The daily morning journal and courier., 1904-01-30
TELLS OF WYANDOllES
STORY OF OLDEST LIVING SUR
 VITOR OF THAT TRIBE
Mrs. rsblth. Thon.., Daughter of Chief siIas Armstrons, Had some Thrilling Experiences in the Early Settlement Days.
Settlement Days.

In humble but comfortable apart ments at 715 Central eyenue in Kansas City, Kan. lives Mrs. Tabitha Thomas. the oldest surviving member of the Wyandotte tribe of Indians, in that city. She is the daughter of Silas Arm strong, for many years chief of the Wyandottes. He died in 1868, and was the wealthiesI and most powerful member of his tribe. Mrs. Thomas lives with her only son Charles Thomas S2 years old, who declares that he will not marry as long as his mother lives.
 Mrs. Thomas has most interesting and romantic history. She is familiar with the story of the struggles and trl- umphs of the Wyandotte Indians from the time they left their original camp ing grounds in Ohio down to the pres ent time. She was in Wyandotte dur ing the great flood of 1S44, and passed through the days Of border warfare in Kansas City, Kan, for congress to pass a bill allotting each person eighty acres of land they claim has been due them since the Wyandottes sold their lands in Kansas to the government and moved to the Indian Territory in 1870.
 Mrs. Thomas whose maiden name wass Miss Tabitha Armstrong, came to Westport landing, now Kansas City, Mo, in 1843 in company with her father Silas Armstrong, and other members of the tribe. The Wyandottes owned a large tract of valuable land between upper and lower Sandusky in Ohio, which they sold at that time. They then purchased from the government the ground comprising several hundred acres on which the northern section of Kansas City, Kan, is now located. At that time this land was an unbrok- en wilderness of timber and under brush, through which dog could scarcely make his way.
 We came from our home near San dusky to Cincinnati,' said Mrs. Thom- as, fin covered wagons and buggies, where we took river steamers and made the rest of our journey to Vest port landing in that way When we reached Westport landing we found there only two houses and beer gar den. These stood north of the present site of the Missouri river They were owned by three brothers, Ben, George and Gesso Schalo, young Frenchmen, who made their livihood through trad who made their livelihood through trad ing with the river steamers that stop ped at Westport landing ntheir trips up and down the Big Muddy. There was then small town at Westport but the two houses and the geen gardens were the only improvements on the present site of Kansas City, Mo.
 "In the latter part of 1s43 the men of the tribe had succeeded in clearing some of the land on the west side of the Kaw river and a few families of us moved over there We built log huts and lived the best we could in the wild erness. Then came the flood of 1S44. ] netver shall forget it. Talk about the flood of 1903. The A flood was much worse and the water was several feet higher, although, of course, the proper ty lose was not nearly so great. The water extended from bluff to bluff in an unbroken sea, except for the green islands formed by the tree tops in the heavily wooded bottoms. We had nc store in Wyandotte and we were in g terrible plight. We finally ran out oi food and were nearly starving Father and three other men, becoming desper- ate, made themselves a raft of logs and set out across the raging torrent for Westport to buy food for us.I They were gone three days and we finally gave them up for drowned, but they re turned safely. To give you an idea oi the height of the flood, the water was running several feet deep over what is now the foot of Minnesota avenue at Third street in Kansas City, Kas. Two government buildings used in the river