ness among them; and that he had been informed that
Tamsucky, a Cayuse, called The Murderer, intended to kill
him. Spalding seemed not to be apprehensive, probably
because he had so often heard of such threats in^jthe
previous ten years that they had ceased to have much
meaning.
That Dr. Whitman, however, had cause for the agitation noticed by Brouillet, there is evidence not only in his haste to reach home, but in the statement of Spalding, who heard it from the inmates of the mission, that "the doctor and his wife were seen in tears, and much agitated;" from the testimony of Mrs. Saunders that the family were kept sitting up late Sunday night in consultation; and from the fact that there was a certain amount of preparation for, or expectation of danger on the part of those domiciled in the doctor s house, as appears from the events that followed. If the doctor neglected to warn those outside of his house, it was because he had no reason to think they would be included in the fate which threatened him, and judged it better to leave them in peace.
On the following day, being Monday, Joseph Stanfield, the Frenchman, brought in a fat ox from the plains to be slaughtered, and it was shot by Francis Sager, one of the doctor s adopted sons. Kimball, Canfield, and Hoffman were dressing the carcass in the space between the doctor s house and the larger adobe Mansion house. Mr. Saun ders had just collected his pupils for the afternoon session of school ; Mr. Marsh was grinding Spalding s grist in the mill; Gilliland was at work on his tailor s bench in the adobe house,*" Mr. Hall was -laying a floor in a room of the doctor s house; Mr. Rogers was in the garden; Mr. Osborne and family were in the Indian room, which adjoined the doctor s sitting-room; John Sager, still an invalid, was sitting in the kitchen; Mr. Canfield and family occupied the blacksmith shop for a dwelling, and Mr. Sales occupied a bed there, while young Bewley and the sick children were in bed in the two houses. A good ma
