Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1914-06-16

Eureka, lay Indian Island, which then
held one of the largest villages
among whose thickets and tule
swamps they felt safe. But one night
party Of twenty-five men, mixed
lot Of lumbermen, ranchers and min
ers, slipped over to the island, sur
prised their camp, and killed two hun
dred and fifty of them, among the
dead being sixty-two children.
It as nothing less than a dastardly
massacre, for of even the mature men
of the village, few were active hos
tiles. AS for the children, enc man,
a ranchman. named Larrabe, whose
ranch had been burned by the Indians
and all of his live stock stolen, boast
ed that he himself had single-handed,
killed every last one of them; ana
with the cruel sentiment then prevail.
ing in those parts, no voice was raised
to protest.
About Comptonville we gathered
and broke another herd of horses,
luckily for us just in time to sell them
handsomely to stampeders for the new
placer strike on New River, in Trinity
county.
And then on into the new camp the
three of us trailed for our share OF
the pickings-a chance to back Peacn
for prize fight or to pull off a horse
race, failing in both OF which. we
could always rely on Cox's skill as a
gambler to let us out of camp heavy
Winners-when we could contrive to
keep Peach away from the gaming
tables
But there we found everybody so
crazy stalking and prospecting new
claims that the trip would have been
a barren one but for chance meet
ing with Henry Bowen, youngster,
who later proved to be the fastest one
hundred yard runner in California
and became known as "The Plow
Boy"
Amid temptations which scarcely
one man In a 'lousand resisted, it was
always a matter of curiosity to me
that neither of my mates fell prey to
the mad lust for quick riches inspired
alike in white, red and yellow men py
rumor of new gold strike. But they
possessed a quaint and primitive phil
osophy, in which they seemed to be
entirely sincere. and which certainly
served to hold them immune.
The subject never came up among
us as an urgent proposal but once,
early in my association with them:
Young and impressionable, rush OF
hundreds out of Sacramento to new
strike in the north possessed and near
Nv swept me with It.: but when l pro-
nosed II to Peach and Cox, the former
answered:
mot for us, son. not in thousand
years; Teller can't get but just so
drunk, anyway, and we are MAXIM
about all our systems will hold at this
horse game. Then, besides, 1t don't
appear to me to be no gentleman $
game to go diggin with pick and
shovel-hey, Cox?"
go 'gopherin,' diggin'?" queried
Cox: "why, d-n me, wouldn't dig
nv own grave, not even if I knew ia
be needing it pronto, and that the coy.
otes would be chamberin' me If |
didn't" All Of which seemed to
leave so little room for argument that
made no further attempt to pursue
it.
However, while we got none of New
Rivers treasure, the Plow Boy proved
to us a good asset, for at Sacramento
he won for us race that tripled our
capital. Indeed I believe we could
have dropped down and broken Frls-
co but for. the fact that Bowen got
frightened of the wild carousal our
winning started my mates on, and
slipped away from us.
Throughout the year preceding tho
outbreak of the Civil war. my mates
grew SO much more desperate and
reckless that I became convinced II
could not be long before one or the
other of them would involve us all In
continually straining my influence
with them to the breaking point IN
some crime, and that, although l was
unceasing efforts to restrain them, |
must inevitably be branded as their
abettor.
Leave them I realized I must. The
war made the opportunity. All OF us
were keen to enlist, and when they
selected the First Cavalry, chose the
Fifth Infantry.
For the last thirty years have
heard little and have not read Inns
written on the grand work done by
the California column, enlisted in
July, 1861, composed largely Of min
ers bronco riders and gamblers, with
sprinkling of lawyers, doctors and
merchants from Frisco, Sacramento
and the mountain camps.
They made history, those men who
formed the little column, that. with
the aid Of mixed regiment of Colo
radeans and native New Mexicans un-
der Kit Carson, took and held the vast
territory west of the Rio Grande for
the government. Then for four years
scattered in small detachments over
the enormous area between the Pour
gatoire river in the north and the
Delaware in the south, they were en-
gagged in perpetual battling with the
Navajos, Apaches and Ccmanches,
who resumed the war-path as soon as