land, Mr. Marsh, Mr. Saunders, and Mr. Hoffman. The next day Mr. Kimball and Mr. Young were killed, and several days later two young- men. named Crockett Bewley and Amos Sales, who had been spared for some reason, were added to the list of slain, and two little children, one of the Sager children and Helen Mar. the daughter of Joe Meek, were allowed to die of neglect. A man named Hall made his escape to Fort Walla Walla, and instead of remaining there in safety insisted on being ferried across the river on his way to The Dalles. He was never heard of afterward, and was either killed or drowned in trying to cross some stream. This made the total number of the victims of Indian cruelty sixteen.
No account of this massacre has ever been written that was not disputed by some of the parties to the Fitter sectarian controversies that followed for many years, and to this date no agreement has been reached.
I have read carefully the different statements published soon after the massacre, and during the succeeding quarter century — Spalding's, Gray's, Brouillet's, J. Ross Browne's—and an immense mass of transient accounts of the same, and at this time declare unhesitatingly that I do not believe the Hudson's Bay Company's people were in any manner directly or intentionally responsible for the Whitman massacre. He and all other missionaries. Congregational. Presbyterian. Methodist and Catholic alike, at all times and at all places, were treated with kindness and with generous hospitality, which was boundless. At the company's stations, and on their travels in the Indian country, they were aided by the company's officers, and particular pains were taken to impress upon the minds of the Indians that the safety and comfort of the missionaries were desired at their hands. It is a fact that most of the officers of the company were Catholics, and that nearly all the subordinates were of the same faith, and that while all were welcomed and cared for most generously, still it was quite natural that the Catholic priests were shown greater deference and were accepted as friends while the others were guests. The Indians were quick to observe this nice distinction. The Catholic priests appeared in their black gowns and carrying with them the emblems of their service; they were received with great respect by the officers and warmly welcomed by the employes of the company. The Hudson's Bay Company was the highest corporeal power known to the Indians. Its officers enunciated the law and enforced it with iron hands
