Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/56

 48 WILL J. TRIMBLE. both sides who made the trouble, ' ' Major Trimble said. He told me of a somewhat ludicrous meeting which he once had with one of the white outlaws. Trimble was proceeding at the time from Walla Walla to The Dalles, accompanied by a few men. When about half way there in the evening of a raw, wintry day, they saw far down the trail a man approaching. He looked like a black dot on the landscape. When the fellow came near enough to be plainly seen he presented an odd sight. He appeared to have been plucked. What had been a long overcoat had been shorn of its tails, and the pieces were muffled around the feet of the weary plodder. He came right to Trimble (who was in command) and said that he had es- caped from prison at The Dalles and that he was so worn out from exposure and fear of the Indians that he wanted to sur- render. Trimble recognized him as Jack Hurley, a noted gam< bier and desperado. He guarded him carefully until he handed him over to the authorities at The Dalles. Hurley was taken later to 'Frisco. As the vessel was entering the Bay he knocked the sheriff overboard with the handcuffs which he wore and made a desperate effort to escape. But in this he failed. Not only in restraining these dangerous characters was the army of the frontier of worth to advancing civilization, but also in a more material way. It made roads, built bridges and constructed cantonments. In the latter employment it was interesting to notice how the peculiar qualifications of men of different nationalities were utilized. The Irishman dug the trenches and ditches, the German made the garden, and the American swung the axe. Major Trimble says that the fron- tier army contained many foreigners and that the army life taught them patriotism and American ways. Consequently, when the Civil War broke out, most of the common soldiers formed themselves into Union Clubs and remained true to the Government, while many of the officers, who, in many cases were Southern survivors of the Mexican War, plotted against the Government and tried to seduce the men. That the bulk