East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-08-11
IN EARLIER DAYS

(Fred Lockley in Oregon Journal.) |
Every Indian tribe has its histori- |
ans. old men, wise in council, who |
sit by the fire and tell the younger
generation the traditions of the past. |
Every small town has its historians,
men who can tell ySu the unwritten
history of the town. The history that
is never written. but passes down by
word of mouth is the most vital and
vivid and 1t puts men in their proper
place and events in their true rela-
tion, thing which written history
fails to do. | know of no town in the
state that has a larger volume of un-
written history than Pendleton. The
town is full of interesting tales of the
old timers. When you talk to Ad
Nye, Lot Livermore or Lee Moorhouse
or John Bentley they will tell some
bit of unwritten history, but always
with the remark. but his folks are
living around here yet, so dont set
, that down.
"About when was that?" 1 will ask
why that was the year of the In
dian scare in 1878. We had defend
ed the town on all sides. as we heard
I! that Chief Egan and the Bannocks
were on the way to wipe out Pendle-
ten. Lot Livermore was captain of
the Mill brigade. He had piled sacks
4 of wheat across the road that led in
from the agency for his men to use
as a breastworks. The women and
children were in the mill. One man
after another began telling tales of
Indian atrocities, till the mems scalps
itched. Finally one of the citizen SOL
diers asked If he could go home to
bid his wife good bye. Lot said yes,
he could go, but to come right back.
Finally about half of his men were
gone to bid last farewell to their
wives. Some one saw dust in the
distance and the word went around
that the Indians were coming. Lot
posted his remaining men and hur-
ried off to bring the ones who had
left. back to the line of defense. He
couldn't find a one of them, so he
hurried back to the breastworks. Ev-
cry man was gone. Lot ran over to
: the mill to see if his men were there.
/ He met some of his men who told him
to stay out, as the mill was full al
ready. Lot was the captain and the
whole army He used some language
} that resulted in some of his men COM
I ing out. when it was discovered that
, the dust up the road was whirlwind
and not a hostile army.
1.-The men who had taken refuge in
the mill explained that they had only
" gone there to protect the women bet
10 Tt,I Iiova ho6 a
p thev would have sold their lives dear.
"You were telling me about making
the gallows to hang the Cinnamon.
You didn't finish the story" l said.
well. sir, Cinnamon are curious
people; sometimes 1 think they are
as curious as white people. This
e Chinaman l was telling you about
q had a Chinese woman. l guess she
was a Chinese slave girl. There had
been a hotel put up that was called
D The Willard House At the edge of
a the reservation right where the Con-
. gregational church now stands here
was a house where Cinnamon used to
go to smoke opium and hatch up dew
e iltry. 1t was called The Little Willard
i This Chinaman got jealous of the Chi
q nese slave girl and he cut her fingers
off and her ears off, and he nearly
cut her head off. Captain Martin was
d sheriff in those days He hired me
= to build a good, durable scaffold, to
be keyed together so that it could be
taken down and put away and brought
out for use as often as 1t was needed
n He agreed to pay me 1925 for ar
Is A No ! scaffold. / hired a China
% man to give Il a good oil finish. He
rubbed away for a couple of days pol
ishing it up. l happened to tell hin
: it was scaffold to hang the Chinamar
is on. You didn't Know a Chinamar
g could turn white, did you? This one
did. He threw down the oiled raf
he was working with and said, "Mt
no likee. Heap bad luck. Me M
savee what for this is" He wouldn'
k take a cent for his two days work.
n There was a man named Reming
ton or Redington or some such nam'
in Jail for stealing horses. His un
Gle was a prominent man up in thi
% country In those days if you want
ed something done and noting sai'
about it. you hired Old Uncle Bill.
Wilson. He could keep his moutl
I shut in seven languages. Well, b.
some hook or crook, Billy Wilson wa
! hired as night guard over the jail
Next day the horse thief and the hal
breeds and the Chinaman were al
r. gone We never did see hide nor hal
of 'em. Uncle Billy was flush TO
I. quite a spell after that. He had for
gotten and left his key in the lock, h
claimed. That was only two days be
fore the Chinaman was due to b.
hanged. No. l didn't get to use ou
10 fold until Ia ter ~