Page:History of Oregon volume 1.djvu/260

Rh The petition was signed by about sixty-five persons, half of them not having been more than six months in the country. The signers knew little of the underhand war waged on McLoughlin by the missionaries and those whom they controlled in the Willamette Valley; they affixed their names without caring to know the tenor of the document, and because they were asked to do so.

While neither Jason Lee nor Abernethy signed the petition, for which they were ashamed to become responsible, nevertheless their influence was felt. Shortess, having secured signers enough to present a respectable showing, made a forced voyage to overtake William C. Sutton, then on his way to the States. He came up with him at the Cascades, and delivered to him that absurd document which afterward figured in the reports of congress as the voice of the people, to the great annoyance of McLoughlin. The doctor