The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1921-03-24

at the present time.
An old oil, presented for labor in
1878 by Edwin Whitefeld, painter
= and contractor, to McNiece Bros. q
Carpenter, mill men, is of no little
Importance at this period of high
priced labor and material.
The bill of Mr.. Whitefeld was for
the painting of the tug boat Calhoun
for which the painter received the
sum of $22.5O. < ..
In July 1885, Mr.. Whitefield re-
cieved the sum of $1,000 for painting
the sign plate on the McNiece and
Dryden mill.
Fear of the Indians in the early
days of 1862 seemed to predominant
among every settler in Sank Centre
and throughout the state, according
to some old letters written during the
days of the outbreak.
The oldest letter in this respect,
which has come to the attention of
the writer, was written in September
1862 by w. F. Barnard, father of
Mrs. Jennie Rice of this city, to his
nephew, l.. G. Barnard, at Anoka.
In this letter to his nephew, the
author gives fair conception of the
fears instilled in the settlers by the
continual Indian raids over the state.
The letter, in part, follows:
81 received your letter last night
which informed me that your father
and mother had arrived. l shall
come down next week and drive
Fred's stock. | wish l had kept on
with ours. 1t is very likely to be
driven off by the Indians. | had bet
ter drive some of our cattle down
that will make beef.
''The Indians have full possession
between here and the fort (Aber-
crombie), and l fear they have taken
the fort before this time, and when
they do, they will probably come
down upon us. They were at Pay
nesville night before last and drove
off nine men who were stopping
there, wounding one but killing
none. 1 wish Thomas Kicker would
come up here with his stock immed-
lately so that we could drive togeth-
err. If this Chippewa business is not
settled, it will be useless for us to
think Of stopping here so near them"
Referring to the Van Etten muir
der, Mr. Barnard writes as follows,
although at the time of the writing
it was not known that Mr.. Van Et-
ten had been killed by the Sioux:
"a man went up Ashley River
with Merry's mare, the night you
and l were on guard here; he has
never returned. Some went out the
next day and found his house burned
and saw a boot track with moccaAn
tracks following and the conclusion
is that he was taken prisoner by the
indians.
cit is evident that the Indians are
watching us and know our move
ments. Fred and | have stopped at
home some nights, but do not
think it safe. l have been exposed
and broken of my rest so much that
l am almost worn out. 1t seems
hard to be driven from the comfort
able home we had prospects Of"
Telling of the first news of the
siege of Fort Abercrombie to reach
Sank Centre, Mr.. Barnard continued:
"a messenger from Fort Aber-
crombie was the only passenger yes
10 rfc
at the Fort and want of more men.
He fears the fort may be taken ere
help can get to them. He left the
fort last Tuesday and has come day
and night. Says he heard nothing
of Richmond being burned, or of
Paynesville. All being quiet when
he came along through there, with
no signs of Indians. He had to "run
the gauntlet" until he got 40 or SO
miles from the fort, where he left
his escourt of Ia men; fighting
party. which attacked them about
20 miles from the fort. We met 500
soldiers yesterday about four miles
from Anoka who were on their way
to Fort Abercrombie.
The letter was dated September
II, 1862.
On September 9th, Mr.. Barnard,
writing from the Sank Centre
'stockade to his daughter at Otsego,
Mimi, said:
"We are far from being safe here.
The Indians have murdered some
persons between here and Fort Aber-
crombie, have attacked the fort and
they are fighting there now. There
is company of cavalry here now
awaiting a force of Infantry to
march through to their assistance.
Some persons went from here to Osa-
kis and have not returned. 1t is
feared that they have met with trou-
BILE. We have a kind of fort here,
but Of little account. We have "a
company organized of about go men,
but in the present state of our forti-
g - L. -, 4