Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-24
SETTLING THE INDIANS.
An Old Fret Ehter TeIls of How It Wa
Done forsy Years Ago.


Don Forsy Years Ago.
John Campbell, formerly freighter to
tie Indian country and an upper Missouri
river boatmal. says be has witnessed sew
ersl incidents wherein savage oarharity
was pitted az ainst the white mans strate-
gy In each instance the savages were
paid back in a more than decimally in
crease. ratio Tor the damage done
One csse occurred in the vicirisy of old
Fort Boise. Indians had done great injury
10 a man named James Beckwith They
gloatsd over what they had done They
were large il number, the whites were
small and for business and other reasons
II was deemed impossible to wage open
warfare The situation, however, was
such that II " Is deemed best TO curtail the
power of the Indians, as they were inso-
lent and restening
Beckwith went down the Missouri river
to q place whe re smallpox existed He OBJ
tanned smallpox virus in form that could
be easily transported. One story was that
he earned the poison in an air tight CAMS
ter ike arran cement. When be reached
his destination he infected some clothing,
which was Immediately put in possession
OF the Indians, 50 that the poisonous germs
OF the smallpox, which are short lived,
would not lose their efficacy. The result
was that the epidemic broke out and in
creased to p,stilence- In more than 50
per cent Of the cases the disease assumed the
continent and the hemorrhaRic forms, and
the fatality was not far from 100 per cent
In their deliriQm scores ran to the river,
and death was 1hus accelerated in its ap-
proach. The white men shut themselves
up in what was called the old fort, large
abandoned stru cture, large part of which
was made Of frame. Here the Indians, pesti-
lence stricken, locked They humbly came
to the white man. whom they bad so re-
Gently abused and eXuited over in their
brutal, savage way
After the abandoned old fort had been
converted from a lazar house 10 charnel
house by the action Of disease the means
Of egress were barred, and in order TO stamp
cut the coatagion fire was applied Scores
Of dead bodies were cons1 med. The con-
tsgion was thus stamped out, the power of
the Indians was broken without the loss
Of a single white man and the insults
avenged This occurred between forty and
fifty years ago.
On another occasion a young German
who was employ ed in mental capacity in
a private fort Of \ NJ Harvey, in Ignorance
orotherwise, disreggrded instructions given
him, and on a csrtain occasion when there
was danger strayed from the fort about a
quarter OF a mile He was killed by In
dians and cut into small pieces
The mutilated remains were then left as
. warning 10 the whites of the Indians
proves Just "a in the smallpox case, the
whites did not appear to notice the in
dignity, and also as in the smallpox case
the Indians regarded this as an indication
OF covardice- The Indians, however, kept
away for short time after the murder TO
see what vould ne done Then they came
around TO trade. This fort had an alley
Ike entrance, guarded by door or gatelike
arrangements al each extremity. The sides
were walled or boarded high The white
men maha-o-s 20 get the alley full Of In
dians
They had previously allowed Indians in
here after the mu rier in order TO diSarm
suspicion The whites opened the outside
barriers, bat placed behind = thin inside
barrier a masked cannon. This was heav-
lily loaded with iron sluCs, parts of black
smith shop refuse and material OF that
nature Without warning this was dis
charged into the hacked mass of savaces
a moment later he narrow way was filed
with dead and mangled Indians The out
er way was shut and Others were killed
For long time after this the Indians were
well behaved
Frontiersmen = that if eastern senti-
mentality did not prevail 20 the extent of
interference with the army movements
and with the action of men who thorough
~ understand the Indian character at ey-
cry turn the Indian problem would soon
he solved, and TO ais problem there is ont
one solutioa.-Kansas City Star