The Breens joined the company at Independence, Missouri, and the Graves
family overtook the train one hundred miles west of Fort Bridger. Each
family, prior to its consolidation with the train, had its individual
incidents. William Trimble, who was traveling with the Graves family,
was slain by the Pawnee Indians about fifty miles east of Scott's Bluff.
Trimble left a wife and two or three children. The wife and some of her
relatives were so disheartened by this sad bereavement, and by the fact
that many of their cattle were stolen by the Indians, that they gave up
the journey to California, and turned back to the homes whence they had
started.

An amusing incident is related in the Healdsburg (Cal.) Flag, by Mr. W.
C. Graves, of Calistoga, which occurred soon after his party left St.
Joseph, Missouri. It was on the fourth night out, and Mr. Graves and.
four or five others were detailed to stand guard. The constant terror of
the emigrants in those days was Indians. Both the Pawnees, the Sioux,
and the Snakes were warlike and powerful, and were jealous, revengeful,
and merciless toward the whites. That night a fire somehow started in
the prairie grass about half a mile from camp. The west wind, blowing
fierce and strong, carried the flames in great surging gusts through the
tall prairie grass. A resin weed grows in bunches in this part of the
country, generally attaining the height of four or five feet. The night
being very dark, these weeds could be seen standing between the fire and
the guards. As the flames swayed past the weeds, the impression was very
naturally produced upon the mind of a timid beholder that the weeds were
moving in the opposite direction. This optical illusion caused some of
the guards to believe that the Indians had set fire to the grass, and
were moving in immense numbers between them and the fire with intent to
surround them, stampede the cattle, and massacre the entire party. The