A Pioneer Country Physician
By DR. ROVIA E. ALEXANDER.
JOSEPH S. NEWMAN, a merchant of Terre Haute, Ind., started in the spring' of 1852 with his family and a train of his own across the plains to Oregon. Mr. Newman was taking a large stock of dry goods to begin a business in the Oregon Territory. When they arrived at the Missouri River they found the stream swollen to many times its normal size. Here our travelers were compelled to await their turn to be ferried over the river. Three weeks elapsed before all of Mr. Newman's train was across. Then the journey in the wilderness began. At long intervals military posts had been established. Hostile Indians roamed about, but Mr. Newman and his men were well armed; so little fear regarding the Indians was felt.
The company journeyed along until a point 250 miles west of Fort Laramie was reached. Here, early one afternoon, they camped on the north bank of the Platte River. The horses and oxen were turned out to feed on the abundant grass. As evening' approached buffalo were seen in the distance. Mr. and Mrs. Newman mounted their fleetest horses and rode in pursuit of the herd. The chase was exciting, and they rode far, but without success. Wearied, they returned to camp. Mr. Newman drank copiously of cold water; that night he was attacked by cholera, and within twenty-four hours was a corpse. Scarcely had his body been laid away when Mrs. Newman became a victim of the dread scourge, but the timely arrival of medical aid saved her life.
Then was enacted one of those events that portray the perfidy of some natures in contrast to the heroic courage of others. While Mrs. Newman was battling for life against the cholera, those miscreants, her hired men, conspired to rob and desert her. Selecting the best teams and taking all the wagons except the one she occupied, they drove away, leaving the prostrated woman and her children by the roadside, hundreds of miles from kindred and friends. But possessed of sublime courage and fully realizing her danger, she was up from her sick bed as soon as strength would permit, and, with the aid of her two stepsons, hastily prepared to return to her friends in Indiana, though roving bands of Indians made this a desperate undertaking. At this juncture an emigrant train came along, which she gladly joined and came on to Oregon. With the aid only of her two boys, 10 and 12 years of age, she managed her teams. Only in places of special difficulty or danger had she to accept assistance from her fellow travelers. Thus the long journey was accomplished. October found her safely housed for the winter in a little log cabin on the banks of the Santiam River. This
