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Before "Pa, the dog ate my homework" there was this in Boise, Idaho Territory
RogerB
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The Assay Office in Boise, Idaho was just a little "out of the way" in 1878:
Page 59 of volume
6
RogerB
Posts: 8,852 ✭✭✭✭✭
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Well, I didn't see that coming...
In honor of the memory of Cpl. Michael E. Thompson
I also did not see that coming.
Is that $300,000 turned into $300.00?
Damn Indians again. Always burning the stage.
Wait until you get to Shakespeare.....some of those plays were real barn-burners !
thisistheshow - Nope. $300 took care of May, 1878.
(Linguists might note an inordinate use of the article "the" in this and many contemporary letters.)
Wow... a stage burning that destroyed the payroll.... A tale right out of the old west....Cheers, RickO
Who was riding shotgun on that stage! Pesky Indians.
bob
Think only a warrant was destroyed.
Correct Capt., thanks for the input... Cheers, RickO
Driver was killed:
BANNOCK INDIAN WAR AND THE SHEEPEATERS
For seven years previous to the treaty of 1869, the Bannock Indians had given no trouble. In the late fifties and early sixties they committed a number of depredations, and in 1862, General Conner, with a body of troops from California, administered a defeat to them at Battle Creek, near the present town of Oxford that effectually ended their misbehavior for several years. The bones of Indians killed in this fight are still found in the vicinity.
It was told in a previous chapter how a confusion of the terms Camas and Kansas occurred in the Bannock Indian treaty of 1869. The document stated that the Indians should have a portion of the Kansas prairie, instead of Camas. The two words were synonymous to the Indians, but wise men among the whites foresaw that the mistake would cause future trouble. Accordingly, in the spring of 1873, Mr. John Hailey called on the secretary of the interior and the commissioner of Indian affairs in Washington and urged that the mistake be corrected. As a result a commission of three was appointed to settle all disputed points with the Nez Perce and Bannock Indians, but nothing was accomplished by the embassy. The treaty still read “Kansas” and the Bannocks still believed that they were entitled to a portion of the Camas prairie, where there were no white settlers at that time, and where the Indians roamed at will.
The trouble came in 1878. In May of that year some hogs were herded on Camas prairie and William Silvey, George Nesbet and Lou Kensler drove a band of cattle and horses there to graze. The men camped about ten miles south of Corral Creek crossing. On the twenty-seventh of May, two English-speaking Indians, called Charley and Jim, visited the campers and appeared in every way friendly. They came again early the next morning, ate breakfast with the white men and continued their show of friendliness until Silvey, Nesbet and Kensler had scattered to their several camp duties. Then Indian Charlie, without warning, shot Nesbet through the jaws with a pistol as he was gathering up some dishes from the ground, while Indian Jim fired a shot at Kensler, who was saddling a horse, and grazed the side of his head. Nesbet and Kensler made a dash for their tent, where they seized guns and opened fire on the Indians, who were now shooting at Silvey. They fled before the bullets and Silvey escaped unharmed.
Nesbet was badly wounded. His companions tended his injuries as well as they could, saddled a couple of horses, and started with him for Boise. When they had gone a few miles they looked back and saw a large body of Indians devastating their camp. They gave the alarm as they traveled along toward Boise, which Nesbet was a week in reaching. Upon examination, his mouth was found to be alive with vermin, caused by fly-blows, but Dr. Treadwell cleansed it and sewed his tongue together, and after much suffering Nesbet recovered.
The Indians spent a day in the raided camp on Camas prairie, killing cattle and drying beef, gathering horses and preparing generally for war. Two white men, Mabes and Dempsey, were with them. The latter had lived with the Bannocks for several years and had an Indian wife. The Indians made Dempsey write a letter to Governor Braymen at Boise, threatening to kill settlers and destroy property all over the state, if troops were sent to fight them. They then sent Mabes to deliver the letter, and killed Dempsey.
It was learned later that there was a division among the Indians at this time, some favoring war, and others counseling against it. Buffalo Horn, who was bent on mischief, finally secured a following of some two hundred warriors and a few young Indian women, while the remainder of the Indians returned to the Fort Hall reservation.
Buffalo Horn and his followers next appeared at King Hill station on the Overland stage road. They robbed this place and then raided Glenn’s Ferry, five miles below, on the Snake river, where they destroyed several wagon-loads of merchandise consigned to Boise merchants, and held a big spree on some whiskey they found there. The next day they went on down the river to Bruneau, killing John Bascom and two other men on the way, and two others, Jack Sweeney and a Mr. Hays, whom they found at, or near, Bruneau. The murders would have reached a much higher number had it not been for the alarm spread by Kensler, Nesbet and Silvey, which gave the settlers an opportunity to escape.
In the meantime, W. C. Tatro, who had met the fleeing campers and learned of the outbreak from them, carried the news to Rocky Bar, where a company of volunteers was at once raised by Hon. G. M. Parsons. At the same time, Colonel Bernard, accompanied by Colonel R. Robbins who had rendered valuable services in the Nez Perce war of the previous year, led a body of troops from Boise. Both parties took up the trail of the Indians at Camas Prairie and followed in their tracks.
The people of Silver City in Owyhee County, hearing that a band of hostile Indians was encamped in the mountains to the north, sent a company of twenty-six men, under Captain Harper, to give them battle. The white men were greatly outnumbered and the Indians had the advantage of position. A long and fierce fight ensued, during which Captain Harper lost two men. The result was indecisive, the white men returning to Silver City, and the Indians withdrawing the following day.
When he heard of the Silver City engagement. Col. Bernard hurried thither, and sent Col. Bobbins out with a detachment of men to see why the mail stage, due the day before, had not arrived. They found the stage destroyed by the Indians, and the driver killed. The only passenger had escaped on one of the lead horses of the stage.
At least a passenger escaped to bring the news......
bob
Nice job, there!
Is "Sheepeaters" the correct word? Was the article written by a "cattleman?"
I really liked the term fly-blows (maybe blow-flies?)
bob
I’m just amazed to see 19th century handwriting that I can actually read.
The fair copy was written by a professional clerk. Ordinary handwriting was usually not so clear, and some was indecipherable even by contemporaries.