Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/60

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44 Fred Lockley "The men on horseback waited there till the others rode up, but John rode on as fast as he could go. My uncle, Truman Bonney, who was a doctor, examined the Indian, who was gasping for breath, and said he had been shot through the lungs and that it was a fatal wound. "My mother took a quilt from our wagon and laid the dying Indian on it ; she also brought him a drink of water but he shook his head and refused to drink. We drove on a mile or so and just about dusk, Caleb Greenwood and his son Sam, who were escorting some other emigrants, rode into our camp. They had come across the Indian, who was still living. Caleb Greenwood told his son Sam to shoot the Indian through the head to put him out of his misery, which he did, and they dug a hole in the sand and buried him. When Caleb Greenwood came into our camp he said, The man who killed that Indian must die.' He thought Kinney had killed him. My father said, 'Your son John shot him/ Greenwood told the men of the party to meet and state the full facts. When he found that his son John had not shot in self defense but had shot the Indian wantonly, he said: 'I will act as judge of this trial. I order that the murderer of the Indian be killed/ He told the men of the party that whoever saw John to shoot him on sight as they would a wild animal. "John, who was mounted on a fine horse, rode on as fast as he could and fell in with a Mexican and in a quar- rel with this Mexican over a game of cards, was stabbed and killed, so our party did not have an opportunity to carry out the orders of execution. "At the foot of the Sierra Nevada mountains we were met by ten Mexicans with a pack train consisting of flour, potatoes, dried beef and other provisions. "We camped at the foot of the mountains for several days, waiting for other emigrants, who had turned off at Fort Hall, to join us. After a day's traveling we came to a rim rock ledge where there was no chance to drive