Morning journal and courier., 1881-05-06
An Oregon Pioneer.
How he Once Killed Five Indians with
 his Clubbed Rifle.

How he Once Killed Five Indians with
 his Clubbed Rifle.
 [From the Portland Oregonian.]
 No man in Oregon has figured more con- spicuously in the sphere in which he has act ed for twenty-eight years than l.. l.. Will conveyed through Portland from San Fran cisco on the way to Roseburg for interment. It was in 1851 that he arrived in southern Oregon. He came as miner with the thou sands of adventurous spirits who thronged to the coast during those early years. He was leader of men by nature, and being pos sessed of liberal education he was qualified for the duties of any position no matter how exalted. Brave, generous temperate in all things, and possessing executive ability of high order, he never failed in any enterprise which he undertook during the many years of his residence in Oregon. He took an ac- tive part in repeling the Indian outbreak of early days in the southern portion of the State. During the latter part of 1851 he went in company with Major T'Vault and three others to prospect the. waters of the Coquille for gold. They descended the river in a canoe, and when near the mouth of that stream they landed at an Indian village. Captain Williams and another member of the party went ashore to reconnoltre, when they were attacked by the savages. The cap- tain's companion was instantly killed. The remainder of the party escaped in the canoe and he was left alone to contend with over fifty savages armed with guns and bows and arrows. Being man ln the prime of life and of almost Herculean strength, he suc- ceeded in making his escape after killing five Indians with his clubbed rife But he was desperately wounded. Two flint arrow points had pierced into the cavity of his body, from which they were not extracted for more than a year after his escape, which, he effected by making his way to Gardiner. ,,aor 4ba month of the TTnnD0ua
 The Rush of a Train Down a Mountain.
 From the Les Vegas opticl
 The most hair-raising episode that ever happened to New Mexican mountain rail way train fell to the lot of Conductor Bless ingham Thursday afternoon at 8 o'clock on the west slope of Glorieta Summit. The train comprised nearly thirty loads, and as it en- tered upon the descent, Jake Brown, the en- gineer, threw on the brake, but found it was broken, and would not work Brown called for brakes, but the trainmen had already set every one, and realized that the train was beyond their control Seeing that nothing could be done to stop the mad course the train was going. Brown jumped from the cab while going at the rate of sixty miles an hour, and landed seventy two feet distant, actual measurement. Blessingham who was on the caboose with Pawnee Charlie and wife as passengers, fearing that the train was going to destruction, cut his way y-car loose and checked it with the brakes, while the train continued it's velocity down the long grade. The fireman stood at his post like hero, and while the engine was plunging down the flight at giddy speed, he crawled out on the foot board and poked sand through the sand box, thinking that it might assist the wheels in getting grip upon the rails. As the train sped around Material curve, which is ''short and steep,n the velocity was so great that the locomotive ran on one rail, andoverbalanced so greatly that it came within an ace of losing iss equilibrium. The brakemen on deck were obliged to lie flat and cling to the running boards for safety. For six miles those badly frightened men stuck to the ship and faced the horrors of death Below Canoncito is a natural basin, with three miles of level track, and it was on this stretch that the runaway ] train was mastered and stopped.