AFTER THE MURDER.
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of that afternoon. No one knew when the last breath left the body of the mistress of Waiilatpu. Ah! it was pitiful to see this pure and gentle woman, this pure and noble man, while in the service of God hewn down and cast into the ditch by other of God's creatures whom to benefit they had lived. In the general compensation it would seem to our poor faculties that the bestowal of the martyr's crown poorly recompensed the heart of Omnipotence for witnessing such atrocities.
It is needless further to describe the butcheries which lasted for several days, or until all the adult males except five, and several boys, were killed, some on their sick-beds, some on their way home from the mill, some in one place and some in another.[1]
- ↑ Mr and Mrs Osborne with their children happened to be in a bedroom of the dwelling at the moment of the attack; and taking up a plank in the floor, they secreted themselves under the house. During the night they escaped, but Mrs Osborne and the children being unable to walk more than 3 miles during the dark hours, and afraid to travel by day, were in danger of starving before they could reach Fort Walla Walla. On Thursday forenoon Osborne arrived there, carrying the youngest child, and was received with hospitality by McBean, the agent in charge; Mrs Osborne being rescued by the help of persons belonging to the fort, who brought the family in on horses. There was much said subsequently about McBean's behavior; and his evident reluctance to harbor the men who had escaped, although he offered to take care of their families, was attributed to his Catholic faith. But I do not think that any one paused to think of sectarian differences then. McBean was afraid the Cayuses might attack the fort were they provoked to it by the presence of Americans, and the fort was not in a condition to withstand a siege. The first man who reached Walla Walla was Hall, who by walking all night arrived there Tuesday morning. A rumor being brought that the women and children were all killed, Hall's reason seemed to give away; but becoming calmer, he decided to attempt going to the Willamette; and being furnished with the dress of a Hudson's Bay employé, as well as ammunition, and every other necessary, set out to travel down the north side of the river to avoid the Cayuses. He proceeded safely until near the rapids at the Des Chutes River where taking a canoe to cross the Columbia he was drowned. Letter of McBean in the Walla Walla Statesman, March 16, 1866. McBean, who of course knew nothing of Hall's failure to cross the Dalks, proposed to Osborne to leave his family with him, and follow Hall's example; but Osborne refused. He would go down the river with his family in a boat with a trusty Indian crew from the fort, but not otherwise. No natives about the fort would take the risk, and therefore Osborne remained. In Brouillet's Authentic Account are the depositions of several persons on this subject; one of Josiah Osborne, who reflects severely on McBean for refusing him the things he demanded for the comfort of his family; but to one acquainted with the simple furnishing of the interior trading posts, these refusals seem natural. McBean could not furnish what he did not have. The truth was, that although McBean was 'below the salt' when compared with other gentlemen in the company he was not by any means a brute but earned more gratitude than he received from the half-de-
