LETTERS OF REV. WM. M. ROBERTS 35
years of age ; a very Chesterfield in appearance and manners, and yet as affable and approachable to the lowly as to the exalted. In the pulpit his elocution was nearly faultless, and his sermons were thoroughly evangelical and charmingly eloquent. He was energetic in execution. Though not a large man, and yet not a small one, physically, when he entered upon his work here, his figure and poise drew the instant attention of the passerby, and introduced him to the favorable regards of the people at once."
The long and useful career of the Rev. William M. Roberts closed August 22, 1888, at the home of his later years, in Dayton, Oregon.
Oregon City Deer 18th 1847 To Rev. Dr. Pitman Cor. Secy ) Miss'y Soc'y of the M. E. Church) Dear Bro.
Afo unexpected event has just transpired in this territory, which at once furnished the occasion and means of communi- cation with the United States. It is the melancholy fact that Dr. Whitman and wife and nine other persons have been cruelly murdered at Waiilatpu.
It is generally known that for several years past the Ameri- can Board has had three Mission Stations in the upper country. One at Tshimakains, where the Rev. Messrs Walker and Eells are located. Another at Clear Water under the care of Rev. Mr. Spaulding : And a third at Waiilatpu, under the Superintendence of Dr. Marcus Whitman, Physician and catechist. This last station is near Fort Walla Walla, and not far from the travelled route from the United States to this Country. In fact many of the Emigrants stop at this place for a time after their toilsome journey and some who are too late or feeble to get in the Walamet Valley, remain there all winter. The Indians in this vicinity, are chiefly, the Cayuses who since the Establishment of the Mission, have become wealthy in cattle and horses and have macle consider- able progress in the tillage of the soil. All the reports I have had from them by the Emigrants of the present season seem
