The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-05-12

Paul was quite wild and primitive.
well remember that while we were living
| in the cabin at Eighth and Jackson in,
l think, the fall Of 1S49, we saw most
| phenomenally large flight CT wild pigeons.
| 1t is an actual fact, as the old settlers
| will remember that the sky was actually
| obscured for over an hour from be-
| yond Dayton's Bluff to Fort Smelling by
the immense flock of these birds. From
Little Crows village South ST. Paul. we'll
up to the Falls of st. Anthony, prac-
t1cally solid mass Of lying Ligeons;
filled the air. A single discharge of an
old f1int-lock musket would bring down
two or three of the birds every time.
In 1850, while a better home-a frame
house-was being built for the family on
what is now Ninth street, where Gen.
Sanborn's residence stan is, we lived on
claim on Smelling avenue, half a mile
beyond the state fair grounds. Our near
est nelghbor was more than mile away.
The trail from Little Crows village at
Kaposia to Lakes Josephine and Johanna
and on to the then great wild 1ice lakes
beyond ran along above town and over
the hill district across the country, by
way of Lexington avenue, the Northern
Pacific shops and on between Como Park
and the fair grounds, in northwestery
direction to the lakes mentioned. Over
this road, which ran not far from our
house, hundreds of the Sioux Indians
Travelled on their annual rice gathering
| and hunting expeditions and were our
| frequent and sometimes troublesome
| and annoying visitors.
| One Sunday, in the early fall season,
when all Of the family except
my father, my sister Hannah and
myself, were at church in ST. Paul.
some 300 or 400 Indians passed over this
trail. The main body Travelled several
| hundred yards west Of our house but
dozen or more of the young braves came
up and sat down on our wood pile or
leaned against the staked and ridered
! fence which inclosed the farm. Some of
! them began to amuSe themselves by
pointing their guns or shooting their ar
rows at our pigs and oh ckens. Our big
| black frontier dog, Caesar" was pres
| ent, and he hated an Indian with an in
tensity that was remarkable At last
the Indians moved to Climb the fence and
attack our large watermelon patch,
which they had discovered and were
| longing to invade. Three Of the largest,
! who had evidently been selected to lead
| the charge, made a dash for the fence.
| The first to reach it straddled the ton
rail directly over where lay our faithful
| dog. My little sister and I had been
/ greatly frightened and father stood be-
! tween us and the Indians with new
AK handle in his hand, as if to protect
us. AS the young redskin was about to
descend on the inside father called out:
| Take him, Caesar!' With one bounl
the dog sprang upon the savage ard
with a yell of surprise and terror the
savage turned and leaped to the ground
on the outside and ''lit a-running" He
and his companions fed from the scene
! in great alarm, while Caesar proudly
held the field, shaking in his mouth an
odoriferous piece of a breech cloutl My
sister and 1 were greatly relieved and
patted and caressed old Caesar and
thought him as great hero as his cele-
| brate0 Roman namesake
INDIANS RAID FIELDS.
"That night some of the Indians raded
our other field, a quarter of a mile from
the house, and beyond the TRAIL and, out
of revenge for their defeat in their at
tempt ON our watermelons cut and
slashed the green corn, the growing
most the entire field. Father reported
the matter to Fort Smelling where Maj
Nathaniel Mclean was Indian agent, but
made no claim for damages, as he might
have done. The nliscreants were made to
suffer- however, for they were forbidden
| to use their accustomed trail, and tho
next year they had $500 deducted from
their annuities.
my father was not a regularly or
dained minister of the M E. church. al
though he was always known as Rev
Hoyt, from the fact that for some years
after he came to Minnesota he frequently
officiated as a preacher to the pioneer
congregations of that period and exercis-
ed the other duties of minister gener-
ally He disliked the title of reverend,