USA > Oregon > The Oregon native son, Vol. I > Part 47
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"Gentlemen, this is very unusual; I do not wish it to be otherwise than it
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ROBBERY GREAT ALASKAN EXPRESS COMPANY.
seems, but I have just received a tele- gram which, under the circumstances, compels me to detain all three of you for awhile."
The three men listened with amaze- ment, but after the remarkable series of events which had taken place they were prepared for almost anything.
"I will read the dispatch to you, gen- tlemen-such I believe you to be-and you can readily see that I should be de- relict in my duty if I acted otherwise:
Chief of Police, Seattle:
Gang of thieves alleged to have robbed Great Alaskan Express Company in Dyea, thirteen thousand dollars gold dust, consign- ed by us. No officer of company remaining to consult with, and their whereabouts un- known. Make extraordinary efforts to re- cover same. Thousand lollars reward:
JAMES C. BILGER.
Alva Mercereau, Consignors.
They thanked the chief for his courte- sy, and declared that in view of the sus- picions excited by the telegram, they should deem it their duty to remain. which they did, in the comfort and free- dom of the chief's private office.
About 9:00 o'clock the following morning the chief came in with a gentleman whom Marshon recognized as Mr. Bigler. After introductions and mutual congratulations on the safety of the gold dust which lay on the table in Marshon's valise, the chief remarked:
"This is one of the most interesting problems it has been my privilege to have a part in, and I am anxious to hear the solution."
"I think it devolves upon Laurens to explain how he so effectually deceived Unger, and gave us all such a shock.' said Marshon: "and I don't know that I shall forgive him, even then."
"Through the merest accident I took the Wolcott to Juneau, instead of the Clara Nevada. Had she been five min- utes later in arriving, my fate would have been sealed. As it was we had a fright- ful trip. beating about in that wild sea ten or twelve hours longer than the time usually required to run to Juneau. From Nanaimo I sent the telegram that land- ed Marshon in jail. I wonder, though. how he escaped arrest in Victoria. for I
wired the chief there, also."
"Perhaps I can explain that," inter- posed the chief. "Your message was re- ceived there a litle too late, and was at once repeated to me, with the request to watch the City of Kingston."
"But I don't understand,' said Mar- shon to Bigler, "how you got here so soon after starting for Pyramid harbor."
"That is easily explained. On account of the gale we had to turn back. I got to Dyea just after the news of the rob- bery. How I got to Skagway I hardly know; it seems now like a miracle- worse than shooting White Horse rap- ids. I found in the harbor a small steam- er, and, as I had decided what I wanted to do, I immediately went aboard. I sat- isfied myself that she was all right, and then offered the captain a thousand dol- lars if he would start forthwith for Seat- tle, nor stop for wind nor tide. He agreed. We found the storm abating as we came south, and so made good time. The only stop was at Nanaimo to send my wispatch.'
"Well, what started the theory of rob- bery in the first place?" asked the chief.
"Yes, I would like to have an expla- nation on that point, too," said Marshon. "There might be a great deal said on that subject, but I will refrain."
All looked at Unger for this explana- tion, upon whom it was beginning to dawn that some one had made a big blunder, and he answered:
"It was a telephone message from Skagway that Marshon had been rob- bed.
"How long was that after I tele- phoned?" asked Marshon.
"You? Did you telephone?" asked Unger, incredulously.
"Of course I did. about 8 o'clock.'
"Well, tell me, what did you mean by being sand-bagged?"
"Sand - bagged? Oh, ridiculous!" laughed Marshon. "The only thing I said you could possibly have so constru- ed. was that the Oregon was stopped on a sand-bank in Juneau bay."
"Confound the telephone!" cried Un- ger, in deep disgust, and they all sym- pathized with him.
C. H. SHOLES.
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
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Photo by Tollman. AMOS N. KING. A Pioneer of IS15.
Photo by Browning. CONRAD G. SAYLOR, A Pioneer of 1852.
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Photo by Browning. GEORGE MARSHALL, A Pioneer of 1952.
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Photo by Moore. MRS. MARGARETTA MARSHALL .. A Pioneer of 1352.
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THE NOAH OF THE INDIAN. HIS STORY OF THE DELUGE AND HIS MT. ARARAT
A Tradition.
There is a tradition among the Indians as regards the flood, which makes Mt. Rainier deserving of place on historic page by the side of Mt. Ararat. While the version of the Indian differs from that of our forefathers who tell us of Noah and his ark, the incidents which they relate in connection with the event have a very similar foundation. A . dif- ference as to places, participants and movements should not cause surprise, for the facilities each people possessed for the perpetuation of cccurrences, to- gether with the environments by which they were surrounded, being so crude, it would be the next thing to a miracle if, after a lapse of many centuries, their versions agreed in all their parts.
Like the occupants of the Garden of Eden were the antediluvians of the In- lian. In the former the serpent tempted a woman and a Creator pronounced a personal curse upon the tempter. With the Indian all upon the earth could con- verse with each other and with the Cre- ator. A record of the time when animals became dumb, as is now termed, does not seem to have been kept by either the descendants of Noah or by those of his counterpart, or perhaps himself, from whence the Indian descended. The pro- genitors of the Indian, however, kept more data in this respect than our fore- fathers. Theirs brough: the power of speech between all of creation and their Creator down to the days of the flood, and even afterwards, but ours left no kindred mention as time rolled on of conversation between man and beast or flower, or either with a common God, except when Balaam's ass rebuked him and patriarch and prophet heard the voice or felt the presence of an Almighty or his representatives.
It came to pass, as each will tell. that when man began to multiply, that their wickedness was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of
his heart was only evil continually. The Great Spirit saw their wickedness and it . so grieved him that he regretted having created them, and resolved upon their destruction.
According to the story of the Indian. he intended to effect such at first through the medium of fire, but this resolve was changed in order to not bring suffering upon some of the animal and vegetable creation which had not so acted as to incur his displeasure. These being good there was an assimulation of thought between them and the Creator, enabling them to divine his intentions and permit of their beseeching him to modify his plans, pleading innocence of wrong-do- ing by them and that they should not only be preserved upon that ground, but because the labor of their re-creation to restock the earth anew would be saved. Appreciating the situation and being just, the Great Spirit decided to not send forth fire but flood instead.
The Indians will say that many ani- mals that inhabited the earth prior to the food were unknown thereafter, and that some of them were of monster size. These, they say, were all evil-acting and were destroyed. This is said to be the only knowledge they had of the extinct mastodon and other animals unearthed from the deposits in various sections of the new world. When these remains were brought to the light of day, they were not surprised, but it was-hyas ancutty-or long ago, with them. Their traditions can therefore be said to be . more than mere imagination, and go far towards explaining why the ark of Noah did not contain animals whose remains are not found within the precincts of Mt. Ararat. also said to be unknown to the wide expanse of continent of which it is a part.
As it happened in the old world so it was in the new. There was also a Noah here who, together with his family, found.
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
grace in the eyes of the Creator, who could be saved to re-people the earth upon the subsiding of the flood. The name of this individual was O-la-qua. To him the Great Spirit ". Jeared in a vision of the night and ~ : "The li of nearly all upon the earth is at an their wickedness and violence fills a. places, therefore, they shall be no more. Arise! and tell thy family, and in the early morning go thou to the top of Mount Tahoma (Rainier), for a mighty flood shall come upon the earth and de- stroy all that is bad. On the top of the mountain I will come to you again and tell you what to do."
Not doubting the revelation, O-la-qua arose and with the approach of dawn was through with preparation and ready for the hour of starting, the greater por- tion of the world being, as yet. asleep. At the time appointed he, together with his family and their faithful dogs, made haste to reach the top of the mountain. Soon after their arrival there strange sights appeared in the heavens and on the earth beneath, and they knew that the doom of those marked for destruc- tion by the Great Spirit was fast ap- proaching. As these phenomena were in progress such vegetable and animal life as were aware of impending catastro- phe began also to gather around the mountain's summit, with them being some savage beasts and venomous rep- tiles that had been warned by hearing the vegetable creation whispering to each other about the wrath of the Great Spirit and his intentions. Impending danger had. however. cooled savage and viscious instinct so that peaceful action reigned among all alike as they gathered in place together. Soon the skies were filled with blackened clouds, the only light, in those darkened hours, the flash of lightening following the mighty peals of thunder that made a continuous roar. Soon the clouds, o'er-taxed with mois- ture, let escape their holdings and such fall of waters was never known before. Soon both hill and dale were submerged. and lifeless corpse of evil doer was wont to be the sport of angered wave.
While the usual characteristics of some of the animals and reptiles collect-
ed on the mountain were stilled to peace through desire for protection, it was evi- dent to O-la-qua that their course of ac- tion was only temporary, and their near- ness to himself and family gave him much alarm. His good spouse, seeing ritation and divining the cause, told + he had not reason to rear for
Spirit had so far protected
+1 . and they could surely rely on him future protection. These assurances brought a more contented feeling to the mind of O-la-qua, and he set about to erect a tepee wherein himself and family could sleep. This finished, they sought their blankets for the repose all so much needed.
As slumber claimed sway over the senses the Great Spirit again appeared and said unto him, "The waters will rise over the place where you now lie. In the morning take your bow and three arrows and stand on the highest point on the mountain and shoot one arrow straight up into the heavens, quickly following it with the second, taking great care that its point shall pierce the shaft of the first, and then with the third pierce the shaft of the second with its point. Climb what they shall become. taking with you all that are with you.'
When O-la-qua awoke in the morn- ing he did as the Great Spirit had con- manded-and, lo! when the three arrows had become joined in the air, they be- came animated with life and rapidly grew into a mighty tree whose branches put forth in all directions. As the word was given to seek safety therein, quickly sprang forward wak-a-poosh, the rattle- snake, followed closely by the other ven- omous reptiles present, of which even the savage beasts among the assemblage were afraid. These were the first to as- cend the tree, and they appropriated all of the topmost branches except the very highest. upon which two vultures sat. Following them went the savage beasts. then the animals more quietly disposed. the fowls. and last of all the little harm- less garter snakes, who lived and hoped to live without doing harm to anyone or anything. As they were afraid of both man and beast, they sought safety out on the ends of the lowest branches.
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THE NOAH OF THE INDIAN.
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Satisfied that all of the animals had ascended, O-la-qua and his family, not forgetting their much-prized dogs, climbed up into the branches, drawing up their blankets after them.
For many suns all was darkness, - the rush and roar of the waters awed into dreadful silence ( age beasts, who, though at St peace with all around them, had . 1 before expressed the fear they knew by their cries. Hardly was the ascent com- pleted before the flood had covered the mountain's top, and the mighty tree shook with the force of its ebb and flow. At last the rains ceased and the light again returned, after which the flood rapidly receded and confined itself with- in the sea. . But the dread of what had taken place during its stay over the tarth, held the occupants of the tree spell-bound in their places until some days had gone, when O-la-qua took courage, and, with his family, together with their dogs, descended once more to the earth. Preceiving his action, and that the results were satisfactory, the other occupants began to make their way down to the ground, the first to do so being the little harmless garter- snakes, which made haste to glide down the mountain's sides and hide themselves among the rocks and underbrush. The last to move were the venomous reptiles, and the vultures looking down from their perch above. As the snakes began to descend the good spouse of O-la-qua again offered her advice, and through a remembrance of the injuries that the reptiles had inflicted upon the people before the flood, and fearing a repetition of such, should they again be allowed to roam the earth, she begged her husband to take his stone axe and fell the tree, for in its fall and breaking of branches they would be all killed, thus ensuring
Colonel Nesmith began his career as a legislator in 1847. He was elected that year a member of the provisional gov- ernment legislature. It held its sessions in the Methodist church in Oregon City.
their offspring against the harm they had done their ancestors.
O-la-qua saw that his wife's advice was good and quickly the tree was on its way down. the mountain slope, breaking and thresh .... " ~t its every move, a cer- +'' i death to the snakes therein. Thus perished a much feared inhabitant of an- tedeluvian days-all but two-a couple of rattlers. These were very old and possessed of great knowledge. They thought it advisable to delay their going down until they witnessed what treat- ment their fellows received at the hands of O-la-qua as they reached the earth. When he began to cut away the tree they knew what would be the doom of those therein, and resolved to defeat O- la-qua in his purpose, inasmuch as they were concerned, and siezing hold of the legs of the vultures above them, they held them fast until they were safely coiled around them so as to not prevent a movement of wing, and the alarmed birds, when they could, soared away over into the country far east of the mountains, where they stopped for rest. The rattlers then disengaged themselves from their forced carriers, and were in safety.
From that day to this, no rattle snakes have inhabited the country adjacent to the Sound. the only snake known to that region being the little harmless garter- snake. The absence of rattle-snakes west of the Cascades is certainly a fact, so far as the Sound country is concerned, and the explanation of the Indian for their not being there is as worthy of credence as much other ancient history coming from other sources.
Such is the tradition of the Noah of the Indian, the parallel to his flood, and the story of a mountain that has but few rivals for prominence for like happening.
F. H. SAYLOR.
The first white child of American par- entage born north of the Columbia river was Christopher C. Simmons, son of Col. Michael T. Simmons, a pioneer of 1844. He was born at Washougal in April. 1845.
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EDWIN MARKHAM. AUTHOR OF THE "MAN WITH THE HOE."
EDWIN MARKHAM.
With an ancestry of legislators, preachers. scientists and other nation- builders extending back to William Penn's first cousin and secretary-Col- onel William Markham, deputy gover- nor of Pennsylvania-the toiler's friend and poet. Edwin Markham. was born at Oregon City April 23. 1852. Off for California at the age of five, where the fatherless lad lived in the companion- ship of a stern mother with poetic taste, a deaf brother and the poems of Byron and Homer - society which would naturally tend to make a peculiar man. Colonial blood, Oregon-born. Cal- ifornia culture, a teacher and poet: this is Edwin Markham, the author of "The Man With the Hoe."
EDWIN MARKHAM. Born at Oregon City, Or., April 23. 1952.
The National Cyclopedia of America Biography says of him: "In 1871 Mr. Markham entered the State Normal School at San Jose, making his way on money he had earned, and then pursued the classical course at Christian Col- lege, Santa Rosa, Cal. After leaving college he read law for a time, but has
"over pra ticec at the bar. As superin-
.ent and principal of schools at var- „.s places for many years, he has ren- dered important services in the educa- tional progress of California. He is now (1899) head master of the Tompkins (b)- servation School, Oakland, connected with the University of California, where he has been engaged for a number oi years in a work which is highly signifi- cant to the interests of academic educa- tion. His own contributions to litera- ture are chiefly poetical, and his work has been described as the most signifi- cant yet produced west of the Rocky mountains.
Edmund Clarence Stedman had de- scribed his verses as "truly and exqui- sitely poetical," but, added to its deli- cate lyric beauty, it may be said to pos- sess a deep spiritual significance and a burden of daring and radical thought. He gravitates in philosophy toward Pla- to and Hegal; in religion, toward Swe- denborg and the seers; in sociology, to- ward Ruskin, Mazzini and Herron. Hi- genius has been well described as "He- braic and religious, rather than Hellenic and sensuous." He has gathered hi- fugitive poems into two volumes. "Th Man With the Hoe and Other Poems." and "In Earth's Shadow." Perhaps the most remarkable event in Mr. Mark- ham's literary career was the publica- tion of his "Man With the Hoc," a poem inspired by Jean Francois Mil- let's great painting with that title. Thi- excited enthusiastic comment in the American press, and brought the au- thor many letters from critics and ad- mirers in Europe and America. · It i- generally conceded to be one of the greatest productions of the last quarter century, ranking with Kipling's "Reces sional."
A recent critic says of Mr. Markham'- verse: "One of its distinctive features is its breadth of range. This gives it greatness-a greatness unknown to the singers of the flowery way. He breaks
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THE MAN WITH THE HOE.
open the secret of the poppy: he feels the pain in the bent back of labor; he goes down to the dim places of the dead: he reaches in heart-warm prayer to the Father of Life.'
.A noted scholar has written: "The salient features of Mr. Mar ham's etry are vigorous imagination. pi esqueness of phraseology and nervou. tenseness of style. He is almost always at white heat .. He seldom or never sits poised on the calm, ethereal heights of contemplation. He is mightily stirred by his teeming fancies, and his lines are as burning brands. If he needs any one thing more than another. it is a draught from that cool front of Bandusia which Horace loved."
Yet it warms the heart to read such glowing verses, in which the thoughts are as red coals in an open fire. It is a tremendous relief after the dreary plati- tudes of the average magazine drivelers. with their wooden echoes of Kents and Wordsworth, to read the lines of a man who has thought and style of his own. and who hurls his ideas out bravely and loudly. The poem which gives its title to the book was inspired by Millet's
well-known picture. Mr. Markham's greatest poem is an outcry for the rec- ognition of the wrongs of labor. In the pictured man with the hoe he sees the type of the down-trodden workman, and in three pages of vigorous verse he thunders his sermon. There are pas- sages of very high poetic beauty in this work, as for example :
What gulfs between him and the seraphim! Slave of the wheel of labor. what to him Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades?
What the long reaches of the peaks of song, The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose?
But the general style of the eloquence of the poem is best exemplified by the closing lines:
O masters, lords, and rulers in the lands, How will the Future reckon with this man? How answer his brute question in that hour When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world ?
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings --
With those who shaped him to the thing: he is ---
When this dumb Terror shall reply to God, After the silence of the centuries?
The entire poem is here published for reference.
JOHN B. HORNER, A. M . LITT. D.
" THE MAN WITH THE HOE."
Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans Upon his hoe and gazeson the ground,
The emptiness of agesin his face,
And on his back the burden of the world. Who made him dead to rapture and despair,
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?
Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw?
Whose was the hand thit slanted back this brow?
Whose breath blew out the light within this brain?
Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave
To have dominion over sea and land;
To trace the stars and search the heavens for powers;
To feel the passion of Eternity?
Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns And pillared the blue firmament with light? Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf
There is no shape inore terrible than this
More tongued with censure of the world's blind greed --
More filled with signs and portents for the soul -
More frauglit with menace to the universe.
What gulfs between him and the seraphim!
Slave of the wheel of labor, wrat to him Are Palto and the swing of Pleiades?
What the long reaches of the peaks of song. The rift of dawn, the red reddening of the rose?
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OREGON NATIVE SON.
RODNEY GLISAN, M. D., A Pioneer of 1850.
ROBERT B. WILSON, M. D. A Pioneer of 1850.
Photo by Moore. DENNY H. HENDEE, A Pioneer of 1853.
Photo by Burns. PHILIP F. CASTLEMAN, A Pioneer of 1850.
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THE MAN WITH THE HOE.
Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; Time's tragedy is in that aching stoop; Througr this dread shape humanity betrayed,
Plundered, profaned and disinherited,
Cries protest to the Judges of the World,
A protest that is also prophecy.
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands, Is this the handiwork you give to God, This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched ?
How will you ever straighten up this shape; Give back the upward looking and the light; Rebuild in it the music and the dream; Touch it again with immortality; Make right the immemorial infamies, Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes?
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,
How will the Future reckon with this Man? .
How answer his brute question in that hour When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world? How will it be with kingdoms and with kings- With those who shaped him to the thing he is- When this dumb Terror shall reply to God After the silence of the centuries?
It is not generally known that the star-spangled banner of the United States is older than any of the present flags of the great European powers. It was adopted in 1777 by the congress of the thirteen colonies of North America, then at war with the mother country. The yellow and red Spanish flag came out, says Paris Figaro, in 1785; the French tri-color was adopted in 1794: the red English emblem, with the union jack in the upper corner, dates from IS01: the Sardinian (now the Italian) flag, first fluttered in 1848. The Austro- Hungarian flag was one of the conse- quences of the compromise of 1867: the present German flag first appeared in 1871, and the Russian tri-color is quite a recent affair.
The only modification that the Ameri- can flag has undergone since its origin consists in the addition of a new star every time a new state is taken into the Union. The stars now number 45, and, unfortunately for Spain, it is more than likely that they have not yet come to the end of their multiplication.
Prior to the legislative session of 1853 those thinking that marriage was a fail- ure, and wishing to have such relations severed, were required to present their
case to the legislature for action. This body failed to enquire as closely into the cases presented as some thought proper, and the laws were amended at that time by the passage of an act which gave the courts jurisdiction in such matters. How well enquiry is made by these latter tri- bunals is for others to say. Instances where parties applying for a divorce are refused are very rare, and it looks as though investigation, much or little, usually brought about the desired end- ing.
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