The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-06-18
After Many Years
Visited Old Scene.
From Mondays Daily.


my childhood days at Garden City
have prepared a reunion to be held
there today In my honor. so ! am GO
ing TO that town to put In the day"
said Henry 5. Welcome. manufac-
turing chemist OF London and one Of
Englands principal business men. In
an interview with a Free Press repre-
sentative yesterday morning. Mr..
Welcome has been visiting In Man
kato rs the guest OF George NJ. Pal
mcr.
My early rccollections Of Garden
city are very vivid There were
troubles in these old days ana they
left deep impressions on my memory.
OF course Garden City is greatly
changed from what ID was I'm the early
sixties. but the lay of the land is the
same, and | can readily recognize II
as the place OF my boyhoOd home.
Il was born I'm Wisconsin. but when
I was but six years old. our people
migrated over to Garden CITY.
Those were the DAYS when people did
thC'r 'rIvcliny in the prairie schoon-
erF h".' rig wagons. that were COW
orc y th whito canvas tops. We came
by way OF La Crosse and Rochester.
My uncle. DR. ]. W. ID. Welcome. was
among the early Garden City settlers.
I am informed that he and DIR. Mayo,
whose family has made Rochester ia
nous. were the two oldest medical
men i'm this state. My father. $. e.
Welcome. was among these settlers.
remember T.. 7. Evans. another OF
them. man OF tremendous energy
and very aggressive. jus. the kind OF u
man To help settle new country.
Then there were the Pottcrs. the
Thurstons. the Diileys. the Warmers
and the Goudalls. Charles Fraser. an
other of my early Garden City ac-
uuaintanCCs. is stiIl living I'm Mime
apOlis. and Amos Warner is still in
Garden City. Yes. there arc some OF
us left
Indians Were Friendly.
The WinnChaCOCs were living right
there nj Garden City pn their rcscr-
walton when we came. They were
very friendly As child I went In
among them with perfect safety. Their
devotion To the white children was
something remarkable. AS tribe.
they never Joined the Sioux i'm the up
rising. u is true that there were some
Young WinnCbaCOrs who did Join the
Sioux. hut tho older mon and the tribe
in general remained friendly and loyal
through all those troublesome times
! could cn hunting and fishing right I'm
among tho Winnebagocs and was
never I'm any danger from them.
II understand that the credit for
tho continued fricndlincss of tho Win
uPhaECcs Is largely due tq Good Thun-
der. he being the one that kept the
WinnchaEoes from joining the Sioux
I remember nf Good Thunder wearing
a silver medal. which. II | am not mis-
taken. ho received from one of the
presidents of the United States in rec
"Tnition of his noble service. Good
Thunder used TO wear this pedal on
string Of beads and he gave me the
beads. have kept them ever since
and they are precious mcmcnto. 7
have been told that the Winncbagocs
even killed the Sioux emissaries that
were sent tn get them to join i'm the
rebellion. and the heads of these Sioux
were stuck mp on poles. | am not at
all sure than this Is true
Indians Kept on Reservation.
throughout 1.-THE rebellion the Win
nrhagocs kept well within their res
crvation and did not like to run the
risk Of going very far and being taken
for Sioux. remember how frightened
We were when we kept hearing that
the Winnebagoes were about TO rise
and murder us. To these stories were
added persistent reports that New Ulm
had fallen. and once our whole settle
mcnt packed up and started of on an
eastward march TO find some place of
safety. We had gotten past Good
Thunder ford on tho Blue Earth river
md rs far as Maplcton when We re-
Ceivcd information that the Winnie
hagoes had not joined the Sioux and
that New Tim had not fallen. There
upon. VIC took heart and marched back
home
1T should he remembered that the
civil war had broken out before the
Sioux massacre occurred and most of
ths able bodied men had joined the
army 10 fight the rebellion of the
south Those who remained all had
Ia work in preparation for the de
fonse Even tho children had to labor
II was my job To mold bullets. ! was
eight years old then. All the lead We
could find and all the pewter was
melted down and nodded into bullets
We could not tell when VIC were going
To be attacked. and the plan was to
get all the people right into the stock
ade We had build around the store cf
RAY e. Williams and made n defense
there. Quite number of Car''c'
city boys. however. went tn New Tim
tn assist in the defense there.
Speaking Of the continued friend
illness of the Winncbagoes. I must not
fnrTet 10 mention that many Indians
actually assisted the whites tn escape
from tho massaCrcs that the Sioux
were carrying on. One Of these. John
Othcrday. himself Sioux. took enor-
nous risks I'm assisting such escapes.
Massacre OF Jewett Family.
One event of those stirring times
that In very fresh In my memory Is
the massacre of the Jewett family. The
Jpwctts lived about three miles east
Of us. between Garden City and Good
Thunder. Here one Tyler. schoo.
fellow OF ours. was murdered. Old
Jewett and his wife were killed and
Jay Jewett and his wife and bow were
among the victims. The child was
seized and killed by beating HIS head
against a log. The old man was still
alive. when found. My uncle worked
over him and managed to keep him
nj for f8Ia Ttts MI