Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-08-13
CHAPTER Z

1t was some years after the great ciy-
Il war, though that it was not long aft
er can be Inferred from the fact that but
one railroad had as yet laid its iron
muscles across the great plains from
the Missouri to the mountains. The cat
tie herds of the ranchers had not yet
taken the place of the swarming black
buffalo on the tampas. There were no
settlements along the rivers where now
stately cities rise, and the only means
of conveyance and transportation were
the saddle and the prairie schooner, as
the great canvas topped wagons that
conveyed the immigrants, goods and
family were then called.
1t was an evening in early June. The
,ettang sun was throwing shadow from
The giant mountains to the westward
over the clear tributaries of the Nilsson
II, when a large train went into camp
in valley that afforded abundant wa
:er and pasture for their cattle and
aorses, while the slopes of the surround
ing foothills were covered with fuel,
only necessary at this time for cooking
purposes. This was known as DR..
Blanchard's train.
DR. Blanchard was a handsome man
IF middle age, who up to the time Of
bis going westward had lived, as had
his forefathers for many generations be-
fore him, near Wheeling and what is
now West Virginia. The civil war, in
which the doctor did not take part
though, unlike most of his family, his
sympathies were with the Union-had
left him impoverished, and, what was
worse, without friends where he should
most expect them. His wife had just
died-it might pe said of broken heart.
At the beginning of the war Mrs.
Blanchard had two brothers, Frederick
and Valentine Weldon. Frederick Vel
don, or Fred, as he was called, strongly
favored secession, and his brother as
strongly opposed it.
One night Valentine returned home
from Charleston, whittier he had ridden
OH horseback with his brother. The
brother never returned, but some months
afterward a body was found down the
river which could not be recognized ex-
cept by its tattered garments, and from
these it was believed to be the corpse OF
Frederick Weldon. The skull was frac-
tured, ard an impression went abroad
that he had been killed by his brother.
This impression was strengthened by the
fact that Immediately after the disap-
pearance of Frederick, Valentine, with
his wife, two little sons and baby
daughter, suddenly disappeared and was
never heard of again in that land Val
entine had been advertised for. Through
the death Of his father, who died with
out knowing that one of his sons was
dead, a large estate was left to the two
brothers.
DIR. Blanchard's wife was a sister of
the Weldons, but had been entirely ig-
nored in her fathers will, fact that
no doubt added to the unsettled condi-
ton of the doctors mind and forced
him to go westward with his children
These children were "a son Howard, ut
this time tall, handsome young man OF
two and twenty, and two daughters,
Alice and Clara, aged respectively II
and 10.
For the purpose Of protection, num-
Der of other wagons had joined DIR.
Blanchard's train at Omaha, and be-
fore setting out they had elected the
doctor to be their chief and a man
known as Captain Brandon to be their
guide. Captain Brandon was tall,
bronzed man, with grizzled beard, one
eye, and very quiet manner. Though
evidently in the prime Of life, his
hair was snowy white, which, added to