Yakima County, Washington - Chapter 2: The Perkins Murder and Moses Demonstration, 1904

Chapter 2: The Perkins Murder and Moses Demonstration

The years 1877 aQd 1878 were characterized by not a little Indian difficulty throughout the whole Northwest. During the former twelve months the non-treaty Nez Perces and other disaffected Indians took the warpath under the leadership of Chief Joseph, and during the latter the Piutes and Bannocks started, with Chiefs Buffalo Horn and Egan at their head, on a marauding expedition. The war of 1877 had its seat at too great a distance from the central Washington country to seriously affect this section, though an Indian war always causes uneasiness and excitement among the tribes anywhere within hundreds of miles of the scene of hostilities. There were several leaders among the Columbia river Indians known to be disaffected. Naturally, then, some apprehension was felt by the settlers and agency people and a close watch was maintained upon the movements of the Indians, lest some hot-heads among them should start on a career of murder and pillage. But the war of 1877 was fought to a conclusion without bringing any disaster to this part of the country.

Much more direct and important was the influence of the war of 1878. The actual fighting in this conflict was likewise without the territory with which oui* history purposes to deal, but that the plans of the belligerent red men contemplated a campaign of slaughter in the Yakima valley there could be no doubt. During the continuance of hostilities, the people were on the verge of a volcano that might break forth in furious, destructive eruption at any moment. A brief outline of the hostile expedition which occasioned so much apprehension in Yakima and Kittitas counties is necessary to a correct understanding of conditions at this period.

The causes of the Bannock and Piute outbreak of 1878 are not definitely known. Gilbert, in his "Historical Sketches," says: "Buffalo Horn was a celebrated warrior who had the year before aided the government against Chief Joseph and his hostile band of Nez Perces. His reward for such service was not in keeping with his estimate of its value and importance. He saw Chief Joseph honored and made the recipient of presents and flattering attentions, while the great Buffalo Horn was practically ignored. His philosophical mind at once led him to the conclusion that more favors could be wrung from the government by hostility than by fighting its battles."

Colonel William Parsons, of Pendleton, who has given the subject considerable study, thinks this surmise very wide of the truth. "From time immemorial," says he, "the Bannocks have been hereditary enemies of the Oregon and Idaho Indians, including the Cayuses, Umatillas, Walla Wallas and Nez Perces, and more than once they crossed the Blue mountains and inflicted bitter injuries upon the Cayuses and their allies. Therefore, when Chief Joseph and his band of non-treaty Nez Perces took up arms in 1877, and began their famous retreat through the Lolo pass and the Yellowstone park to the British possessions, the Bannocks furnished nearly a hundred warriors to harass the fleeing Nez Perces. They saw the whole of that remarkable campaign; they saw Joseph, with less than four hundred warriors and encumbered with one thousand women and children, carry on a running fight for fourteen hundred miles, eluding Howard again and again, recapturing his camp at Big Hole Basin from General Gibbon and pursuing the latter so fiercely that nothing but his reserve artillery saved him from annihilation, and finally surrendering with the honors of war to General Miles at Bear Paw mountain, near the British line. He saw Joseph captured, but not dishonored, and became jealous of the Nez Perce chieftain's military fame; he also realized, when it was too late, that he had made a serious mistake in joining his forces to those of the whites in the pursuit and capture of the brave Nez Perces, and that in gratifying a tribal grudge, he had dealt a deadly blow at the Indian race; he saw the whites crowding into Montana and Idaho, his people ordered within the confines of the Fort Hall reservation, and it finally dawned upon his benighted mind that the same chains which had been fastened to the ankles of Joseph were already forged for his and were about to be riveted upon them. Buffalo Horn was something of a statesman but no general. He came to the conclusion that if he could unite all the Indians west of the Missouri into a confederacy, the whites could be wiped out. Therefore he visited the various bands of the Utes, Shoshones, Umatillas, Cayuses and Walla Wallas . and sent runners to the Columbias, Spokanes, I Chief Moses' band and other northern Indians, requesting them to unite with him in a final effort to drive the whites out of the Inland Empire."

There can be no doubt that Buffalo Horn's acts of hostility were inspired by jealousy and ambition. His schemes were comprehensive, well conceived, seemingly feasible, and could he have combined Joseph's ability to execute with his own ability to plan, the result would have been serious indeed for the whites. But no Joseph arose to lead on the Indian hordes, and the scheme failed.

Buffalo Horn's overtures to the other bands of Indians being received with favor, he set out from Fort Hall on his marauding and pillaging expedition early in June, 1878. The Bannocks and a number of Shoshones were joined by large bands of Piutes under the command of their war chief, Egan. The confederated force numbered perhaps five hundred warriors and about fifteen hundred women and children. Their plan was to move west and north from Pocatello, past Boise, until a junction was formed with the Umatillas, Cayuses, Walla Wallas and Columbias, on the Umatilla reservation; then, devastating the country, to move north, uniting with the Spokanes and other Indians in northern Washington, there to make a stand, but if hard pressed to retire across the British line.

Going around Boise, where there was a considerable military force, and keeping in the lava beds, timber and thinly settled portions of the country, they encountered during the first part of their march but little opposition. But they could not desist from murdering the few whites or Chinamen whom they met, and the result was that alarm was taken and opposing forces were put into the field before the execution of their plans could be well begun. They received at Silver creek, Idaho, a severe check from Colonels Robbins and Bernard, the former of whom had a fierce hand-to-hand encounter with Egan, which resulted in some very bad wounds for the red man.

Upon Egan, however, wounded though he was and incompetent at best, soon devolved the command of the united forces, for Buffalo Horn was killed in a skirmish before reaching the Blue mountains. The consternation in eastern Oregon, on the approach of the hostiles, can hardly be imagined. "In wagons, on horseback and on foot, the settlers hastened to the nearest towns for protection. Pendleton, Umatilla, Wallula, Milton and Walla Walla were crowded with refugees. Homes were abandoned so hastily that neither provisions nor extra clothing were provided. All settlements within reach of the warning voice were deserted in a day. Cattle and sheep men in the mountains were in a precarious situation, and many were killed before they could reach places of safety. Major Cornoyer, the Indian agent, gathered in all the Indians possible, including the Columbia river and Warm Spring Indians, amounting to about two thousand, the loyalty of many of whom was seriously doubted. But while most of the settlers escaped to towns, it must not be forgotten that the towns themselves were scarcely able to make any defense. Pendleton had not more than one hundred and fifty inhabitants. Heppner, Wallula, Weston and Milton were mere hamlets. They were widely separated - too far for mutual support - and fifteen hundred savage warriors were supposed to be about to fall upon them. Pendleton was to receive the first assault. "

Had Egan marched upon Pendleton without delay during the early days of July, he could have captured the town almost without an effort. But instead of striking a decisive blow before the troops from Walla Walla and the volunteers from Weston, Milton and other points could concentrate, he frittered away the time in killing a few sheep herders and skirmishing with Captain Wilson's handful of thirty men. "So small was the force of the whites at Pendleton," says Parsons, "and so badly was it provided with arms and competent officers, to say nothing of its utter demoralization through rumors and reports of the overwhelming strength of the Indians, that men who were present affirm that if one hundred Indians had made a sharp attack on the 4th, 5th or 6th of July, the town would have fallen. If Egan's whole force of five hundred warriors had made the assault the valley of the Umatilla from the Blue mountains to the Columbia would have been swept clear of the whites. The Umatilla reservation Indians would have been forced to unite with the hostiles; the Columbias and the Washington Indians would have followed their example and Buffalo Horn's confederacy would have been consummated, to the enormous damage of white interests throughout the whole Inland Empire."

But Egan hesitated until the forces of Howard and Throckmorton had formed a junction to oppose their progress. The Umatilla reservation Indians were confirmed in their loyalty, even converted into allies of the whites, and some of their number decoyed Egan into a trap and killed him. The triumphal advance of the Indian hordes was rapidly changed into a disorderly retreat. Eventually, in Harney county, Oregon, they were captured by the United States forces, who placed them under guard on the Yakima reservation.

might easily have been theirs had they been led by able chieftains, the conditions in the Yakima country would have been indeed appalling. Many of the Indians in this locality were undoubtedly hostile in feeling. Their unfriendliness had been noticed early in the spring of 1878. They were quarrelsome and sulky; camp fires and signal lights blazed at night upon the hill tops, and small bands rode rapidly through the valleys without the usual friendly demonstrations or visits. In May the Deatons and Nelsons learned that the Piutes had despatched runners to the Yakimas and had made arrangements in accordance with which the latter were to sweep down the valley, form a junction with the other hostiles at the Columbia and proceed northward with them on a career of devastation and slaughter.

George Nelson tells us that one day in the early summer while the men were at work on his father's farm on the Naches, Yallup, a wellknown young Indian, came along and suggested to the proprietor of the place that he need make no preparations for cutting his wheat. "Why?" asked the man addressed, in astonishment. "Because the Indians will attend to that for you." This reply so incensed Judge Nelson that he ordered the immediate arrest of the brazenfaced redskin. Procuring his gun, he made demonstrations as if about to hang and shoot Yallup, but eventually released the thoroughly frightened Indian, protesting, however, that he was guilty of dereliction to duty in so doing.

The details of the plan the Indians were endeavoring to execute were revealed to General Howard by a friendly squaw named Sarah Winnemucca. The information received from this woman enabled the troops to checkmate the hostiles and bring them to submission much more rapidly and effectually than could have been done otherwise. It was understood by the citizens of the Yakima valley that according to Indian plans, Moses was to occupy a position between the Wenatchee and Kittitas valleys; Smohollah was to station himself on the upper Naches and all were to await the crossing of the Columbia by the Fort Hall Indians. When signal fires should announce that the Piutes and their allies were safely over the big river, a general slaughter was to commence. Moses was to clean out the Kittitas valley, cross the Umptanum mountains and sweep the Wenas; Smohollah was to murder the settlers in the Naches and Cowiche valleys; the Piutes were to raid the lower Yakima country and Parker bottom, and all were to unite for a grand carnival of slaughter at Yakima City and the Ahtanum valley. Fortunately, the Piutes and Bannocks never got across the Columbia in force; the dreadful signal fires were never lighted and the hands of the lecherous, blood-thirsty savages were stayed.

Central Washington

But the settlers of central Washington could not foresee that«the Indian campaign would miscarry as it did, and their condition of mind in the summer of 1878 was one of extreme anxiety, sometimes of terror. War, especially war with Indians, is a game always played in the dark, and in the dark strange terrors possess the imaginative which can never exist in the garish day. Uncertainty as to the position of the Indians, uncertainty as to the state of mind of those in their own midst, wild rumors flying everywhere and losing nothing in their flight, the knowledge of their lack of arms and ammunition, authorized leaders and concert of action, and the sickening certainty of their fate if they should be overcome by the savages - all these made the hearts * and minds of the settlers a perfect maelstrom of anxiety. There was no supineness among them, however. They had been habituated by long practice to make the best of the situation, and they did so in this instance.

Though not a little alarm had existed among the people from the outbreak of the war, its terrors were not brought home to them directly until the Fourth of July. Then came a runner, carrying the dreadful intelligence that the Indians had at last arrived. Other runners started out in other directions with the message, and soon the whole country was in the throes of a wild excitement. Nearly all in the lower Yakima valley flocked to Yakima City, taking refuge in the Centennial and Schanno halls there. Later a sod fort was built on the J. B. Dickerson meadow about a mile southeast of the spot now occupied by Woodcock Academy. The walls were of mud, piled up to a height of eight feet, and were three feet thick on the average. A trench was dug around the fortification on the outside, the plan being that supplies and other property and all non-combatants should find protection within this structure, while the men should defend it from the shelter of the intrenchments. Tunnels were dug at intervals to provide communication between the trench and interior of the fort, and wells were sunk at convenient places, that the refugees might be able to withstand a long siege. A report that a number of hostiles had crossed the Columbia sent most of the farmers for many miles around from their harvesting to the protection of this fortification. For more than a week they remained in the fort or its vicinity, but their scouting parties failed to find any hostile bands, and in time they ventured back to their deserted crops. A few Indians had indeed succeeded in crossing the Columbia, despite the vigilance of the two armed boats which were patrolling it, but, as the scouts . learned, they had gone toward White Bluffs.

After the return of these settlers to their homes, a petition was sent to the governor for arms and ammunition, and the chief executive responded with three hundred stand of Remington needle-guns and a supply of cartridges. These were shipped by river to The Dalles, where they were secured by a party of thirty volunteers, among them William Wylie. The rifles were brought over the old military road to Yakima City, and there distributed among the citizens. These arms have never been collected, and it is presumed that they are still in the homes of the old residents of Yakima and Kittitas counties.

When the Indian scare of the Fourth of July reached the people of the Selah and Wenas valleys, they built a fortification on the homestead of John Cleman. It consisted of a dirt breastwork two or three feet high surrounding Mr. Cleman's cabin and of a trench outside the wall. Settlers from the upper Naches, the Selah and the Wenas valleys congregated here to the number of eighty, a quarter of whom were able-bodied men, fairly well armed and equipped for military operations. Among the families gathered here were those of Leonard Thorp, George S. Taylor, Alfred Miller, Thomas Taylor, Thomas Kelly, Doc. McLaughlin, Robert Kandle, David Longmire, Richard and Hiram Perkins, brothers of the Lorenzo D. Perkins who later perished at the hands of Indians; Anson and William White, Clifford Cleman, John Cleman, Charles Longmire, John Brice, Allen Rice, Elijah Denton, Kincaid and a clergyman named Capps. There were also two bachelors, James Henson and Thomas Pierce.

At this time it was believed by the settlers that they were entrapped and must prepare to fight their way through the ranks of the hostiles. Rumor had it that Chief Colawash, with his Klickitats, was encamped in the Naches pass; that Smohollah, with his band of Columbia Rivers, was guarding the Snoqualmie pass, while the advancing Bannocks and the Okanogans would prevent egress toward the eastward or southward. The situation, if as believed, would have been indeed serious.

Upon the return of a party from Cottonwood gulch bringing the information that no Indi were to be seen in that direction, Leonard Thorp proposed an expedition to the Naches pass to ascertain the truth concerning its reported blockade. To many of the settlers it seemed like unwarranted temerity to thus ride into a camp of hostiles, but there were those among them who shrank not from the dangerous undertaking. The personnel of the company, as finally made up, was Leonard Thorp, David Longmire, Thomas Pierce and James Henson. They set out at daylight, all well mounted and armed, with a professedly friendly Indian as scout. Ascending the Wenas to the old sawmill, they followed the trail thence over the high divide between that stream and the Naches to a position just above the mouth of Nile creek. The party determined to make a reconnoissance of this locality, and proceeded to the banks of the Nile. At its junction with the Naches they found many tracks of Indian women and children. They noticed also that their Indian scout displayed signs of uneasiness. Finally he tried to separate himself from the whites, giving as an excuse that he wished to look for lost horses, but his companions would not permit his departure. Mr. Longmire took upon himself the duty of keeping an eye on the Indian, of whose good faith doubts were beginning to be seriously entertained.

In time the party came upon a company of old squaws; also caught a glimpse of a young buck in war regalia riding through the brush at full speed. The attention of the men was attracted by the beating of a tom-tom drum lpwer down the Naches, and proceeding in the direction whence the sound came, they soon discovered several tepees and tents across the river. There was now no retreat. Their presence was known to the savages, and to escape them by flight, if they chose to pursue, was an impossibility. Anyhow, the party had come for information, and was determined to get it if possible, at whatever personal risk, so they crossed the river and boldly rode into the midst of the camp. Mr. Thorp walked up to the largest tent, the one whence the tom-tom noise was issuing, and boldly entered it, gun in hand. Inquiring of old Sharlow, the first Indian he encountered, what the Indians were doing on the Naches, he received no reply except a grunt. Other questions elicited like responses, the ancient redskin being in too ill a humor "to bear catechising graciously. Meanwhile the other savages continued to pound the logs, which they were using as drums, leading the whites to believe that a war dance was in progress.

At last Sharlow demanded what the white men were doing in the Indian camp and why they had guns. He was told that a few days previously four government horses had been stolen from the reservation either by whites or Indians; that the party was in search of the property and that the guns were for use in case the thieves, when found, resisted arrest. Sharlow, apparently mollified by this explanation, assured the white men that there were no stolen horses in the camp, and continued to talk while they reconnoitered the situation, making cautious inquiries betimes as to whether the red men were disposed to be friendly or hostile. Sharlow protested that not only he but all the Indians there encamped were most cordial in their feelings of amity toward the "Bostons."

The object of the scouting party's mission accomplished, and expressions of mutual goodwill interchanged, the whites withdrew from the Indian camp, glad to get away unscathed, yet having seen no cause of alarm. A long, hard ride brought them back to the fort by dark.

Their report so far restored the confidence of the people that many returned to their homes next day, though the majority were still apprehensive of danger. These moved seven miles farther up the creek and built a rude plank fortification, known as Fort Union, on the Allen Rice place. It was, however, never much used, as the settlers, their fears quieted by the fact that no depredations of Indians were reported, soon resumed their usual vocations.

But it does not follow from the fact that the main body of the settlers escaped so well that their apprehensions were wholly unfounded and that the local Indians were unanimous in their sentiments toward the whites. Indeed, the valleys of central Washington were by no means safe places for small parties during the troublous summer of 1878. The Indians led by Moses and the old dreamer, Smohollah, were undoubtedly hostile in feeling, and some of them, excited by reports of the war which were constantly reaching them from the scene of action, were ready to commit depredations should opportunity offer. Opportunity did offer before the summer was over, and Lorenzo D. Perkins and his wife lost their lives as a result.

Mr. Perkins was a successful stock raiser about thirty-five years old at the time of his sad fate. He had come to the country with his brothers and settled on the Wenas several years before, and had been married the year previous". His wife, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Bunting, was much younger than he. Early in the summer Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, in company with Harry Burbanks, his son, Walter, his nephew, Albert Burbanks, and John M. Edwards, had made a trip into the Spokane country in quest of range. Before the first of July they were back to White Bluffs, on the Columbia river, where the married couple separated from their companions, going to their cabin ten miles below. The rest of the company came on to Yakima City. A few days later, when startling reports of invading hostiles reached the people of the valley, the elder Burbanks sent Walter and his cousin, Albert, over to the Columbia river slope to gather up his horses, lest they fall into the hands of Indians. The young men proceeded on their way without adventure until they reached Big Willows, now known as the hog ranch. There, however, they encountered eight Indians, who attacked them fiercely, forcing them to retreat hastily. Before they could get out of range, Walter's coat and vest were punctured by a bullet. For more than four miles the Indians followed him closely, firing occasionally, but without success. At length he escaped through the superior speed and endurance of his horse. His companion escaped, not only the rifles of the attacking party but a stern chase, by leaping his horse over a precipice, and remaining off the road for a distance. He at length rejoined his cousin and both returned to Yakima City, where the relation of their experience caused not a little excitement. Walter Burbanks returned at once to the scene with William Splawn, Edward Lindsey, John M. Edwards and two or three others to reconnoiter and bring in whatever stock they could find. They discovered the desired band of horses, but no Indians.

About this time the inquiry was made of a number of stockmen who visited Yakima City from the White Bluffs country concerning the Perkins couple. The men stated that Perkins and his wife had left for Yakima City several days before, and one of their number, a man named King, said he had ferried them across the Columbia a"t White Bluffs July 9th. Agent Wilbur sought to calm the fears of relatives by reporting to them the statement of Indians that the missing people were safe at Wallula, but the Indian reports were not considered worthy of full confidence, and, no word coming from trustworthy sources, John McAllister, uncle of Mrs. Perkins, and Adam Duncan made a trip to White Bluffs to investigate. They found no traces. Another trip was made by the same persons for the same purpose, and this time, at Rattlesnake springs, a piece of quilt and a broken dish, which were subsequently identified by friends as the property of the missing couple, were unearthed. Rev. J. H. Wilbur, agent in charge of the Yakima reservation, was now appealed to for Indian scouts, and he sent three, Stick Joe, Joe Ennius and a California Indian known as Dick. These, with six white men, namely, John M. Edwards, Andrew J. Chambers, John Splawn, J. H. Conrad, Adam Duncan and John McAllister, proceeded direct to Rattlesnake springs, thirty-eight miles east of Yakima City, where they engaged in a diligent search. Clues to the missing were soon discovered, and in due time the bodies of Mr. and Mrs. Perkins were found by Stick Joe in the bottom of a shallow ravine a mile below the upper springs. A heavy flood had passed down this draw at some time, creating a washout several yards in width. The rushing waters had been separated at one point in their career into two streams, which, reuniting lower down, had formed a miniature island. On one side of this island the body of Perkins was interred, and on the other that of his wife, both being covered with rocks and cobble stones. The remains of the unfortunate lady gave strong evidence that her spirit had not yet deserted its prison house of clay when she was laid to rest, for one knee protruded through the rocks as if raised in spite of the heavy burden upon it, while one arm was thrust outward and above her head. It was impossible to examine the corpses with much minuteness, as decomposition was in an advanced stage, but it was observed that the clothing of the man had been pierced by many bullets.

affair as could not be learned by observation were disclosed later by the confession and state's evidence of Moosetonic, one of the Indian miscreants responsible for the awful deed. Unfortunately, the court records of the trial were destroyed by fire, and no printed reports of the celebrated case are at hand, if any exist, but the facts disclosed by the testimony as nearly as can be recalled by those who followed the case closely at the time are as follows:

The Indians who perpetrated the foul crime numbered seven in all. Wyanticat, their leader, together with Salusakin, Tewowney, Moosetonic, Tommy Hop-Towne and Chuck Chuck, belonged on the Yakima reservation; the seventh, named Kipe, lived on the Columbia, near The Dalles. They had joined the hostile Bannock and Piute hordes south of the Columbia, had been among the number who attempted to effect a crossing at Long Island, but had been prevented from so doing by the forces under Howard and Ferry; had later separated themselves from their cojifreres and crossed to the north side of the river, despite the vigilance of the armed boats, and were on their way northward to join Moses when they met Perkins and his wife. Both the doomed pair and the murderers camped that fatal day at Rattlesnake springs. Disappointed that they had been foiled in their military plans and burning with hatred toward the superior race, the Indians resolved to get what revenge they could by attacking the two non-combatants in their power. First, however, they desired to learn whether or not they were armed, so two of their number, of whom the leader was one, came up to the Perkins camp and requested food. Mr. Perkins gave them nearly all he had, saying the necessity of the Indians was greater than that of himself and wife, and that anyway the distance to Yakima City, where plenty could be obtained, . was not great.

This evidence of good-will toward them and solicitude for their comfort would surely have touched a tender spot in the hearts of the savages, had there been any there to touch, but with a malevolence and hate which nothing but blood could appease, the dastardly Wyanticat threw aside his mask of friendship and drew his gun. Tommy Hop-Towne did likewise. Mrs. Perkins began pleading for mercy, while her husband addressed himself to the task of saddling up. Prayers and tears were as unavailing as charity had been. Mr. Perkins received a shot which crippled him, but managed, nevertheless, to get his wife and himself on the horses. Then began the race for life. A second shot took effect on the body of Mr. Perkins, inflicting a mortal wound, and, of course, putting escape for him out of the question. Time had not been given to saddle the horse on which Mrs. Perkins was mounted, but she was an excellent rider and could guide her animal accurately by the tethering rope. Escape by the road was cut off by Moosetonic, so she was forced to take to the sage brush. She rode a horse abundantly capable of distancing the fleetest of the Indian ponies, and might have got away safely were it not for an accident. Though a deep, wide draw lay in front of her, she shrank not from the dangerous leap. The horse, however, instead of gathering his forces for the jump, hesitated, thereby losing the momentum necessary to carry him safely over. As a result, he fell short of the opposite bank, threw his rider and crippled her. The Indians came up, forced her back to her expiring husband, and, notwithstanding her pleadings and the offer of all that she and her husband possessed as a ransom for their lives, put an end to the earthly career of both. There is some doubt as to how Mrs. Perkins came to her death. Her mother, Mrs. Cheney, formerly Mrs. Bunting, claims that she was shot, but some of those who found the bodies think she was stunned in some way and buried even before the light of her life had gone out.

During the summer and fall every effort was made to find the murderers, but the most definite information that could be obtained was that they had joined Chief Moses, who was himself giving trouble to the authorities by refusing to go with his followers upon the Yakima reservation. Both he and Smohollah, the dreamer, were thought to have been implicated, directly or indirectly, in the Perkins affair. At this time John M. Edwards and an Indian boy named Jim Nelson were engaged in herding and looking after William Splawn's cattle on the east side of the Columbia. One day an Indian known as Warnateer came to Mr. Edwards and told him the murderers so much desired by the citizens were at White Bluffs, engaged in a great gambling game. "If you will go with me," said he, "I will point out the guilty ones by moving around the circle and extending my foot towards each of them in succession." Edwardsdecided to accompany Warnateer, despite the risk involved, so he and his dusky companion crossed the river together and walked boldly into the midst of the gamblers. Warnateer kept his word, and Edwards noted carefully the features of the seven men indicated, who, being in blissful ignorance of the significance of the visit their band had received, continued in play all night long.

Mr. Edwards returned to the eastern side of the Columbia, crossing at the Indian camp and going some distance in the direction in which his Indian boy, Jim, was. This he did to disarm suspicion, for his real intention was to proceed alone to Yakima City and arouse the people there to a pursuit of the murderers. He accordingly made a detour back to the river, hunted up a rickety canoe, recrossed to the west side at great risk, for his craft was badly disabled, secured a mount and rode rapidly up the valley. Arriving at Yakima City, he communicated to William Splawn the information he had gained. The call for a party of volunteers to go out and bring in the Indian murderers went forth at once, but for some reason it did not meet with a hearty response. Finally, Splawn, Edwards and a man named Denny started for White Bluffs, intending to make the arrest themselves if opportunity offered, otherwise to turn their attention to their cattle on the range. Upon arriving at the Indian camping place, they found their birds had flown, but the adventure of Mr. Edwards and such information as had been gained by the subsequent expedition were communicated to the officers at the agency.

About December 1st, Agent Wilbur sent an invitation to Chief Moses, requesting that worthy to meet him in Yakima City for the purpose of holding a friendly council. Moses accepted, and appeared at the appointed time. An anxious crowd, large enough to thoroughly pack old Centennial hall, congregated to hear what the dreaded chieftain might have to say. Father Wilbur opened the council with an address in which he dwelt upon the wrong committed when one man takes the life of another. Coming to the Perkins murder, he said Moses was chief over the tribe whose members committed the deed, and could, if he would, assist in the capture. When called upon for a speech, Moses stepped forward. He was attired "in a long coat, Prince Albert style, black trousers, buckskin leggings, wore a white handerchief about his neck and a widebrimmed Spanish hat." For two or three hours he talked, dwelling considerably upon his own greatness, denying complicity in the murders and finally agreeing to assist in capturing the murderers.

It was arranged that Moses should proceed to a point ten miles above the head of Priest rapids, on the Columbia river, that later the whites should rejoin him there in sufficient force and that both should proceed together to the camp of the Indians wanted by the civil authorities.

Accordingly, thirty determined white men and as many Yakima Indian police, the latter under the leadership of Captain Ennius, organized and set out upon this unpleasant and dangerous mission. The party was in the nature of a posse, as Deputy Sheriff John Splawn carried warrants for the arrest of the Indian suspects. Contrary to the original design, the combined white and Indian force proceeded direct to Priest rapids, doing so on the advice of Ennius, who was fearful lest Moses might be meditating treachery. At Priest rapids, the whites held a military election, which resulted in the choice of William Splawn as captain, and George Taylor as lieutenant. What caused Ennius to be so suspicious is unknown, but he was unremitting in his warnings to Captain Splawn to guard against treachery, and the

The party had been on the east side of the Columbia about an hour when Ennius started on a reconnoissance toward the supposed position of Chief Moses. Presently the scout reappeared in an excited frame of mind, and advised Captain Splawn to prepare for action forthwith, as he had seen Moses approaching rapidly with a hundred warriors. Immediately the order was given to take a position behind some driftwood near the shore, but the men, not being trained to execute movements with military precision, fumbled around some, and when Moses appeared a short distance from camp were in anything but readiness for a charge. Seeing that time must be gained at all hazards, Captain Splawn mounted his horse rapidly and rode forward to meet the oncoming chieftain.

According to the reports of eye-witnesses, the scene presented by Moses and his warriors was one of entrancing picturesqueness. As the hundred dusky riders swept rapidly across the plains in full martial array with Chief Moses and Inmeseka Bill in the lead, the whites failed not to notice the perfect order of their wild, swift movements or their gay array of savage war toggery. Though the air was crisp and frosty, they were clad in the garb that nature gave them, with no additions thereto save moccasins for the feet and small breech-clouts for their loins. Some also wore feathered hoods, some nothing but plumage stuck in their heavy black hair, while most had smeared their heads fantastically with a peculiar blue clay. All were in full war paint and fully armed.

No awful war whoop rent the air as they approached. Silently, except for the measured hoofbeats, they bore down upon the solitary white man a few hundred feet from his command. He sat quietly awaiting them. Soon he found himself in an awkward position between the two Indian leaders, but putting on a bold front, he, revolver in hand, hailed the chief in an authoritative tone, demanding the reason for his approach in such a hostile manner. < Moses replied that he did so "just for fun;" that he always approached Howard in that way. Captain Splawn reminded the chieftain that he had promised to send ten guides with the whites to ferret out the Perkins murderers and asked if he thought it in keeping with the spirit of that agreement to meet the whites with a hundred warriors prepared for battle at a moment's notice. "We have come for the murderers," said he, "and do not desire war with the Columbia river tribes, but if you wish to fight, all you have to do is to open the attack. "

Moses turned in his saddle and uttered a word in his native tongue. Instantly the warriors executed a well-ordered movement which placed them two columns deep in a line directly facing the whites. At the same time a score of Indian weapons went to the shoulders of their owners. The whites and reservation police, who had by this time formed in some kind of order, also leveled their guns.

Thus the flower of the Columbia river warriors stood facing the handful of pioneers. The Indian gleam of hatred and defiance was answered by the unflinching, calm gaze of a band of men picked for their acknowledged courage and iron resolution. The situation was indeed a critical one. A single spasmodic movement of any one of the many fingers which that moment touched the triggers of as many rifles, and a battery of suppressed race hatred would have gone off in one tremendous, death-dealing explosion. But the self-control of both white and Indian was equal to the strain to which it was subjected, and the key to the situation was left in possession of the two leaders.

Once again Captain Splawn spoke. "Moses," said he, "if you want to fight, cut loose. For you and me there can be but one result - death. We'll die. If you don't want to fight, pull your men off." Truly, the famed chieftain of the Columbia had the gauntlet at his feet, while at his back was a force sufficient to justify his picking it up had he felt so disposed. Instead, however, he gave a word of command which placed his warriors in marching order, then without formal leave-taking, advanced with his sub-chief to a position in front of the column and rode away to the eastward.

After the departure of Moses, Splawn ordered his command to the saddle and pushed on down the river to Smohollah's camp, twelve miles below. Arriving there early in the evening, the whites surrounded the seventy-five or eighty lodges constituting the village and sent in a searching squad to look for the murderers. The quest proved vain. Smohollah and his warriors had joined Moses, leaving none in the encampment but the women, children and old men. The squad, however, gained the information that Moses was camped among the rocks at the mouth of Crab creek. Next day Splawn's company came to a halt at White Bluffs, whence they sent George Goodwin back to Yakima City for reinj forcements. In three days he was again on the ] river with some fifty or sixt3r recruits, also additional supplies. Leaving a force to protect the boats and baggage. Captain Splawn set out with the rest of the citizens and Indian allies for a search of the interior country. As Crab creek is the principal stream in the immediate neighborhood of the bluffs, and as Moses was upon its banks according to last reports, it was natural that it should be first explored.

The company had not proceeded far when it fell in with Dorsey Schnebly, of Ellensburg, and a small company of men. Mr. Schnebly had been elected sheriff during the fall of 1878 and was, of course, notified of the Moses meeting in Yakima and of the arrangement entered into there by which the chieftain was to co-operate with the whites and agency police in an effort to capture the murderers. As requested, the sheriff collected a small company and proceeded to Moses' camp on the Columbia near Crab creek. Those with him were Charles Kenneth, Charles Schnebly, Charles B. Reed, John Catlin and Willie Baker. The last named, who was only a boy, returned home as soon as they reached the Columbia, while Schnebly, Reed and Catlin crossed over and entered the camp of Moses. The chief received them in an apathetic manner, told them of his meeting with Splawn and that he had frightened the Yakima party so thoroughly that they had crossed the Columbia and gone home, and advised them against going any farther without an Indian escort. When Schnebly refused the proffered guard, Moses said that he could render him no further assistance than to put him over the Columbia again. This the Indian canoemen did. Schnebly and party then proceeded down the river to Nick McCoy's ferry, crossed the river there and proceeded thence to Crab creek, camping where the White Bluffs road crosses that stream. By reconnoitering, Schnebly and Catlin found a trail which they followed five or six miles. They then turned back to camp, however, as they had become apprehensive of an ambuscade. At dark the party decided to go to White Bluffs and find out whether or not the Yakima men had returned, as Moses said. About'ten o'clock they met and joined Splawn's company, and from that time on they shared its adventures.

Meanwhile, a scouting detachment had ascended to the summit of the divide between Crab creek and the Columbia river, and had thence descried a fire near the upper crossing of the creek. Believing this to be in the camp of the murderers, who were supposed to be dressing a beef, the entire party approached the spot rapidly, but with great caution. A little before reaching the scene the company separated into two divisions, one of which was led by Captain Splawn, the other by Lieutenant Taylor. The former dashed in above the encampment, while the latter threw his force below, so as to cut off retreat. Great was the surprise of the besiegers when they heard the familiar voice of Chief Moses calling to them not to shoot. Immediately Splawn ordered his men to make no attack, but to surround the camp; which done, Moses and the nine or ten warriors with him were quickly disarmed. It is stated that some of the whites were so furious that it was with difficulty they restrained themselves from ending the life of the wily chieftain. Moses offered as an explanation of his presence so far away from camp that he was searching for the volunteers with intent to join them. He also stated that he had located the murderers and was willing to guide the whites to them.

About daylight, the party started for Crab creek, and by seven o'clock they reached a deserted camping ground. Thereupon, according to Captain Splawn's statement, Moses suggested that it would be well for himself and Splawn to make a preliminary reconnoissance, that the exact location of the murderers might be ascertained before a general assault should be attempted. Accordingly, the two men, accompanied by Indian Jim, went out on a scouting expedition. They found by the trail made in the fresh snow (for there had been a light snowfall during the night) that the fugitives had gone away to the northward. Some of those who were present fail to remember this reconnoissance of Moses and Splawn and contend that Moses, after his capture, never left the main body of volunteers and police, but it is possible that the two men and their Indian companion may have slipped out while the rest of the men were busy preparing breakfast.

Upon returning to camp, Splawn communicated to Ennius the information he had obtained on his reconnoissance. He found his Indian ally as suspicious of Moses as ever, and firm in the belief that the men who had left the smouldering camp fire and made the track were acting as a decoy to lead the whites into a trap; indeed, he was so certain of this that he threatened to withdraw his entire force, should Splawn carry out his determination to follow the trail. Moses' actions had certainly been such as to furnish grounds for suspiciou, and the white leader, thinking that one Indian's views regarding the intentions of another were worthy of due consideration, determined to change his plan of action somewhat. So, instead of taking up the trail with all his force, he sent several of Moses' men in pursuit, holding Moses himself as a hostage for their correct behavior. The pursuers acted in good faith, overtaking the fugitives fifty miles up the Columbia, capturing one and pressing the other so hard that he had to kill himself to avoid being taken. The name of their captive was Tommy Hop-Towne and of the suicide Chuck Chuck.

Meanwhile the volunteers and agency police had returned to White Bluffs. There they found Moosetonic, who surrendered himself to them, realizing that he could not hope to permanently retain his freedom and that he might as well give up the effort first as last. At this point, also, they received a request from Agent Wilbur that they assist in putting all the Columbia river tribes, except Moses' Indians, upon the reservation. To this they assented, so that several days were devoted to ranging the shores of the river and sending the scattered bands to the home the government had provided for them. A portion of the command under Lieutenant Taylor had been sent to Yakima City with the prisoners, and these on returning reported that the reservation police had captured the remaining members of the murderous band, or part of them, so the volunteers, their mission accomplished, returned to their homes after a lively campaign of two weeks' duration.

The Yakima people, alarmed at Chief Moses' hostile attitude, had despatched a runner for aid to Goldendale, where was stationed the only militia company in the territory at that time. When the country was threatened by the Bannock and Piute Indians, this company had been organized and armed for home defense, with Enoch W. Pike as its captain, George Latimer its first lieutenant, and C. J. Google its second lieutenant. It had on its muster roll sixty-six names. The messenger arrived on Christmas eve and reported immediately to R. O. Dunbar, who in turn referred him to Captain Pike. The captain issued an immediate call to his company, and that very day as many of them as could be gathered together set out to the assistance of their neighboring county. Many of the men were unable to procure horses on such short notice, so they loaded their saddles on the supply wagons and set out on foot. Arriving at the Yakima reservation, they appropriated as many horses as were necessary to mount the command and pushed with all possible speed to the assistance of Captain Splawn.

Before they arrived at Yakima City, however, the Indian murderers had already been apprehended and brought to that place. The services bf the Klickitat meii were nevertheless called into requisition in guarding the jail, for it was feared that some of the enraged white population might take the Indian murderers from the authorities and hang them without waiting for due process of law. All night long the Klickitat Rangers, as they came to be called, stood guard around the jail. At the request of Rev. J. H. Wilbur, they also escorted Chief Moses from Yakima City to the reservation. The feeling against the murderous Indians was strong, but the vigilance of the Klickitat company and the precautions of its captain, who lacked neither the experience nor the soldierly qualities necessary to a successful military commander, prevented an attack from without, if any such was indeed designed. To guard against possible shots from ambush, Captain Pike formed his company into a hollow square about the chief, wherever the natural features of the country were favorable to such an attack. Indeed, one member of the Klickitat Rangers proved that he was not above treachery by making an attempt on the life of the old chieftain, but the attention of the commander was attracted by the click of the gun as he cocked it to shoot Moses. Captain Pike was upon him in an instant, and he was easily overpowered and rendered harmless.

There has been much discussion over Moses' actions in this whole affair, some contending that the white men must bear the blame for his unfriendly demonstrations at the first meeting on the Columbia. These critics aver that the unwarranted suspicion of the whites and their failure to meet Moses at the place appointed were sufficient provocation to justify his manifestations of hostile feeling. Those members of the expedition who have been interviewed are nearly unanimous in declaring their belief that Moses was in league with the murderers and did his best to shield them; that his actions at the first meeting were dictated by a policy of hostility to the enforcement of the law, and that his appearance on upper Crab creek when he was supposed to be at its mouth was due to his efforts to warn the murderers of their peril. His failure to so warn them, they claim, was owing to his inability to find them in the dark. Mr. Schnebly thinks he was searching for the Kittitas valley party to murder them. Whether or not the chieftain acted in good faith is a question upon which there will always be two opinions.

Moses remained on the Yakima reservation until called to Washington, February 12, 1879, when he was permitted to return to the Columbia, that he might make necessary preparations for the trip. F. Dorsey Schnebly, who was then sheriff of Yakima county, states that he and his deputy, Conrad, arrested Moses on the Yakima river on a warrant charging him with being accessory to the Perkins murder, that he was given a preliminary hearing at Yakima City, was finally released on bonds furnished by Agent Wilbur, conditioned on his appearance at the next term of court, and allowed to proceed to Washington. There he succeeded in securing a reservation, adjoining the Colville reservation on the west.

"Asa matter of fact, "says Mr. Schnebly, "several of the murderers were still at large when the Yakima expedition returned from its labors. A little later I was informed by Willis Thorp that he was certain that some of them were in the Okanogan region. I learned that Thorp was ready to return to his works in those parts, so deputized him to arrest any of the murderers he might find. ' '

Upon reaching the Okanogan country, Thorp and two companions, Martin Rozelle and Pleasant Bounds, entered an Indian camp for the purpose of arresting some of the red men, Bounds says for cattle stealing. They succeeded in taking a number into custody, but a rescue was attempted by friends of the prisoners and a fierce fight ensued, in the course of which shots were fired. Two or three Indians were killed, and one white man, Rozelle, had an arm shattered. The Indian prisoners escaped. Mr. Schnebly thinks it might have gone hard with the whites in this fight, were it not for the timely arrival upon the scene of William Condon, a squaw man, who joined forces with the other whites and helped them to put the redskins to rout. Whether or not any of the arrested Indians were members of the gang that murdered the Perkins family may not be certainly

One of the Perkins murderers committed suicide, one was captured through the efforts of the, Yakima expedition, one surrendered, two were captured by agency police, and two were captured at Colville and brought thence, one at a time, by Sheriff Schnebly, whomade the two trips for them without incident, though in doing so he had to pass through a country occupied by Indians, well known to be disaffected and ugly.

All the Indians accused of actually killing Mr. and Mrs. Perkins, except Moosetonic, who turned state's evidence and thereby saved his worthless neck, were held to appear before the district court, which met in October, 1879. Samuel G. Wingard, federal judge for the eastern district of Washington territory, presided at the trial. T. J. Anders prosecuted the case, while J. W. Hamilton and Edward Whitson appeared for the defense. Wyanticat, Salusakin, Tewowney, Tommy Hop- Towne and Kipe were convicted and sentenced to the death penalty.

But a series of stirring events were to transpire before the last of the condemned murderers should render up his life in expiation of his awful crime. A very few days after the close of the trial all of the Indians escaped from the jail yard and got as far as Union gap before being recaptured. A little later a second escape was effected. This time they were gone several days before their whereabouts could be learned by the authorities, but at length a message came to Yakima City from Deputy Sheriff York saying that the fugitives had been discovered in the river bottom near the Toppenish, and asking assistance.

The request brought an immediate response from John and William Splawn and Deputy Sheriff James H. Conrad, who were joined on the road by William Nash. As the four men were alighting from their- rig at an Indian house in the neighborhood in which the fugitives were supposed to be hiding, two dripping and mud-bedaubed Indians were brought there by the reservation police and turned over to Conrad. A little sweating drew from these Indians the information that they had visited and taken food to the refugees and had jumped into the river to escape the officers.

A consultation as to the best mode of procedure was now had, in the course of which Deputy Sheriff Conrad turned the management of the proposed night expedition to the haunts of the fugitives over to William Splawn, believing that the former experience of that gentleman across the Columbia had made him the fittest man for this undertaking. When darkness came on the party set out. With the white men went the younger of the two captured Indians, who was compelled by his captors to act as a guide and decoy, and was instructed to stop just before reaching the spot where the refugees were concealed. Cautiously and with as little noise as possible, the little squad followed their guide through the tall grass and brush, their indistinct trail lighted only by the silver rays of the moon. At length the Indian gave the signal agreed upon, and the party came to a halt to arrange the details of the final coup. When all was in readiness, the leader and the decoy led on to the edge of an opening, where the Indian built a small fire, John Splawn and Conrad meanwhile taking convenient positions in the company. Then the young Indian (any hesitancy he may have had about betraying his friends being overcome by the three ugly-looking rifles that were pointed in his direction, and all thoughts of warning the fugitives being banished by the same dire instruments of death) halloed several times in a subdued voice. The reply was long in coming, but it came at last. A request by the decoy to come out by the fire was followed by another long silence, but eventually Tommy Hop-Towne emerged from the dense shadows and cautiously approached the fire.

Wyanticat joined him presently; then two others arose .from behind a nearby knoll, with intent to join their companions, but at this juncture came a turn in events which interfered with the success of the expedition. Voices of an approaching party of white men broke in upon the stillness of the evening air and soon the tones of Deputy Sheriff York were recognized by Splawn. Though the Indians were slow to take alarm, Splawn well knew that his birds would escape him unless immediate action were taken, so he shouted a summons to the Indians to surrender, at the same time rising from his hiding-place in the grass. With a cry like that of a fell beast startled by the huntsman Wyanticat made a break for liberty, but his flight was cut short by a bullet from the rifle of Captain Splawn, and a second shot brought to a close his earthly career. Tommy Hop-Towne and the other refugees gained the denser brush and tules, the former escaping the rifles of the whites by shaping his course so as to keep Captain Splawn between himself and them.

Diligent search failed to discover the fugitives that night, but the next morning Kipe and Salusakin were apprehended, and later Tewowney was captured on the reservation. Again they were placed in custody and again they attempted to regain their freedom, this time just a few days before the date set for their execution. This final struggle against fate was made by means of a moccasin containing a stone handed them by confederates on the outside. At the time chosen for the desperate undertaking, Jailer York, as soon as he got within the prisoners' cell, was struck over the head with the weapon. The blow knocked him down; indeed, inflicted such injury as to almost cost him his life at a later date, but he quickly rallied from its first effects and began shooting at his assailants. Captain Brooks, the probate judge, who was at the time in the sheriff's office reading a paper, heard the commotion, divined its cause, snatched up a loaded Winchester, hastened to the scene and began taking a hand in the fight. The Indians secured guns from the sheriff's office, into which the jail door opened, but were overpowered before they could do any damage with them, a considerable force of white men having quickly gathered. In the fracas Tewowney was wounded, so that he died before the day set for the execution, and Salusakin's arm was shattered. No later attempts were made to escape, and the two remaining prisoners, Kipe and Salusakin, died the murderer's shameful death.

All the seven except Hop-Towne had now been disposed of; one having been allowed his liberty on account of having turned state's witness; one having committed suicide; one having been killed in an effort to escape arrest, and one in an attempt to break jail, two having been hanged. The seventh miscreant was still at liberty, but the avenger of blood was on his track.

In July, 1880, James Taggart and Robert Bunting, the latter a brother of Mrs. Perkins, succeeded in getting Tommy Hop-Towne into custody, though in order to do so they found it necessary to disable the Indian and his squaw. The following November the death sentence pronounced upon him so long before was carried into execution and the curtain dropped on the last act of this sanguinary tragedy.

The foregoing narrative is the result of not a little interviewing and research. Captain William vSplawn, John Edwards, Mrs. Cheney, A. J. Chambers, J. H. Conrad, F. Dorsey Schnebly, Mrs. J. P. Beck, Edward Whitson, Mrs. Louisa H. Cary and others have been seen for information, and have very kindly related to us the details, as nearly as they could recall them, of the unfortunate Perkins murder and the trial growing out of it. It is believed that the statements hereinbefore made are substantially correct, though the dearth of printed contemporaneous accounts and official recordshas madeit impossible to be as accurate in statement, as certain of the correct sequence of events, as definite in fixing dates and as full in other minutia; as could be wished.