way they were moving, waiting and listening, and waiting for the sound of their ponies, walking through the grass, a voice, a sigh, or a moan, but not a sound reached us. In a few moments which seemed hours to us, we heard them east of us down the river. John thought it best to get down the river ahead of them, but I could not see how we could head them off if we were to follow them directly down the river. Being sure that they were now down in the settle- ment, we crossed the river in the direction of Bullfoot creek, by so doing we could travel faster and get ahead of the Indians.
"Starting a little east of south, when we got on high ground between the Saline and Bullfoot we saw several fire signal arrows shooting up into the sky, from up Bull- foot west and south of us. Thinking then that there must be three bands of Indians, one coming down the Spillman, one down the Saline, and the other down the Bullfoot, we feared that when daylight came, all we could see would be Indians, Indians everywhere.
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