USA > Idaho > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Montana > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Oregon > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Washington > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 42
USA > Wyoming > Vigilante days and ways : the pioneers of the Rockies, the makers and making of Montana, Idaho, Oregon, Washington, and Wyoming, Vol. I > Part 42
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"'Scatter, you infernal demons !' he cried, " scatter, for not a devil of you shall escape us.'
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" Too true, alas ! for Ta-Skun-ka-Dn-tah, were these words of doom. The medicine which he deemed invincible, failed to protect him from the deadly aim of 'Forty-niner,' a bullet from whose pistol passed through his heart. With a convul- sive leap into the air, and an agonizing death yell, he fell prone to the earth, grasping the coo- stick and medicine which had lured him to his fate. Six lifeless bodies of his followers lay around, and how many were killed or wounded on the opposite bank in the early part of the contest, we had no means of ascertaining. 'Forty-niner' made medicine over the fallen chief, and removed his scalp in a manner which even he would have approved. Little Johnny displayed great courage in the fight, and was always near me in the thickest of it, seemingly ready to avenge any harm that might befall his benefactor.
" The twilight was fading into darkness, when the Indians on the opposite side of the river fired upon us for the last time. Assembling upon the bank in a group a few hundred yards above us, they were speedily rejoined by the survivors of the attacking party, who, as we learned from their melancholy death howl, had communicated to them the disasters of the battle. The wailing
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notes, attuned to a dismal cadence, ringing in echoes through the forest, harmonized gloomily with the joy and thankfulness which our escape had inspired. We had no sorrow to squander upon the savages in their distress, but there was something so heartfelt in the expression of their grief, that it filled us all with sadness. And there was no heart in the loud and repeated cheers and firing of rifles with which we deemed it necessary to respond, lest they should return and seek to avenge the death of their fallen comrades. It was simply an act of self-defence ; for had the Indians known our fear of future and immediate attack, and the anxious plans we made for prompt departure, our doom would have been certain.
" When the last faint note of the retreating Sioux assured us of freedom from immediate dan- ger, we took careful note of our injuries, and made preparations to resume our voyage. Five of our company had been wounded, none fatally, but all needed attention and service which we could not bestow. Our boat and baggage had been pierced by hundreds of bullets. A com- panion, who was disqualified by the recent ampu- tation of his leg from service during the fight, had received a wound in the back that would have proved fatal but for the interposition of his
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wooden leg, which happened to be in range. Another had an arrow point in his shoulder, and still another one in the hip. Then there were Humphrey and ' Forty-niner,' so badly wounded as to be incapable of service. Before daylight a thousand Indians, thirsting for revenge, might assemble at some point below us, intent upon our destruction. There was no alternative ; - we must leave with all possible speed, and reach Fort Buford, about one hundred and thirty miles dis- tant, at the mouth of the Yellowstone, without detention of any sort. Those of us who were uninjured by the fight, set about repairing the boat. An hour before midnight we dropped into the current, and under cover of intense darkness were borne rapidly down the turbid river. Jostled by frequent snags, arrested by sand-bars and by various collisions, kept in constant fear of wreck, we contrived to hold our course until day- light. Through the succeeding day our field- glass was in constant use, but as no Indians were visible, we ventured, while passing a bottom, to fire into a large herd of antelopes. Two were killed. We disembarked, threw out pickets, and prepared a hasty meal, and sailed onward. Until its close, the remainder of the day was without incident ; but just at dark, our boat ran hard
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aground upon a sand-bar, and obliged us to re- main there during the night. This was not without risk, for if the Indians had come upon us we would have been an easy prey. Our ever- faithful Johnny, who had slept during the day, volunteered as guard, and wrapped in his blanket, he sat down on the deck, his clear eye peering into the darkness, and his keen ears detecting the slightest unusual noise. Several times he mistook the whistle of an elk, and howl of the wolf, for the Indian, but no Indian came, and we were aroused at daylight by our trusty sentinel with the welcome announcement that a large human habitation was visible. We sprung to our feet, and beheld, at a distance of three miles ahead, the stockade and bastions of Fort Union. Fears for our safety and for the poor fellows whose wounds produced the most intense physical suffering, were instantly relieved ; and every able-bodied man in the party put forth his best exertions with hearty good will to remove the boat from the sand-bar. This accomplished, we soon effected a landing at the fort, but finding no surgeon there, crossed the point with our wounded, a distance of two miles, to Fort Buford, then in process of construction at the mouth of the Yellowstone. Here we found a Company of the 13th United States Infantry,
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under command of Col. W. G. Rankin, quartered in tents until the completion of the post. More than half the time their attention was diverted from work upon the fort by attacks of Sionx, large bands of whom were prowling through this region. The colonel received us very kindly, placed a large tent at our disposal, furnished us with commissary stores, and consigned our wounded to the skilful treatment of the surgeon.
" We had been two weeks at Fort Buford, when the steamer Luella arrived with three hundred pas- sengers. Our taste for adventure having lost its flavor, we reluctantly bade the kind colonel and his Company good-by, and took passage on her for Sioux City. The run down, unmarked by any unusual incident, and after frequent deten- tions upon sand-bars, was accomplished to the head of the great bend above the town in fourteen days. One of our party crossed the bend, which is but a few miles in width, to the city, to provide means upon our arrival for the conveyance of the company to the Northwestern railroad, not then completed to the Missouri. I had just finished a game of whist, when my comrade Johnny, who was seated beside me, drew me aside and inquired if I intended to leave the boat at Sioux City. On receiving, with an affirmative reply, an urgent
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request to accompany me to Chicago, he broke into tears and expressed great regret that we must part so soon, as by remaining on the boat he could reach his friends and home much sooner than by any other route.
"'Come with me on the deck,' he continued, putting his arm in mine. 'I have something to tell you in confidence, which will greatly surprise you.'
" I had often had occasion during our trip to think that Johnny would unfold the mystery which enveloped him, before we separated, and I readily accompanied him to the place indicated. With much nervous embarrassment, he then said to me, -
"' I am indebted to you more deeply than you can even imagine. You have been a kind friend and benefactor, and now that the time has come for us to part, I should be more than criminal did I not reveal myself to you in my true character. The disguise is no longer necessary for my protec- tion. I am a woman.'
" Involuntarily I exclaimed, 'Great Heaven ! is it possible ! - and I, all this while, so stupid as not to see it in your conduct ! This accounts for everything I thought so strangely reticent, so singularly delicate and refined in your manners.'
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"' Let me go on,' said she, interrupting this rhapsody. 'Our relation to each other, so changed, must not affect the deep sense of obligation your kindness has imposed; and besides, my history, with all its sad vicissitudes, will afford ample apology for the deceit of which this confession convicts me. When I came to you and begged for the passage you so generously granted, I was a poor heart-broken woman, but now with the multiplied evidences I have of a protecting Provi-
dence, I am comparatively happy. Listen to my story. Just before the great rebellion I was mar- ried to one I dearly loved. Our home was in
Tennessee. I was nineteen, and my husband, whom I will call Mr. Gordon, a few years older. Early in the summer of 1861 he espoused the Union canse, which brought him in great disfavor with his relatives and neighbors. Their frequent persecutions drove us from the country. We
sought a new home in California. There he engaged in extensive mining enterprises, all of which terminated in failure. He became utterly discouraged, and realizing in the current idiom of the country the condition of one who had " lost his grip," I urged him to return to the States, but our means were nearly exhausted. With the hope of replenishing them, as a last resort he staked
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and lost everything at a gambling table. To my constant entreaties for reformation, he promised well, until intemperance seized him in its deadly eoil. Naturally high-spirited and honorable, misfortune and dissipation soon reduced him to a wreck.
""' In the spring of 1866 we were living in a mining eamp at the Middle mines, on the western slope of the Sierras. One night (I shall never forget it) my unfortunate husband, while intoxi- eated, became embroiled in a desperate quarrel at a game of faro, with a player of much local popularity. A fearful fight followed, in which he killed his antagonist. He was followed into the street and his arrest attempted by a sheriff's officer. He fled in the direction of his home, was fired upon and seriously wounded, and in three shots fired by him in return, he killed one of the arresting party. The others fled. The crowd, attracted by the firing, pursued him so hotly that he ran to the hills and seereted himself in the forest.
"' During the succeeding six days of bitter anguish I was in a state of terrible suspense. Late one night relief was brought by a messenger from my husband, who said he was lying at a miner's cabin in the mountains, fifteen miles
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distant, seriously wounded, and required medicine and attendance. I instantly determined to go to him. The man, an old friend of my husband, discouraged me, lest I should be followed by the officers, and the hiding-place discovered. This objection I overcame by donning male attire, and following his guidance astride a mule. I reached the bedside of my wretched husband without exciting suspicion, and after several weeks of careful nursing, his condition was so improved that he could commence a journey to the States. Fear of discovery prevented longer delay, and our friend providing us with means of conveyance, we started on our weary route.
"' You may readily conceive that the task was disheartening, for to escape detection it was necessary to avoid all travelled routes, and liter- ally pick our way through mountains, valleys, defiles, and cañons, fording rivers where we could find opportunity, and obtaining food from ranches and at points remote from the large settlements. My husband's condition required constant atten- tion, and on me alone devolved all the labor and care of the journey. No one, to see my em- browned face and knotty hands, would have ever dreamed that I was aught else than the tough wiry boy I appeared, or that I concealed beneath
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my disguise a heart torn with anguish and shaken by continual fear.
"' We selected, as least liable to interruption, a route through Northern California, Oregon, Washington and Idaho, intending, after our arrival in Montana, to find some easier mode of completing our journey. Five long weary months during which travel was about equally alternated with delay, found us encamped on the Columbia plains in Washington Territory near the western border of Montana. Oh ! it had been a terrible perambulation. And now, when beyond the pur- suit of sheriffs, and near the close as we supposed of our journey, my poor husband, weakened by the internal hemorrhage from his wound, was prostrated by an attack which in a few days ter- minated his life.
"' I was alone in the wilderness, several hun- dred miles from the nearest settlement. For two days and nights I lingered in that lonely camp beside the dead body of my husband, without a sound to break the fearful stillness, save the yelp- ing of coyotes, and the midnight howl of the wolf. On the third day I heard the welcome sound of an approaching pack-train. The men having it in charge dug a grave and gave my husband decent burial. I accompanied their
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train to Helena, preserving my male incognita without suspicion. After a brief period of rest and refreshment, I disposed of my effects and went by coach to Benton, where I was so fortu- nate as to fall in with your party. You know the rest.'
" The recital of this eventful narrative made a profound impression upon me. I could scarcely realize that it had fallen from the lips of the mild- mannered, resolute, active little Johnny, who had been to us all such a pleasant but enigmatical companion. My sympathies were all warmly enlisted in favor of the brave woman, but she refused all further proffers of assistance, assuring me that she was provided with ample means for the completion of her journey, and had many able and willing friends who would greet her return to them with joy. I took leave of her at Sioux City the next day with real regret, and often since have recalled to mind the thrilling history of her experience in the mountains."
Nathaniel PLangfoss
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The Stage Couch.
CHAPTER XXV.
THE STAGE COACH.
HOLLIDAY'S OVERLAND - HAZARDOUS JOURNEYINGS - PORT-NEUF CAÑON - MASSACRE OF 1865 - TREACHI- ERY OF THE DRIVER - SANTA FE ROUTE - MEXICAN CHARLEY - CAPTURED BY ROAD AGENTS - ROBBERS FOILED - STRANGE DISCLOSURE - BOISE ROUTE - "DOWDLE BILL " - LUDICROUS FUNERAL SERVICES.
THE stage coach is one among the most vivid memories of the boy of half a century ago. The very mention of it recalls the huge oval vehicle with its great boot behind, fronted by a lofty driver's seat, -swaying, tossing, rocking, lumbering and creaking as it dashes along, im- pelled by four swift-footed horses, through mud and mire, over hill and dale, in the daily dis- charge of its appointed office. Anon the rapid toot of the horn, closing with a long refrain, which reverberates from every hillside, winding a different note to the varied motions of the coach, and a rattle of the wheels announces the arrival, and every urchin in the village is on the alert to see its passage to the hotel, and from the hotel to
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the post-office. It was the daily event in the memory of childhood, which no time can obliter- ate. As years wore on and improvements came, and one by one the old-time inventions gave place to others, the coach began gradually to dis- appear from the haunts of busy life, and the swift-winged rail-car to usurp its customary duties. Seemingly it shrunk away as if frightened at the improvements multiplying around it, and sought a freer life in the vast solitudes of the Great West. There it had full range without a rival for thousands of miles for a third of a century, and conveyed the van of that grand army of · pioneers across the continent, who sought and found home and wealth and opened up a new and richer world than any ever before discovered on the golden shores of the great Pacific.
The system of overland travel, which afforded a comparatively rapid transit for passengers and mails between the oceans, made the stage coach an object of peculiar interest to the civilized communities of both continents. It was the bearer of the earliest news from the gold fields, the most assured means of communication between those families and friends whom the lust for fortune had separated, and the most available conveyance to the land of gold. The novelty of
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a trip across the plains, over the mountains, and through the cañons, its exposures to Indian attack and massacre, its thrilling escapades and adven- tures, can only be known to him who has accom- plished it.
Before the construction of the Union Pacific Railway, mails and passengers were transported from the States to Montana by Holliday's Over- land Stage Line, running from Atchison, Kansas, by way of Denver and Salt Lake City, and connecting at the latter place with a stage line owned by other proprietors, running to Virginia City and Helena, a total distance of nineteen hundred miles. The route, for nearly its entire distance, lay through a country occupied by various Indian tribes, several of which were permanently hostile, and the others ready to become so as occasion offered, to satisfy their greed for plunder or robbery. The only habita- tions of whites, except at the places mentioned and two or three smaller settlements, were the log cabins of the stock-tenders. The regular time for a journey from Atchison to Helena was twenty-two days. Once started, the only stoppages were at the changing stations twelve to fifteen miles apart,- the eating stations being separated by a distance of forty or fifty miles.
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In the fall of 1864, I made this journey in company with Samuel T. Hauser, - the time occupied being thirty-one days and nights of continuous travel. Our journey was prolonged by delays occasioned by the incursions of the hostile Sioux, who had killed several stock-tenders at different stations, burned the buildings, and stolen the horses. From their frequent attacks upon the coaches from ambush, it was necessary for us to be on the constant lookout, with arms prepared to resist them at any moment. This cautiousness was intensified by the evidence of their murderous purpose we met with in our prog- ress. On the second day after leaving Atchison, the eastern bound coach met us with one wounded passenger, the next day with one dead, and the next with another wounded. The reports of passengers eastward bound were also very dis- couraging. Yet this risk of life did not lessen travel. The coaches were generally full.
As a curious fact in stage-coach statistics, I may be pardoned for stating that in fourteen years, while National Bank Examiner for all the Territories and the Pacific States, and four years, while Collector of Internal Revenue, my staging to and fro over the continent exceeded seventy- four thousand miles. I learned in that experience
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that the most comfortable as well as most eligible place for travelling was the outside seat beside the driver ; and as it was seldom in demand by others for travel by night, I usually had no difficulty in securing it. For one whose stage travel is pretty constant, no dress is more suitable than the one usually worn by express messengers, which con- sists of warm overalls and fur coat for ordinary winter weather, and a rubber suit for protection against storms. The only objection to them, and that sometimes and in some portions of the country a serious one, is the liability of the wearer to be mistaken for a guard. The road agent considers the guard with treasure in his keeping as legiti- mate prey, and shoots him without the least com- punction if he evinces any determined resistance. It was my good fortune for several years to travel unmolested over routes which but the day before or after were the scenes of both murder and rob- bery.
The ill-starred canon of the Port-Neuf river, memorable in all its early and recent history, for murder, robbery, and disaster, is about forty miles distant from Fort Hall, Idaho. It was named after an unfortunate Canadian trapper, murdered there by the Indians, and ever since that event a curse seems to have rested upon it. Captain
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Bonneville established his camp there for the win- ter of 1833-4, and during his absence with a few men, those who remained, reduced by cold and hunger, were obliged to leave for a more promising location. He found them on his return in the spring, encamped on the Blackfoot, a tributary of Snake river, not very far above Port-Neuf cañon. Not only had they been pinched by famine, but they had fallen in with several Blackfoot bands, and considered themselves fortunate in being able to retreat from the dangerous neighborhood without sustaining any loss.
Ever since the stage road from Salt Lake City to Montana was laid out through this cañon, it has been the favorite haunt of stage robbers and highwaymen. Nature seems to have endowed it with extraordinary facilities for encouraging and protecting this dangerous class of the community. Both sides of the river wash the base of basaltic walls, which, by the combined action of fire, water, and wind, have been eroded into numerous columns, resembling in formation those of Staffa, and forming coverts and gateways alike favorable to the commission of robbery or murder, and the escape of the criminals. Indeed, it has been with many a commonly received opinion, that these gateways of rock gave the name to the cañon, the
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word Port-Neuf in compound form signifying " ninth gate." Notwithstanding its terrible his- tory, the drive through it upon a summer day is very delightful. In the most romantic portion of it, marked by an immense pile of crumbled basalt and favored by an almost impenetrable thicket of willows, is the scene of one of the most horrible tragedies that ever occurred in the murderous history of this robbers' den.
Robbery and murder in the early history of the gold seekers in Montana and Idaho were carried on upon strictly business principles. No attack upon a coach or a returning emigrant train was made without almost certain knowledge of the booty to be obtained. Some of the band of rob- bers were at the different mining localities, on the lookout for victims; and between them and the attacking party a system of telegraphy existed by which was communicated all possible information concerning every departure of the coach with a treasure-box, or passengers with gold dust.
In the summer of 1865, Messrs. Parker and McCausland, who represented the interests of two successful merchants of Virginia City, and Messrs. Mers and Dinan, merchants of Nevada City, left Montana for St. Joseph, Missouri, with about sixty thousand dollars in gold dust in their pos-
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session. For a week or more before leaving, as was the custom in those days, they had sought by various devices to mislead any local operatives of the robber gang who might be watching them, as to the exact time of their departure, so that when they took leave of Virginia City they were very confident they had stolen a march upon them, and would pass the ordeal of a coach ride to Salt Lake City in safety. Port-Neuf cañon was re- garded as the dangerous spot. Once through that, they were comparatively safe. Their treas- ure, safely packed in buckskin bags, was in part concealed upon their persons, and the remainder locked up in a carpet-sack, carefully stowed away under the back seat which they occupied. Before their arrival at Snake River bridge, two more passengers, Brown and Carpenter, were added to the number. Leaving there in high spirits, they proceeded at a brisk pace down the road, entering the canon at an early hour in the afternoon. It was a pleasant sunshiny day. Happy in the belief that before its close they would leave the dreaded place behind them, and that no attack would be made in daylight, the members of the company were engaged in one of those rambling discursive conversations which belong exclusively to this mode of travel. Each man, however, as
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if instigated by the evil spirit of the locality, had, before arriving at the cañon, examined his weap- ons of defence and placed them in a convenient position for use in case of necessity. Mile after mile was passed, and more than half the distance through the canon had been travelled, when a voice issuing from a clump of bushes by the road- side sternly commanded the driver to halt, and at the same moment the muzzles of nine or ten guns were presented at the passengers, who were or- dered to throw up their hands. " Robbers ! Fire on them !" exclaimed Parker, who had taken a seat on the outside of the coach for the pur- pose of watching, - and suiting the action to the word, he cocked and raised his gun and attempted to fire, but fell forward riddled with buck-shot. At the same time other shots killed McCausland, Mers, and Dinan, and seriously wounded Car- penter, who escaped by feigning death, as one of the robbers was about to shoot him again. Brown escaped by plunging into the surrounding thicket of bushes. Charley Parks, the express messenger, received a serious wound which neces- sitated the amputation of the leg at the thigh. The murderers then completed their work by rifling the bodies of their victims, and seizing whatever treasure they could find upon and within
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