Note 15 — Chapter XVII · (continued 2)
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Footnote 15:
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Five years ago this settlement contained, about thirty inhabitants, mostly Mexicans. It was frequently subjected to various kinds of annoyances from Indians. On one occasion it was attacked by the hostile Utahs and Apaches, who killed and carried off as prisoners a total of sixteen settlers. Among the slain was a Canadian who fought so skillfully and desperately before he was dispatched, that he killed three of his assailants. When his body was found, it was literally pierced through and through with lance and arrow wounds, while the hand, with which he had caught hold of some of these weapons, was nearly cut to pieces. Around his corpse, there were a dozen horses' tails which had been cut from the horses which were owned by the dead warriors, and left there, as a sign of mourning, by the Indians.