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Show 260 INDIAN DEPREDATIONS Indians had shot the ox, the people jumped from the wagon and started to run. Petersen had gone but a short distance from the wagon when he was shot down. After being shot he had been horribly beaten about the head and face ; his nose was mashed onto the side of his face, and he was scalped. Mrs. Peter-sen who was in a delicate condition had run a short distance up the road. Miss Mary Smith being young, had nearly reached the top of the hill before she was overtaken. Both women were stripped and horribly mutilated. Before George Crowther and his escort left the scene of the tragedy, they were joined by a company of men from Richfield. One of the party was sent back to Richfield after a conveyance to take the dead people home. At the time of the killing of the people on Black Ridge, Ole P. Bork, a Richfield harness maker, then a boy, was going down into the meadows to look for stock. Just at sunrise he heard shooting; the air was a little hazy, but he could see that the shoot-ing was done by Indians, and knowing also that Petersen had gone to Glenwood, he thought the In-dians were after them. He therefore ran for town, but when about half way to the settlement a man on horse- back ( who had been down at the river) passed him and gave the alarm. The drum beat, and when Borg got to the fort at Richfield a number of men had already started for the scene, but arrived there too late to render much assstance. The Smith family claimed the little girl who had been left with them, as their daugther had been killed, but Major Glaus P. Anderson who was a relative claimed her, and raised her to womanhood. Ten of the Richfield boys participated in the |
