Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 8.djvu/371

RECOLLECTIONS OF AN INDIAN AGENT. 363 historian as a reason for such hostility. Presumably he knew of none or he would have recorded the fact. There was one, however, well known to the members of the train in which the first casualty occurred. The Patterson train arrived at Rock Creek on the south side of Snake River about the middle of July. Dr. Patterson, as camp hunter, had preceded the train and, finding a small party of Indians encamped upon the best place on the creek, he ordered them off. They did not heed or maybe did not understand his commands, and he brought his shotgun into play, pointing it at them and at last firing it over their heads. Thereupon they took hasty leave and the next morning at dawn, one of the guards, a Mr. Black from Indiana, was shot through the abdomen while standing before the camp fire. The same morning two others in trains near by were slightly wounded. Our train, Mac Alexander's, arrived at the Rock Creek camp the evening of that day, and we saw Mr. Black, ex- amined his wound and heard from members of the train the recital given above. I heard the story from several of the company and there was no material difference. There seemed to be no excuse for Patterson, although all agreed that he intended no bodily harm to the Indians. I wrote it down at the time, as did my mother, who included it in letters to friends East, and it is a little strange that it did not get into print. I have a letter before me from the Hon. John N. Davis, of Marion County, Oregon, who claims to be the only survivor of the Patterson train. He writes from memory and cannot give the exact date of the occurrence, but says it was about the middle of July, and he gives the first name of Mr. Black (Presly), which I never knew, and also stated that he lived seventeen days afterwards and was buried on Birch Creek. I can corroborate Mr. Davis 's memory as to the latter, for I was present at his deathbed and assisted to bury him on Birch Creek. Mr. Davis goes a little more into details concerning Patterson's reasons for driving the Indians away than were given to me at that time, and his account makes the conduct of Patterson appear in a worse light. I quote that portion