Page:History of Goodhue County, Minnesota.djvu/132

 94 HISTORY OF GOODHUE COUNTY / son-in-law and another man who was there went out to see if everything was right at the neighboring cabin — the one just mentioned as being set on fire. It was their last mission, for some of the Indians were in ambush, and shot and killed them also. The Indians left Gardner's after securing all the food the cabin contained, but returned in the latter part of the after- noon and killed Gardner, his wife, two daughters and his grand- children, and carried away as a prisoner one other, named Abbey. That night or the next morning they visited the homes of Noble and Thatcher, who had settled there, and carried Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Thatcher prisoners to their camp. On Monday a man named Markham went to Gardner's on some errand, and found the murdered bodies of the entire family. Markham hid himself until darkness came on, and then went to Springfield and reported the murder. The following Thursday. March 12, an Indian called at Marble's cabin, three miles above Thatcher's, and told her that the white people down the lake had been nipped (killed) a day or two before. This intelligence alarmed the Marbles, the more so as the great depth of snow then on the ground had prevented communication with the settlement below for some days; but, fearing the worst, it was impossible for the Marble family to inaugurate any measures for flight, or other means of safety. The next morning, Friday, the 13th, four Indians, with friendly bearing, came to Marble's and bantered him to trade rifles. The trade was made, after which they prevailed on Marble to go out on the lake and shoot at a mark. After a few shots they turned in the direction of the house, and managing to get Marble in advance of them, the Indians shot him, and he fell dead in his tracks. Mrs. Marble, who had been watching the maneuvering of the fiends, saw her husband fall, and ran to him, when the bloody wretches seized her and told her they would not kill her, but that they would take her with them, and she was carried to the camp, where they had previously taken Mrs. Noble and Mrs. Thatcher and Miss Gardner. Inkpadootah and his followers next went to Springfield, where, a week or two later, they butchered the entire settlement. The alarm was sent to Fort Ridgely, and a detachment of soldiers was sent out in pursuit. They found and buried two bodies, and the Iowans, who had volunteered and started out to avenge the murders and outrages as soon as they heard of their perpetration, found and buried twenty-nine others. Besides these thirty-one bodies that were found and buried, others were still missing. Learning that soldiers were in pursuit of them, the outlaws made haste to leave the vicinity of their depredations, carrying the four women along with them. They were forced to carry