Page:Oregon, her history, her great men, her literature.djvu/102

100 and another citizen, were fatally wounded March 4, 1644, while attempting to arrest a Molalla Indian, who with five other Indians, was creating a disturbance in Oregon City.

Organization of the Oregon Rangers. In consequence of the disturbance, a volunteer company of twenty-five mounted riflemen, with T. D. Keiser as captain, was organized at the Willamette Institute on the 23d of the month The purpose of the military organization—which was the first in the territory,—was to co-operate with other companies that might be formed later in bringing to justice all the Indians engaged in the affair of March 4th, and to protect the lives and property of the .citizens against any depredations that might be committed. The company was named the Oregon Rangers. Captain Keiser soon resigned; and Charles Bennett, who had served in the United States Army, was chosen in his stead. "The rangers were to furnish their own equipment, and in case of actual service were to receive two dollars a day, and for each day's drill one dollar, but to forfeit twice their per diem for non-attendance. The company was to be chartered by the colonial government; and might be called out by any of the commissioned officers or by any one of the Executive Committee." Although the Oregon Rangers met with the disapproval of the Hudson's Bay Company they were endorsed by the colonists, who believed that the Rangers, by their readiness to enforce the law, gave stability to the Provisional Government.