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About La Grande evening observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1904-1959 | View Entire Issue (March 9, 1925)
Monday, March 9, 1923, 'FAGS SIX ' THE GRANDE EVENTW3 OITSEIIVEj? Adventures of Black Sam, Oregon "Bull Puncher' This Story of Historical Interest to Eastern Oregon, An Installment to Be Printed Weekly by The Evening Observer, Is Told by Sam Ayotte to Jack Hunter of The Park. (POritTIt INSTALMENT) ' Wt'll. sir, ovt-ry one of us be lieved ttiut tin four bucks were nn envoy from the rid warriors JirfitKitiK nn ultinuHum nYniiimlf nj cither fittlil or surrender. In either f-HHe death Heemed to stare us In the fnre 'To augment our frlRlil. jut ilten, iinoHier hundred of yellintr devils wi're coinlmc on I he trail from Die went. Merc we were be tween Iwo bands of neemliiRly iiiniKry 8c;ilM rsl 'To our nurprlse llifn last )uneh pasif, on lupine towards the wie w.'im t'lieunipineiit. "Wllh th band llir- four Imekn Hhaded their yes from the bright jiiornliiK: un Jul lining over the Wull -low-how mountain, extend ing (he othep hniid pointing across (he ix'iiiifll'ul Crande Jtoihh- lnsln.' "Kirst 1 sii w a cloud of dust. Th'-n Mm- hirgeal hand of e)i I e"T wiw eanic In wight. There must have hern nil of a Ihnusaiul Hit in Hut l and. Tht-y eame on n trol and wIm-ii tin- had was not over bail- a mile from us, I hey Mopped and looKi-d at us for about n minute, I lien ( hey seat lered tiboui lilte sleep feeding on the KOO( Rrnsa growing t h Hit-1 Mini lull, AUTO CHAMOIS AND SPONGES' 'v Fon SPRING CLEANING GET Til EM NOW! THE L & L DRUG CO. Candy Headquarters What9s The Buy a La Grande National Bank Duilcling "I always thought that Orunde ; Hondo basin was the prettlent spot on the trail between i'ullfornlu ! nul .Montana. And that morning looking from this warm water lakft i over miles of green wild fields, j dotted with nionarehs of the Hoek- 1 les th elk lienring I n-nx mloilHly j large nnt Icrs extending my view i to the ridges and pea Km of the Woll-low-how iiiounininH Hpottrd i white witli granite 1 (ei you, t hat the seene was a wonderful one, and for a few minutes l fan cied what ben ut I ful hones rould he madejiere. Mow happy I would he to see my ful her. mot tier, brothers and sister all settled right here. And Lizzie and 1 would bo Mm king and itieeit of our 'lo rn ntn. "Hut here I was. perhaps In a few hours, I would be no more; for I was certain those Indians meant business. "1 was wakened from my rev eries by old Jim Carroll who whis pered' low ami said ; " Hoys, let us shoot the four red men- and run. We can reach old Villi let's camp hehire I hey ealeh us. That's one ehane. fur our lives. "In a moment I sized up the situation. ' 'Yes, I returned, there Is one eliaiicn to bring the whole shee linnjf on that liltle settlement nnd imist'iiere the women and children. 1 am unl say big l hat J am not , scared, bul,. i thick Ham has never run yel, or put the lives of oihers I In danger trying to save his own , hide. am not a- goody sugar 'plum kind but I believe In Mod and Providence. And I believe that If we are to die this way, it lis IMh will. And right now I am : Inclined to think that no serious thing will happen. Why was it that the other Indians just passed by and did not surround us? i ''Why, Carroll's plan was foolish. Old Van I'elt's ramp 1 Imagine was where Island City Is now. There was three or four fnniilles there. And I didn't want them killed. I turned to Die four bucks still watching the elk. I reealed 'my 'charm and 'countersign.' 'They laughed and the elder man came forward extending his arm. spoko In Jndian: ! " 'Appomatox shee-shin cuuiHtock 'koe-o-mny?' I (I'uderstand we are your Mends I near. Are you?) I '"'hey all came In our circle and shook hands with us. The lold fellow WIN Chief Alelya with i;niiiHl.wiw.lmil mi iinn 1 "" etween Buying And $10,000 Pure What is the difference between buying nn endowment policy for $10,01)0 and buying ordinary term insurance for $10,000 (pure protection) with (lie difference in premiums invested sep arately at To interest compounded semi-annually? A $10,000 endowment policv at age 25, for example, cosls $ll.-.80 per year for twenty years or n total of $.X,:n.00. A term insurance policy for $10,000 for twenty years costs $91.20 a year, or a total of $1,821.00 for the entire period. The saving made annually, or the difference between the cost of pure protection and the endowment policy, is $.'2l.(il) per year. And this difference between the two premiums, if invested at 1','n interest compounded semi-annually, amounts to $1 l,2;i(.)."i at the end of twenty years. At the ends of fifteen years, it would amount to $8,728.50. In other words, if you buy $10,000 pure protection at $91.20 instead of an endowment policy and invest the difference sep Life Insurance for Protection Only Keep Your Investments Separate and At Home I Will Analyze Your Policy FREE OF CHARGE bring your agent FLOYD ! Appushwu-hite; Timothy and Koos ! koos-tas-cut. They had come to j buy some tobacco. ! "I hurried and ftave them a ! ten pound caddy of Canadian plug i Ulaek Jack chewing. They gave ! me twenty dollars, which I re ; fused, hut they Insisted upon me i to take It. I was near certain that i all dangers were passed, hut I fef ! that there might be treachery, al though Indians, had never played false with me before, j "Alelya looked at our sick bulls. Ho spoke to the younger man who . loped back to their camp. The chief told me that this was their hind from the I .a loose country to the great Woll-low-how. and that wf could stay i;rr. s !iig a va wanted. Then the ot her fellow came back bringing a buffalo skin sack half full of bark juice of some kind. Two of them mixed some with water and gave each bull a drink. Aleiya told me 'Mull all right maybe three days.' That arternoon every one of them was feeding wllh the elk, Our entire outfit of hulls were cured. "Then Aleiya Invited us to their encampments. We went and we witnessed one of the grandest In dian feasts I ever seen or heard of, They had congregated fieri; to cele. brate the weddings of fuitr couples who had taken the advantage of a priest whom they named Father Kraneols. passing hern on his way to the coast. Ho II proved that Jn si end of war paints, they were decorated In a general pow-wow In which they revch-d In all their historical dances for enjoyment. "There I nte all the food that the Indiana eat. Some was fine, while ot hers wre nlmply Impos sible for a white man. Meat of all description dried and smoked, hrolp-d and roasted, and there was row meat T lasted everything they had. And dnticed to the tom-toms we all Joined In and made mer ry. (Mere H:i in danced around 1he room with a "Kl-yi Kl-veo Mtng.) "The next day we -.trough I for presents to the young married cou ples, a keg of syrup and a suck of corn meal. They skeined to ap preciate Hie Mill. An old. old jSMUitw gave us her benediction and presented us with a large bead each for a tallHimin to carry In our pocket. "That aflernoon ,. man came riding In our camp. Me eame right to me and Raid In the French brogue: "'Was your iinniin wan Sam Mayotte?' ' 'J answered, yes, my name Is Ram Ayotte. '' 'Ma nam m Is Ham Mayotte, too. An' I got otie letturr she say I I got n girl In Xu Yark. .Me got girl in ole CJuehcc, I no un'stand (Int. " 'Speak 1'nlted States, or else speak French. I can understand both, but I'll be if I can un derstand what you're saying." T lold him; and after that lie npoko French. "He was working for Asa Old nmn who, I tint pretty sure discov ered what Is known as the Stur (1M Mar Mine at the mouth of Pine III WIWHIiB P III II IWHWIFHI IS.-S.fc .--A, jiVl- fflit creek or near Itobinette now. He also was prospecting around what Is known as Virtue Flat. Anyway, this ma n .M ajot t had rweived my letter and my friend Oldman had sent hlui after me clean fru.ni the Snake river and back. Just to! hand me a letter, Hut them days ai letter was tuosr valuable. It j was a letter from home ami I1. zc. j "It told me that my mother had died the year before. And l.lzle ) was taking cure of the children until 1 would return. She begged I of me to go home at mice for my father was old and fe, ble and ! might be taken away any day now I uiui tun companion was gone, i nai I irnve ft(i I he till!''" n J ! I h:l to postpone our departure for two days. "At flint I decided to sell out jslderallon, I had set out a goal to achieve, I wanted not -less than iHi.lMi(i to start a home for Mizzle and I, and all 1 had would not come to more than ?4(MiO. So . J decided to stay unother year. "That fall I was heading west again to warmer climate. A car avan or 2 ft wa go n s drawn wllh mules and oxen Joined me and we made camp one night at the, forks of i'owdcr river. "We turned our stock loose to graze. T had a bull that I called 'Tom' who was rather frisky and I turned him and his matt; yoked together. About an hour itfn-r- i wards, we heard the two bulls jhawling and crashing through the brush. Shey soon appear-,) com ing right for camp. Hanging to Tours iM-ck was a mountain lion. jAI once I haw what the matter was. Th' lion was caught in some way In the how over the neck. This was about the most exciting thing for a Utile while I have ever wit nessed, ' Women and children sei-eamed and hid themselves; even some or the men were seared. Mat some oT us hud to help the poor' bulls, So I look my goad silek ' and mnntiged '.Hp' the off bull to stand still and hold Tommy. And the captain of the immigrant', Daniel Flak killed with a unle jaxe. "You see, the lion had Jumped ot) Tom's neck and had inserted one paw between thn thick part of the neck and the bow. .lie then had taken a strong hold with his claws through the thick hide and around the bic cord of the J bull's neck. Then it seemed as if the fool didn't know enough to i release his grip. If he had done so he would have been free at once. Mut he hung on and It was an Impossibility for It to get loose. And we couhbri very well shoot it. for fear of killing the ox too. So Fisk who was afraid of nothing, used the axe on him. lUti, let me tell you that was some mountain lion experience that I will never forget. "This was the fall of UftO, and Mrs. Fisk had a book called Fuel Tom's ( 'ahln. A school mnrm by the name of Henrietta Spauldlng. was with the party. She claimed to ,fii l'iiifjill,lfl A $10,000 Protection With Separate Investment? be a niece of H. H. Spauldlng. the mlsHlonsry. Anyway she read that book some every evening we camp ed until we reached Mutter creek on the t'matillu. They stopped there and I proceeded on. "Well, sir, that book told me a lot about this slave business. And 1 decided right there If ever there was a war like Dan Flk said there was going to be. I would go as fast as I could. "In the spring of 1810 I came In company wli h four oi forty niners who were going east after their folks to come 'hack and set tle somewhere in Oregon. They were looking over the country as they went to local a suitable piuce. "They were fine old fellows and had plenty of money. Their names were Con ley, Ncwtln, Hanson and Van Order. Newlin told me that he was the brother of tho Newlin who brought the first wagon . to the Columbia river In 1840. I al ways heard before that Marcus Whitman had crossed t he first wagon over t he Mine mountains. Mut this man Newlin told mo t hut Whitman had left his wagon at Fort Molse. "I had goo'J company tint il T reached Payette. There they went on to Fort Hall, where they in tended to catch the stage, couch. "I'll never forget them old fel lows, for I learned more about the com! It ions of the country from them Mian I ever did before, old Con ley was a Tenne.'ieean ami New lin, I believe, was from Illinois and Van Order was from Pennsyl vania; I lansoii. I dmi'l re member where he came from. However, ( 'on ley imd Hanson were si rong for slavery, while Nwlln and Van nrder were great Uncolii fellows. They would come near fight lug so met lines, bnt like true old pio neers always ended the nrgurncnt In a friendly way. "I wouldn't .say nnythlng, but I was body and soul wllh Lincoln. And these four men were sure that war was inevitable. I was sure also that If It happened 1 would go and fight for the union. "These old fellows had brought tn tiny presents for folks, friends nnd relations they had along the fond. A mong many things, four pigs, two dozen chickens and eight sheep. Mesldeg they had 12 horses and eight mules. And potatoes, wheat, oats and different garden seeds. Sugar, coffee and molasses and cheese with other kinds of food. They also had a supply of tobacco and whiskey. All was dis tributed along the route mostly from Ui Grande to the Snake river. "( ld Ia Grande was sprouting up prett y fast tn 1 Ktiti, and there IhV eight sheep were unloaded nnd given to two families. The first sheep to come In tno country. They were Merinos and In fine condi tion. Four of them were present ed to Mrs. Jack Sheppard by Jesse Conley. I never saw kids so tick led as I watched them and helped them a little, while playing with the sheep that were regular pets. The ot her font were given to a Dif arately, at the end of twenty years you have a cash investment amounting to $1 1.2MG.95 PLUS your $10,000 insurance pro tection. If you die at the end of twenty years and have the endow ment policy you get only the $10,000 insurance. If you buy protection only and invest separately and die at the end of twenty years, your estate gets the $10,000 insurance and ALSO gets the $11,2.56.95 cash investment IN ADDITION. Or if you die at any other time, your estate gets I50TII insurance and investment. FURTHERMORE if you need money badly at any time during the twenty years, you have your cash investment, to use, yet you retain the full amount of your insurance protection at only $91.20 per year. You don't have to borrow your own money in an emergency nnd pay O'o for il and reduce your insurance estate at the same time. MclEN family by the name of Anthony. "It was on this trip, I believe, that I eame closer to dying, by bei ing scalped alive. We made camp on Burnt river, near a small set tlement where Durkee Is. I be lieve they called It Durkee then. Newlin broke a small looking glass after supper. He at once-said that someone in the bunch would have 'some misfortune. I laughed at him. T never was superstitious. There I was an old fellow, a trapper by jthe name of Valdez, camped Just ta little ways down the river. I j wanted to see him for a friendly chat. So a young Swede who whs j helping Newlin withj his horses tcunie with me. We reached the jcamp j;i:;t afi.T sur.aet. Along about la o'clock I Suggested of go jing back. Valdez insisted to talk jsonie more and that we could stay Iwilh him all night going back early morning In the daylight. So 1 stayed for a while, but somehow I was determined to go back to our camp that night, I had to get up so early in the morning tend ing my bulls. Peterson decided to stay with old Valdez. I came back to cump and went to bed. "The next mornine Peterson didn't show up. We wondered i why. So we started and routing to I tho, trait leading to Valdez, we sioppeu ana went to ine camp io inquire about Peterson. We found hot h of them dead on I he floor with their heads skinned from ilm top clean to the neck! "They had been scalped in bed as we could see and died in tr t lire rolling off on the floor. "Young Peterson had about $2o and thiil was gone. The old man was supposed to have lots of gold dust. Thi' cabin was ransacked from one end to the other. "A round the cabin there was snnd spots and we .saw two or three tracks of nn exceptionally large moccasin. Van Order measured it with his hands. It was fully three hands across, about 21 Inches long! "This was undoubtedly 1 'Mlg Moccasin' the hall'breed. His real name was Alexis Payette a French Canadian halfhrced and a terror. He was killed later so J have heard since. "Well sir, we passed nnot her day there with painful duties. While w'C burled the two victims Von Order and Conley tracked the bandit for some miles but he was Fixtures House Wiring- ATWATER KENT AND OTHER RADIO SETS We Install Radios Free Benham Electric Co. MAIN 104 f e Endowment going straight for the mountains. "Now was Newlin rtght about his looking glass prophet y? And how was it thai I didn't stay there that night? "Well, sir. at J'ayelte the four old fellows had done away with most of their heavy freight and needed me no longer. A fellow by the name of Alec Spencer hired me to take his whole outfit to the Grande Monde near the Cove. Spencer was about 45 and a hard looker. They told me he was a tighter, too, a sort of bully. He didn't have a very good reputation around there. They said that he had raised a patch of corn and had stolen some more making it a!! in corn j:::cr to -!! .o In dians. Anyv.ay I took him. for he paid me a (rood price. He had sent his wife and kids ahead with horses and he and a young fellow named Staples came along with out I'll . " He hud about lil ty gal lons of home spun whiskey. He had horses, two pigs and a goat. 1 About forty odd chickens in a I large coop and a lot of old traps which loaded my wagon to the I limit. "Between Dead man's Pass and Kmmlgrant's spring one of my wagons broke down. Wo had to stop for repairs. There were wight other fellows all coming to Inves tigate Grande Monde for locations. ! "Along Itt the evening an old In dian and his so, ua w with a grand j daughter halfbreed came to our 'ramp, lb- showed me papers t'll- ing that he was a pt aceful ond old Indian named Ip-iint-ain-moosc askilig to be lr!ited with emirt-sv. The papers were siiitd by W. It. Tap pan. agent; and William Craig, iuti-rpp-tcr, if out Fort SI ns tn I the l.apw.ii valley. (Walla Walla. Wash.) ' "He asked ine if he could camp near us. I told him, ' "ertainly. The granddaughter's mniie was Susie Mine Mi id. She was about eighteen and as pretty a girl as I anyone warned to see. "I lo-nrd Spencer pass remarks nhont hi r that I didn't like a little bil. A nd after supper I and Spencer with his hired man Staples went to see the Indians. Spencer brought a bottle along and offered them a drink. Mut the old fellow refused. saying that he was a good Christian and didn't drink. "The old Indians who could spe:ik (rood French and quite a KEW FOLEY BLOCS. rolicv Phone Main 250 talker told me a new story about the Whitman massacre. He Bald that not long after Whitman had come among them In is:i, about ii(i Indians had died from a iiueer disease. So they had named the Doctor Whil man. 'Pa-yu-wet .ji..bnii.yf ..n.i thev were sure that his medicine, was doing the j killing. Then a halfbreed from the iKast named Mewis had told them !he had heard Doctor Whitman say I that this was the easiest way to i kill them off to get their land. S- thev oectiueu io ici ju ih m for" themselves. They save some tof it to three Indiana. Two of 1 1 hem were sick ami one was -in perfect health. And the three of 'Cum ilifd ?'-Ortl' rter. Ho they ! decided to kill the whole outfit. ! Thev went over there and asked . Ifor "medicines. While the doctor I was wailing on one of them, an other with a tomahawk hid under 'his blanket hit him over the bend. Then they killed mrs. w annum and eight, other American whiio men. He said that the whole bunch .Catholics -and Protestants were all for killing him and Spauldlng. While he was telling me his stories I policed that Spencer ,1111(1 Staples were drinking1 freely of that corn juice'. And I also seen Spencer trying several times Io caress Susie. She finally went to bed further away from him. Wh'-ii (Continued on page 7) BRONCHITIS Ai bedtime rub the throat and cheat thoroughly with Va po Rub Ot-r 17 MillivnJur UmwJ frarjp AVE SPECIALIZE. 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