White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1932-01-07
! STAGE COACH
! TALES
}By E. C. TAYLOR
Black Hawks Ride


Hawk, the Sac Indian chief who led
the savages Of the Northwest on the
warpath against the white invaders
century ago.
Black Hawk was an imposing, war
like Indian, who struck terror into
the hearts of the white families liv-
ing west Of Lake Michigan until he
was captured in 1882. The govern
ment realized that permanent peace
could be established so long as Black
Hawk lived, only by convincing 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 airplane Is
today. 1t was the fastest, most COM
Portable mode Of travel then devised.
Despite the fact that stage coach rid
ing 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 river
valley was the pride Of the nation.
All freight and passenger traffic be-
tween the East and {. Middle West,
moved over this highway, as many
as 80 or 40 stage coaches and hum
dreds 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
1.-The Great White Father" and make
him peaceable by showing him the
wonders of the white mans civiliza-
ton, and the futility Of engaging in
war on the whites.
The large party, which numbered
a score of Indians and their captors,
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 Wash
ington.
When Black Hawk first saw the
stage coaches, he was convinced they
were white mans death trap, and
he protested gutterally against what
he believed was scheme to kill him
and the Indians with him.
Daniel Leggett was driving the
coach carrying Black Hawk. An In
dian was on the seat beside him, and
inside the vehicle were six other In
dams and a half breed interpreter,
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, 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 companions in
side the swaying, careening coach.
The frightened steeds made straight
for the barn of the National house,
where the coaches stopped on their
trips east and west. At the corner OF
Main and Maiden streets, the coach
upset, pinning Black Hawk and his
travelling companions inside.
Black Hawk was the first to emerge
from the wreckage. He came out Of
the overturned coach with fire in his
ewes. and for time it looked as
though the mission to establish per-
manent peace with the Indians in the
| Northwest had been smashed.
He delivered 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 Indian
chief. Unfortunately, in the excite
ment no one made 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 civil
ization, and that he had been con-
WINGED from the start that the stage
coach was a white mans death trap.
He said just what white man prob
ably would have said under similar
| circumstances.
The angry Sac chief did not cool
off until several hours later, when
he was persuaded to partake Of a
sumptuous White mans meal at the
National house. The next morning
Black Hawk appeared to have forgot
ten the events Of the afternoon be-
fore, and meekly entered another
coach to resume the trip to Wash.