East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1913-11-27


roofs of houses, she would tell of the
man who had safely slowed his fam
lily away In tree top, secured them
there with ropes and, when the res.
cue boat came to take them off, cut
them all loose, dropped them INTO the
boat and then gave Instructions to
stand by while ne jumped for 1t. And
II is perhaps the only case on record
where "A man jumped and never came
down. for the poor fellow had for
= tied that he had tied his feet to
the limb on which he was standing
and there he hung. head downwards,
while all his money and other valu-
a bles dribbled out Of his pockets into
the muddy waters below. 1t seems to
me that she said this man was dem
tist and he lost h s forceps in this
manner and toothaches reigned SUI
preme ultl he could rig up black
smith shop and make Il new pair. This
latter. however, may be prank Of
my own memory.
Ofathe hand which fate and des-
tiny played in lives of the early day
pioneers she always delighted in cit
ing the incident trivial though it
was. through which fate her brother
Stephen Lovejoy Morse and his tribe
were saved to later become a part
and parcel of the life and history of
Umatilla county. 1t Is not recorded
that Uncle Morse ever read more
than one book, or rather novel, in his
life. but this one served forever to
make himself and Mother Raley
strong advocates of voluminous
reading. It was while the prairie
schooner flotilla was beating and
tacking across the great plains some
where between the Snake and Mis-
souri, rivers, that they halted for the
MONDAY meal and rest Uncle Morse,
in the shade of hind wheel or mule
buried himself deep in the fascinat-
ing story of some hero or heroine of
romance The caravan hitched up
and started on its way but Uncle
Morse was SO deeply interested he
could not tear himself away from this
book. Aunt Minera exercising wo-
mans perrogative urged him to for
mules or they would be left far be-
hind. Finally. Uncle Morse finished
the last paragraph of the last chapter
and hitched up. The train was out
of sight. He started forward along
the trail but soon saw Indians and
fighting ahead. The train had been
attacked Turning he started back
in u-h
passed some time before. but the In
dams seeing him, gave pursuit.
Down they swooped in an effort to
cut off this last party. Loveoy turn
ed the lines over to Aunt Minerva
with directions to make 'em walk up
a right smart" Throwing the Oldest
of the children into the wagon behind
the seat she laid the youngest across
her lap and applied her energy and
undivided attention to getting some
action out of those mules. In the
meantime Uncle Morse stood in the
rear Of the wagon and did duty with
his rifle. The old schooner rocked,
reared and plunged across the des-
ert. The mules. under the able en-
the best of which they We're capable,
but the Indians gained. Out went
bed to tighten the load Still the
mules Jagged and the bullets whistled
around the wagon one piercing the
wrist of the child she held In her
arms Uncle Morse, between snap
shots at the redskins, continued to
of ho
was now almost empty and all that
remained was the trunk containing
their personal valuables and twelve
hundred dollars in money, all they
had in the world. Uncle Morse gave
one look at the wearying team ahead,
the great bleak nothingness of the un-
ending plain one look at the en-
croaching red skins and out went that
trunk. Between gentle words OF en-
couragement to the mules Aunt MI
nerva found time to say my God
as the trunk hit the ground and
drove on.
When at last reaching small creek
Uncle Morse stopped to make one last
stand the Indians circled around for
a moment then disappeared. Reach
| ing the train they went forward ir
a BODY but there was nothing left
! of the members of the party to which
he had formerly belonged. They had
| all been killed, their wagons plum
dered and burned and their stock
| driven off. Although l have otter
begged and pleaded with him, Uncle
/ t1I yr,ho l,ai
book was about. Aunt Minerva does
not remember how close the Indian!
got or how many there were Of then
but she does remember when the
trunk went out
So of the early remin sciences o.
Mother Raley they are blended lik'
the Mosaic. She never loved to dwell
on the sorrows and unless there was
a happy ending, beautiful story or hu
morous incident connected with thu
F., events she would not tell you th'
story. OF the hardships of the earl!
DAYS she would tell YOU but always
something like the hardship of Mr.
Hexter who, when keeping store II
a tent, was overwhelmed by robbers
early one morning. While the free
hooters were going through his store!
and helping themselves to all thereo
he stood out in front wringing hi
hands and calling for help. To breal
him of this bad habit two of the rob
bers came forward and lashed hin
across the back with dried Goldfish
And that was an awful hardship t.
the poor man." Mother Raley woul'
conclude, "for he had on nothing bu
his night shirt" Or the time whel
H. Alexander came sneaking through
the gap in the back fence betweel