murdered, supposedly by the Indians. When the news came to Coloma, the Oregonians called a secret meeting, and at once started to buy provisions and ammunition to outfit thirteen men to follow these Indians. Our little posse started, struck different trails, and were gone three days . They left a Thursday morning and returned Sunday morning following. I had been engaged at carpentering in Coloma, and as I could hardly leave my work, acted as a sort of a secret spy there, keeping my eyes open for Indians. I soon spotted a suspicious looking character. I noticed a ragged looking Indian working at a sawmill, run by Jim Marshall and Winters. The first night our thirteen men were out I noticed two signal fires on the mountains, which were watched by the Indian at the mill.
Our party returned from their hunt for the Indians, one at a time, so as not to excite suspicion. I met a couple of them, and, speaking in low tones, asked if they had found anything. They replied, "no;' that the Indians had scattered. They had followed the trail for one hundred miles—until the trail ran out. These valley Indians had strongly asserted their innocence, and laid the blame upon wild Indians from the mountains. But many suspicious circumstances had already convinced me that they were the real culprits, and now I concluded that the murders were due to them entirely, and that they had returned. I assured my comrades that the Indians were still in the valley, and upon inquiry from a Jonathan Williams, who kept a horse ranch near by, as to whether he had seen any lurking Indians in the neighborhood, he said that he had seen a few cross the river and disperse.
The party decided thereupon that these were the guilty Indians, and bought more provisions and more ammunition and started with Williams as a guide to show where the Indians crossed the river. At length they found the Indians camped at the mouth of Weaver
