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Show Arranda B. Smith - page 5 AnE.nda B. Smith - pa.ge 4 . "rrhe women w7re sobbin g, in the greate st anguis h of spirit ; the o11ildren were crylllg loudly with fear and grief at the loss of father and brothe rs; the dogs howled over their dead rraste rs and the cattle s were terrif ied with the scent oft.he blood of the murde red. "Yet was I there, all that long, dread ful night, with my dead and my wounded, and none but God as our physic ian and help. "Ch my fEaven ly Fathe r, I cried, what shall I do" Thou seest p::,or w::>unded boy and knowe st my inexpe rience . Oh, Heave nly Fathe rny r, direc t rre what to do! "And then I was direct ed as by a voice speaki ng to rre. "The ashes of our fire was still srrnul dering . had been burnin g the bark of the shag-b ark hickor y. I was direct ed to take those make a lye and put a cloth satura ted with it right into the wound.ashes and It hurt, but 14,ttle Alma was too near ·d ead to heed it much. Again and again I satura ted the cloth and put it into the hole from which the hip joint had be~ plough ed, and each tine rrashed flesh and splint ers of bone cane away with the cloth; and the wound becarre as white as chick en's flesh. . . l'Having doi:ie ':s direct ed I again prayed to the Lord and was ms~c ted as distl.I lctly as though a physic ian had been standi ng again by speaki ng to rre. "Near by was a slippe ry-elm tree. From this I was told to make a slippe ry-elm poulti ce and fill the wound with it. '_'My eldes t boy was sent to get the slippe ry-elm. From the roots the fX?ult ice was rrade and the wound, which took fully a quarte r of a yard of llllen to cover so large was it, was prope rly dresse d. "It was then~ found vent to my feelin gs in tears, and resign mys7lf to the anguis h of the hour. And all that night we, a few ed strick en warren, were thus left there with our dead and wounded. p::,or, All throug h the night we heard the groans of the dying. Once in the dark we crawle d over the he~p of dead in the blacks mith's shop to try to help or soothe the suffe rers wants; once we follow ed the cries of a wounde d brothe r who hid in sane bushes from the murde rers, and reliev ed him all we could. "It has passed from my rrerrory wheth er he was dead in the rrnrnin g or wheth er he recove red. "Next rrnrnin g brothe r Joseph Young cane to the scene of the rrassa cre. "'W1a t shall be done with the dead?' he inquir ed, in horror and deep troubl e. . "There was not time to bury them, for the rrnb was coming on us. Neithe r was t.J-iere left men to dig the graves . All the men excep two or three who had so narrow ly escare d were dead or wounded. ting the It had teen no battle , but a rrassa cre indeed . "'Do anythi ng, Broth er Josep h,' I said, 'rathe r than leave their lxxlies to the fiends who have killed them.' "There was a deep dry well close by. buried , eighte en or ninete en in mn:nber. I nto this the bodies had t o be "No funer al servic e would be per fo:rned, nor could they be buried with custor rary decenc y . The l ives of those who in t error perf onred the last duty to the dead were in j eopardy . Every rrnrrent we exrect ed to upon by the fiends who we supr:osed were lying in ambush waitin g be fired the oppor tunity to dispa tch the remain ing few who had escape d the slaughfirst ter of the preced ing day. So in the hurry and terror of the rrorrent sorre were thrown into the wel l head downwards and some feet dCMnwards. "But when i t came to the burial of my murde red boy Sardiu s, Broile r Joseph Young , who was assist ing to carry him on a board to the well, laid down the corpse and declar ed that he could not throw that boy into this horr ible grave . "All the way on the j ourney that sumre r, Joseph had played with the intere sting lad who had been so cruell y murde red. It was too much for one whose nature was so t ender as Uncle J oseph ; s, and whose sympa this tine were quite overw rought . He could not perfor m that last thies by office . My murde red son was l eft unburi ed. "'Oh! they have left rny Sardiu s tmbur ied in the sun,' I cried , and ran and got a sheet and covere d his body. "'Ihere he lay until the next day, and then I, his rrnthe r, assist ed by his elder brothe r, had to throw him into the well. Straw and earth were thrown into this rude vault to cover t.rie dead. "The crawli ng of my boys under the bellow s in the blacks mith's shop where the traged y occurr ed is an incide nt famili ar to all our people . Alma.' s hip was shot away while thus hiding . Sardius was discovere d after the rrassa cre by the rrnnste r s who came in to dispo il the bodies . 'Ihe eldes t, Willar d, was not discov er ed. In cold blood , one Glaze, of Carro ll Count y, presen ted a rifle near the head of Sardiu and litera lly blew off the upper part of it, leavin g the skull emptys and dry while the brains and hair of the murde red boy were scatte red around and on the walls. "At this one of the rren , nore rrerci ful than the rest, observ ed: "'It was a d--d shame to kill those little boys.' "'D--n the differ ence! ' retort ed the other; 'nits mike lice!' "My son who escape d al so says that the noboc rat Willia m Mann took from rny husban d ' s feet before he was dead a pair of new boots. From his hiding place the boy saw the ruffia n drag his fat.her across the shop in the act of pullin g off his boot . "'Oh! You hurt rre!' groane d rny husban d. But the murde rer dragge d him back again, pullin g off the other boot; 'and there' says the boy, 'rny father fel l over dead. t |
