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293 PAWNEE CRUELTY. 293 molested by tiie Sioux and Cheyennes for the five hundred miles through their country from *he veara '49 to '54. ., "During the summer of 1850 and the year follow- ing, immigration to California and Oregon was im- mense. In 1850 the cholera swept away many men, women and children, and hundreds of bodies were torn from their shallow graves by the wolves. The Pawnees were untiring in their depredations, and a few people were killed. Dragoons patroled the road from thirty miles west of Port Kearney to one hun- dred miles east, and rendered every assistance possi- ble, at one time following a large war party through what is now Washington, Republic, Jewell, Smith, Phillips and Norton counties. The action of Major Chilton in command of his troop and of Fort Kearney in '49 and '50 was so vigorous that the Pawnees crave very little trouble afterwards." Missionary Dunbar, who for many years was: with the Pawnees, is the authority for the following: awful episode: j "In 1837 it was about seed time, ana tfiey nad thus sought to obtain a plentiful harvest. (I shal} here give the substance of the most detailed account of the cruel torture of a young Sioux maiden.) The young girl v7ho had been captured was only aged fif- teen; after having been well treated and fed for sis months, under pretense that a feast would be pre- pared for her at the opening of the summer season, she felt rejoiced when she saw the last days of winter roll by. The day fixed upon for the feast having dawned, she passed through all the preparatory cere-