The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-11-04
The STORY OF A WOODEN cross
Brave and Faithful Nehawanta Met His
Death while Doing His Duty.

Brave and Faithful Mehawanta Met His
Death while Doing His Duty.
A party of Minnetonka explorers land
ell on Crane island, and in the course Of
their peregrinations ran on to pecu-
Harly shaped mound. The elevation
would have attracted no attention prob
ably but for a moss covered and worm
eaten wooden cross that surrounded It.
The cross bore every evidence of great
age. 1t was formed of two rough
branches solidly mortised together. That
others had found it was plain from the
carvings it bore There was some specu-
lation as to the origin and intent OF this
rough hewed emblem. Some insisted
that it had served pious hermit as an
altar before which to repeat his prayers;
others claimed to have discovered le-
gend inscribed on the time Worn stump,
and to these the cross denoted a grave
probably the last resting place Of some
early pioneer.
The truth is even more romantic and
interesting. That cross has stood the
ravages of time and the vandal hand of
the tourist visitor since 1851. 1t was
built by Frenchman named Edmond
DOrnier to mark the last resting place
Of an Indian. The Indian had rendered
Dornier q great service. He was shot to
death by the Frenchman while in the
very act of serving him. 1t was mis-
take, and one which Dornier regretted
to the dav when he himself died viO-
lent death in the Indian war Of 1861.
| Dornier lived on the lake shore. He was
| one of the first settlers. The log house
| he built has long since been replaced by
| pretentiOus house, now occupied by a
| Minneapolis man as his summer resi-
| dence. Dornier had q wife and two
| daughters The latter We're skillful III
| navigation of the bark canoes made by
the tribe of Sioux then resident IN that
region.
One of the oldest and wisest of the
! Sioux tribe was Mehawanta, a friend OF
the whites and conservative adviser OF
his tribe. One day Dornier's oldest
daughter, then handsome girl of nine
teen. was fishing in canoe off Crane
island, when the crazy craft capsiZed a:
the result of her attempt to land large
fish. The girls clothing had become
caught in the little canoe, and although
an expert swimmer she was drowning
rapidly 1t was then that with tremen
dous strides old Mehawanta came crash
ing through the underbrush. The OLE
Indian could swim like duck, and in
trice he had rescued the French cir
from her dangerous position. There sh
lay on the grassy bank insensible. TIL
Indian was not used to fCrmality. San
ceremony he tore open the bodice of hi
charge.
Then he proceeded to apply all tn
remedies nature had taught him. Thu
he was employed when from the tin
bered hillside rang out the sharp crac
of rifle. Mehawanta started, stoo
bolt upright, and then fell slowly fol-
ward across the PROSTATE form of tn
girl he had rescued--stone dead. !
moment later Dornier appeared. A riff
still smoked in his hand. He kicked III
dead body of the old chief aside, and l.
: hard work brought his daughter back
3 life. Her first inquiry was for Meh'
4 wanta. The face of the Frenchma
3 darkened as he pointed sternly at I'll
silent corpse. The terrible truth the
: burst upon her. Her preserver had bee
slain by the very hand that should hay
:. clasped his in warmest friendship.
: For years until the Indian wars brol
r out this girl visited the old chiefs gray
: and placed choicest wild flowers up
it. It was the most she could do. Dornl
y was frantic when he discovered his mi
l. take. He built the crude cross and burit
+ the dead chief with his own hand
F" Every prayer the holy fathers had taug
him in his native Quebec was said ov
the OLD hero's grave, but the reproa'
!. would not die. 1t haunted the Frenc
man to his dying day.
: Thus is told the story Of the cross
% Crane island by one who has heard
from Dornier's own lips.-Minneapo
, Journal.