Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-12-18

ing on. At length we reached our
cabin, where mother and two young.
er children were, and the nearest
neighbOr a mile away. Father was
several miles distant from home at
work and was not expected home for
several days. My first words to
mother were, The Indian war has
broken out oh! no; | guess not"
she said. But John Chambers said
So" | rejoined. At that her face
paled. and rigid setting of the mus
cles of her jaws followed which
never can forget. Soon she said in a
very quiet tone, Well, as soon as
you get the chores done guess you
had better go over to Mr.. Wood s
and see if he will not let John come
over and stay all night, had wood
to get. and some feeding of stock to
attend to, besides assisting mother
to milk four cows. and this by the
light OF lantern, At length start
ed to Mr.. Wood s-Isaac Woods,
many years a resident of Olympia
afterwards, and on that mile journey.
after night. without light, | had
the scare of my life. In the first
place the timber most of the way was
very dense; and second, in that day
lS5o-wild beasts, such as cougars,
panthers, wild cats, lynx, bear, etc.
were prowling about all hours of the
day. AS | was about in the heart OF
this dismal forest, in the impenetrat-
able darkness, a abloOd-curdling sound
" hoo! Hoo! H OO.' emerged from the
trees above my head, and almost
transfixed me to the spot. l recov-
cred from the shock quickly, when l
realized that the noise came from a
pair of unmannerly screech owls.
(And here allow me to say that |
have not had a very high regard for
owls since that day. l then went
on to the home of Mr.. Wood, and
John went home with me, with a gun
on his shoulder, much to my relief.
The next day father came home, and
we removed to the stockade which
was built around the barn of Andrew
J. Chambers, on the south side of
Chambers Prairie.
During the next, year our family
lived in four different stockades and
blOck-hOuses every one of VIII ich we
helped to build. And during all
these trying experiences, which
now am sure must have troubled
mother greatly, l never heard her
utter a single comp laint or exhibit
an emotion of fear. She would in
spite of everything, see a silver lin
ing in every cloud. And that was
the characteristic spirit of the great
majority of the early pioneers of the
Pacific Northwest.
The killing of William White. al
luded to by Mrs. Sapp, has an en-
during place in my memory. 1t was
on Sunday afternoon, March 2, 1856,
about 4:2O Pm. For some time prior
to that date our family had been liv-
ing in the r uddell Stockade-" Fort
Ruddell, it was called-On the north.
ern edge of Chambers Prairie. The
volunteers at the front were keeping
ing the Indians pretty well under
control, it was believed, and by Feb
ruary OF that year it tbecame apparent
to many that unless crops could be
put in disaster would follow. Con-
sequently it was a common thing
for settlers whose families were in
blockhOuSes or stOckades to sally out
to their farms and do some planting.
My father was of that class. and he
and had finished planting our early
garden on March 1st and intended to
have returned to the Ruddell fort
that night, but were prevented from
doing so by the failure to find COW
which we knew had a young calf.
The animal was found the next morn
ing, but in the search much of our
fence was found thrown down-pre-
sumably by Indians-and this had to
be repaired. Just as we we're hitch
ing up our oxen, preparing to start
for the stockade. we heard several
reports from the firing of guns south
OF us, but were not alarmed thereby,
because it had been the custom for
the settlers to go into the woods
nearby and kill deer whenever it was
necessary. Supposlng this to be the
case at this time we paid no atten-
tiOn to the firing, and drove home
ward. When within about q mile of
the Ruddell Fort we met John Cham
bers, who had been riding furiously,
and he halted long enough to say,
" William White has been killed, get
into the fort quick" And we hur-
ried as rapidly as the oxen could be
forced to 60. In the fort all was ex-
element; but the first thing done
was to put ourselves in condition for
defense. This being done we waited
for developments. Hour after hour
passed by without tidings, and mean
while all were growing more and
more apprehensive. Stephen d. Rud-
dell, James T. Phillips, Abiel Morri-
son. Archibald Mcmillan, and my
father, were the only men about the
and the remainder of the