Page:The Early Indian Wars of Oregon.djvu/121

 d from the

other children the day after the massacre and sent to Fort Walla Walla, the Indians not including these in their decree of death, which doomed only American men and boys.

The massacre began* on Monday, about one o clock, and was continued, as has been narrated, on Tuesday. On Wednesday morning Joseph Stanfield was preparing the dead for burial, when there arrived at the mission J. B. A. Brouillet, the Catholic priest from the Umatilla, who lent his assistance 3 in committing to the earth the mu tilated remains of ten of the dead. The watchfulness of the Indians prevented any but the briefest communica tion between the captives and the priest, who having done what he could returned to Fort Walla Walla, and thence to his mission.

The carousal of blood ended, the murderers seized upon the property of their victims, which they carried off, but quarreling among themselves about its division, brought

3 The following is Brouillet s statement concerning his visit : That before leaving Fort Walla Walla, it had been decided that after going to the Umatilla, and visiting the sick there, he should go to Tiloukaikt s camp, to baptize the children, and such adults as desired it. il After having finished baptizing the infants and dying adults of my mission, I left Tuesday, the thirtieth of November, late in the afternoon, for Tioukaikt s camp, where I arrived between seven and eight o clock in the evening. It is impossible to conceive my surprise and consternation when upon my arrival I learned that the Indians the day before had massacred the doctor and his wife, with the greater part of the Americans at the mission. I passed the night without scarcely closing my eyes. Early the next morning I baptized three sick children, two of whom died soon after, and then hastened to the scene of death to offer to the widows and orphans all the assistance in my power. I found five or six women and over thirty children in a condition deplorable beyond description. Some had just lost their husbands, and the others their fathers, whom they had seen massacred before their eyes, and were expecting every moment to share the same fate. The sight of these persons caused me to shed tears, which, however, I was obliged to conceal, for I was the greater part of the day in the presence of the murderers, and closely watched by them, and if I had shown too marked an interest in behalf of the sufferers, it would have endangered their lives and mine ; these therefore entreated me to be on my guard. After the first few words that could be exchanged under those circumstances, I inquired after the victims, and was told that they were yet unburied. Joseph Stanfield, a Frenchman, who was in the service of Dr. Whitman, and had been spared by the Indians, was engaged in washing the corpses, but being alone he was unable to bury them. I resolved to go and assist him, so as to render to those unfortunate victims the last service 111 my power to offer them. What a sight did I then behold ! Ten dead bodies lying here and there, covered with blood and bearing the marks of the most atrocious cruelty, some pierced with balls, others more or less gashed by the hatchet": BrouWet 8 Authentic Account of (tie Murder of Dr. W