hold the funeral services. This had often been done in previous funerals, and I could not well have said no if I had wished so to do. I consented, but saw plainly that it was more than an ordinary request. They feared that her husband would come and claim the body. Before her death she had requested her sister not to give her body to her husband because he had neglected her so. The contest was to be over this, and they thought that if the body was in my possession her husband would probably not obtain it. A strange contest. But the body was brought to the church and left there. About noon the next day I met her husband and several friends about three miles from the agency, apparently coming to it. They asked about the body, and I told them all about it. They said that they were coming to the agency, and wanted to take the body, have their services over it, and bury it. I was being drawn into the contest, but with my eyes open. As a general thing, a man certainly had a right to the body of his wife. But they left, as I thought, a place of escape, by saying that they should go and see her sister. If she gave them the body, they would take it and bury it in their way, but if not, they wished me to hold funeral services over it and bury it in the best manner possible. I was satisfied with that remark, for I wished, if possible, to let them fight it out. I came home immediately, and told our side these things, most of whom where gathered at the agency. After this the coffin was finished; she was placed in it, a few words were said, and I was requested to keep the body until the next day, when the funeral was to take place. Three hours had now passed since I came home, but David and company had not arrived. They had turned aside and held their services during that time. All of our side started for their homes. But they had not gone far, and I had only been at my house a few minutes, when I was called to the door to meet Ellen’s husband and son, Chief Dick, Billy Clams, and others. They asked me where the body was, and I told them. They said that her son wished to see his mother. I had no objections. Her son then said that he should take the body to his house, keep it for three days with lights burning at her head and feet, and then bury her with their ceremonies. He did not ask me for her, but said he should take her. Had her husband said so, I should have been in an awkward position. I asked if they had seen her sister and obtained her consent, as they had said they would do. They replied that they had not seen her. I told them that the body had been placed in my charge for the night, and I should not give it up until her sister had consented; that when any thing, be it a horse or a trunk, was left in my possession, I expected to care for it until the one who placed it with me called for it; that I had waited three hours for them to come, and they had not done so, and that they had not been to see her sister, as