On examination of the five prisoners in
the morning it was discovered that each of them had some article of
clothing that belonged to the murdered men. The bodies of the two miners
were found and buried on the edge of the Bridal Veil meadow. When the
captives were accused of the murder of the two white men they admitted
that they had killed them to prevent white men from coming to their
Valley, declaring that it was their home and that white men had no right
to come there without their consent. Lieutenant Moore told them through
his interpreter that they had sold their lands to the Government, that
it belonged to the white men now and that they had agreed to live on
the reservation provided for them. To this they replied that Tenaya
had never consented to the sale of their Valley and had never received
pay for it. The other chief, they said, had no right to sell their
territory. The lieutenant being fully satisfied that he had captured the
real murderers, promptly pronounced judgment and had them placed in line
and shot. Lieutenant Moore pursued the fugitives to Mono but was not
successful in finding any of them. After being hospitably entertained
and protected by the Mono and Paute tribes, they stole a number of
stolen horses from their entertainers and made their way by a long,
obscure route by the head of the north fork of the San Joaquin, reached
their Yosemite home once more, but early one morning, after a feast of
horse-flesh, a band of Monos surprised them in their huts, killing
Tenaya and nearly all his tribe.
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