The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1892-03-08
SAVED A POETS LIFE.
a STORY TOLD BY W. s. JAMESON
OF PUGET SOUND.

He Cut the Arrow From Joaquin NIL
ler's Neck at the Battle of Castle
Rock Story of the Confiict-A
Strange Meeting.
From the Neto York Times.
SEATTLE. WASH, March 2-For nearly
year the following paragraph has been
| going the rounds Of the press:
joaquin Miller, two or three years ago,
was walking with ex-Gov. Semple in Ia
coma when a curious thing took place. A
man walked up and. placing his finger on
| the left side Of Milleris face, said: Yes,
| you are the boy It turned out that this
man had saved the poets life at the battle
of Castle Rock, fought years ego in Cali
fornia. He had drawn an arrow from Mil
/ ler's neck when he was pretty far gone.
And now the poet is very anxious to learn
where the man can be found, for he forgot
both the address and the name soon after
ward"
The man for whom the California poet Is
| looking is W. 8. Jameson of Port Gamble,
one of the little villages on Puget Sound.
| For thirty years he has been in the lumb Der
| business in this state, and he is well-known
| to all of the older settlers. His life has been
an adventurous one. for, as gold digger, In
| dian fighter, hunter, steamboat man, guide
and trapper, he has wandered up and down
| the whole Pacific coast
"When in this city on q visit day or two
| ago, he told the correspondent Of the Times
the story of the battle in which Joaquin
Miller took part.
my old home" said Mr.. Jameson, sis In
Minnesota, but in 1854 l came to California.
| l Joined a prospecting party which went
north, and finally, in the early summer OF
| 1855, we struck gold at Hazel creek. in the
headwaters Of the Sacramento river. This
| was the first discovery Of gold in that part
of the country, and we were In high spirits,
for though we had had months and months
| of hard luck, we miners were very rich.
"But we were not allowed to work in the
diggings in peace, because the Indians soon
began to give US trouble. The hostiles were
| the Modocs and other renegades, who
robbed us and destroyed our property
whenever they got chance. In a short
time the Rogue River Indian war broke
out just across the line in Oregon, and then
the savages in Northern California, growing
more confident and oppressive, killed a man
not far from our camp.
THAT was too much for us to stand, and
so we raised company of twenty-five
whites and fourteen friendly indians and
prepared for little war on our own hook.
Capt. Gibson, who. believe, is still living
1
and one Of our band was Joaquin Miller.
He was then a bright boy, apparently
not over 16 years old, and he was living on
| a claim covering the Soda springs ON one
of the foothills of Mount Shasta. All the
trains from Portland to San Francisco stop
at those very springs now, and the passen
gers get out and drink the water.
1T was in July, 1855, that we set out af-
ter the redskins, and we followed them west
between the headWaters of the Sacramento
and the Trinity. The country was terribly
| rough and game was plentiful. remember
that on our first night out we oamped on
a hillside which was fairly alive with rat
tlesnakes. Never before nor since have
seen so many of the reptiles. We were so
afraid of our lives that we climbed into the
scrub oak trees, and. tying ourselves fast,
got what little sleep we could.
AFTER another day Of hard climbing and
marching we came about the middle of the
afternoon to a tablelaud of scrub oak near
Castle Rock. From the condition of the
trail we judged that the Indians were near,
and Capt. Gibson called for volunteer scouts
to find out exactly where they we're. Two
OF the Indians. one white man and | started
out. Suddenly we came upon two strange
Indians. and l. supposlng they were hostile.
was about TO shoot. but one Of the Indians
with US held my hand and told me the
| strangers were friends. So it proved, for
mics camping in little open space.
1--WE brought back our report and our
| whole company moved forward. When we
came upon the savages they tried at first to
use the guns they had stolen and picked up
at one place and another, but the firearms
were soon thrown away for the bows and
arrows, with which they were more familiar.
They sent shower Of arrows, SO that the
air seemed to be filled, and we were driven
| back a little way.
II remember at the beginning of the Skin
mish, when we we're closed In, that one
renegade at the front had his rife aimed at
big Missourian named Budd. The Indian
was working the triggers. but the rifle
wouldn't go. Budd saw the devil and shot
him dead before he could get at his bow and
ana CULVER This fellow, as we afterward
| learned, was one of the worst Indians In the
whole country, and everybody was glad he
was put out of the way.
by and by the attack Of our enemies
weakened, and before we knew it they had
entirely disappeared We were afraid they
were laying an ambush for us, and so an
other scouting party was sent out-Lane,
| Whitney, Joaquin Miller and myself. We
started arodnd the cbaparral, and, like
fools, we were standing up when we came
upon half dozen of the hostiles. They let
fly their arrows, and shot out one Of Lanes
| eyes. Whitney had his gun stock split in
two, and then Miller suddenly fell An ar
row had struck him in the left side of the
chin, had gone through the flesh, and the
flint head had come out Of the back of his
neck The wound was painful, but, boy
though he was, he stood it like man.
1--WE all knelt down so that we should not
be quite such fine targets ] drew my
knife, cut off the head of the arrow, and
drew the shaft back through Miller's chin.
| He bled profusely, but we bound up the
wound. and he soon regained strength. l
noticed as he was kneeling down there that
he was hunting in the leaves and grass for
something.
"'Whet have you lostp said /.
al want to save that arrowhead, he
replied, but he couldn't find it.
"Well, the end or it all was that we
drove the Indians out of that region. After
the campaign-if l can call it such-had
ended. did not see Joaquin Miller again
for thirty~hve years, and then met him in
| Tacoma. He was pointed out TO me, but /
think l should have recognized him any,
| Wheren