Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/370

 362 T. W. DAVENPORT. % that he should think of them as "varmints" to be killed on sight ? This may be thought an extreme view, as indeed it is, when applied to the government or the whole people of the United States, but it is not extreme in its application to most of those who have had to bear the brunt of the conflict re- sulting from the impact of the two antagonistic modes of human existence. An incident which illustrates this branch of the subject is related in Lyman's late History of Oregon, viz.: that of a young man in the emigration of 1847, who wantonly shot a squaw that was in a tree gathering boughs for a bed. I had an account of it from one of the members of the train and have no doubt as to the truth of his narration. The young fellow had said frequently that he intended to kill an Indian and get into line with his ancestors who were Indian fighters. His boasting was thought to be mere gas and no serious at- tention was given to it, further than to remark that killing Indians had better be postponed to a more propitious season. One day while the company was encamped he returned from a hunt and coolly informed his fellow travellers that he had made his word good by shooting an Indian. His story was not credited, but soon a band of Indians arrived and de- manded the murderer. Strenuous efforts were made to in- demnify the justly irate Indians by the payment of goods, money, cattle or anything in the train, but they were not to be appeased by such presents, and as they largely outnumbered the emigrants, no effectual resistance could be opposed to their requisition. Knowing that in their present mood the victim would meet with a most cruel death, as a last resort, they proposed a trial and conviction after the manner of the white man's court. Nothing would do, he had to be given up to the Indians, who flayed him alive in hearing of the horror-stricken emigrants. It would have been more in accordance with their reputation to have robbed or massa- cred the train. It is stated in the aforesaid history that thirty- two white immigrants were killed by the Snake Indians in the year 1851, but there is no provocation or incident given by the