The Ellensburg dawn. [volume] (Ellensburg, Wash.) 1898-1914, 1901-02-15
EARLY DAY HISTORY
INDIANS UP IN ARMS.
We Give the Story as Told
by DR.. nj. V. Amen.

In the early tlme Wnen tnere were
few houses in town, the country
being thinly settled, a good portion
of the town being covered with sage
brush, Main street was, you might
say, the only business street in
town. The postoffice was situated
on the corner of Main and Fourth
streets. In those days the Indians
We're frequent visitors in Ellens
burg, coming from their camps in
the surrounding hills, to sell their
ponies ard buy supplies, such as
blankets and groceries. 1t was
nothing uncomm. to see lots of
them in town. On one of these &C.
casions, in the fall of 1882, lot of
Indians were here in town and they
had got hold OF some liquor and be-
came very quarrelsome, quarreling
among themselves and with the
whites. The liquor in those days
was brought in here by freight
wagons from The Dalles, Oregon, as
that was the only means of convey
ance at that time. One George
Morgan, a very rough cowboy, had
some dispute with the Indians, and
was walking away when one of
the Indians, Mesatche Bill, a very
large buck and desperate charac-
ter, got into some difficulty with
another Indian by the name of
Bob, who was also hard charac-
ter, and Bill started after Bob with
a knife. Bob ran past Geo. Nor
gan, and Morgan looking back saw
Bill coming towards him with a
knife raised, and supposed he was
after him instead of the other In.
dian. Morgan had a large pistol
and turned around quick and fired
at Mesatche Bill, the ball passing
through his mouth and out through
his cheek. Then Bill and other
Indians coming up, closed in on
Morgan with knives and pistols
and would have killed him if he
had not received aid. Finally he
got away and ran towards the drug
store and into DR.. Amen's office
across on Milan street, and there
hid under the bed. The Indians
followed him as far the door of the
doctors Office, but would 60 no
farther, as Indians have super
stititious dread of Il doctor. The
Indians ran around to the rear of
the office and drug store, supposing
of course, he would run right on
through and try to get away, but
he remained secreted until night
when the doctor gave him clothes
to disguise himself and make his
escape. In the meantime, the
fight became pretty general outside
among Indians and whites, but
fortunately no one was killed, yet
quite number of shots were fired.
Finally, Mesatche Bill mounted his
horse and started to escape, riding
through the sage brush, shooting
and defying the officers. A man
by the name of William Prasbury,
was constable at that time, and
Jake Becker, was also a constable.
They, together with other citizens,
were all this time trying to capture
the the Indians, who were very
nicely evading an arrest. When
Mesatche Bill got about opposite
to where the court house now
stands, Jake Becker fired at him
with rifle, the ball however, only
effecting his horse, bringing it to
the ground, but many of Bills COM
panions were following him, he
mounted one of their horses and
continued his flight. Some of the
citizens got on their horses and
started after them and finally ran
onto them at "a point just above
where the Kennedy brick mill now
stands, where they captured them.
They were brought back and lodged
in Jail, the same being a half-flled
charcoal bin at the corner of old
man Becker's blacksmith shop.