The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-07-05
WALKER AND HIS GIRLS.
WOMEN WHO ARE AS GOOD AS
COWBOYS ON THE RANCH.

WV CS . YIN nSNS'.
William Walker and His Two Daugh-
ters, Susie and Marciaette, Handle
a Band of Oregon Horses in Master
! ly Fashion.
During the past week PcndlCton,
Oregon. has been enllvened by the
presence of William Walker and his
! two daughters, Marcialette and Susie.
who hail from near Dale, on the
| north fork of the John Day River; in
Umatilla County. Ore
William Walker. the father is So
years of age, was born in Kentucky,
whence he removed to Stoddard Coun-
ty. Missouri, where he served as a
Confederate guerilla during the Civil
War under the celebrated Chief Guam
trcll. At the close of the war Miss
ouri was not a very safe place for a
guerrilla. Consequently William
Walker "lit out " as he expressed it,
for more SalubriOus region and cross
ed the plains alone on horseback in
1865.
lie stopped year or two in Idaho.
where he supported himself by trap
ping and hunting. and LIE became ia
nous as a killer of bears In 1867 he
went further west and settled in Nor
row County, where he engaged in
stock raising.
About twenty years ago he removed
to his present location in Umatilla
County. where he has been engaged IN
the raising of horses. sheep and cat
tie. About this time he married Mag
gle Barker. a daughter of John Barker.
who was killed at Heppner by Bill"
Jones in a brawl. The mother of
Walkers wife was Pitt River (Cal)
Indian, and therefore Walkers chill
dren. are quarter-breers, the strain of
Indian blood being very apparent in
the girls. Walkers marriage was
blessed by eight children. all girls
the eldest being about eighteen years
of age and the youngest two years.
During the Bannock Indian war of
1878 his services were secured as
scout for the whites by Thomas Ayers.
of Hcppner, father of Thomas Ayers,
of PendletOn, Ore. He performed
valuable services in this capacity,
serving under Col. Brown. While on
scouting duty he discovered very
dangerous ambuscade prepared by the
Indians in a narrow canon, where they
had gathered great masses of rock to
roll down upon the troops when pass
ing through, hoping in the confusion
to cut them to pieces. Walker was
surrounded by the Indians for two
days on this trip, and escaped only
by crawling through the brush like
snake. When he reported the ambus-
cade the troops marched against the
Indians by a different route ana cur
prised them. inflicting great damage.
For this service he was presented
with 800 in addition to his wages.
Walker Is six feet one inch high,
weighs 100 pounds, is as straight as an
Indian, has regular features, calm blue
eyes. heavy moustache and cnin
whiskers slightly touched with gray.
and when in PendIeton wore coarse
woollen cap. typical buckskin hunting
shirt, and was armed with six-shoot-
er strapped to the horn of his saddle.
his antecedents married to a half
breed Indian woman would raise a
family of bold adventurous character.
and the expectation is more than real
ized. When he came to Pendleton
about week ago he brought with him
his two oldest girls. Marcialette.
familiarity known as Babe" aged
eighteen, who tips the scales at 100
pounds, and Susie, aged sixteen,
weight, 145 pounds. The girls were
in charge of band of horses which
they had driven from John Day River,
a distance of nearly one hundred
miles. The arrival of this party
with their horses produced great
sensation in Pendleton.
The girls, who rode astride and
managed their ponies with the ut
most grace and deXterity, wore COW
boy hats, mems coats, Dolly Warden
calico dresses, heavy shoes, thick
woollen stockings, loosely tied hand
kerchiefs about their necks. and their
faces were brown as berries from ex
posure to the elements. This was
their holiday attire FOR service when
on dress parade in a large city. but
when riding the range at home they
wear the typical cowboy dress consist
ing of wide-brimmed sombreroes.
overalls, CHAPS high-top boots and
spurs. Their reputation as horsewo-
men extends all through the buncn-
grass regions. and they have a stand
ing offer of 500 reward for any COW
boy who will perform any feat of
which they will not
equal or surpass, but no man has yet
claimed the reward.
These girls take care of 500 head of
horses, band of I 500 sheep ard nu-
merous cattle. together with their
father performing the entire work of
the ranches, including breaking and
branding of wild horses and all the
other arduous duties which pertain
in stock-raising About one year ago
cto foI IN wound hIInob of