Indian Fight Proves Durability Of Ex -County Clerk
Man Lives Although Impaled
By Arrows, Knife Shredded
i
By PAUL JENKINS , thought Ihey had headed the Co-
One of the most amazing White quille and had found the Coos Riv
Man vs. Indian encounters I haveler- Too bad for them they hadn't,
ever read of or heard was par-1 A' this point the party discovered
licipaled in bv two well - known 1 sme Indians traveling in canoes
citizens of Douglas County about j and- after a bartering period which
midway in the past century, 1851 'cost them practically all their poor
to be exact. 1 possessions except their firearms,
Locale of this storv is the i secured the services of these ln
coast country from the mouth ofdians to transport them by canoe
the Rogue River to that of the 1 the coast, which the Indians did.
limpqua, while the men I allude i However, the Indians with con
to were L. L. Williams and sidjrable guile did something
Cyrus Hedden. Both, at this time,
found themselves at Port Orford,
where Hedden had arrived by sen
iust a few months hpfnrp with a
colonization party organized by "i leu i-on urtora, tne 10 men
wiiu ineir inuian escort arnvea ul
a point about two miles above the
river's mouth, opposite and above
where Bandon stands today. Here
was a large Indian encampment.
The Indians, hailing the travelers
in friendly fashion and seductively
waving food, in the form of veni
son quarters and slabs of fresh
salmon, motioned to them to beach
the canoes.
Canoes Beached
Four of the men, Williams, Hed
den and two others, were dead set
Inasmuch as Dracticallv nolhinc i against doing this. They wanted to
was known about the intervening ; cross to the other shore and avoid
country, a group of 23 men under j the encampment: but the decision
the direction of W. G. T'Vault was of T'Vault and the other five men,
organized as an exploring expedi- influenced probably by their desire
tion to discover the most feasible to secure the food so temptingly
route. Williams and Hedden were ! ottered, prevailed and the canoes
more they sent a runner ahead
to inform the down-river tribes of
their coming. On the 14th of Sep
tember, just a month after they
Capt. William Tichenor in Port
land.
Had Big Dreams
Even during its infancy Port Or
ford had dreams of becoming an
important trading center. In order
to realize these to the fullest ex
tent, it needed to establish trans
portation facilities extending to the
already well-populated mining com
munities in Southern Oregon and
Northern California, the facility it
had in mind being a pack animal
trail
members of this group.
Leaving Port Orford the middle
of August, the party proceeded
south to the Rogue, deciding there
to continue upstream along the
north bank. All were afoot, using
a few horses as pack animals onlv.
The going became exceedingly
were beached
No sooner had this been done
than the Indians, casting aside their
pretenses of friendship and with
blood-curdling yells, fell upon the
white men with war clubs, knives
and a hail of arrows.
In the wild melee which followed.
rugged (it is considered today to J Williams found himself alone in the
be one of the roughest areas in miosi oi a press oi inaians ne esu
the United States) and provisions mated to number over 100. His rifle
soon ran out. Onlv a meager 10- was seized, muzzle and stock and,
davs supply had been taken along! endeavoring with all his might to
It became necessary to depend j retain possession of it, he surged
entirely on wild game" for food, and forward and round and round as
game was scarce. Not onlv that, (best he could, always struck at
but two men in the group, Williams from every side by the eneom
and one other, were experienced 1 passing horde, until the gun sud
woodsmen. ! denly discharged into the ground.
Decide To Return I The Indians, momentarily dis-
The Dartv had Droceeded about I concerted, stepped back a pace.
30 miles up the Rogue when, faced i loosing their holds and Williams
by a starvation diet and already
so exhausted the men scarcely
could travel, objective of the exper
dition was abandoned and the de
cision made to turn back. Thir
teen men eleeted to retrace their
steps while the remaining 10, in
cluding the leader. T'Vault, decided
to turn north and try to make their
way to the "Umpqua" settlements
which they had heard were some
where in that direction.
After long days of tortuous and
difficult travel, weary and starved,
they arrived on the banks of the
Coquille, near where Norway is
located today. However, they
'THOROUGH CLEAN"
WALL-TO-WALL RUG
CLEANING SERVICE
Call - J. E. NEWBERRY
OR 3-3591
began swinging his recovered piece
as a ciuo.
Soon the stock was smashed to
bits, but the three-foot barrel be
came a deadly weapon. Pushing
forward, whirling after each blow
and each step in an impossible ef
fort to face and strike in each di
rection at once, he gradually gain
ed distance up the sloping bank
from the river.
Strength Fails
His strength began to fail, and
he gave up hope of living. The In
dians were so many about him that
he no sooner struck one down than
another hideous face appeared in
Hie dead man's place. He was be
ing severely beaten all this time by
clubs and cut by knives and once
he was struck to the ground by the
blow of a club. But regaining his
feet before the savages could pin
ion him, he continued the pitifully
unequal struggle.
Suddenly in the swirl of battle,
and on the side of the throng away
from the river, the ranks of the
encircling Indians in front of Wil
liams momentarily thinned. Sum
moning his waning strength into a
super-human effort galvanized by
desperation, he quickly darted
through the opening and, seeing a
dense growth of trees in the dis
tance, ran madly toward it.
About 25 Indians followed in in
stant pursuit, the remaining
throng milling around near the
shore where, apparently, other
members of the whites still were
fighting. A whining flight of ar
rows was launched at the fleeing
man. followed by another. Sudden
ly all the Indians but two veered
away, attracted to a white man
seen crawling away through the
grass. These two Indians speeded
after Williams, one at each side
of him and some 15 feet distant,
reaching and firing arrows as they
ran. One carried a gun as well in
his bow hand, which evidently nc
had secured from one of Williams'
fallen companions.
Gun Misfires
Williams stumbled on the uneven
ground and before he could rise the : w
t.i:- ...:tu u l: voil
inuian wiiu uic gun ran iu nun
and, placing the muzzle against his
breast, pulled the trigger. The gun
misfired and instantly Williams
struck him down. The second In
dian, seeing Williams' fall, also had
rushed in. Grasping the first In
dian's gun, Williams hastily thrust
it against the Indian's heart and
in his turn pulled the trigger and
this time the charge fired. Leap
ing forward wildly once again, Wil
liams made the line of brush and
trees and, glancing behind him,
saw no signs of further pursuit.
(The Indians were busy with the
other white men, six of whom they
killed and mutilated. Only two.
T'Vault and one other, escaped
early in the fight, in a canoe. And,
of course, Hedden. whom 1 am
about to bring into the story).
Williams was in sorry plight. He
could stand only with difficulty.
One arrow had entered his body,
from his back, passed through his
stomach and lodged there; this ho
pulled at until the shaft broke free,
his body retaining the arrowhead
and a remaining piece of the shaft;
another arrow had struck a rib,
breaking it and tearing a ghastly
gash in his side; a third had open
ed his scalp to the bone; a fourth
dangled through a hand, a fifth was
driven through a shoulder while
each arm was transfixed. His body,
from crown to feet, was a bloodied
mass of flesh pounded almost to
a pulp, with a criss-cross of slash
ing knife wounds.
I V . ' V 1
' j I ;: l
electrified to hear a voice calling
softly to him, "Williams, Williams!
Are you there?" It was that of Cy
rus Hedden who, at the initial
attack, had been completely dis
armed but, miraculously, had es
caped the Indians' attention and
had run speedily to the sheltering
timber where, helpless to aid, he
had watched in wonder Williams'
spectacular struggle and eventual
escape
Heddens and others at Scottsburg.
Finally the arrowhead worked Us
way out of his body, followed a
few months later by the remain
ing piece of arrow shaft. He then
rapidly recovered normal health.
Later, Williams twice became
treasurer and twice cleric of Ump
qua County, from which giant po
litical division Douglas now forms
a part. Then, in Roseburg, he
became county clerk of Douglas
The rest of the story, while filled County three times by election and
COWBOY BREAKFAST
CORVALLIS I The Benton
County Sheriff's Posse will serve
a "cowboy breakfast to early
arrivals at the annual Mary's
Peak trek Sunday. The trek is
sponsored by the Shrine clubs of
Benton, Lincoln, Linn and Polk
counties, with proceeds donated
to the Shriners Hospital for Crip
pled Children in Portland. Mary's
Peak is 27 miles west of here.
L. WILLIAMS
. sturdy stock
Heard
Standing there, becoming fright
eningly aware of his condition and
suddenly realizing nis utter alone-
to overflowing with overtones of
Williams' excruciating agony,
sleepless nights, the horror of star
vation warded only by means of a
nauseating diet of snails, is, after
Willaims' heroic battle with the
Indians, anti-climax. After seven
days of crawling torture when Wil
liams was never very far from
death, saved only by the truly Her
culean efforts and devoted care of
Cy Hedden, the two finally reached
the mouth of the Umpqua River, a
white settlement there and receive
ed what medical attention a new
frontier community, sans doctor,
could give them.
Recovers Health
That Williams survived is a mir
acle. He was bed-ridden much of
the time for seven years, cared for
ncss from companionship, he was by friends in Gardiner and by the
twice by appointment. Shrewd in
the handling of his personal affairs
as well as those of the county which
he served, he became a wealthy
man. He died April 22, 1880, at the
age of 50 years. His body lies in the
lOOK cemetery here.
Cvrus Hedden established a
store in Scottsburg after his har
rowing rescue of Williams, as has
been told in a sketch of Scotts
burg appearing in The News-Review,
July 25. His granddaughter,
Kr.ima Hedden, still conducts the
business there which he started.
The material furnishing the
foundation for this story was glean
ed from old newspaper clippings in
her possession, mostly taken from
the Coast Mail, an early day but
long - defunct weekly newspaper
published in Marshfield.
Thuri., Aug. 1, 1957 The News-Review, Roseburg, Ort. 3
Communists Telling People
To Beware American Spies;
Hint- At Internal Strife
By WILLIAM L. RYAN
AP Foreign News Analyst
Throughout the Communist or
bit, people are being told to be
ware of American spies.
Such concerted campaigns often
have foreshadowed internal con
vulsions. This one may mean the
loose ends of the latest Kremlin
a massive vigilance campaign
foreshadowed the purge of police
boss Bcria. In November, 1954, a
campaign began against "loud
mouths," extending through Janu
ary, 1955, a week or two before
Georgi Malcnkov was toppled as
premier. Another such drive pre
ceded the 20th Party congress at
r!TWM?Tfww? sst-
14! I r - i -Jvf
ui-J' Fn mill l umi mil mik iraefl entj iWi k M
LICENSES 3297
SALEM lP The state labor
bureau has licensed 3.297 perons
to work in the electrical trade
started July 1.
That is a slight increase over
a year ago, although 8 per cent
of last year's licensees haven't
applied for renewals yet.
MENTAL HEALTH INTERESTS . got together in Roseburg recently to discuss o possible
mentol health clinic. From left thei are; Dr. John Waterman, director of th mental health
section of the State Department of Health; Mrs. Waterman, psychiatric social work con
sultant for the deportment; Dr. Mary Soules, Douglos County health officer; Murial
Young, mental health nurse consultant for the state department; and Marlen Voder of
Glendale, chairman of the Douglas County Mental Health Advisory Committee.
County Group On Mental
Health To Seek Speakers
purge have not been tucked intolvn'ch Khrushchev denounced Stal
place, and more jolts are due.
The Soviet press and radio lead
the chorus. Soviet propaganda or
gans have been telling the public
regularly that American agents
are trying to get political, eco
nomic and military information
from "talkative people."
In Indochina, the Communists
in North Viet Nam gave big puu
licity to the arrest of a group of
alleged saboteurs in the Ameri
can service.
In Czechoslovakia, several
groups accused of being spies for
the Americans have been arrest
ed with attendant publicity. The
Czechoslovak Communists have a
mobile exhibit supposedly illus
trating the activities and equip
ment of foreign spies.
East Germany has announced
the arrest- and trials of persons
plotting sabotage against the Com
munist regime and of students ac
cused of spying for U.S. intelligence.
Hungary, with a wave of arrests
linked to last fall's revolution,
claims to have uncovered
groups working as agents
Western powers.
Poland has arrested a German
on charges of being an agent 'if
tne U.S. Intelligence Service, seek
ing information on Poland's de
fenses.
Bulgaria has lodged spy charges
coincident wirh a purge in its
armed forces, and Albania fre
quently announced the discovery
of spy nests.
in lied China, a Shantung court
imprisoned a group accused- of
seeking economic, political and
military information for the Uni
ted States. The Red Chinese made
a display of pistols, signal appa
ratus and forged documents.
The Soviet camoaiun, warns of
"agents in the guise of diplo
mats.
Statements like these are sig
nificant. The major ferment inside
the U.S.S.R. is among young peo
ple and intellectuals. No doubt the
Soviet Union is alive with rumors
of what will happen next in the
wake of Khrushchev's purge in
the Kremlin and in view of grow
ing unrest in Communist coun
tries. Similar spy charges preceded
purges in Stalin's day. After Stalin,
in's record.
Holmes Opposes
Re-appointment
Of Kuykendall
SALEM I Gov. Holmes Tue's
day opposed the re-appointment
of Jerome Kuykendall to the Fed
eral Power Commission as "not
in the best interest of all the
people of the Northwest."
In a telegram to Sen. Magnuson
(D-Wash), Gov. Holmes said:
"His past position with respect
to the granting of the fast tax
writeoff to the Idaho Power Co,
plus his bitter opposition to Hells
Canyon in spite of his own exami
ner's report favoring the building
of this multipurpose dam in my
opinion disqualifies him for this
important post.
"In the interest of full compre
hensive development of the Co
lumbia River, I feel that it is not
40 : in the best interest of all the
for j people of the Northwest to have
him in this post.
Kuykendall was re-appointed by
President Eisenhower, and the ap
pointment now is up for Senate
confirmation. Magnuson is chair
man of the Senate Committee on
Interstate and Foreign Commerce.
Magnuson and Oregon's two
senators, Morse and Neubergcr,
oppose the re-appointment.
limA During J7 . -r '
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Free Delivery
By MRS. G. B. FOX
The Douglas County Mental
Health Advisory Committee has de
cided to request health, welfare
and judicial agencies of the county
to furnish panels for discussions
for subsequent meetings to deter
mine what the agencies are doing
in the area of mental health.
The decision was made at the
last meeting of the new advisory
agency after hearing a report from
Dr. John Waterman, Salem, direc
tor of the mental health section of
the Stale Department of Health.
Members voted to request the
panels for the monthly meetings of
the committee so that a program
He estimated the cost of the lat
ter with part-time professional help
ana correlation ot existing agencies
wonld be S12,00u per year.
Dr. Waterman related, howevec.
that some of this cost might be
taken up in budgets of health,
school and welfare agencies. In ad
dition, he said, the state could fur
nish, from federal funds allocated
for that purpose. 50 per cent of
the budget in cash or services for
the first year. The following year,
the federal assistance would drop
to 45 percent. It would continue
to decrease until the sixth year
when the state would furnish a
regular part of the budget amount-
could be better evaluated and plan-! j" i?.Jf,ro.m 17 to 20 per cent of
NARCOTICS CHARGE
PORTLAND 11 Police ar
rested Yce Guy Lee, 46, Portland,
Tuesday and accused him of il
legal possession of narcotics.
Patrolman Noel Eck said 12 bun
dles of heroin valued at $600 were
seized.
Later his wife, Evelyn, 27, was
charged with addiction.
Spy
JwiJyf
its new...
the budget
Participating in the discussion
also were Dr. Waterman's wife,
psychiatric social consultant and
Murial Young, mental health nurse
consultant, both of the stale department.
ned
Discusses Clinics
Waterman discussed mental
health clinic work now being car
ried out in five counties of the
stale where pilot programs were
launched earlier. He emphasized
the need for a mental health guid
ance clinic in Douglas County. He
said the work of such a clinic can
be carried out more economically
in cooperation with health, welfare
and school agencies.
He said correlation of the work
of the agencies can allow an "ef
fective Droeram" without a nro-
hibitive cost. He pointed out that mg fruits for use in commercial
a psychiatric consultant and a psy-1 jams and preserves has been de
chologist from the state depart-1 , , fond (echnoi0(!isls al
ment could be employed for two '
days each month. It was also point-, 0rc,,fon Ma,e College,
ed out that existing agencies in the Tests with sugarless frozen
county could furnish part time help fruit have shown that little or no
which would rhannel youngsters ! sugar is required to preserve
with mental problems. This help strawberries, peaches and chef
could also do the follow-up work rirs frozen for commercial uses,
necessary fur the greatest effect-! I'usal method of parking fruit s
iveness, he said. ; commercially is to mix fruit and
'sugar in the ratio of four pounds
ot berries with one pound of
Sugarless Berry
Preserving Plan
CORVALLIS ii - A new and
more economical method of pack-
Outlinti Functions
Waterman also outlined what he
considered the immediate func
tions of the advisory committee:
(1) To furnish information on work
Doing carried on and (2) to inter-
sugar, freeze the mixture and
then send it to Eastern process
ors. (JSC technologists conduced
the new freezing method would
save packer space by eliminating
pret needs of the communilies toisuuar storage and processors
the professional workers. -could ship more fruit for their
He advised that the clinic not at- money,
tempt the remedial side of child The research also indicated that
guidance because it is presently whole berries, frozen with lit tie
too time consuming and expensive, lor no sugar, hold their shape
He said it should be devoted to pre- better than berries frozen with
ventive guidance. too much sugar.
rs
VST
3th Annuol Oft & Ricketts
TALENT CONTEST
A New High In Stoge
Entertainment Shown in the
Pavillion Nightly
DOUGLAS
its news...
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handy new pack: Mild-Medium-Well Aged
Another first far prize-winning Tillamookl Mild, medium
and wril-agr d ... a half-pound of each family fnvni ito . . .
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CyfMamook mews real cteese 3ed naturally
435
S. E. Jockion ORchard
3-5415
ROSEBURG
AUGUST 22 to 25