Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/405

 Peter Skene Ogden 373 States had done nothing for Oregon after the Boundary Treaty went into effect. But it was a case where blood was thicker than water. It was a case where the humanity, exercised by Dr. Mc- Loughlin, prevailed. It did not matter that these cap- tives were Americans. There were men, but above all, there were women and children whose lives were in peril. The next morning, before the news reached Oregon City, Peter Skene Ogden was on his way to Fort Walla Walla with two bateaux, manned only by the usual num- ber of company voyageurs, and without any display of arms. It took Ogden a number of days to make the jour- ney to Fort Walla Walla. He proceeded as on ordinary business and paid the customary toll of powder and ball at The Dalles portage. On his arrival at Fort Walla Walla messengers were sent to chiefs of the Cayuses, Walla Wallas, and Nez Perces, that "Old Whitehead" wished to see them. It was an invitation which could not be declined. It was a command rather than an invi- tation. These chiefs doubtless recalled that Dr. McLough- lin had announced that any murder of an American or a British subject meant death to the perpetrator. Dr. McLoughlin hung several Indians for murders of white persons. It may be that he had no jurisdiction to do this. But he exercised it. There were no courts in Oregon to grant writs of habeas corpus in those days. Dr. Mc- Loughlin never forgot a promise nor a threat. He kept his word. So these Indian chiefs came. Ogden, the "Old White- head," went to the council alone. He was unafraid. He spoke to the chiefs in their own language. I cannot here give his exact words, but he said in effect: "The Hud- son's Bay Company has been with you for more than thirty years without bloodshed. We are traders, and of a different nation than the Americans. But we are of the same color, speak the same language, and worship the same God. Their cruel fate causes our hearts to