Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound — John Shaqi
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget SoundDenny, Emily Inez
History
Blazing the Way; Or, True Stories, Songs and Sketches of Puget Sound
Denny, Emily Inez
Indians of North America -- Northwestern States; Oregon Territory -- History; Washington (State) -- History
Noiselessly and swiftly they followed on his track. One shot from the
musket struck him in the back of the head and he fell forward and they
rushed upon him, seized the camp ax and dealt repeated blows; life
extinct, they soon stripped him of coat, shirt, and pantaloons, rifled
the pockets, finding $200 and a few small trinkets, knife or keys. With
the haste of guilt they threw the body still clothed in a suit of
undergarments, behind a big log, among the bushes and hurried away with
their booty, paddling swiftly far up the lake to their camp.
A dark, cloudy night followed and the Indians huddled around a little
fire, ever and anon starting at some sound in the gloomy forest. Already
very superstitious, their guilt made them doubly afraid of imaginary
foes. On a piece of mat in the center of the group lay the money,
revolver, etc., of which they had robbed the unfortunate white man. They
intended to divide them by "slahal," the native game played with
"stobsh" and "slanna" (men and women), as they called the round black
and white disks with which they gambled. A bunch of shredded cedar bark
was brought from the canoe and the game began. All were very skillful
and continued for several hours, until at last they counted the clothes
to one, all the money to another, and the revolver and trifles to the
rest. One of the less fortunate in a very bad humor said "The game was
not good, I don't want this little 'cultus' (worthless) thing."
"O, you are stupid and don't understand it," they answered tauntingly,
thereupon he rolled himself in his blanket and sulked himself to sleep,
while the others sat half dreamily planning what they would do with
their booty.
Very early they made the portage between Lakes Union and Washington and
returned to their homes.
But they did not escape detection.
Only a few days afterward an Indian woman, the wife of Hu-hu-bate-sute
or "Salmon Bay Curley," crossed Lake Union to the black raspberry patch
to gather the berries. Creeping here and there through the thick
undergrowth, she came upon a gruesome sight, the disfigured body of the
murdered white man. Scarcely waiting for a horrified "Achada!" she fled
incontinently to her canoe and paddled quickly home to tell her husband.
Hu-hu-bate-sute went back with her and arrived at the spot, where one
log lay across another, hollowed out the earth slightly, rolled in and
covered the body near the place where it was discovered.
Suspecting it was the work of some wild, reckless Indians he said
nothing about it.
Their ill-gotten gains troubled the perpetrators of the deed, brought
them no good fortune and they began to think there was "tamanuse" about
them; they gave the revolver away, bestowed the small articles on some
unsuspecting "tenas" (children) and gave a part of the money to "Old
Steve," whose Indian name was Stemalyu.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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