He had some trouble with distillers, who sometimes set up little stills in out of the way places, and made liquor to intoxicate the Indians. He recalls one case in which he and Doctor Wilson, the judge, traced a distiller out into the woods, back of French Prairie, at DePot’s, and found him over a teakettle, which he used as his still, manufacturing what was called “blue ruin”—a liquor made out of Sandwich Island molasses, and was an article so destructive as to almost relieve the authorities of the necessity of estopping the manufacture—the juice being the executioner of its producer. Of all the characters of the early day, McLoughlin stands out foremost, and overtops all others, in Mr. Matthieu’s recollection. The old chief factor had some of the elements of greatness: “He was the finest man I ever knew,” says Mr. Matthieu, “and there will never be another like him. He did what no other man would do.” With Doctor McLoughlin, Doctor Whitman, whom he greatly respected, he says, “bore no comparison.” McLoughlin had the immense physique, the great voice, and the commanding manner, and also the positive and decisive mind that carried all before him. Many are the incidents that Mr. Matthieu relates illustrating his qualities. Once, he says, an Indian was brought to him charged with committing a gross offense. “Is he guilty?” asked the doctor. “Yes,” they replied, and presented the proof. “Tie him to that cannon,” he replied, pointing to one of the two pieces of artillery that commanded the entrance to the fort. When this was done, he said, “Give him fifteen lashes.” Soon after a white man was brought, charged with the same offense. Doctor McLoughlin made the same inquiries, and finding him guilty administered the same punishment. This illustrates why his authority was so absolute among the Indians. His administration exactly filled their conception of justice. The services of McLoughlin to the immigrants of the year ’42, and later, until he resigned his position as chief factor, are fully vouched for by Mr. Matthieu. The doctor advanced everything needed, and furnished the use of bateaux to any in distress. The concluding portion of the immigrants’ journey, that from The Dalles to Oregon City, was often virtually provided for by McLoughlin. For all these advances, he was held to the last penny by his company, and as Mr. Matthieu learned, he was obliged to render every cent not paid by the immigrants—a sum so large as to very nearly bankrupt the man.