Page:History vs. the Whitman saved Oregon story.djvu/78

72 perfectly well known to Rev. M. Eells. It was in a personal interview with Mr. Evans, when he was gathering materials for his history, that Rev. C. Eells disclaimed all knowledge of any patriotic purpose for Whitman's ride, as follows: "I had seen Mr. Eells" (Rev. Cushing Eells) "in 1865. I endeavored to learn the history of those missionary years; my queries were particularly directed to the two immigrations of 1842-3; he was as reticent as if he knew nothing, surely he breathed not this patriotic claim for the little missionary convocation of 1842. True, that was in April, 1865, and Myron Eells has indicated the 'great work was not known or realized till 1866,' and possibly it was still a secret." (Cf. Art. on "Dr. Whitman and Oregon," by Evans, in Daily Oregonian, March 15, 1885. This article was also reprinted in Weekly Oregonian, March 20, 1885.) As we have seen the second reason he assigns for not believing Mr. Evans is absolutely false, for Mr. Evans neither made Rev. C Eells say anything which he did not say about the destruction of the records of the mission, nor made Daniel Webster in the United States Senate say anything which he did not say. The first reason is equally false, for not only did Mr. Evans publish this while Rev. C. Eells was living, but published it in the most widely circulated paper published in the old Oregon Territory, four years before Rev. C. Eells died, and Rev. M. Eells not only knew about its publication, but he wrote a long answer to it — (about 9,000 words)—(which was published in the Oregonian of May 21, 1885), and replied, as best he could, to Mr. Evans under fifteen heads—but carefully refrained from even alluding to this, which he could not have failed to see in the article, and which, now that Mr. Evans is dead, he declares Mr. Evans would not have dared to publish while his father was living. My scrap-books, containing both articles, are now lying open before me. Furthermore, that Rev. M. Eells when he wrote this "Reply" had not forgotten about either Mr. Evans' article in Daily Oregonian of March 15, 1885, and Weekly of March 20, 1885, nor his reply to it in Oregonian of May 21, 1885, is certain, for in his "Reply," on pages 7, 23 and 45, he quotes from, and in a footnote refers to, the article of March 20, 1885, and on pages 7 and 18 also quotes from, and by footnote refers to, his own article of May 21, 1885, and on pages 100-103 he uses fifty lines—say, about 550 words—from his article of May 21, 1885, but without stating whence he makes the quotation.

An excellent example of the curious notions about "candor" which Rev. M. Eells has acquired in his long residence about Indian agencies is found in a footnote (on p. 59), concerning