COMMENCEMENT OF THE MASSACRE.



st down again. At that moment irs. Whitman was in
an adjoining room and did not see what followed. Tam-
a-has, a chief called "the murderer," came behind the
Doctor's chair, and raising his toniahawk, struck the Doc-
tor in the back of the head, stunning but not killing him.
  Instantly there was a violent commotion. John Sager,
one of the adopted children, sprang up with his pistol in
his hand, but before he could fire it, he too was struck
down, and cut and hacked shockingly. In the meantime
Dr. Whitman had received a second blow upon the head,
and now laid lifeless on the floor. Cries and confusion
filled the house.
  At the first sound, Mrs. Whitman, in whose ears that
whisper in the air had so long sounded, began in agony
to stamp upon the floor, and wring her hands, crying out,
"Oh, the Indians, the Indians!" At that moment one of
the women from an adjoining building came running in,
gasping with terror, for the butchery was going on outside
as well, and Tam-a-has and his associates were now assist-
ing at it. Going to the room where the Doctor lay insen-
sible, Mrs. Whitman and her terrified neighbor dragged
him to the sofa and laid him upon it, doing all they could
to revive him. To all their inquiries he answered by a
whispered "no," probably not conscious what was said..
  While this was being done, the people from every quar--
ter began to crowd into the Doctor's house, many of them
wounded. Outside were heard the shrieks of women, the
yells of the Indians, the roar of musketry, the noise of fu-
rious riding, of meeting war-clubs, groans, and every
frightful combination of sound, such as only could be heard
at such a carnival of blood. Still Mrs. Whitman sat by
her husband's side, intent on trying to rouse him to say
one coherent word.
  Nearer and nearer came the struggle, and she heard



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