THE CHEMAWA AMERICAN
H. E. WADSWORTH, Superintendent
VOLUME 16
APRIL, 1914
NUMBER 7
A SAD BLOT
E A K L Y H IS T O R Y O F O R E G O N
W H IT E S
REYEALS
C R IM E
OF
N the O regonian of March 8, 1914, an article appeared
from the pen of Lillian G ertru d e A pplegate, w hich
is of more th an ordinary interest, and w hich we re
p rin t. Of th e m any th in g s we have read are none
more to u ch in g th an th is, w ith its sim ple and h e a rt
ren d in g straig h tfo rw ard n ess. Below follows the
narrative:
As a child I alw ays found “ tr u e ” stories more in terestin g th an fic
tion, and my taste has not changed in th a t respect w ith th e years.
T here are stories we have heard our elders tell of early days th at
were so im pressive as to be indelibly stam ped upon our m em ories and
as historical events would be in terestin g to the com ing generation of
O regonians.
O ne of the th rillin g stories w hich used to make mv hair stand on end
was of a m u rd er w here the victim s were Indians and the m u rd erers
w hite men.
T h is took place in Douglas C ounty in 1859. I will give the story as
it has been told to me by my uncle, C aptain O. C. A pplegate.
W hile the A pplegates yet lived at the first settlem ent in Polk C ounty
a young K lick itat Indian came to my g ra n d fa th e r’s, L indsay A pple-
gate, and asked for a little food for his fam ily. H e was a good looking
In d ian , in tellig en t and w illing to w ork. H is wife was a young woman
of th e U m pqua tribe, b rig h t, in d u strio u s and handsom e for her race.
Some hard luck had attended them in th eir effort to get ahead am ong
an alien people and they were very poor.
T he resu lt was th at Dick Johnson encam ped near and became a kind
of attache to th e fam ily, not as a parasite, how ever, for Dick was in
dustrious, and his father, a w rinkled old Indian whom they called “ Old
M um m y,” was a w orker, too, and despite his age often made a hand
in the fields.