wounded—three Indians slain. Col. Summer started in pursuit." These outrages occurred as a result of the Spirit Lake massacre which was in the March prior. When we read of Mrs. Marble's, Mrs. Noble's, Miss Gardner's and Mrs. Thatcher's extreme sufferings, and which commenced at Spirit Lake, it is enough to arouse the feelings of every one who possesses a spark of humanity. There were a few who reached Story County after very severe exposures and sufferings, who made their escape almost miraculously from this massacre.
Mrs. Marble's account was published in the Washington Union, of July 30, (1857), and then copied by the Story County Advocate, August 26, 1857, as follows:
"Statement of Mrs. Marble. Application at the Department for Indemnity for loss of property.—Mrs. Marble who, with others, was recently made a prisoner by a party of Sioux Indians, had an interview with the Commissioner of Indian Affairs yesterday morning. In her application for indemnity for property destroyed by the Indians, she states that on the thirteenth of March last a party of Sioux Indians numbering about seventy, of whom thirty were warriors belonging to Ink-pa-du-tah's band in amity with the United States, came to her residence, on the west side of Spirit Lake, killed her husband and destroyed and carried away property amounting, in the aggregate, to $2,229, of which $700 was gold coin.
After having murdered her husband and buried his body in the snow, they claimed as their prisoners Mrs. Noble, Miss Gardner, Mrs. Thatcher and herself and compelled them to carry heavy burdens and plod their weary way with their feet entirely naked,—through snow to the depths of two, three and four feet, occasionally crossing rivers, where they were forced to wade, where oftimes the water would nearly immerse their persons, and compel them to ward off the drifting ice with their feeble hands to keep it from bruising their shivering bodies. In this manner they were driven before the savages for the space of ten weeks, during which time the squaws were allowed to abuse them in the most cruel manner, striking them with clubs, axes, etc., and their sufferings were of such a character that language is inadequate to the task of a truthfull description. After suffering these hardships and privations she was rescued by a party of Sac-Qui-Pale Indians, to whom the Agent Flandrau paid $1,090 for her ransom. Some two weeks before her release Mrs. Thatcher was thrown into the Big Sioux river. Upon attempting to get out, rifle balls were fired into her body until she expired. Her husband, prior to his murder, held a pre-emption claim for one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which he had settled; and Mrs. Marble believes she is entitled to appropriate remuneration to the amount of $200 in, lieu of this claim which she was forced to abandon. She adds that she has not recovered any portion of the property which she has specified, and has not herself, nor through others, sought to obtain revenge on the Indians."