The Colville examiner. [volume] (Colville, Wash.) 1907-1948, 1917-04-07

The father puts a Montgomery-W Ward
bride on his oregon cayuse, fed on
British Columbia barley; plows two
acres of land covered with New York
mortgages. with Michigan pillow.
When bedtime comes he opens his
Boston bible says a prayer written in
Jerusalem, crawls under a New Jer-
sey flanket dreams of the European
war and of the New Jerusalem-and
Is awakened by a Washington woodtick
the only home talent he pays any
attention to.
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back full speed. when bullet took
off the pOmmel of my saddle which /
was holding on to with one hand. The
Indians thinking we had fled. left their
ambuscade and assembled along the
I river. We returned before they could
get back to their hiding places and the
battle was on with fury. We had the
best guns obtainable. while the Indians
We're armed with Hudsons Bay mus
kets Our position and long distance
shots prevented them from getting
back to the rocks, so they took to the
trees and prevented a slaughter from
our fire until fresh warriors could be
brought to their rescue.
We had guarded the way for our
stock which came up from below. The
Indians seemed to have gone away, and
after we had shifted the stock up the
river on the east side of the stream,
our men who were not with the cattle
crossed the Okanogan. We allowed the
stock to he crossed above some miles.
The Indians, however, had planned to
return. reinforced cut out our stock
and leave us free to proceed. Finding
we had outwitted them in this they VEN
tnred to overrun us by their superior
numbers and followed us into the can
yOn. A hand to hand fight ensued
with our rear guard and four of our
men were killed and some 20 were
wounded before we could shelter them
under our guns. Our first impulse was
to mass in the open which we did and
sent calling fire into the Indian ad-
vance. They took to the woods and we
dispersed in like manner we stuck to
the timber and underground as near
and with our long range guns kept
the Indians at such distance that they
could not revenge, in their atrocious
way, their loss of more than hundred
in killed and wounded 1t was the
longest afternoon I ever spent. We
got Orfr wounded to the shade, and
having no physician, we ministered to
their comfort the best way possible
One man, Minniefleld, was shot through
the lungs from side to side and begged
piteously to be shot and put out OF
his misery: and we were obliged to
prevent him from committing suicide
but the man fully recovered, al did all
the rest of the wounded. At nightfall
the Indians went away. We buried
our dead under darkness and rested
on our arms until daybreak. The next
morning We started on our way. The
wounded we carried on litters tied to
horses Indian fashion. We were not
molested during the day, but that
night all our cattle and our extra
horses were stampeded by the Indians.
and run into british Columbia ahead
or u.s. They also captured some of our
stores, in which was quantity of cof-
fee. The redsk ms engaged in a real
feast. but they mistook the green cof-
fee for beans, and their tastes not be-
ing reconciled to the Boston (white)
mans food they cooked and ate the
coffee which made them very sick. On
the Similkimeen river we overhauled
small band of Moses tribe with our
stock. We captured seven of them and
rescued our cattle in most part, but
no horses. We proposed to courtmar-
shall the captives and hang them, but
Moses had raided Hudson's Bay cara
van Of 100 horses and 20 men carrying
furs and merchandise bound for Hope,
b. c., and declared to Mcdonald that
unless he interceded with us to save
the indians we had In captivity he
would massacre the Hudson's Bay men.
Mcdonald came to us and begged Of
us to desist that his men might not
be killed. In so far as we attributed
most of our trouble to the excitement
OF the Indians to depredations by the
Hudson's Bay people who had always
exercised covert hostility to Americans,
we found 1t part of good diplomacy
to include the Hudson's Bay feature Of
the situation in our treaty with Moses
which was a guarantee of their safe
passage through the country after our
stock and stores had been restored to
us. This the Indians could not do In
whole, but they did the best they could
and We showed our good will by con-
tributing to them a quantity of clo<n-
ing and a few blankets. As a part Of
the understanding we were to travel
with the Hudson's Bay expedition.
When we reached Frazier river in Au-
gust, we had no flour, salt or beef
where such articles were worth a dol
lar pound. To add to our misfortune
we found an Indian war raging. Our
expedition broke up, some Joining with
the troops against the Indians. I went
down Frazier river to the coast and
reached The Dalles. Oregon, In the late
fall. I saw Col. George Wright there
and In the spring of 1859. the expedi-
tion OF two companies of infantry was
Outfitted under command Of Maj. Pink
ney Lougenbeel and sent to Fort Col
Vile to establish the garrison. I en-
gagged as q pack master and came
along. We reached Colville in June,
1859. which was the beginning Of mill