The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-05-22
HE SEES CHANGE
Col. William Mathewson Has
Been Here Since 1855.
Once Whipped Indian Chief Who
Threatened His Life.
RESCUE WHITE WOMEN
Children, Stolen From Parents
by Indians, Also Returned.
Defeated Indian Band After
Long, Hard Siege.
RESCUE WHITE WOMEN

Wichita Kan, May 22.-The marriage
here recently of Colonel William
MatheWson at the age of 50 years re-
wives interest in one of the most re-
| markable characters in the history of
kansas. This old frontiersman, is hale
| and hearty, and apparently stands
chance to reach the century mark, in
spite of the hardships that he has ex-
| perienced.
William Mathewson established the
first trading post in the interior of
Kansas in 1855. 1t was at the Great
Bend OF the Arkansas on the Santa Fe
trail, and there, though the friends de-
| clared that no white man could live
| month in the country alone, he con-
| Quoted profitable business for ten
years.
| Prior to that time, Mr.. Mathewson
in the employ of the Northwestern Fur
company and the Bent ST. Grain Trad
ing company had spent four years on
the plains and in the mountains of the
west. During this time he had ira
versed Kansas from the Missouri river
to the Rocky Mountains several times,
and had had many narrow escapes from
the Indians. In this time he had learn
ed that the way to treat with Indians
was to be fair and frank with them
and never to show any sign of cow
ardice.
Chief Gets a Beating.
This training stood him in good stead,
when, shortly after opening his trad
| ing post, Sanataus, a Kiowa chief, with
a small band of warriors, called on him
one day with the avowed intention to
kill him because he had shot an In
dian who was found stealing a horse.
MatheWson promptly knocked the chief
down and beat him numerically, after
which he compelled his warriors to car
ry him away by threatening to shoot
them.
| Mathewson that he would kill him.
| The young trader Immediately started
| out across the prairie alone in search
| of the chief. who fed from his camp
and remained away nearly a year.
| When he returned he swore allegiance
to the trader and was afterward his
warm friend 1t was then that the In
dams gave him the name that clingS to
him still when he is referred to by
them, the Bearded Bad White Man.
Mr.. Mathewson says he was the first
man on the plains to be called "Buf-
falo Bill and if there is anything of
which he is jealous it is the claim of
any man to this title. In 1860 to 1864
Mr.. MathewSon was on the buffalo
range most of the time, sometimes
alone and at times heading hunting
parties in their slaughter of these ami
mails which at that time roamed the
prairieS of Kansas and Colorado In
countless thousands.
One of the most remarkable fights
in which Mathewson was engaged with
the Indians was in 1864 when, with four
men he withstood the onslaughts of an
armed band of Indians for three days
and nights, during which time upwards
of 20 Indians were killed. On the fourth
day of the siege an overland wagon
train hove in sight and the Indians
turned their attention to it.
Rescues His Rescuers.
Mathewson soon discovered that the
III ~ =
the Indians and he broke through the
Indian line and took charge of the lit
tie force and beat the Indians off. For
this act of bravery Mr.. MatthewSon on
his next visit to Leavenworth was ten
dered a banquet and a big ball was held
in his honor, and he still shows with
pardonable pride the brace of gold in
laid ivory handle revolvers which were
presented to him by the government
for this act of his.
During the years 1866 to 1873 William
Mathewson recaptured from the In
dams and returned to their families
and friends no fewer than "a women
and children who had been stolen from
the white settlements. In most cases
he obtained possession of these prison.
ers by diplomacy, though on two or
three occasions he stole them from the
camps of the Indians
In 1865 the KiowaS, Comanches, Chey-
ennes, Apaches and Arapahoes went on
the warpath and Mr.. Mathewson was
employed by the government to visit
their camps and arrange for a meet
ing of their principal chiefs at point
on the Little Arkansas river near where
Wichita now is situated. The Indians
had such confidence in him that they
yielded to his arguments and 10000 of
them assembled on the Little Arkansas
for a treaty between the tribes and
the government. and the Indians re-
turned to their reservation in the In
dian Territory. Four years later there
was another outbreak and Mathewson
was again employed to treat with the
redskins. A final great treaty was con-
summated at Medicine Lodge. after
which for a period of seven years
Mathewson lived continuously with the
=. L 10 rag finH1S