The Coolidge examiner., 1931-12-25
STAGE COACH
TALES
By E. C. T AYL o r
Black Hawks Ride


l. mans internal machine" to
Black Hawk, the Sac Indian chief
who led the savages of the North
west on the warpath against the
white invaders a century ago.
Black Hawk was an imposing,
war-like Indian, who struck terror
into the hearts of the white fami-
lies living west of Lake Michigan
until he was captured in 1889. The
government realized that permanent
peace could be established so long
as Black Hawk lived, only by con-
vincing the Sac leader that his
white brothers were destined to
rule the country and that further
warfare by the Indians would be
useless.
The representatives of "The Great
White Father" in Washington con-
ceived the idea that the best way
to teach the proud chief that the
white man was his master was to
show him the wonderful progress
the whites had made, to open the
savage's eyes to the wonders of
civilization.
The stage coach a century ago
was to civilization what the air
plane is today. 1t was the fastest,
most comfortable mode of travel
then devised. Despite the fact that
stage coach riding was little more
than a severe jolting, with progress
sometimes of only two miles an
hour over almost impossible roads,
it was the last word in methods of
travel where the early railroads had
not as yet been built.
The National road, stretching be-
tween the Atlantic seaboard to St
Louis by way of Cumberland, Md,
Wheeling, w. Va, and the Ohio riv-
er valley was the pride of the ma
ton. All freight and passenger
traffic between the East and Middle
West, moved over this highway, as
many as 80 or 40 stage coaches and
hundreds Of enormous freight
wagons moving in each direction
every day.
So it was decided to take Black
Hawk and his lesser chiefs and ret
inue to Washington, the home of
The Great White Father" and
make him peaceable by showing
him the wonders of the white mans
civilization, and the futility of en-
gaging in war on the whites.
The large party, which numbered
a score of Indians and their cap
tors, Travelled east on boats on the
Ohio river to Wheeling. There they
were transferred to stage coaches,
and set out over the National road
for Washington
When Black dawk first saw the
stage coaches, be was convinced
they were a white mans death trap,
and he protested gutterally against
what he believed was a scheme to
kill him and the Indians with him.
Daniel Leggett was driving the
coach carrying Black Hawk. An
Indian was on the seat beside him,
and inside the vehicle were six 9th,
er Indians and a half-breed inter
prefer, besides Black Hawk
Black Hawk had ridden in stole
silence, but with wary eyes, until
his coach reached Washington, Pa.
AS the coach ratified down Main
street in that city, a strap on the
harness of a wheel horse broke.
The horse plunged, and threw the
Indian riding with the driver to the
ground. The Indian, in falling.
grabbed the driver and pulled him
off the coach with him.
The horses promptly ran away,
with Black Hawk and his compan-
ions inside the swaying, careening
coach. The frightened steeds made
straight for the barn of the Ma
tiOnal house, where the coaches
stopped on their trips east and
west. At the corner of Main and
Maiden streets, the coach unset
pinning Black Hawk and his travel
ing companions inside.
Black Hawk was the first to
emerge from the wreckage. He
came out of the overturned coach
with fire in his eyes, and for a time
it looked as though the mission to
establish permanent peace with the
Indians in the Northwest had been
smashed.
He delivered a TRADE which on
lockers later said must have been a
mastery OratOrical effort. He spoke
at length and very feelingly, with
all the dignity of an outraged In.
dian chief. Unfortunately, in the
excitement no one made a record of
what he said, and what probably
was an epic of Indian oratory was
lost to succeeding generations.
The gist of it was, according to
his listeners, that he did not care
for this phase of the white mans
civilization, and that he had been
convinced from the start that the
stage coach was a white mans
death trap. He said just what a
white man probably would have