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white river poems 361
Sheppard was found naked, with a lot of paper sacks in his
arms, his face eaten more or less by wolves, body partially
burned, and
A BULLET HOLE
in his left breast.
Mr. W.H. Post
AGENT MEEKER'S SECRETARY
was found one hundred yards from the Agency house, toward
the river. He was shot through the left ear and one shot below
the ear. He was also stripped naked.
Frank Dresser's body was found twelve miles this side of
the Agency, in a coal mine. He had evidently crawled
in there after being wounded,
AND THERE DIED
Dresser had been sent from the Agency to the command with a
dispatch. The letter found on his person was from Meeker to Thornburgh,
asking Thornburgh if he had had any trouble coming through the
canyon, and stating there was no sign of trouble at the Agency.
6
Governor Pitkin Makes a Statement to the Press
(Meeker -- `But it's less the speech
of an individual
than a sort of muscle twitch
in the body politic....'):
I have thought for weeks there was a likelihood
of the Utes making trouble at White River,
and have so informed General Pope in letters;
now, I think this aff air will bring an end,
at last, to depredations in this state.
It will be impossible for Indians
and whites to live in peace, after this outrage.
The whites now understand they can be attacked
in any part of the state where Indians