May 30, 1869; Lincoln, Kansas: After several actions between Cheyenne Dog Soldier Tall Bull and Maj. Eugene Carr's Fifth Cavalry in mid-May 1869, Carr returned to Fort McPherson, Nebraska, to refit, leaving Tall Bull free to aim his vengeance at area settlements. During the last week of May, Cheyennes killed fourteen civilians in north-central Kansas. On Sunday 30 May they turned their attention to Spillman Creek, northwest of Lincoln, Kansas.
About two o'clock in the afternoon, Tall Bull and sixty warriors began their path of destruction down Spillman Creek. The first victims were Eli Zeigler and John Alverson, who were attacked as they headed up the creek to examine an abandoned farm. Zeigler's sister, Susanna Alderdice, had warned her brother to be careful, having heard recent reports of increased Indian depredations. Near the mouth of Trail and Spillman Creeks, Zeigler and Alverson saw what appeared to be mounted soldiers on the opposite bank. As the figures peeled off toward them, the two men realized that they were Indians. Abandoning their wagon, the pair made for the thickets along Trail Creek. The Cheyennes fired at them for a short time, then occupied themselves with the contents of the wagon.
The raiders next went to a small settlement near the present-day town of Denmark. A couple out tending their garden, Eskild Lauritzen and his wife Stine, were quickly killed, then stripped and scalped. A houseguest of the Lauritzens, Otto Peterson, took off running, but he was soon caught and killed. The Cheyennes next approached the neighboring Christensen home, which the Lauritzen's son happened to be visiting. Here, however, the occupants were armed and ready, A few shots kept the raiders away. After unsuccessfully trying to set fire to the Christensens' outbuildings, the Indians moved on.
Continuing downstream, the Cheyennes next came upon three immigrants, also guests of the Lauritzens, who were out inspecting a possible farmstead. The two men, Fred Meigheroff and George Weichel, fired at the Indians as they and George's wife, Maria, fled south along Spillman Creek. They made it about two miles before they ran out of ammunition. The pursuing Indians quickly killed the men and captured Maria, who was described as a beautiful twenty-year-old.
A mile southeast was the Michael Healy homestead, where Susanna Alderdice and her four children, along with a Mr. and Mrs. Noon, a Mr. Whalen, and Bridget Kine and her daughter, had been staying. When they heard shooting, at about 6 p.m., the Noons and Mr. Whalen quickly made their escape on horseback, leaving the rest of the women and children behind. The abandoned women tried to escape with their youngsters to the thick brush along the Saline River. Clutching her two-month-old daughter, Bridget waded across the river, hiding in the brush on the opposite side. But Susanna, herding her four small children, could not keep up.
The Cheyennes caught Susanna about fifty yards from the river. She sat down, holding her two youngest children, two-year-old Frank and eight-month-old Alice. The Indians shot down five-year-old John with four bullets and put five arrows into Frank, then bashed him against the ground. They shot four-year-old Willis with five arrows and
two bullets, then speared him in the back. For some reason they let Susanna keep baby Alice.
Another mile down the Saline, the Cheyennes saw two fourteen-year-old boys, Arthur Schmutz and John Strange. The Indians told the boys they were "good" Pawnees, and a young warrior approached the two. When he was close enough, the Indian smashed his war club into Strange's head. The boy uttered only "Oh Lordy" before he fell dead. Schmutz took off running, but an arrow hit him in the side, piercing his lung. Somehow he kept running, pulling out the shaft. As he fled, two of his brothers, who had heard the commotion and hurried out with rifles, appeared. The Indians retreated. Young Schmutz was taken to Fort Harker for treatment, but he died about ten weeks later.
At the end of that day, the Cheyennes camped on the south side of the Saline near Bullfoot Creek. Coincidentally, they were only about two miles up from the campsite of Lt. Edward Law and his Company G, Seventh Cavalry, who were unaware of the raids until the next day. Upon hearing the news, the soldiers pursued the raiders, but they got away.
Three days after Susanna Alderdice's capture, the Indians, perhaps tired of little Alice's crying, took the baby from her mother and strangled her, hanging the limp body in a tree. Susanna Alderdice and Maria Weichel remained captives until 11 July, when Major Carr caught up with Tall Bull at Summit Springs, Colorado Territory. Just moments before the rescue, Susanna was tomahawked and shot dead. Maria was shot in the chest, but she survived. She later recounted her horrific ordeal as a captive.
Eleven settlers died as a result of Tall Bull's raids along Spillman Creek. Incredibly, when Seventh Cavalry soldiers and some civilians found four-year-old Willis Alderdice the following day, he was still alive. The arrowheads in his body were all removed, including one lodged five inches into his chest. Willis was raised by Susanna's parents and lived until 1920.
