The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1909-11-21
mrs, WARREN TELLS
OF EARLY DAYS
WOMAN WHO WITNESSED WHIT
MAN MASSACRE IN fs47 RE-
COUNTS TRAGEDY STORY.

Spokane, Nov. 2o-Mrs Eliza spald-
ing Warren. the second white child
born in the northwest. ~ho has lived
in epic since her birth at what is
now Lapwai. Idaho. - years ago. has
just returned to Spokane from the
Neg. Perce settlement. where she
passed two weeks among Indians she
knew in her childhood. At the home
of her grandson. b. ]. Warren, 2lI
South Madelia street. Mrs. Warren,
who is resident of Lake Chelan.
Wash, told of the stirring times in
the early days in what was called
the oregon country.
Mrs. Warren is a type of the de-
termined women who assisted their
fathers and husbands to build up the
country in the face Of hardshins and
dangers. She was raised among the
Indians. playing as child with the
afterward notorious renegade Chief
Joseph of the Nez Perces. who gave
the late General o. o. Howard such
a lively chase i'm 1877. She survived
the Whitman massacre, in which DR.
Marcus Whitman and IS of his brave
followers lost their lives. and later
WAS ransomed from captivity by the
Hudson Bay company.
On her recent visit tn Lapwai. the
first in 81 years. she found three In
dams, now aged and failing, with
whom she played when little girl.
The squaws remembered her after
she gave her maiden name and re-
called some of the early Incidents.
Recalling Early Days.
MY father, Henry II. spaulding.
Presbyterian missionary. sent out
from New England made the trip
across the plains and mountains with
DIR. Marcus Whitman In 1896. and
settled in what IL now Lapwai. Ida
no." said Mrs Warren. DIR Whit
man continued the journey to begin
his missionary work among the Cay
ire Indians at a point where Waila
Walla, WASH, is now located, and
for years they were our nearest white
neighbors. The entire country was
then known as oregon territory.
II was born in 1887 and lived at
Lapwai among the Neg Perces for
nine. years. when ! was taken to Dr.
Whitman's TO go to school. made
the trip with squaw, unaccom-
panied by any white person. The
next year was taken by my father
who after arranging for my care by
DIR. whitman and his wife. left me
To see to some business in the Will
Jeanette valley. His leaving was the
reason of his life being saved. for
shortly after my arrival the Indians
turned on Dr. Whitman and the lit
tie band of white men at the post
and massacre6 them. l saw the IA
men killed and the women and chill
dren. So in number. taken prisoners
by the Indians.
We were held captive for three
weeks and then the Hudson Bay
company bought us. paying the In
dams in trinkets, blankets and other
articles to the value of $500. Peter
S. ogden, who was then factor of
the trading post at Vancouver. Wash,
was the man who so humanely res
cued us from our captivity. and to
the best of my knowledge he was
never even thanked for IL. My ia
Their was hunted by the Indians for
six days. but hid in the timber and
SO escaped the death meted out to
the others.
after the whitman massacre In
ls47 my father moved his family to
the Willamette valley. as il had be-
come too dangerous To live at lap
wal. and we settled in that country
permanently. Afterward l moved to
3 Lake Chelan, and this is my first
visit to Spokane in q years. At that
time il was little more than val
lage.
Il passed several weeks among the
Indians at Lapwai recently and I was
struck by their progress 1t is some
thing wonderful. The men at the
Presbyterian mission founded by my
father. former resident of New
Haven. Conn. and Boston. have built
one of the best churches in that sec
ton and all of them are leading
Christian lives. They have bank
and every family has "A deposit. The
Indians have devoted their attention
TO agriculture. chiefly wheat growing.
they are also doing some intensive
farming.
1t may be Of interest To note that
the Neg Perez Indians probably We're
the first 10 practice irrigation in the
northwest. have heard by father
talk about the method and | have let
ters written by him To relatives in
New England i'm 1889. I'm which he
spoke of their Grade methods of sup
plying moisture to the land by arti-
fetal means. In some instances the
water was carried in earth fumes.
while in others they stored the melted
snow from the hills by building dams
They We're successful and raised crops
Of vegetables which would do credit
10 any truck gardener"