USA > Washington > History of Washington the evergreen state : from early dawn to daylight with portraits and biographies Vol. II > Part 4
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In May of 1856 he figures almost dramatically in the terri- torial history. It is difficult to compress the facts which brought about so startling a situation, but they may briefly be summed up as follows : Certain parties-ex-employés of the Hudson's Bay Company-were suspected of assisting the hostiles with supplies. They were arrested by Captain Maxon, brought in to Olympia, and confined at Fort Steilacoom. Governor Stevens proclaimed Pierce County under martial law to prevent these prisoners, who had retained counsel, from obtaining writs of habeas corpus-the proclamation bore date April 3d, 1856. It was to continue binding till May 5th, the time fixed for holding the District Court of Pierce County. The illness of Judge
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Chenoweth caused Judge Lander to preside ; he opened his court, but suspended its operations for one day, that the Governor might have an opportunity to withdraw his proclamation. The Governor, with the Volunteers to sustain him, declined to take any such action. A conference with the Governor and other officials having failed, Judge Lander reopened his court, thus defying the proclamation which suspended, under martial law, the func- tions of all civil officers. For a moment the motto of "arms yielding to the gown" seemed to prevail, but for a moment only. Judge Lander was forcibly removed from the bench by the ter- ritorial Volunteers, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Shaw, and he, his clerk (John W. Chapman), and the records of the court were taken out of the county and removed to Olympia. On the 9th Judge Lander was released, his clerk being set at lib- erty on the following day ; but the end was not yet. On May 12th the term of the District Court in the county of Thurston (Judge Lander's district) commenced, and three of the prisoners in the custody of the Governor applied for a writ of habeas corpus. They were issued and made returnable on the 14th. This was on Wednesday ; on the following Monday the Marshal served the writ. During the night martial law was proclaimed in Thurston County, the ground for so doing being that the writ (which, of course, martial law would suspend or nullify) was issued to prevent the trial of the persons seized before a military tribunal, which had already been ordered to take place on May 20th. On the morning of May 13th a company of Volunteers rode into town and planted a cannon in front of the court-house. The soldiers, however, did not enter the court-room, but re- mained on duty at the Governor's office, immediately opposite. The writ was defied, and the prisoners named taken under guard to Fort Montgomery, out of the county of Thurston. On the 14th court still proceeded, and the Governor failing to appear at the Judge's chambers, a writ of attachment was taken, re- turnable on the 15th. The Marshal charged with its service, as might have been expected, was resisted, and Judge Lander and his clerk were arrested by a company of Volunteers commanded by Captain Bluford Miller, of Oregon. The clerk was not de- tained, but as Judge Lander refused to suspend his court dur- ing the period of the executive proclamation, he was sent as a prisoner to Camp Montgomery, in Pierce County, where he re-
John Leocenia
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mained in custody until his release-May 26th, 1856. On May 23d, Judge Chenoweth, having recovered, reached Steilacoom, and moved upon Camp Montgomery by two writs of habeas corpus directed to its commander, Colonel Shaw, one of which directed him to produce the body of Judge Lander and abide the decision of the court as to his right to retain him in custody, and the other in relation to the three persons suspected of trea- son. These legal missives were made returnable May 24th, 1856. The proclamation of martial law not having been revoked, and anticipating an attack by the forces of the Executive, the court summoned a sufficient number of bailiffs to " protect its dig- nity." The Judge also called upon Lieutenant-Colonel Casey, U. S. A. Commander at Fort Steilacoom, for aid if it should be required. This Colonel Casey declined, but visited Lieutenant Curtis, in command of the Volunteers whose duty it was to see the proclamation of martial law enforced, and whose orders were to arrest Judge Chenoweth if he should persist in holding court. It was the intention of Colonel Casey, if he could not dissuade this officer from doing his duty, to have personally addressed the Volunteers. His most irregular action was, however, ren- dered unnecessary by the action of Lieutenant Curtis, who, dis- obeying his orders, left their court to proceed undisturbed. Colonel Shaw, who seems to have been inade of sterner stuff, failed to answer the writs of habeas corpus, and an attachment was issued, thereby giving the Judge an opportunity to deliver an opinion, in which the action of the Executive was severely condemned. This highly spiced effusion must have produced some effect, for on May 26th we find another proclamation pub- lished and posted revoking that of martial law, whereupon Judge Chenoweth returns to the charge, and the same evening arrests Colonel Shaw on attachment. On the following morn- ing, by written request of Governor Stevens, the hearing upon the writ was postponed to the November term of the Pierce County Court, so as to permit the Colonel to depart with his command upon an expedition organized and ready to start against the Indians.
In our account of this most extraordinary and, as it appears to us, unwarrantable conflict in time of actual war between the civil and military authorities, we have followed the sequence of occurrences as laid down in Evans' narrative. A lawyer him-
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self, it was to be expected that he should favor the legal side of the question, and indirectly, at least, condemn the action of Governor Stevens. We are constrained to take issue with his conclusions. Governor Stevens was an accomplished soldier, with large experience, and a full knowledge of the situation and its necessities. He was acting not only as the Chief Executive, but also as ex officio the commander-in-chief of the territorial forces. He finds himself embarrassed by hostile legal action, in- tended to interfere with the possible results of a court-martial ordered to try certain half-breeds or " squawmen" under arrest, and gravely suspected of giving " aid and comfort" to our worst enemies, the hostile Indians. Under these circumstances, to pre- vent the letting loose, by some legal quibble, of these offenders, he resorts to the most potent weapon known to the Government, because overriding and suspending all civil process-he pro- claims martial law-in all of which he was distinctly within the limit of his executive powers, and, as it appears to us, fully justified by the circumstances of the case. The judges, as it would seem, most unpatriotically, do all in their power to ob- struct his purpose and render nugatory his plans. The two powers, civil and military, are openly arrayed against each other. Colonel Casey, an old officer of the regular army, whose instincts and military training should have taught him better, not only visits and attempts to dissuade Lieutenant Curtis (who, with his force, had distinct orders from his commander-in-chief) from obeying these orders, but stands ready to address his men, evidently to discourage their obedience. The question occurs here, if Colonel Casey was so assured that the action of the Gov- ernor was illegal, why did he decline to use his own force to protect the court ? Lieutenant Curtis, however, saves him all trouble by yielding, or, rather, disobeying the positive orders he had received, and neglects to perform his duty, for which, from a military standpoint, he should have been broken or shot. Then Governor Stevens withdraws his proclamation just when, if originally right, it should have been continued, and still fur- ther weakens his position by condescending to ask a written favor of the Judge in the case of Colonel Shaw, legally indicted for carrying out his own orders. The whole matter was dis- creditable, to use the mildest term, to both parties. Evans says that the action of Stevens, afterward fined $50 for contempt of
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court by Judge Landers, was compared by his admirers to that of General Jackson, under somewhat similar circumstances, at New Orleans, when fined by Judge Hall, and sneeringly adds : "History does not require the further carrying out of the parallel. It may be summed up in the respective judg- ments of judges Hall and Lander. The former fined General Jackson $1000 ; Governor Stevens was fined $50 by the latter." With all due deference to the Hon. Elwood Evans, the learned historian and accomplished writer, we beg to be permitted to say that if General Jackson had been the Executive of Washing- ton Territory at that juncture he would probably have shot Cur- tis by drum-head court-martial, and treated the rebellious judges in the same manner as he proposed to treat Calhoun in the days of South Carolina nullification. But it is, after all, by no means singular that the soldier and the lawyer should, like the knights of old, see and battle only for their own sides of the shield.
As a fit conclusion to this " comedy of errors," which after- ward became the subject of much acrimonious legislative action, it may be remarked that the three prisoners, the bone of conten- tion and original cause of this bloodless war of writs and proc- lamations, were, thanks to a combination of military and civil red tape, discharged-a result apparently arrived at by the mili- tary court to avoid the absence of valuable officers from their commands in the field. They were, therefore, with the approval of the Governor, turned over to the United States commission, who speedily dismissed them. It seems proper, however, to add that the action of Governor Stevens throughout this vexed mat- ter was fully endorsed by a majority of the people.
Victor Monroe, Associate Justice, fills but little space in our territorial history. He was associated with Judge Lander in the adoption of the code. He was assigned to the Second Judicial District, but early in the summer of 1854 was superseded by Judge Chenoweth. His colleague, Associate Justice Obadiah B. McFad- den, figures more extensively. We find him doing good work in Oregon in presiding over the court which tried, sentenced, and finally hung two Indian murderers at Jacksonville. Judge McFadden was originally appointed an associate justice of Ore- gon, and as such held one term of court-just referred to. Here he seems to have come in conflict in some way with Judge Deady, which caused him to be looked upon with coldness and
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popular disfavor. He was, as we see, transferred to a new field of labor. None can question his ability or soundness in his judicial capacity. His circuit covered six counties. He became Chief Justice by confirmation of the Senate, June 18th, 1858, William Strong and Edmund C. Fitzhugh being his associates.
Of our list of notables Collector Isaac N. Ebey alone remains. He was a lawyer by profession, and for years a prominent citizen of the sound country. It was he who so largely assisted in the recognition of the Territory, by having, while a member of the Oregon Legislature, drafted and secured the passage of the memo- rial to Congress praying for its separation. He was ever jealous and active in the interests of the new Territory, in whose service he faithfully filled many offices of honor and trust. He took the tract opposite the bar at Port Townsend, still known as Ebey's Landing. His tragic fate, as narrated by Evans, is told as follows : "He was perfidiously and cruelly murdered on August 12th" (the year given by Evans-1857-is evidently a misprint) "by a band of Russian Indians called Kakes or Kikans, who inhabited the northwestern side of Kufrinoff Island, near the head of Prince Frederick's Sound. They severed his head from his body and carried it to their northern home as a trophy of their murderous malice. It was subsequently recov- ered through the intervention of the British authorities. The band who committed this nefarious deed was led by a brother of an Indian who had lost his life in the spring of that year at Port Gamble, when the United States steamer Massachusetts dislodged the hostile Northern Indians then camped there and compelled them to leave the sound."
The particulars of his murder and the recovery of his severed head are thus related, the latter nearly bringing about a battle with the Indians who retained it. Some stern retaliation should certainly have been exacted for this unprovoked crime and the murderers given up ; but in those days such horrors ceased to attract attention, or were soon forgotten from the frequency of their occurrence.
" On August 11th (1857) an event took place on Whidby Island which caused the greatest consternation through the Ter- ritory and threw the whole lower sound country into a state of the greatest alarm and indignation. That night, or toward morning, Colonel Isaac N. Ebey was cruelly murdered at his
Eng ª by F G Kernan, NY.
WW Wwwwheller
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own house by a band of Northern Indians and his head severed from the body and carried away. The perpetrators of this brutal outrage were a band of Kake Indians. They made a descent upon Whidby Island, and are supposed to have numbered about two hundred. During the day they had called at the house of Colonel Ebey and been kindly received. When midnight came, they again went to the house, called him out, shot him, and cut his head off, and made their escape, carrying it away. George W. Corliss, the United States Marshal, and his wife were visiting at the Colonel's ; they and the Colonel's family managed to es- cape while the Indians were parleying outside of the house, but both Mr. Corliss and his wife were subsequently murdered on the island by the same band and for the same revengeful mo- tive."
The attempt to locate and recover the head of the murdered Colonel was for a long time unsuccessful. During the fall trip, however, of the Hudson's Bay Company's steamer Beaver, they visited a village of this tribe-the Kakes-and discovered they were in possession of the head. Chief Trader Dodd, who was on board, sent word to the chiefs of the village that he wished to purchase it. Almost immediately three or four canoes filled with armed men came alongside of the Beaver, and some eight or ten had boarded the ship before their warlike appearance and conduct had been observed. The crew of the Beaver were beat to quar- ters, the guns run out, and the ship prepared for action. In- quiry was made as to the cause of this hostile attempt. The Indians replied that they supposed that the demand for the head was to be enforced by an attack upon their village if not com- plied with. Being informed that such was not intended, quiet was restored ; the Indians became peaceable, but still declined on any terms to surrender their ghastly trophy. A year later it was, however, secured by Trader Dodd, who presented it to Alonzo M. Poe, who delivered it to Colonel Ebey's rela- tives. The act was entirely unprovoked. Colonel Ebey had invariably treated the Indians with kindness. It was, as before suggested, a savage revenge-the execution of their deferred threat of vengeance for their defeat by our steamer at Port Gamble.
A general summing up of the records, both private and offi- cial, of Mr. Pierce's territorial appointees seems to prove that he
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made a wise selection. They appear to have been for the most part faithful, energetic, and even brilliant men, the influence of whose conduct and character had no little effect in moulding that of the people whom they were called to govern.
CHAPTER XXIV.
INAUGURATION OF THE TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT.
" Come from your pine-shaded cabins, From the anvil, the mill, and the plough ; From felling of trees in the forest, You are needed as law-makers now. To sit in the governor's council, Or represent old pioneers ; To lay with wise thought firm foundation, And plan for the incoming years."
-BREWERTON.
THE greatest need, and in those far off days of Washington's territorial history almost a forlorn hope, for future progress and settlement was direct and more rapid communication with the States east of the mountains. The journey by sea was long, tedious, and expensive, and the traveller seldom got beyond California or Lower Oregon at the best. That by the plains, if less costly, was beset by the still greater dangers of hostile Indians and assured privations. Either way, the settler whose objective point was Puget Sound must have had strong inducements to make the attempt. It is not to be wondered at, then, that the delay in the arrival of their new Governor, and the consequent postponement in the territorial organization, created no grum- bling among its inhabitants, for the reason was well known to be Governor Stevens' mission, by the way. He had been directed by Jefferson Davis, then Secretary of War, to explore the country as he passed on to his new field of labor, the object being to find a way for a Northern Pacific railroad from some eligible point on the headwaters of the Mississippi-preferably St. Paul-to the waters of Puget Sound. This work involved the examination of the passes of the Rocky, Bitter Root, and Cascade ranges of mountains, with reports upon all matters which might seem auxiliary, and thoroughly acquaint its pro- jectors not only with the natural difficulties to be overcome, but the best means of avoiding or obviating them. In this con-
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nection the attitude of the Indian tribes toward the proposed enterprise was also to be ascertained.
With so large a work to be accomplished, and a limited time for its performance, the officers of the party were selected with great care, involving names destined to acquire in the coming years a more than national celebrity. The expedition was divid- ed into two parties-the Eastern and Western divisions-the former to operate westward, its base being the Upper Mississippi. This, the main party, was under the personal supervision of Governor Stevens. Captain, afterward the distinguished com- mander of the Army of the Potomac, General George B. McClel- lan had the direction of the Western party. His orders from the War Department were as follows : "A second party will proceed at once to Puget Sound and explore the passes of the Cascade range, meeting the Eastern party between that range and the Rocky Mountains, as may be arranged by Governor Ste- vens. Captain Mcclellan's party left New York in May, and reached Fort Vancouver via Panama. Here he was joined by Lieutenant Mowry, of the army, as meteorologist, and George Gibbs, who brought his distinguished talents to assist as inter- preter, geologist, and ethnologist of this division. To Captain McClellan, under general supervision of the Governor, was also committed the opening of the military road from Fort Steila- coom to Fort 'Walla Walla. Captain McClellan, whose duties only permitted him to make a superficial reconnoissance, in- trusted this work to Edward I. Allen, the engineer of the emi- grant road built by the citizens. Lieutenant-afterward Major- General-Rufus Saxton acted as their quartermaster and com- missary, which necessitated the establishment of a depot in the Bitter Root valley ; this involved the formation of a third party, whose starting point was Fort Vancouver, and whose field of operations was confined to the west of the Rocky Mountains, under orders to examine a route to Bitter Root valley, now in Western Montana.
Before taking the field, Governor Stevens sent an officer to interview the Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company to ar- range for obtaining supplies from their trading posts, secure guides and hunters, and such other information as might assist the objects of his survey. Want of space forbids the narration of the operations of this expedition, most wisely planned and
Eng ª by F. G. Kernon, N.Y
R. H. Esper
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energetically carried out by the Governor and his able assistants. After various changes of programme the two divisions met at Fort Colville on October 28th, when, in the words of the histo- rian Evans, " they commemorated the happy result of their joint labors by naming the place Camp Washington." Cold weather coming on, the expedition wisely went into winter quar- ters, the engineers devoting themselves to the office work of pre- paring the maps, reports, etc., of their explorations on the field, Stevens, Mcclellan, and Lander, all eminent topographers, being harmonious in their consultations.
Governor Stevens having determined to make Olympia the seat of government, arrived there, and issued, November 28th, 1853, the proclamation required by the Organic Act. It designat- ed Monday, January 30th, 1854, as the day for holding the first election for members of the Council and House of Representa- tives and for the first delegate from the Territory to the House of Representatives of the United States. The districts were de- fined and the proper apportionment made, and the three judicial districts allotted as follows : The first comprised Clark and Pacific counties ; the second, Lewis and Thurston, and the third, Pierce, King, Island, and Jefferson ; it also designated the places and times for holding the courts and the date of the meeting of the Legislature, which was to convene at Olympia on February 27th, 1854. This, the first opportunity to show their strength and enter into conflict at the polls, naturally aroused the voters of the Territory-then divided into Whigs and Democrats -- who called party conventions to put in nomination the men of their choice accordingly, the Democrats meeting at Cowlitz Landing, where they named Columbia Lancaster as their nominee, whose patriotic name may have been regarded as an omen of success. This gentleman had already figured in Oregon politics, particu- larly in connection with what was known at the time as the " One Horse Council." The Whigs met at Olympia, and selected as their standard-bearer Colonel William H. Wallace, a promi- nent lawyer and orator, who had acceptably filled positions of trust in Iowa before emigrating to Washington, which he did in 1853. The result was the election of Judge Lancaster by a vote of 698 to 500 for his opponent. The Democrats also carried both branches of the Legislature by small majorities. We may well imagine what a pleasurable fillip this battle of the ballots must
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have given to the old war horses of politics who had taken up their abode in this new country, where every little breeze of ex- citement was a relief from the calm that isolation necessarily engenders. The Legislature met upon its appointed day. The Council organized by the appointment of George N. McConaha (whose sorrowful ending, so soon to take place, we have else- where described), of King county, as President ; Francis A. Chenoweth, of Clark, was selected as Speaker of the House. On February 28th the Governor delivered his message in person to the new-made law-givers assembled in joint convention of both Houses. Governor Stevens' inaugural was an able document, replete with wise suggestions, which were fully appreciated and responded to by the Legislature in its after action. The in- formation gained on his journey, the fruit of personal experi- ence and exploration, gave weight and value to utterances whose common-sense the hardy pioneers who listened to them were eminently fitted to appreciate and understand. Among other matters, he urged that Congress should be requested to extend to the new Territory all the assistance usually accorded to our outlying and more feeble possessions. The mail service, extin- guishment by treaty of the Indian title to lands, the public domain and the need of its accurate survey, and especially the building of roads to facilitate travel throughout the Territory, were all practically and thoughtfully discussed. His plan for government roads included one extending westward from the falls or head of navigation of the Missouri to connect with the road from the crossing of the Columbia at Fort Walla Walla to Fort Steilacoom ; yet another was to continue down the Co- lumbia to Fort Vancouver, then known as Columbia City, thence to the head of the sound, and so northward, on the east side of the sound, to Bellingham Bay. The creation of the office of Sur- veyor-General, with liberal aid for surveys by the general Gov- ernment ; the amendment of the Donation Law, so as to author- ize commutation after a continuous occupation of one year by either paying the minimum value of the land or making im- provements equal to said value, giving the right to acquire or commute but once, and placing single on the same footing with married women, were also included in its suggestions. The necessity of congressional appropriations looking to the continu- ance of the surveys, to assure the incoming of the Northern
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