tory of men whom they regarded as transient, whose places they coveted.
There is always presumably a coloring of truth to charges brought against public officers, even when used for party purposes as they were in Oregon. The democracy were united in their determination to see nothing good in the federal appointees, with the exception of Pratt, who besides being a democrat had been sent to them by President Polk. On the other hand there were those who censured Pratt[1] for being what he was in the eyes of the democracy. The governor was held[2] equally objectionable with the judges, first on account of the position he had taken on the capital location question, and again for maintaining Kentucky hospitality, and spending the money of the government freely without consulting any one, and as his enemies chose to believe without any care for the public interests. A sort of gay and fashionable air was imparted to society in Oregon City by the families of the territorial officers and the hospitable Dr McLoughlin,[3] which was a new thing in the Willamette Valley, and provoked not a little jealousy among the more sedate and surly.[4]
- ↑ W. W. Chapman for contempt of court was sentenced by Pratt to twenty days imprisonment and to have his name stricken from the roll of attorneys. It was a political issue. Chapman was assisted by his Portland friends to escape, was rearrested, and on application to Judge Nelson discharged on a writ of error. 32d Cong., 1st Sess., Misc. Doc. 9, 3. See also case of Arthur Fayhie sentenced by Pratt for contempt, in which Nelson listened to a charge by Fayhie of misconduct in office on the part of Pratt, and discharged the prisoner by the advice of Strong.
- ↑ An example of the discourtesy used toward the federal officers was given when the governor was bereaved of his wife by an accident. Mrs Gaines was riding on the Clatsop plains, whither she had gone on an excursion, when her horse becoming frightened at a wagon she was thrown under the wheels, receiving injuries from which she died. The same paper which announced her death attacked the governor with unstinted abuse. Mrs Gaines was a daughter of Nicholas Kincaid of Versailles, Ky. Her mother was Priscilla McBride. She was born March 13, 1800, and married to Gaines June 22, 1819. Or. Spectator, Aug. 19, 1851. About fifteen months after his wife's death, Gaines married Margaret B. Wands, one of the five lady teachers sent to Oregon by Gov. Slade. Or. Statesman, Nov. 27, 1851.
- ↑ Mrs M. E. Wilson in Or. Sketches, MS., 19.
- ↑ Here is what one says of Oregon City society at the time: All was oddity. 'Clergymen so eccentric as to have been thrown over by the board on account of their queerness, had found their way hither, and fought their way among peculiar people, into positions of some kind. People were odd
