were killed outright; others were bruised and mangled and left writhing back to consciousness to be assailed again, until after hours of agony they expired. Dr Whitman himself lived for some time after he had been stricken down, though insensible. Mrs Whitman, although wounded, with Rogers and a few others also wounded, took refuge in an upper room of the dwelling, and defended the staircase with a gun, until persuaded by Tamsucky, who gained access by assurances of sorrow and sympathy, to leave the chamber, the savages below threatening to fire the house. On her way to the mansion house,[1] where the terror-stricken women and children were gathered, she fainted on encountering the mangled body of her husband, and was placed upon a wooden settee by Rogers and Mrs Hays, who attempted to carry her in this condition through the space between the houses; but on reaching the outer door they were surrounded by savages, who instantly fired upon them, fatally wounding Rogers, and several balls striking Mrs Whitman, who, though not dead, was hurled into a pool of water and blood on the ground. Not satisfied with this, Ishalhal, who had formerly lived in Gray's family, and who had fired the first shot at her before she escaped to the chamber from which Tamsucky treacherously drew her, seized her long auburn hair, now blood-stained and dishevelled, and lifting up the head, happily unconscious, repeatedly struck the dying woman's face with a whip, notwithstanding which life lingered for several hours.
Night came at last and drew a veil over the horrors
- ↑ In Spalding's lectures there is a description of the mission premises as they appeared in 1847. 'The doctor's adobe dwelling-house stood on the north side of the Walla Walla River, and one half-mile above the mouth of Mill Creek, facing west, well finished, and furnished with a good library and a large cabinet of choice specimens. Connected with the north end was a large Indian room, and an L extending from the east 70 feet, consisting of kitchen, sleeping-room, school-room, and church. One hundred yards east stood a large adobe building. At a point forming a triangle with the above line stood the mill, granary, and shops.' The whole was situated upon the small area formed by the flat land between the river and the rolling hills to the west. The large adobe building spoken of was known as the mansion house.
