Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1882-10-06
4 "Reminiscences.
an fnCi''-nt connected with the Early
Settlement OF WaiIa WniIa

that gifted au;hCrtSS. Mrs. L. +.
Victor, Is narrated how Chief Trader
Mckinlav cleared the fort OF a band
Of hostile lnllanS-whO came there
intent on mischief The slme iucl-
dent has been published IN newspa-
pers, never however accurate III de
tail. it, hero, Archibald MrKinlav.
Esq, III charge Of Fort WaIla Wal,a
from 1871 to 1876 now resides at Lac
La Harhe. British Columbia Bvrc-
quest he recently furnished 81. foi-
lowing correct version of ia, I'll ur
upon which the narrative is fouhGel:
" At old Fort Waila Wala, it was
the duty of the officer III char to
furnish all the interior parties, from
Utah to British Columbia, with
, horses, pack saddles an other neces-
s;:ry equinnents. \ man Was en-
p'oyed at tn 'urt ESPECIALLY to make
pack saddles. The only hard wood
suitable for this purpose was birch,
which was obtained from the Blue
mountains, at distance of at least
fifty miles from the fort. The sad
dies required that season had been
finished, nnd umte large surplus of
Saddle wood remained at the house
If the saddler. Visiting the house
found the saddle wood fast iimish-
iLg in bulk, and upon inquirins was
informed that both whites and In
dams helped themselves, and that
the saddler thought as the compile
ment OF pack saddles had been fur
nished, such wood was no longer of
any value. To which l replied, it
would be useful another season and
no person, neither white nor In
dian must he suffered to take stick
Of it. A few days afterwards the
saddler made complaint that an In
dian had just taken piece, and that
upon demonstrating the Indian re-
fused to give tup. sent my clerk,
William Todd, TO see about it.
Hearing a noise q few minutes later,
| went to the window and saw an In
dan rush out of the saddlers house.
pick up stone and instantly Todd
was also out graphing with him.
Two other Indians standing near as.
sisted their comrade, and seized hold
OF Todd. | drove them off, intend
ing Todd should have fair play.
Although Todd's opponent was
much the stronger man of the two,
Todd got him down and kicked him
numerically. Upon separating them
l found that the Indian was the son
OF Pee-peemox mox, chief of the
Walla Wallas. | censured Todd for
being too hasty, and told him we
would have trouble. The men of
the font, except Todd, the saddler,
and myself, were at work in the field,
distant two miles. l did not appre,
bend ANY thing more than a big
talk. La about an hour the Old
chief, accompanied 10y some forty
or sixty men, came into the fort, and
through the kitchen into my room.
On seeing him | politely invited him
to be seated. Instead of accepting
my invitation he and his party rush
ell by me and seized Todd. As soon
as | could reach them, land | was
Just III time 10 catch the chiefs up
lifted arm, who, with tomahawk in
hand, was about to strike Todd upon
the head) | managed to draw him
towards my writing-desk, where
three pistols were hanging. Those
| pistols were not revolyers. l do not
believe they were even loaded. As
the chief and | continued to scuflle.
the men had released their hold
upon Todd to watch our struggle.
L then handed one pistol to Todd
with instructions not to fire until |
gave the word. The other two. l
retained. Pee -pee-mox-mox then
presented his naked brest, asked me
if | was going to shoot him, saying
if you shoot me, you shoot n man.
| replied that it was not my wish to
shoe. him, but if he again attempt
ed to use his tomahawk on Todd's
head, l would certainly use my pis-
tol.
Then ensued long conversation
about the code of laws introduced
among the Indians by DR.. Elijah
White, Sub-Indian agent east of
the Rocky Mountains, 1922, by
which it was provided that if an In
dian strike white man he should he
punish by hoSging, and also if
= white man struck an Indian
he was to receive like punish
ment. l told the chief that I never
would submit to such indignity, and
that if his son had soundly thrashed
Mr.. Todd, 1 should not have taken
any notice of it. Pee-pee-mox.mox
still insisted that Todd should
receive from the Indians n logging;
to which l answered that they would
first have to kill me. Whilst l was
thus conversing with the chief, his
son (who had received the threshing
from Todd), struck me in the ribs a
severe blow from behind. | seized
him by the hair intending also to
strike him, but knowing such a
course would be certain death, l
released my hold. At this moment
l thought of the key of powder in the
adjoining room. Springing through
the door l seized flint and steel
and standing over the open key in
the attitude of striking fire, defied
them to harm MIR. Todd, who was
yet in their grasp.
Before had really realized what I
was doing, not an Indian remained
IN the house except Pee-pee- mox-
mox and his son. The former after
sitting some minutes thus addressed
me. Don't you think you are
smart to brighten my young men
and make them leave, but you can
not brighten me. | have heard
that you whites are in the habit of
taking guns and challenging one
another; let US, you and 1, do the
same. TO which replied: sThere