Next stop was the Noble and Thatcher cabin. Lydia Howe Noble was the daughter of Joel and Rheumilla Howe. She was born in Ohio in 1836. When she married Alvin Noble, they moved to the east shore of East Okoboji Lake. The Indians burst into the cabin and shot Alvin and visitor Enoch Ryan. They then took a 2-year-old child from Lydia Noble and a 7-month-old infant from Elizabeth Thatcher, and bashed their brains out on a nearby oak tree. The raiders killed all the livestock, plundered the house and took Lydia Noble and Elizabeth Thatcher prisoner. Retracing their path to Howe’s cabin, they stopped to gather more treasures. Lydia discovered her mother, Rheumilla, under the bed with her skull crushed by a flat iron and her red eyes peering out of their sockets ‘like balls of fire.’ The Indians found Jacob Howe sitting in the yard, still alive; they quickly killed him, and then continued on to their camp. They placed the three female captives in one tepee for a short time, allowing them to compare experiences. Abbie, Lydia and Elizabeth were then put in separate tepees and ordered to braid their hair and grease their faces so they took on an Indian appearance.

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On March 9, Morris Markham, who was living at the Noble-Thatcher household for the winter, passed by the Gardner home after having been gone two days rounding up livestock. After discovering the bodies, he continued to Howe’s home and found more corpses; the same ghastly scene greeted him at the Noble-Thatcher home. Realizing this had been the work of marauding Indians, Markham thought it best to alert the settlement of Springfield (now Jackson, Minn.), about 18 miles north. There, he found Eliza Gardner, who had been visiting in Springfield with Dr. and Mrs. Strong, and reported that her entire family had been murdered except possibly for Abbie, whose body he did not find.

The next day, Inkpaduta moved the encampment three miles west. Abbie was enlisted to drive one of the sleds pulled by a team of stolen horses. On March 11, they moved to Marble’s Grove on the west side of Spirit Lake. On the 13th, the Indians stumbled upon the Marble homestead. William Marble was unaware that marauding Indians had been in the area for several days. The Marbles welcomed the braves into their home and fed them. Then the native visitors traded for Mr. Marble’s rifle and challenged him to a target shoot. After several shots, the target fell over. As William Marble turned to replace it, warriors shot him in the back and stole his money belt containing $1,000 in gold. Margaret Ann Marble viewed the contest from the cabin. She saw her husband murdered and attempted to escape, but the Indians nabbed her and had her join the other captives — Lydia Noble, Elizabeth Thatcher and Abbie Gardner. The warriors concluded another bloody day with a festive war dance.

On March 26, 1857, Inkpaduta’s band was camped at Heron Lake, about 15 miles from Springfield. Abbie Gardner noted that the warriors were all regaled for battle, with scalping knives in their belts and rifles loaded; they told the captives they were headed for Springfield. Abbie was in agony over what might happen to her sister. She figured Eliza ‘would either be killed, or share with me what I felt to be a worse fate — that of a captive.’ Had it not been for Morris Markham’s warning, the entire town might have been destroyed. As it was, the warriors still achieved a partial surprise. They stole 12 horses, various dry goods, food, powder, lead, clothing and quilts; then they killed Willie Thomas (8), William Wood, George Wood, Mr. Stewart, his wife and two small children.

The Indians packed up their camp the next morning and headed northwest. Abbie Gardner and Lydia Noble carried packs that weighed about 70 pounds. Margaret Marble toted a pack and a pudgy Indian baby about 2 years old. The child was cumbersome, so at every opportunity Marble would reach around, poke him in the face and make him cry. The Indian women decided that the child disliked the white woman for some unknown reason, so they took him away from her. The Indians had snowshoes to make their trek easier, but the captives had none. Elizabeth Thatcher was in great physical distress, suffering from phlebitis, what Abbie called a ‘broken breast,’ and a combination of other maladies. She had to trudge through deep snow, cross frigid rivers, chop and carry firewood, cut poles for tents and perform other drudgery, yet she displayed great perseverance throughout her suffering. The medicine man did find a way to relieve her pain for a short time.

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