Page:Centennial History of Oregon 1811-1912, Volume 1.djvu/588



when Lane was done speaking, the Rogue River chief addressed his warriors in a loud voice, in deliberate words with menacing gestures, when instantly every Indian sprang to his feet, raised the war cry and seized their weapons. Klickitat Chief Quatlej' instantly seized the Rogue River chief and held him fast. And Governor Lane ordering his men not to fire, with revolver in hand dashed at the armed Rogue Rivers and knocked their guns and bows out of their hands, com- manding them to sit down again. And as their chief was a prisoner, with Quat- ley's knife at his throat, tliej^ quickly obeyed Lane's order. Lane then com- manded the captive Chief to send his warriors away or they would be shot on the spot, and not to come back for two days, while their big Chief was re- tained in Lane's camp as a prisoner. During the absence of the warriors Lane used evei-y means to impress the chief with the power of the white man, their great numbers, guns, etc., and succeeded in convincing him that it was best to make a treat.y of peace. And when the warriors returned at the end of the two days the chief advised them to accept the terms which the great white Chief of- fered, which they finally agi*eed to. The treaty being concluded. Lane gave the Indians slips of paper announcing the fact, and warning white men to do them no injur}-. These little papers, bearing Lane's signature, became a talisman among all the Indians, who on meeting a white man would hold the paper up, crying out ' ' Jo Lane 1 " "Jo Lane ! ' ' the only English words they knew. This treaty was fairly well kept by both sides for about a j'car. The old Chief and Lane became fast friends, the Chief asking Lane to bestow his name" upon him, saying he had seen no man equal to "Jo Lane."

The governor consented to give him half his name, and thereafter the Indian went b.y the name of "Jo," and in the last treaty with the Rogue Rivers is named "Joseph." The governor also named the chief's wife, calling her Sally. And these two royal heads of the Rogue River nation had a son and daughter which Lane also gave names to, naming the son "Ben" and to the daughter, who is represented bj' Lane to have been ciuite a qvieen in beauty and manners, he gave the gentle name of "Mary." This Mary was an unusual Indian. She never married into the tribe, and when after five years of war the remainder of the tribe was placed on the Siletz Reservation, Mary chose her life among the white people of Rogue river valley, and lived and died with them ; and of her, gowned in the gorgeous dress of beads, silks and lace she had made with her own hands, and in which she was buried, is given a fine photo-engraved picture on another page.

Having now given the opening chapter of the Rogue River wars, let us for a moment compare the leading incident of this chapter with a similar scene in the Cayuse war. When Peter Skene Ogden suuuuoned the Cayuse chiefs before him to give an account of themselves and their station in connection with the Whitman massacre he knew that he had to deal with the whole of the three Caj'use, Nez Perce and Snake tribes. For while the Nez Perces and Snakes had nothing to do with the murders, they were not friendly to Whitman because of the immi- gration of the white men and not disposed to hunt down his murderers. Ogden could not go out and find and arrest the murderers or recover the unfortunate prisoners. If he succeeded in his mission it must be thi'ough the moral and mental forces of his personality. In this he was of course supported by the fact that he represented the all-powerful fur company. But he made the demand