Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1902-12-18
THE STORY OF CAPPIE
Crank H. Spearman in the National Magazine.)

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i child, tho somewhat dark, being of low
Dutch ancestry. When she saw THIS
boy, his every feature was SO repulsiVe
i that she put up both hands in horror,
exclaiming: THAT is not Cappie!"
i Accordingly the squaw with her little
ones was allowed to go back to Wau-
paca. The uncle, Frederic, who mad
i helped bring the boy down, was, as l
have said, a preacher. On his return
! from Waupaca with the child ana
! squaw he was hurried away to I'LL an
appointment and did not learn of the
1 decision of Cappie's mother until ne got
II back. He refused to believe she was
j right and with one or two OF the other
brothers believed that the mysterious
/ child surely must be Cappie and that ne
must be recovered and brought back.
4 Accordingly William Partridge and
family friend, DR.. j. j. Sherman. still
living at Marinette, Wisconsin t190l),
4 started for Waupaca with team to
hunt up the Indian woman and the
child. When they reached there the
Indians had disappeared.
/ The hunters soon got upon their
/ TRAIL then followed long and fruitless
pursuit Keeping a'ways on their track
/ the white men could never with their
| utmost efforts oyertake them. Night
4 after night they reached the spot where
! the Indians had slept the night before.
i Frequently they made their fire from
/ the embers Of the deserted camp of the
| Indians. Still they could not come up
with them. Does it not call to mind
/ Longfellow's Acadian story of the
weary efforts of Evangeline to overtake
| Gabriel?
/ So these men struggled determinedly
| on week after week, until at last the
/ Indians, perceiving they must in the
/ end be overtaken. sent word that they
would surrender to the Sheriff of the
| county.
The white men accordingly procured
| a writ and, taking the sheriff with
| them, proceeded to the old Indian play
ground at Lake Poygan, where the lit
! tie band true to their promise, surren-
4 dered and were taken to Oshkosh, then
as now the county seat of Winnebago
county.
At Oshkosh, Cappies father. Alvin
/ Partridge, appeared and, thru friends
gave bonds of $4,000 for the custody of
the child, pledging as security to his
/ bondsmen his farm, on which he had
/ built good house and barn and plant
! ed an orchard,in word, made the usual
Improvements of a thrifty pioneer. He
took the bo.f,home.
A day in the near future was ap-
pointed for a hearing before Court
Commissioner Butrick. The examina-
! ton, for convenience, was held in the
| largest church in the city of Oshkosh
/ before an audience of several hundred
4 people. The testimony on both sides
was clear and positive, and the dispute
4 now assumed something of a sectarian
character, the Indians being Catholics
and the white claimants and their
| friends Professionals.
/ Father F. j. Bonduel, one of the
French Canadian priests who devoted
! their lives to the Indian missions-he
| was at Green Bay between 1880 and
] l8a6-testified on behalf of the squaw
that he had known the boy from his
| birth and had given him bread and but
/ ter almost every day. A Mrs. Douse-
man. housekeeper for the reverend
| father, testified that she had known the
| boy for several years and that he be-
longed to the squaw. Finally Captain
--, an Indian trader of Neenah,
/ testified, as the Indian woman had in
the beginning claimed, that he was the
| child'S father.
| On the other hand many persons
| from Waupaca testified in regard to the
| treatment of the child by the squaw:
| they said she had used him as inter-
prefer. But could child at this age
act as an interpreter? They testified
/ f,,,. fl,a,. Oh 10 hoo TNf
the white families, taking away what
| he brought back and giving 1t to the
other children, who We're fat and sleek,
while he was poor and scrawny. 9th
ers testified the child had told them in
| English that the scars on his mouth
were made by the Indians heating
horseshoe and putting it in his mouth
for the purpose of disfiguring him, and
| that the Indians had told him if the
white folks got him they would skin
him and make white child of him,
hence his exclamation, Don't cut the
skin!"
It was also alleged that he had fire.
quently told men driving teams that his
father used to have a team of horses
and that he used to ride after them.
These things, together with Mrs. Bou-
tons testimony concerning the scar on
the ankle and many other matters, my
informant continues, led the bulk of the
Protestant people to believe the child in
dispute was really Cappie, and Mr..
Sherman's recollection is that Cappies
mother testified positively that this was
her child. When the testimony was all
in, Commissioner Butrick announced
that he would take two weeks to ex-
anime the evidence and render his de-
eision. This was on Saturday night.
On the second Sunday following, mes
senger came up to Vinland from Alvin
Partridge's attorney at Oshkosh stat
ing that the decision had gone against
them; that the commissioner believed
the child to be the child of the Indian
woman.
Overcome with the news, Cappie's
father in desperation sacrificed his
farm to the bondsmen, took the child
and fled to Ohio with him, the mother
following. There they remained some
two years before the Indians learned
of their whereabouts. Finally, with the
assistance of Catholic sympathizers, q
sheriff was sent to Ohio with a requisi-
ton from the governor of Wisconsin
and the father and child were brought |
back as far as Milwaukee. At that
point, thru the assistance of friends, the /
the jail in which they were held tenn
porarily, and they again disappeared
from Wisconsin, and this time forever.