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ii n i If' 1 rr- PAGK TWO. HMht EAST OUECON1AN, PENDLETON OKL'liOX. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 1007. EIGHT PAGES. I THE WHITE MAN'S GOD: A Romanceaof ihe Whitman Massacre By Bert Huffman "Five Crows will give 100 horses and 100 buffalo robes for a white etjuaw," said a gruff voice which startled the worn mother In the white covered emigrant wagon on the western slope of the Blue mountains In Oregon. "One hundred ponies and 100 robes and slaves to wait on her and a chief for a husband," repeated the husky voice. For weeks in the fall of 184 Five Crows, chief of the Cayuses, camp ed beside the deep worn emigrant road and bantered every passing throng of westward hurrying emi grants for a bargain. He has been converted to the white man's reli gion by Marcus Whitman and his first and most furious ambition was to possess a "white squaw." The ragged emigrants, heart sick nd sunburnt with two thousand miles of privation and peril, were in no mood for arguing with the dusky chief whose hunt for a white wife had become a mania. So they drove on In silence, leaving his banter un .awered. They were In the heart of the In dian country. Sickness was killing Indians by the dozen. Tender two hundred miles to westward lay the goal for which they dared the wil derness yonder in the green swards of the Willamette, a land of luxur iant prospects and abounding dan gers. Seeing himself thwarted. Five Crows assumed a haughty and im- -perlous air, drew up to h! full six feet-four In height and said: "Am I not honest? No white man's blood tains my hands. I believe in your white man's God. I love Marcus Whitman. I have learned of your gTeat people from him. I am but an Indian, but I am human. I bring .you a fair' bargain. I am no beg gar. I am a chieftain. Why am I scorned? Why am I refused? Tou are coming to take my land. Tet you refuse me a wife. I will have a white quaw." There were both entreaty and de fiance in the address. The last lingering white winged ' "wagon rolled on westward down the brown slopes of the Oregon hills. Yonder in the d'stance the broad Co lumbia wound between its rugged bat tlements. Still further, in the dim glory of the dying day. gleamed the . snow capped peaks of Mt. Hood, Mt. Adams, Mt Jefferson and Mt. Ra-nler. The gloomy and defeated chieftain I kill no w hite man. 1 am chief of my people. Tou any I am great chief. You say I can do great good with my people. Tou say white and red man brothers. And yet when Fiv Crows ask for white squaw, white man laugh. If what you tell me Is truth, why can I not be like you and have a white squaw? Answer me right and I will be lleve you. If you cannot answer mo right I must not believe that you are my brother and one God Is father of Five Crows and Dr. Whifan." While the chieftain was making this impassioned plea, a fervent prayer was whUpered by the missionary. The whole great problem tof religion and destiny and fate was wrapped up in the puxxilng and direct questions propounded by this savage. For twelve years the missionary had toll ed among the Indians. Toil, prayer, pleading, tireless teaching, patience, devotion had lifted the savage mind from ita groveling and had given it the first great glimpse of the great truths. But it had not yet attained that degree of enlightenment In which It could grasp the . human problem in its entirety. The savage fetters still clung to the mind. What empty and meaningless things were books, in the presence of this savage reasoning? Of what avail was logic or higher learning or criti cism in unraveling the intricate prob lems at hand or in answering the stubborn wisdom of this half civil bed Thing? "Five Crows," said Dr. Whitman. "Come tomorrow. Go to your lodge and pray. I will pray here. The Father will show us the way. He will answer your questions. We are but weak children. Good night" He pressed the savage's hand warmly and shut the door as the form disappeared In the darkness. The clatter of hoofs over the shin ing pebbles in the river bottom told that Five Crows was going home. The missionary knelt and prayed fer vently as was his custom when puz- zling problems beset his path. At Five Crows lodge was Jo Lewis, the half breed, scowling, surly, de fiant, skulking like a wolf In the dusky shadows. There also was Ta-ma-kajs, whose arm was destined to strike the blow that killed the faithful Whitman a few weeks' later. There was Tam sucky, whose wife was sick unto death with measles, and who had come to council war with Five Crows. There was Tom Hill, the mounted his pony and galloped drear- half breed Delaware, educated at Uy across the brown hills toward his lodge on the Walla Walla. Along the Umatilla river at every lodge hung the ripened goldet corn the first grown in that wild region. It was the sign of'f-e cross interpreted In the husbandry of the savage. When the tribes had once starved and pilfered and roamed from stream to stream in dejection and poverty, they now feasted and were happy. Whitman had planted corn for them and had given them the husbandman's spirit. As Five Crows galloped among the lonely tepees on the sheltered river, h wondered if the story told him by Whitman concerning his soul and his destiny could be true. He doubt ed It, for did not the whites spurn li'm? Had he not been taught their religion and that all men are broth ers and had not his own brothers re-fused h m his dearest wish? Suddenly a horseman Joined him s he crossed a deep canyon in the frowning hills. It was Jo Lewis, the half breed Cherokee and French in terpreter. "The white man hates you or he would give you a white squaw," said Lewis between his set teeth, as he rode besld Fire Crows. "He is not a brother to the Indian. Tou are no better than h s dogs. Tou. the proud chief of the Cayuses, cannot even buy a poor white squaw. Wny don't you kiU the white men?" "Hush." said the chieftain. "Speak no more. I am thinking my own thought I will speak with you to morrow or some other day." The two galloped together In silence toward the Walla Walla It was dark when Five Crows reached the Whitman mission ' at Wa'Ilatpu. the place of Rye Grass. The mill wheel was still. The silent mission house. In which the Indians listened to the word, was empty, and the dim lights shone from the study of the m'sslonary. Five Crows shuffled into the study unannounced, as was the Indian cus tom. The Whitman mission was al ways open to the Indians. They came and went at will. The devoted missionary tru.sted them and Inspired their confidence by doing this. There, alone In his study. Dr. Whitman was planning his work. The .far of Five Crows wore a troubled look as the chieftain entered the room and squatted on a bear skin iby the fire. "Dr. Whifan you say all men brother?" asked the chieftain. "Surely, Five Crows, and there is one father, the God you and I wor ahlp," replied the missionary. "Tou say white men love Indian?" pressed the frowning savage. "Certainly I do, my beloved son," said Whitman. "But all white men do not love the Indian?" "Have-1 not always kept my word with you. Five Crows?" asked the doctor, hoping to ward off the direct questions which shone in the In dian's countenance. "Dr. Whlt'an you are a great man. I love you. Tou and me are friends tor twelve snows. I believe Jn your God. I study gTeat book with you. ' I plant corn and grind It and eat tight and I will believe you. If Dartmouth college, but now a mur derous renegade, bent on murder and robbery. There was Tau-lt-tau, friendly to Whitman, but one of the leading men of the Cayuses and al ways on the side of peace. As Five Crows dismounted at his lodge, Jo Lewis taunted him with the remark that the chief of the Cayuses could not buy a white slave. The assembled friends looked at the chieftain to see how he received the cruel stroke from Lewis. Not a ' word, glance or sign was given In answer, by Five Crows. If was a momentous council which followed. The entire tribe was sick with measles. Medicine and good treatment and nursing were all un availing. At the Whitman mission more than a dozen children were at the point of death. Dr. Whitman was on the point of collapse with his arduous labors. Night after night he rode from lodge to lodge minis tering to the suffering Cayuses. Day after day he carried on his work at the mission, snatching a few hours' sleep as he could between tasks. The half breeds encouraged the belief that the whites had intro duced the disease to destroy the tribe and take the land. The entire tribe was on the point of war, excepting a few faithful leader "Have I not seen the Indians kill ed by the bad medicine of the white man across the mountains many miles to the east," said Jo Lewtt. "Did I not see my father, who was a white man, whip my Indian mother? Did I not see him beat her until she could not carry my little ester? It was then that I seized a knife and killed him, my own father, when I was but 13 "snows" and from that day to this have I not set my heart against the white man and his God? He will kill you all, Five Crows, Tau-lt-tau, Tamsucky, Tom Hill and all of us. He wants our land. Curse his Gods and kill him. He is no brother to the Indian or he would not beat Indian women as my father did the day I killed him." "Jo Lewis," said Tau-lt-tau, "Dr. Whlt'an Is a good man. He Is not a coward. Did he not ride all night through the rain and sleet and snow to doctor you when you lay sick in my lodge on the Umatilla? Did you not take his medicine and get well Jo Lewis?" Lewis skulked out of the tepee. His dupllcltyy had disarmed him. "Five Crows do not listen to Jo Lewis," said Tau-lt-tau. "He is not a Cayuse. He should not sit In our councils" "True," answered Tamsucky. "He takes Dr. Whlt'an's medicine and then curses him. This is not right" "I will talk to Plo-plo-mox-mox," said Five Crows. "He Is a wise chief. If he says Dr. Whlt'an is bad medicine I will go- to war with Taloukaikt If he says the white man's God is good I will stay In my lodge and not fight with the white man." Taloukaikt was the leader of the war party. He wanted to murder the whites. ' He dared not attempt the bold stroke unless he could win Five Crows and Tau-lt-tau. Bo the fate of his daring and murderous de signs depended upon the meeting be tween Plo-plo-mox-mox and Five Crows. It was midnight when the party placed the buffalo robes about them and lay down In Five Crow's tepee to sleep. The rippling Walla Walla sang over the pebbles, The wolves howled above Wulilatpu on the high Clean, mils, tmo great ruture em pire of Oregon slept away the fitful night, while the fate of the Whitman mission was being shaped In theHe savage minds. CHAPTER II. The Midnight Ministrations. "Nnnim Plsht aishn.washpl nat smlsh linlm wanikt wltsatch haut- nlm." It was the voices of Plo-pio-mox mox and Dr. Whitman repeating the Lord's prayer In the Cayuse tongue In unison, beside the dying daughter of the old Chieftain of the Umatlllas. Shortly after Five Crows left the Whitman mission to go to' his lodge that evening a runner came from the Umatilla river 30 miles to the south ward, asking Dr. Whitman to hurry to the lodge of Plo-plo-mox-mox, whose only daughter was at the point of death with the measles which were ravaging the tribe. Through the chilling rain, over the dim trails, guided alone by his knowledge of the wild hills and ra vines, the devoted missionary sped. It was midnight when he reached the lodge .of the mourning chle. The alders were dripping and bend ing under the sleet. The dim fire in the center of the chiefs tepee threw out but a flickering glare into the enveloping darkness. The death wail of the mother could be heard.- The old chieftain sat in silence with bowed head. He was a Christian. He had been converted by Whitman and still be lieved. But this last blow was ter rible to withstand. Was the teach ing of Jo Lewis true, after all? He revolved over and over the traitorous words of the half breed. Lewis had been a missionary of evil among the tribes ever since the Whitman mis sion was established. Silently Whitman entered the te pee where the young maiden, in the bloom and beauty of bouyant youth lay dying upon the couch of- skins. She, too, was a convert of Whitman's teaching and attended his Sunday school at the m'sslon. The first glance told the practiced physician the sad story. The Indian mother's intuition told her that the end was near. And she, though suf fering with the deadly malady, was clasping the child's hand and moan ing. She was too weak to sit up, and was reclining beside the dying child. The missionary knelt beside the child and prayed fervently and then the chieftain and the missionary re peated with bowed heads, In (he lim pid Cayuse tongue, the s'mple pray er the old chief had learned years before and in which his savage soul had the utmost faith, "Our father who art In heaven." It was the only prayer he knew, but It sufficed for this sad and tragic scene. Slowly the young life ebbed away. The mother grew too weak to raise up to look Into the child's face as the spirit of the child passed out In the silence' and gloom of the menac ing night, Plo-plo-mox-mox fell oh his face and wept aloud. The faithful missionary laid the body of the child aside and wrapped it in rich robes to await the burial, when he himself should return and conduct the service of the church. Turning his attention to the wife and mother. Whitman found that she, too, was dying. So constant had been her care of the child t'.iat ex posure and anxiety had assisted the ravages of the disease, until she was belond all human. succor. Before P.o-plo-mox-mox ceased mourning for his daughter the spirit of his wie had also passed and he was alone In the world. "My brother," said the gentle mis sionary, "God Is good and does what is best for us. Let us not be angry with Him. White men have sor rows. My mother my grand moth er, and my father and grand fathers must all die. I love them all, but I must lose them." At first Plo-plo-mox-mox turned away in scorn. This double stroke and the affliction of his people wrought hot the anger In his heart, Was not Lo Lewis right? Was not the white man murdering the In dlans by stealth, in order to take his land? He looked long and haught ily at the kneeling missionary who was pouring out his soul for the stricken savage heart. Plo-plo-mox-mox was the great mediator .and counsellor who kept the hot hearts in check. Whitman knew the peace and quietude of the tribe depended upon the advice of this man. One word from him would turn loose Taloukaikt, Jo Lewis and Tom Hill. Murder would be com mitted in a hundred hideous ways. These burning thoughts flashed through the mind of the missionary while he prayed and pleaded with the taciturn chieftain. After a long and stubborn silence Plo-plo-mox-mox spoke. "Dr.. Whlt'an, all I have loved on earth have been taken away. The two companions of my life are now cold and' still and I am left alone an old man. Why does your God give this burden to me, who am one of His children? . Why does he leave me desolate while I am His child and your brother? Answer me right. Speak the truth. I have heard Jo Lewis speak. His speech sounds well. Tomorrow Taloukaikt, Five Crows, Jo Lewis and' Tom Hill come here to ask my consent U kill the white men. ,If you speak well and my heart can understand 1 will drive bad thoughts out of my mind. If you cannot speak well, my heart will be with Jo Lewis." "My beloved brother," said Marcus Whitman, the tears streaming down his sunburnt cheeks and his voice trembling until he could scarcely speak to the doubting savage who had been his. pupil and counsellor for 13 long years. "My beloved brother, If my life would bring back your wife and child and make you believe In our God, always, I would give it to you tonight. "I feel your grief, for I have loved you and have seen you turn away from wrong to right. I have walked at night from my home to your lodge many times to give you medicine which cured you. Now I am despised, by you, because God has called awny your loved ones. We cannot under stand. "I have lost loved ones, and I have great faith and great skill. Sickness comes to all of us. Death is always In the world. Does not the grass die this autumn to spring up with the first sunshine !n three "moons" from now? Does not the alder leaf wither and die now, but soon bursts out again? Why do you ask about death when you, who are older than I, see it everywhere? Plo-plo-mox-mox, you are brave and wise. Why do the hills turn brown for a few moon's and then are covered In green again with flowers and blossoms everywhere? As surely as the sun will rise to morrow I believe that you will meet your wife and child and as Burely as the moon will rise again tomorrow I believe that you will meet your wife and child and as surely as the moon will rise again tomorrow night, I be lieve that It Is good that God does for us and not harm. He knows all while we are weak children and do not understand. If I could bring back your wife and child and make your faith strong forever, I would give you my life. Can you ask any more than this, my own brother?" The haughty gleam of the savage eye had softened to Infinite tender ness. The tightly locked arms which had been crossed over the breast de fiantly, loosened and he wept as Whitman took both his hands In his own and looked Into his eyes. "Do you believe me, my brother?" The fire In the tepee was burning low and the two giant forms stood In the shadows. There on the outposts of the fartherest border of civiliza tion, the great questions were be ing settled beside that dim tepee fire that night. All about was the gloomy grandeur and austerity of wild na ture. Death with Its awesome warn ing and menace, savagery w'th Its misconceptions and limitations, lent distraction to the scene. - Do you believe me, my own brother?" pleaded Whitman, still holding the bronzed hands of the old savage In his own and piercing his ery soul with his searching gaze. He knew that Pio-pio-mox-mox s word was a bond that no combination of circumstances could break. Once given It was as steadfast as the sun but would It be given? Had the last great calamity and the loud clamors of his tribe turned him forever away from the true God and released the savage instincts of murder and butchery? Not a word was spoken for a time but the two strong men stood beside the corpses of the wife and child and looked into each other's eyes. I have said I would give you my life If It would bring bnck your wife and child." said the missionary what further pledge of my honor do you wish?" Releasing his hands from the clasp of Dr. Whitman, Plo-plo-mox-mox turned to the couch where lay h's dead child and said with a slow and determined voice: "Dr. Whlt'an, I am looking Into the face of my dead child whose deam nas iorn my urari. Let her be my witness. Let her hear my words. From where the moon now stands In the sky behind the clouds, I will be true to you. My peo ple shall hear my words for peace Whnt vou have said Is good. Our God Is Just" Before the words had fallen from the lips of the savage, Whitman had knelt before the fire and poured out such a prayer as never mortal tongue poured out In thanksgiving and enraptured Joy. "Plo-plo-mox-mox. I can trust my life In your hands. Nothing shall come between you and I while the sun shines. 'I will come tomorrow and pray for your dear wife and child and we will lay them to sleep on the hill. Good n'ght." and the bent form of the missionary slipped into the darkness and started across the lonely hills toward his sleeping Wall intnn Inn before the dawn broke through the storm. " The Greatest Bargains Ever Offered Women's Stylish Fur Jackets $25 Jackets at $17.50 If you want a high grade Jacket here's a chance to save $7.50 $ If .5 Buys the best $25.00 Fur Jacket in stock. Tlio Alexander Department Sforo The Oldest and Most reliable CHAPTER HI. ' Tlo Ulilte Man' God. The sun was shining over the hills and the bunch grass was waving in silvery ripples when Taloukaikt Five Crows, Tau-lt-tau, Tamsucky, Jo Lewis and Tom Hill rode out of the river bottom in which the lodge of Five Crows was located and started on the mission of murder to the lodge of Pio-pio-mox-mox, whose decision was to fix the course of Five Crows in Joining the leaders In a butchery of all the whites at the Whitman mission. Slowly down the winding trails that led from the Walla Walla to the Umatilla river through the heart of what Is now the greatest wheat, belt In the northwest, the five gloomy eonsDlrators rode. All about them spread the glory of the grass covered hills. Thousands of spotted, agile ponies, the hardy herds of the Cay uses, wore grazing on the hills and speeding down the long slopes to drink at the Wild Horse creek which traverses this region.' To the south of them rolled the long Immigrant trains with their gleaming wagon covers like sails In the desert. To the west the merry song of the Hudson Bay voyaguers broke the silence as they sped down the Columbia in their heavy laden batteaux. Behind them the smoke from the Whitman mission arose like a fun nel toward the sky in the still morn ing air. The tinkle of the sheep bells and the music of the mission grist mill fell upon their ears. "They take our land and live In houses, while we must live like beasts in the forests," said Jo Lewis, look ing back at the peaceful and busy mission farm. "Many thousands of them will come and take all our grating land and build houses at all our streams," said Hill. 'It was so In the country far to the east, and it will be so here." H 11 was a Delaware half breed with a good education. But he was blood thirsty and always counselled mur der. "Before the white men came we had sickness," said Tau-lt-tau. "Did not all the Indians at the big falls die with a fever and there were no white men here then? "That was when the fish became sick in the streams and the Indians ato them," said Lewis. 'This sick ness is much worse. It Is caused by the had medicine of the white men. They want our land." Gloomily they rode down the trails to where the stricken Plo-plo-mox-mox was weeping his dead, not knowing of the fate which" had over taken the chieftain In the night and not dreaming of the midnight visit of Whitman to his lodge. Lewis had talked with Plo-plo-mox-mox and on one occasion the last blow and falling beside the couch he wept again while the five conspirators waited for his answer. And then as if a storm had gather ed In his heart and must burst from his lips he turned upon Lewis and said In a voice like that of a wound ed animal: "Lewis, your heart it poison. Tour life Is poison. Tour mind is like a poison spring from which men drink and die. Five Crows is a good man. He does not want to murder. Don't make htm a murderer. I will not say to kill the white man. We are all brothers. Tou are cowards if you kill Dr. Whlt'an and his whites. The blood will be on your hands and your chil dren will curse you for it. I am not a murderer now and I will not be tomorrow nor next moon, nor for ever. I believe that the white man's God Is good. Go, and do not talk about murder." " He towered above the cowering conspirators like a white capped mountain and drove them from his tepee. Ta-ma-kas struck the blow that killed Dr. Whitman three days later. Five Crows took no part In the mas sacre, but after the awful tragedy ho stole a white woman from the ruins old chieftain was almost won over to j of tho mission, and kept her until the conspirators by the eloquent wickedness of the half breed, but finally the old chief asked for time to think and study. The death wall reached their ears from many of the lonely tepees. "Hear how pur people weep for their dead," said Lewis as they passed the tepees in which the dead were yet mourned. "What further argument will Pio-pio-mox-mox need. Is not this enough?" said Hill. When tho party reached the home of the chief they found him yet mourning his dead wife and child. In the presence of his great grief, even th murderous half breeds were awed. L'ntll he had raised himself and cpoke to them they sat still and waited. "Tou have come at a sad time," he she was ransomed by the whites and wept like a child when she refused to be his squaw. Pio-pio-mox-mox did not know that the awful crime had been com mitted until growing weary of wait ing for Dr. Whitman to come to his tepee, he sent a runner to the mis sion who brought back the unspeak able story of the massacre. Today the descendants of Plo-plo-mox-mox' are faithful to the old chieftain's friendship for the whites and are members of the remnant of the Whitman church on ih$ Umatila reservation near Pendleton. A Significant Prayer. "May the Lord help you make Bucklln's Arnica Salve known to all," said to Five Crows, who was the one, writes J. G. Jenkins, of Chapel Hill, man In the party with whom he could jN- C. It quickly took the pain out speak on this occasion. "See, the dead bod'es of my wife and child lie here before me. I am now alone, Five Crows, come and weep with me. We have long been friends," said Pio-pio-mox-mox. Lewis saw what he thought was the time to strike a telling blow against the whites. Speaking to Five Crows he said: "Should we not avenge this great grief that the while man has caused? Why should we sit here like squaws and our peo ple dying like squirrels?" "Lewis speaks well," said Talou kaikt "The whites are killing us and we alay not one in return. They want our land. Wo must kill or we will all be killed. Who knows but Five Crows' wife may be killed next?" Plu-plo-mox-mox arose with ' a gleam In his eye. Lewis was de lighted to have made a telling speech. "Five Crows," said Plo-plo-mox-mox, "why do you wish to slay the white men and women at Dr. Whlt'an's? Tell Plo-plo-mox-mox your reasons. We have always been friends." Five Crows' was staggered by the question. He had come to ask, and did not, expect to be asked questions. He was a good Indian at heart. The counsels of the half breeds had polsl oned his mind. He stood still and looked "at Plo-plo-mox-mox, who awaited an answer proudly gazing at the five men In turn. "I will answer for Five Crows," said Lewis, "if he will let me. He loves Plo-plo-mox-mox and would not Injure his heart." And then the half breed told of Five Crows' efforts to buy a white wife; he recited the fatal sickness that was destroying tho tribe; ' he pointed at last to the dead wife and child of the chief and with loud voice called on Pio-pio-mox-mox to declare war and order the butchery of the whites. Tho old chief staggered under the of a felon for trfe and cured It In a wonderfully short time." Best on erth for sores, burns and wounds 25c at Tallman ft Co. drug store. W O 0 D COAl Good, clean and combustible The kind that produces heat and not dirt. Priced right ahr delivered promptly. 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