[262] The reputed finding of the body of Joel Howe may well be questioned. The evidence presented tends to show that the headless skeleton found by Mr. Goodenough could not have been that of Howe. Of the party that took the trail route to the Mattock cabin from Howe’s, H. E. Dalley is the only one who in late years has survived, and in fact he was about the only one of the Johnson party who survived the fearful storm of the fourth and was able to give a coherent tale of what they had done. The leader of the party and its second most active member both were lost in the storm. Mr. Dalley in relating the facts of the burial of Howe has always maintained that Howe’s body, complete and not headless, was found but not buried at the same spot. Instead the party carried the body to the Mattock place where it was interred. He has ever sturdily maintained that this act of the party is the most vivid recollection of the whole experience. Lieutenant Maxwell has also maintained that the body was not headless when found. There is a discrepancy between the number of bodies disinterred in the vicinity of the Mattock cabin and the number of people reported to have been killed there.
The place and conditions under which the skeleton was found also lend an air of controversy. The skeleton is said to have been found about eighteen inches deep under a cow-path and at the head of a small ravine worn back about thirty feet from the lake shore. In soil conditions as they exist at the lakes, such a ravine would not have been the result of years of work, as is implied, but would have been the work of a freshet. That the wearing back was the result of the work of years is implied in the statement that “Turning at the head of this recession is a cattle path.” Here the inference is plain that the cattle for years had turned to avoid the ravine. Once started, the spring freshets and summer rains would have rapidly worn the ravine back to a greater distance than thirty feet. All those stating that the body was buried where found say it was buried upon the summit of a bluff. The conclusion is evident that a thirty foot backward recession of a ravine would hardly have occurred in the face of a bluff. By its finders the body is said to have been buried only about eighteen inches deep. With the eroding effects of a cattle path would it have been still that depth below the surface after a lapse of nearly a half century? One would think that such could hardly be. For discovery and interment of the remains of Joel Howe, see Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. XI, pp. 551-553.
[263] There will probably always be more or less controversy as to the number of bodies found and buried. The present writer has sought to be conservative in accepting evidence. See Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 88, 89; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, pp. 539, 540; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 543; Mrs. Sharp’s History of the Spirit Lake Massacre (1902 edition), p. 74.
[264] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 90; Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 922-937.
[265] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, p. 90.
[266] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 91-94.
[267] The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.
[268] Smith’s A History of Dickinson County, Iowa, pp. 98, 99; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 530; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.
[269] The Spirit Lake Massacre and Relief Expedition in the Roster and Record of Iowa Soldiers, Vol. VI, pp. 995, 996; Narrative of W. L. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544; Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 531.
[270] Address of John N. Maxwell in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 531; The Narrative of W. K. Laughlin in the Annals of Iowa (Third Series), Vol. III, p. 544.