USA > California > Siskiyou County > History of Siskiyou County, California > Part 36
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MRS. W. H. SHARP.
Upon his arrival he stopped at Feather river and at Stockton, where he engaged in farming one season. Not being satisfied with the San Joaquin valley, he saddled a mule and started in search of a better. Finding what he wanted in Siskiyou county he returned for his family, and came with them across the Scott mountains. He experienced the hardest trip he had ever made, and landed in Scott valley on Christmas morning of 1854. He brought with him chickens, pigs, and the first turkeys in the valley, for which last he was offered as high as fifty dollars per pair. He went at once to farming on the place he now owns, which at that time he rented. In 1856 he moved over to the place where Marsac now lives and put in about 500 acres of grain. Here nine of his family were sick at one time with typhoid fever, and his doctor's bill was $1,500, but settled with Dr. Kinney of Fort Jones for $700 in the following year. He then moved to the east side of the valley and purchased the home where he now resides. Mrs. Sharp died in 1877. There were born to them ten children, viz .: Emily, Philip, Frederick, Augusta, Friedell, Eugene, Josephine, Frank, Walter, and William who is deceased. Mr. Sharp comes of a long-lived family. His mother is yet living and has numbered 103 years. His father died in Ogdens- burg, New York, in 1830. Mr. Sharp's education was limited to what he could learn at the common schools of his native county. He is a Baptist in religion and a Republican in politics. He is a mem- ber of Fort Jones Lodge, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and Mrs. Sharp is buried in the Odd Fel- lows cemetery, with a beautiful monument above her grave. Mr. Sharp has always been a hard- working, upright man and has won the good-will and esteem of a large acquaintance.
THE MILL PROPERTY OF CHARLES E. OWEN & SON, 4 MILES SOUTH OF FORT JONES, SISKIYOU CO., CAL.
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who proved to be the advance guard of a company of Oregon volunteers sent out by the governor of that Territory to protect the large immigration expected that year. The company was commanded by Captain Jesse Walker and Lieutenants Westfeldt and Miller, William Hill being the orderly sergeant. Although bound on the same mission, the Siskiyou company did not wait for the main body to come up, as it was eneumbered with a large train of sup- plies, but pushed rapidly ahead, eager to be the first to reach the Indian country and have a brush with the savages. That night they encamped near the natural bridge on Lost river.
The next morning they crossed and moved down the stream until they came to Tule lake, when they continued along its shore to the eastward. On the . edge of the tules where the trail led it was very muddy, and the horses had great difficulty in getting along. Finally, two pack animals mired com- pletely down, and the men were engaged in unload- ing them, so as to help them out, when they were saluted with a volley of arrows from the tules. Com- pletely surprised by this sudden attack from an ene- my that they had no idea was in their vicinity, they were thrown into confusion, some of them wishing to abandon the mired animals, and seek safety in flight. A half dozen resolute ones were able to get the animals liberated, however, and all gathered on a little ridge of high ground to consult on a plan of
operations. From this point of view the Modoc rancheria, which had before escaped their notice, was plainly visible some three hundred yards distant in the tules. The water was a little over knee deep, and the few brave ones in the company were con- vinced that they could drive out the forty or fifty hostiles that occupied it, but the balance of the men were afraid to attempt it, insisting upon an immedi- ate return to the Oregon company for aid. While they were discussing the matter, Halliek suggested to White that he try the range of his new ritle upon a knot of a dozen redskins that were chistered in the rancheria. Elevating the sights, White rested his gun across the back of his horse, took careful aim and fired. At the report of the gun all of the Indians scattered but one; he sprang into the air and fell dead upon the ground.
The company then went back to meet Captain Walker and his men, falling in with them on Lost river. A detail of forty men was made to go with five of the Siskiyou company and attack the savages. They went into the marsh on foot, horseback, and in a boat, the Indians fleeing before them and making no resistance. The rancheria was completely destroyed, and the men returned to the camp at the mouth of Lost river. The two companies united in their efforts and established headquarters on Clear lake. From here a dozen of the Oregon volunteers and half a dozen Siskiyou men, under the command of Lieu- tenant Westfeldt, went down the trail as far as the big bend of the Humboldt to meet the coming immi- grants. Here trains were made up of the scattered parties, and sent along as rapidly as possible, eseorted by four or five of the men as far as headquarters. From there another escort took them as far as Lost river, from which point the route was considered perfectly safe.
When the expected Siskiyou families had all 18
passed through, the company returned home, save Marvin Stone, Newton Ball and J. G. Hallick, who enlisted for scout duty in Captain Walker's command and remained till November.
The emigrants had been annoyed this season and the year before by the Piutes, who stole their stock, and it was decided to punish them. The last train that came in had lost some animals, and on the third of October Captain Walker started on a trail from the mountains east of Goose lake leading north-east, having sixteen men. After going eight miles he came upon a band of Indians, whom he pursued north forty miles. On the second day he came upon them fortified on an immense rock, from thirty to one hundred feet high, near where Captain W. H. War- ner had been killed in 1849. This he called War- ner's rock. The top could only be approached on one side, and they made a furious attack upon the stronghold from that direction; but after having one man, John Low, wounded, they abandoned the at- tempt. They passed to the north, crossed through Warner's pass, and two days later attacked a ranch- eria in Goose Lake valley and killed two Indians. He then went to the camp on Goose lake, and pre- pared for another trip to Warner's rock.
Taking twenty-five more men, he, traveling by night, arrived in the vicinity of the former battle- ground in the darkness. A careful reeonnoissance showed that the savages, unconscious of danger, had come down from the butte and were living on the bank of a creek. To effect the desired object the command should have been dismounted and the eamp entirely surrounded, but instead of this the men advanced on horseback, forming a half circle about the camp, on one side of the creek only. They were particularly charged not to shoot until it was sufficiently light to distinguish an Indian from a white man. This injunction was disobeyed, so eager were they all to shoot the first Indian. Silently they waited for the coming of day, and just as the gray streaks of dawn appeared in the east, an old brave arose from near the fire and stood up. This was too much for the patience of one of the men. He drew a bead on the unsuspecting brave and killed him on the spot. The whole camp started to its feet with cries and shouts, while from three sides a deadly volley of bullets was poured into the con- fused mass of frightened savages. The survivors escaped across the creek and fled to the hills or to the brush further up the stream, followed closely by the whites, who succeeded in killing a great many.
A most curious incident is related by Mr. Halliek in connection with this pursuit. While several men were engaged in the chase they overtook a young brave, and one of them shot him dead. Just as he was pulling the trigger, they heard the brave shout in good English, "For God's sake, don't shoot me, I'm a white man." He spoke too late. They made no examination of him, simply noticing that he was dark like an Indian. He was dead and they were too excited and eager to kill more to care about the matter. As English was then unknown by the Piutes, they all felt satisfied that this was a white boy that had been stolen by them years before, prob- ably from some murdered emigrants, and raised among them, and by exposure and living after the
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Indian style, had become so tanned and brown that he resembled one of them.
The only white man wounded was Sergeant Will- iam Hill. He and one other were riding two Indian ponies captured on the previous expedition, and when the firing commenced charged into the camp. He dismounted on the bank of the creek and had his arm raised in the act of loading his rifle, when the same man whose eagerness to shoot had brought on the premature attack mistook him in the dim light for an Indian and fired, the ball passing through Hill's right arm and cheek. Had they surrounded the camp and waited for daylight they could have effected their object, which was the death of every brave, as it was many of them bit the dust, as well as a few squaws who happened in the way of flying bullets.
The rancheria was completely demolished, and the company returned to Goose lake and from there to their homes. Hallick brought from this rancheria a Piute boy, eight or nine years of age, whom he named Ned, and who died a few years later at Edson's in Shasta valley.
THE HUMBUG WAR.
On the twenty-seventh of July, 1855. two Indians under the influence of liquor were riding along the lower Humbug, when they were met by a man named Peterson who endeavored to ascertain who had sold them the whisky. One of them resented such undue familiarity by shooting him with a pistol. As he fell, Peterson drew his revolver an l wounded his slayer in the alxlomen. The two In- dians then dashed off towards the Klamath at full speed. The deed had been witnessed by a man who stood near by, and the news that Peterson had been killed by Indian Bill soon spread along the Hum- bug and created great excitement. Two companies, one from upper and one from lower Humbug, started for the Klamath to capture the murderer and bring him back, for punishment. They came upon the Indians the next morning when they reached the river, standing upon the opposite bank. They were requested to send over some canoes for the men to cross in, but declined exhibiting a hostile spirit. The men ranged themselves along the river with pre- sented rifles, warning those on the opposite bank that if they made any hostile demonstration it would be followed by a volley into their midst, while John Alban (Greasy John) swam across the stream and secured the canoes. Going over to the other side in these, the whites had a talk which ended in their starting back to Humbug with three prisoners, Tyee John and two young Indians.
While going up the divide between Humbug and Little Humbug, the prisoners took off most of their garments, saying "Too muche hot," when questioned about it. Suddenly, at a preconcerted signal, they plunged down the hill with leaps and springs such as a man running down a steep declivity only can make. One of them was seized and secured before he had taken six steps, but Tyee John and the other young buck, escaped, followed first by three or four scattered shots, and afterwards by a volley of harm- less bullets. The remaining captive was conveyed to Humbug, examined before Justice Josiah L. McGownd, and discharged the next day, being sent back to the Klamath under guard.
It is supposed that the Indians had meditated an outbreak for some time, and were making arrange- ments for it, and that these circumstances hastened the beginning of hostilities. At all events the return of Tyee John and his companion fugitive to camp, was the signal for a general massacre. That night, July 28, 1855, they passed down the Klamath, kill- ing all but three of the men on the river between Little Humbug and Horse creeks. Eleven men met their death in the darkness and silence of night. To the vigilance of a savage dog the men who escaped owed their lives. The victims were William Hennessey, Edward Parrish, Austin W. Gay, Peter Hignight, John Pollock, four Frenchmen, and two Mexicans.
When the men in charge of the Indian sent back from Humbug arrived at the Klamath and learned of the work of death that had been done there the night before, they promptly shot their prisoner, threw his body into the swift-running stream, and returned to Humbug. The same day John Elliott (Long John) rushed into Cody's trading-post at Hum- bug, and shouted the news that eleven men had been massacred on the Klamath the night before. Men went out in all directions to spread the news and warn miners to be on their guard. While going up the creek on this mission Elliott met an Indian returning from Yreka, where he had been to get his gun fixed, and captured him. Back to Cody's he went with his prisoner, who was there promptly shot and thrown into a " coyote hole," a name for a shaft sunk in the ground in the process of hill mining, called " coyoting.'
News reached Yreka the same day, and created considerable excitement. Two Shasta Indians were found that afternoon skulking in the willows that fringed the ereck below Miner street, and were immediately arrested and put in jail. The next morning they were released, but were instantly pounced upon by the citizens and again taken into custody. They were very insolent, and as they were being conducted up the street it was decided to hang them. A call was made for a rope, which was instantly forthcoming, the sight of which served to depress the hitherto insolent savages. No one cared enough about the life of an Indian to object or resist the mob, and they executed their purpose unopposed. In the street opposite H. B. Warren's residence there stood three pine trees, and to one of these the two men were taken, the rope thrown over a limb of one of them, and the victims were drawn up by the neck to hang strangling in the air. Not content with this, some of the rough characters that always abound and generally predominate in a mob, stretched themselves out on the limb and, seizing hold upon the rope, raised and lowered the dangling and strangling wretches several times. The whole affair was an exhibition of the most unjustifiable and heartless cruelty, an act the par- al.el to which had never been committed upon the whites by any of the tribe to which these men belonged. Many, whose excitement and anger at the recent murders had led them to assent to the hanging of these two men, withdrew in disgust before the barbarous act was accomplished.
The next move by the mob, then some two hun- dred strong, was to make a raid upon the negro
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quarters, to see if they could not find more Indians and to sate their appetite for blood upon the negroes, whom they accused of selling whisky and ammu- nition to the savages. Here they exhibited the usual cowardice and shame of a mob when faced by a determined man. They were about to break into a house occupied by negroes and owned by George W. Tyler. The owner jumped upon a cart that stood before the door, drew his revolver and swore that the first man who touched the door of that house, or disturbed his tenants, should die, if it was the last aci of his life. They knew him; they saw the fire in his eye and the resolute firmness of his mouth ; they saw the revolver with its six cham- bers of death; and they hesitated, fell back and dis- persed. A like resolute action by a few brave men might have saved the wretches hanging to the pine limbs beyond, but who would risk his life for a worthless Indian ? Let them hang, they are only Indians.
The same day of this occurrence, C. H. Pyle went over to Deadwood with intelligence of the Indian difficulty, and with several men went along McAdams, Deadwood and Cherry creeks warning the miners " to flee from the wrath to come." They all congre- gated in Deadwood, and while there bethought them of a solitary Indian, working a distance up the creek with some Kanakas. They did not know what tribe or band he belonged to, or whether he knew anything about the murders or not. All they knew was that he was an Indian, a misfortune that was fatal to him. Of course it was not his fault; he was born so ; but that was no palliation for the crime of being an Indian. He was speedily cap- tured and brought to town, where an animated dis- cussion was going on, as to the best disposition to make of him. All admitted that nothing was known against him, except that he was an Indian, but that, alone, was a serious matter. Some were in favor of hanging him on the spot, while others, who wanted to get rid of him, but did not like to take the responsibility of aiding him to " shuffle off," opposed such action. It was at last decided to send him to Yreka, where it was well known his span of life would be abreviated in short order. They would not kill him themselves, but they would con- sign him to the tender mercies of a crowd that was only too eager to do so.
A committee was selected to escort the inoffensive native to Yreka. A long rope was procured, the middle to which was secured tightly about the prisoner's waist, while two inen marched a distance in front, grasping one end of the rope, and two brought up the rear with the other. The procession having thus been formed it moved out of town mid the shouts of the jubilant crowd. They had pro- ceeded only as far as Lime gulch, about a mile above the town, where stood a small log cabin, when smoke was seen to issue from the rude structure, the report of a rifle was heard, and the Indian leaped into the air, wounded. He gave a bound forward, jerking the rope from the hands of the men behind, rushed upon those in front and snatched a revolver from the belt of one of them, before the astonished men could realize what was taking place. They soon understood it and acted promptly, closing in upon the savage before he could use the weapon and
knocked him into a prospect shaft, where they dis- patched him with their revolvers. Having thus dis- posed of their charge, they left him in his unexpected grave, and returned to town. No unpleasant ques- tions were ever asked about who fired the shot from his ambush in the cabin, but it was supposed to have been a well-known citizen, whose brother had been killed by Indians, and who had vowed to have revenge.
Two days after the massacre, some thirty or forty roughs from Humbug City, having imbibed a copious quantity of "tanglefoot" started down the ereek to a rancheria that stood some half mile below its mouth. At the house of a man named Crockett, on Roeky Bar, two miles up the creek from the river, they found an old Indian named Smoothy and two boys. They captured these and took them to the river. The two boys were tied together and shot, when old Smoothy, seeing the fate in store for him, made a break for liberty. Several shots were fired at him, some of which took effect, and he was so closely pursued by one man that he dodged behind a bush, came out on the other side and made a lunge at his pursuer with an old case knife that had been ground to a point, cutting the man's shirt but inflict- ing no other damage. He was then shot, and a number of the braver ones of the party advanced to where their dead victim lay and boldly shot into his lifeless body until it was riddled with bullet holes. From this place they went to the rancheria; where they found an old buck and a squaw, both of whom were killed, the buck, old Sam, being led out with a rope, and his head blown off by some one who came up behind him with a shot-gun. Some half dozen squaws, old and young, escaped across the river into the mountains, where they were soon afterwards captured, as were also two white men, Ewing and Owens. They were all taken to Hum- bug City and examined before the justice of the peace, the two men were discharged and the squaws sent to Fort Jones.
There was never any evidence discovered that at all implicated these Indians, who were of another band, in the murders on the Klamath, nor was it ever supposed that they even knew that any mas- sacre was intended. Their fault was that God had made them Indians and located them near the scene of difficulty.
When the news of the massacre on the Klamath reached Scott river the excitement was intense. Some of the murdered men had many friends on the river and a volunteer company was raised to aid the Humbug miners in punishing the murderers. There were two Indians working in a claim, both peaceable, well-disposed natives, especially Rising Sun, whom every one believed to have been a good friend to the whites, and had nothing to do with killing the miners. Although discountenanced by the better class, the roughs and gamblers arrested Rising Sun and his companion, Bill, and locked them up in a cabin on the lower end of Scott Bar. When night came on, they decided to kill the inof- fensive savages. They took the prisoners out of the cabin, and a large crowd surrounded them, to see Ferd. Patterson, a noted rough, play the part of executioner. Patterson took a firm hold in Bill's hair with his left hand, pressed his head back, and
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with his pistol placed against his breast shot him through the heart. Rising Sun stood with his blanket folded about him and calmly witnessed the death of his companion, but when Patterson advanced to do the same office for him, he suddenly threw off the blanket and brandished in his hand a huge knife that some one had given him to defend himself with. The crowd fell back like sheep, and the Indian sprang through them and was half way across the river on the foot-log, before they fully realized the situation. As soon as he reached the other side, Rising Sun dropped into the water, swam under the foot-log, and lay quietly there with just his nose and mouth above water, invisible in the darkness. The pursuers came rushing across, passing but a few inches above his head, and had no idea but that he had continued his flight up the mountain or up or down the river. Every object that their imagination could torture into a sem- blance to the fugitive was fired at, and for some minutes the hills echoed to their rifle shots. Some even asserted that he had swum down a large flume towards the mouth of the river, diving under the large wheels that the current turned as it ran. The chase was abandoned, each one having his own theory of how the Indian had escaped, and Rising Sun lay quietly listening until all was still, when he came out of the water and took his departure. Nothing was heard of him for several years, and then he came back and told how he lay within a few inches of where their feet rested as they crossed the river and laughed to hear them shoot at the stumps and shadows on the mountain. He went the way of all Indians last year.
Preparations for a campaign against the Indians were rapidly made, and about the first of August five companies of volunteers started for the north side of the Klamath. One of these was sixty strong, from Scott river, commanded by Capt. John X. Hale; the other three were from Humbug and Klamath river, Captain Lynch with thirty-two men, Capt. William Martin with sixty men, Capt. T. M. Kelly with a small company, and Capt. Daniel Ream with seventeen men. This last com- pany was mounted while the others were on foot.
As they approached, the Indians fled towards Oregon, the volunteers following on their trail, pushing them so close near the head of Horse creek that they captured half a dozen of their animals. The Indians were carrying along with them the buek whom Peterson had wounded, and whom the first party that captured Tyee John had not thought necessary to take, as he appeared to have his death- wound. The trail led over the summit of Siskiyou mountain and down Applegate creek, towards the reservation at Fort Lane. Camping on Sterling creek, the five companies held a meeting and " reso- luted " like true American citizens, with the follow- ing result :-
STERLING, OREGON, August 5th, 1855.
At a meeting of the Volunteer Companies of Siskiyou County and State of California, who have been organized for the purpose of apprehending and punishing certain Indians who have com- mitted depredations in our country, E. S. Mowry, Esq., was elected Chairman, Dr. D. Ream, Secretary, and the following resolutions were unanimously adopted.
RESOLVED.
WHEREAS, certain Indians, composed of the Klamath, Horse Creek and a portion of the Rogue River Tribe, on or about the
27th and 28th of July, A. D. 1855, came upon the Klamath river and there ruthlessly and without provocation murdered eleven or more of our fellow-citizens and friends; a portion of whom we know to have escaped into the reservation of the Indi- ans near Fort Lane, Rogue River Valley, Oregon Territory, from the fact of having tracked them into said valley and from the tes- timony of certain responsible and reliable witnesses :
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