Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-11-07

flying and drums beating, marched
out of Fort Benton to give battle to
the Blackfeet. 1t was a brave getaway
so brave, indeed, that Fort Benton
relented and sent after Morgan's men
a wagonload of supplies
What An Interpreter!
Encouraged by this contribution to
his commissary. Captain Morgans
little army marched into the country
of the hoStiles. There he went into
permanent camp. and threw up breast
works. His display of force awed the
Blackfeet and they sent emissaries to
him, suing for peace. 1t was arranged
that council should be held. NAL
colin Clark, West Point man who had
come west and gone red by marrying
into the Blackfeet tribe, had accom-
panied Morgan as official interpreter,
most fortunate circumstance, as
some of the hostiles were his relatives
by marriage, and nearly all were his
friends. Morgan and his men could
not understand a word that the
spokesman for the Blackfeet said, and
the Blackfeet were about as familiar
with English as they were with San
scrit, so the council was in the hollow
of the hand of Malcolm Clark. He
interpreted just what he wanted to
and neither the whites nor the In
dams were any the wiser.
Bacchus, too, was an important
functionary at this memorable con-
ference and the assembly was made
mellow by the cracking of couple
of bottles of Hudson's Bay rum. Nor
gan and the Blackfeet chief first
smoked the pipe of peace. Then the
parley started. In accordance with
tribal custom the Blackfeet offered to
atone for their deed by offering an
indemnity of one horse for every white
man killed, but because they had no
black horses, would offer nothing for
the slain negro. Clark's Interpretation
of this tender was that the Blackfeet
regretted the incident, and were will
ing to be good if the great white
soldier would forget, and live in peace
and amity with the whites forever
after. Morgan, scenting great dip
lomatic victory. graciously accepted
this proposal, and a treaty of peace
was speedily ratified. Clark told Nor
gan that the Indians were so pleased
with his work that they proposed to
give to him CLARK the horses that
really constituted the indemnity. and
Morgan, knowing nothing of the real
purpose of the gift, or its significance
consented to this arrangement. After
a feast in celebration of this bloodless
war against the Blackfeet, Morgan
marched his little army back to Hell
ena, where it was disbanded, at a
muster out at which Governor Meagher
thanked the troops for their services
and told them, in burning words, that
the territory would ever cherish the
memory of their valor. Morgan, the
CincinnatuS of this unpleaSantnesS
which had ended so pleasantly,
sheathed his sword and retired to his
ranch in the Sun river valley NAL
colin Clark, the interpreter, chuckling,
drove his herd of horses back to his
home. Meagher and Morgan never
knew how Clark had fooled them. but
the Indians soon had good reason to
know that the treaty was phoney in
deed.
Some time later a party of gold
hunters took four Piegans prisoners
and decided to hang them. One of
the Indians showed fight and was
shot dead. The other three were
hanged.
In the brush, little distance from
the scene Of this outrage, were several
Piegan warriors. Horror- stricken, they
watched the execution of their tribes
men. They were not strong enough
to fight, 60 they went back to their