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diff --git a/6604.txt b/6604.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..08ead06 --- /dev/null +++ b/6604.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3603 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Months in the Camp of Big Bear, by +Theresa Gowanlock and Theresa Delaney + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Two Months in the Camp of Big Bear + +Author: Theresa Gowanlock + Theresa Delaney + + +Release Date: October, 2004 [EBook #6604] +This file was first posted on December 31, 2002 +Last Updated: June 20, 2013 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO MONTHS IN THE CAMP OF BIG BEAR *** + + + + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. This file was produced +from images generously made available by the Canadian +Institute for Historical Microreproductions + + + + + + + + + +TWO MONTHS IN THE CAMP OF BIG BEAR. + +The Life and Adventures Of Theresa Gowanlock and Theresa Delaney + +By Theresa Gowanlock and Theresa Delaney + + + +CONTENTS. + + + +PART I. + +INTRODUCTION +WE LEAVE ONTARIO +INCIDENTS AT BATTLEFORD +ON TO OUR HOME +AT HOME +WOOD AND PLAIN INDIANS +THE MASSACRE +WITH THE INDIANS +PROTECTED BY HALF-BREEDS +THEY TAKE FORT PITT +COOKING FOR A LARGE FAMILY +INCIDENTS BY THE WAY +DANCING PARTIES +ANOTHER BATTLE +INDIAN BOYS +HOPE ALMOST DEFERRED +OUT OF BIG BEAR'S CAMP +RESCUED +WE LEAVE FOR HOME +AT HOME +TO ONE OF THE ABSENT +SHOT DOWN. +J. A. GOWANLOCK. +W. C. GILCHRIST. + + +PART II. + +PREFACE. +MY YOUTH AND EARLY LIFE. +MY MARRIAGE LIFE. +THE NORTH-WEST TROUBLES. +CONCLUSION. +FATHER FAFARD. +THE SASKATCHEWAN STREAM. +MR. DILL. + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS. + + +THE SCENE OF THE MASSACRE. +MRS GOWANLOCK. +SQUAW CARRYING WOOD. +WANDERING SPIRIT. +MR GOWANLOCK'S HOUSE, STORE AND MILL. +MR. GOWANLOCK. +MR. GILCHRIST. +THE WAR DANCE. +FROG LAKE SETTLEMENT. +MRS DELANEY. +MR DELANEY. +THE RESCUE. +FATHER FAFARD. +MR. DILL. + + + + + +PART I. + + + +INTRODUCTION. + + +It is not the desire of the author of this work to publish the incidents +which drenched a peaceful and prosperous settlement in blood, and +subjected the survivors to untold suffering and privations at the hands +of savages, in order to gratify a morbid craving for notoriety. During +all my perils and wanderings amid the snow and ice of that trackless +prairie, the hope that nerved me to struggle on, was, that if rescued, +I might within the sacred precincts of the paternal hearth, seek +seclusion, where loving hands would help me to bear the burden of my +sorrow, and try to make me forget at times, if they could not completely +efface from my memory, the frightful scenes enacted around that prairie +hamlet, which bereft me of my loved one, leaving my heart and fireside +desolate for ever. Prostrated by fatigue and exposure, distracted by the +constant dread of outrage and death, I had well-nigh abandoned all hope +of ever escaping from the Indians with my life, but, as the darkness of +the night is just before the dawn, so my fears which had increased until +I was in despair, God in his inscrutible way speedily calmed, for +while I was brooding over and preparing for my impending fate, a sudden +commotion attracted my attention and in less time than it takes to +write it, I was free. From that moment I received every kindness and +attention, and as I approached the confines of civilization, I became +aware of how diligently I had been sought after, and that for weeks I +had been the object of the tenderest solicitude, not only of my friends +and relations, but of the whole continent. + +There have appeared so many conflicting statements in the public press +regarding my capture and treatment while with the Indians, that it is my +bounden duty to give to the public a truthful and accurate description +of my capture, detention and misfortunes while captive in the camp of +Big Bear. The task may be an irksome one and I might with justice +shrink from anything which would recall the past. Still it is a debt of +gratitude I owe to the people of this broad dominion. To the brave men +who sacrificed their business and comfort and endured the hardships +incident to a soldier's life, in order to vindicate the law. And to the +noble men and women who planned for the comfort and supplied the wants +of the gallant band who had so nobly responded to the call of duty and +cry for help. And I gladly embrace this opportunity of showing to the +public and especially the ladies, my appreciation of their kindness and +sympathy in my bereavement, and their noble and disinterested efforts +for my release. In undertaking a task which has no pleasures for me, and +has been accomplished under the most trying difficulties and with the +greatest physical suffering, I have embodied in the narrative a few of +the manners and customs of Indians, the leading features of the country, +only sufficient to render it clear and intelligible. I make no apology +for issuing this volume to the public as their unabated interest make it +manifest that they desire it, and I am only repaying a debt of gratitude +by giving a truthful narrative to correct false impressions, for their +kindness and sympathy to me. + +I trust the public will receive the work in the spirit in which it is +given and any literary defects which it may have, and I am sure there +are many, may be overlooked, as I am only endeavoring to rectify error, +instead of aspiring to literary excellence. I express my sincere +and heartfelt thanks to the half-breeds who befriended me during my +captivity, and to the friends and public generally who sheltered and +assisted me in many ways and by many acts of kindness and sympathy, and +whose attention was unremitting until I had reached my destination. + +And now I must bid the public a grateful farewell and seek my wished for +seclusion from which I would never have emerged but to perform a public +duty. + +THERESA GOWANLOCK. + +MRS. GOWANLOCK + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +WE LEAVE ONTARIO. + + +We left my father's house at Tintern on the 7th of October, 1884, having +been married on the 1st, for Parkdale, where we spent a few days with my +husband's friends. We started for our home on the 10th by the Canadian +Pacific Railway to Owen Sound, thence by boat to Port Arthur, and then +on to Winnipeg by rail, where we stopped one night, going on the next +day to Regina. We only stopped in that place one day, taking rail again +to Swift Current, arriving there the same day. This ended our travel by +the locomotion of steam. + +After taking in a supply of provisions we made a start for Battleford, +distant 195 miles, by buckboard over the prairie, which stretches out +about 130 miles in length, and for the remaining 55 miles there are +clumps of trees or bluffs as they are called, scattered here and there. +Our journey over this part was very pleasant, the weather was fine and +the mode of travelling, which was new to me, delightful. Our company, +consisted in addition to ourselves, of only one person, Mr. Levalley, a +gentleman from Ottawa. We passed four nights under canvas. The journey +was not a lonely one, the ships of the prairie were continually on +the go, we passed several companies of freighters with harnessed oxen, +half-breeds and Indians. It was also full of incident and adventure; on +one occasion, when cooking our tea, we set fire to the prairie, although +we worked hard to put it out, it in a very few minutes spread in a +most alarming manner, and entirely beyond our control, and we let it +go looking on enjoying the scene. Upon nearing Battleford a number of +half-famished squaws came to us begging for something to eat, but we +were not in a position, unfortunately, to supply their wants, on account +of our larder having run dry. We entered Battleford on the 19th of +October. + +The town of Battleford is situated on the Battle river. The old on +one side, the new on the other, in the direction of the fort. When the +Indians plundered that place it was the town on the south bank. The +houses on the opposite bank were protected by the guns at the fort. My +husband had a store on the north bank in the direction of the fort. + +The town is very scattered, covering a large area of ground, it is +verily a place of distances and quite in keeping with the north-west +generally. There are a few fine houses in the place, notably, the +industrial home for Indian children and the residence of Judge Rolleau. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +INCIDENTS AT BATTLEFORD + + +I remained at Battleford six weeks, while my husband went to Frog Creek, +(where he had thirteen men working on the house and mills,) and +while there I became initiated into the manners and customs of the +inhabitants. A few incidents which happened during my stay might be +interesting to the reader, therefore, I will jot them down as they come +to mind. + +After our arrival the Indians and squaws came to see me and would go +and tell some of the others to come and see the monias, (squaw) and when +they saw my husband they asked him why he did not live with her, and if +she was well; and one day I walked with him over to where he was keeping +store before he went west and the Indians came in and shook hands, and +laughed, and the squaws thought my costume was rather odd and not in +keeping with that of the fashionable north-western belle. The squaws +cut off about three yards of print and make the skirt; while others take +flour sacks and cut holes through for the waist and have leggings and +moccasins; they would disdain to wear such an article as hose. + +They are quite adepts in the art of tanning. I saw them tanning leather; +they took the skin and put something on it, I do not know what it was, +and put it in the sun for a few days, then with a small sharp iron +fastened on a long handle, they scraped the skin with this until very +smooth, and greased it over and put it in the sun again for some time, +afterwards two squaws pulled it until nice and soft, and then it was +ready for use. + +One afternoon I was out shopping and on my way home I saw some little +Indian children coasting down hill on an earthen plate, but before +getting to the end of the hill, to their evident surprise the plate +broke and they commenced crying because it was broken and went back and +got another one, and so on until they thought they would try tin plates, +and the little friend that was with me, Effie Laurie, took the tin plate +from them and sat down on it herself and went down the hill, and they +looked so astonished to think that a white woman would do such a thing. + +Another time on going out while two men were crossing the bridge over +Battle river; a horse broke through and was killed and the squaws +gathered around it taking the skin off, while others carried some of +the carcass away, and I asked what they were going to do with it, and +my husband said "they will take it home and have a big feast and if the +meat has been poisoned they will boil it for a long time, changing the +water, and in this way anything that was poisonous would not affect +them." + +The way the Indians get their wood, they send their squaws to the bush +to cut the wood and they take a rope and tie around as much as they can +carry, and hang it on their backs. Those who have dogs to carry the wood +for them tie two long sticks together, fastening them on the dog's back, +then tying a large bundle of wood on the back part of the cross sticks +by that means the squaw is relieved from the task. The squaws perform +all manual labor, while the big, lazy, good-for-nothing Indian lolls +about in idleness. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +ON TO OUR HOME. + + +At the end of six weeks my husband returned from the west, and with many +pleasant recollections of Battleford, we left for our own home, which +I had pictured in my mind with joyous anticipation, as the place of +our continued happiness: a beautiful oasis, in that land of prairie and +sparse settlement, and with a buoyancy of spirit which true happiness +alone can bring, I looked forward with anticipated pleasure, which made +that little log house appear to me, a palace, and we its king and queen. + +On this last part of our journey we were favored with the company of +Mr. Ballentyne of Battleford who went with us, and after the first day's +travelling, we stopped all night at a half-breed's house, where they +had a large fire-place made of mud, which was just like a solid piece +of stone; they had a bright fire, and everything appeared nice and tidy +within; a woman was making bannock, and when she had the dough prepared, +she took a frying pan and put the cake in and stood it up before the +fire. This is the way they do all their baking, and then she fried some +nice white fish and hung a little kettle on a long iron hook over the +fire, put in potatoes, and boiled the tea-kettle, making the tea in it +too. She then spread a white cloth over the table and we all enjoyed our +supper together after the long ride. The squaw gave us a nice clean bed +to sleep in, making theirs on the floor and in the morning I saw four +little children crawling out from under the bed where we slept, and my +husband looked up at me and laughed, and said, "that is where children +sleep up in _this country_." Their ways appeared very strange to me, and +in the morning before going away, they gave us a warm breakfast. + +We travelled all the next day and camped that night. We had a small +tin stove which is part of a camping outfit, and which smoked very much +while cooking. We had great trouble to know how we would obtain a light, +but we had a candle and we lighted that, and then we had nothing to hold +it in, but as necessity is the mother of invention, we found a way out +of the difficulty; we took a pocket knife that had two blades, and stuck +one blade in the tent pole and opened the other half way, fastening the +candle into the blade, which answered the purpose and enabled us to +see while we ate our supper. We then turned down our beds, and in a +few minutes were fast asleep. When morning came we had breakfast, and +travelled on again. Mr. Ballentyne shot some prairie chickens and we had +them for our dinner, which was a great treat to me. We arrived at Fort +Pitt on the tenth, bidding Mr. Ballentyne good-bye, stopped at Mr. +McLean's all night, where we enjoyed a very pleasant evening. + +The next morning we left for Onion Lake, where we were welcomed by Mr. +Mann and family, and after a night's rest proceeded on our journey +to Frog Lake, reaching there on the 12th. We went to Mr. and Mrs. +Delaney's, who kindly allowed me to stop there until my husband fixed +up some articles of furniture at our own house two miles further on and +south-west of the Lake. + +After arriving at Mrs. Delaney's, my husband left me and went down to +the house to work, on Saturday evening he came back. On Sunday morning +Mr. Quinn came over and asked us to go for a drive, we accepted the +invitation. It was a bright frosty morning; he took us to our little +home that I had not yet seen. On hearing the men singing who were +employed at the mill, we drove down to their cooking tent, where we +found Mr. Gilchrist cooking breakfast for fourteen men. They had a large +cooking stove inside, with a long board table; the table was covered +with tin plates and cups. They had rabbit soup, and bread and coffee for +breakfast; after getting ourselves warm we drove back to Mr. Delaney's. +On the following Thursday my husband drove up and took me to our home, +where all was in beautiful order, and Mr. Gilchrist waiting for our +arrival. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +AT HOME. + + +Now we are at home and I am thankful. There they nestle in a pretty +valley, the simple house, the store, and beside the brook, the mill. The +music of the workman's hammer alone breaks the stillness that pervades +the scene, and the hills send back the echo without a discordant note. +The hills were covered with trees, principally poplar and spruce, +interspersed with berry-bearing shrubs. A most beautiful and enchanting +location. + +That little settlement of our own was situated upon Frog Creek, about +three miles west of the lake of the same name, and distant from the Frog +Lake Settlement, our nearest white neighbours, about two miles. But we +had neighbours close by, who came in to see us the next day, shaking +hands and chatting to us in Cree, of which language we knew but little. +The Indians appeared to be very kind and supplied us with white fish +twice a week which they procured from the river for which in return we +gave sugar, tea, prints, &c., from the store. Christmas and New Year's +were celebrated in about the same manner that they are amongst us +civilized people. Both Indians and squaws put on their good clothes, +which at the best of times is very scant, and do their calling. They +salute the inmates of each house they enter with a congratulatory shake, +expecting to be kissed in return. Just think of having to kiss a whole +tribe of Indians in one day, that part we would rather do by proxy. We +would not countenance it in any way. On Christmas day we went out for +a walk along Frog Creek; on our way we came to where two little Indian +children were catching rabbits with a snare, they stepped to one side +and let us pass, and were delighted to have us watching them while +catching their game; and further on some of the squaws had holes cut in +the ice, and having a sharp hook were catching fish. In this way they +get fish all winter, and to look at these "shrimpy-looking" women +trotting along with their brown babies slung in a sort of loose pocket +dangling away behind their backs, it was comical in the extreme, they +would stop and look and laugh at us, our appearance being so very +different to their own dark skin and sharp eyes. They wear their hair +hanging, strung with brass beads, and have small pieces of rabbit fur +tied in; and the men wear theirs cut very short in front, hanging over +their brows, and ornaments of every description. These people don't set +at table on chairs, rich or poor; they squat down on their feet in a +fashion that would soon tire us exceedingly. Then at night they wrap +themselves up in a blanket, lie down and sleep as soundly as we would in +our warm feather bed and blankets. + +My husband and the men worked hard during the next two months on the +mill in order to get it finished before the spring set in. As far as the +weather was concerned it was very favourable for working. The men lost +no time from the cold. During that period the thermometer ranged from +zero to 60? below but the air was so clear and bracing that the cold +was never felt. I have experienced more severe weather in Ontario than +I ever did in this part. I have heard of north-west blizzards, but +they are confined to the prairie and did not reach us. It is the most +beautiful country I ever saw with its towering hills, majestic rivers, +beautiful flowers and rolling land. I had made up my mind to see nothing +but frost, ice and snow, but was agreeably disappointed. + +Nothing of an eventful nature transpired, during those two months, +the mill was about completed and Williscraft and the other men were +discharged with the exception of Mr. Gilchrist, who assisted my husband. +The machinery was all in position and everything done but finishing up, +when on the 17th of March, two men, strangers, made their appearance at +the mill and asked for employment. They said they were weary and worn +and had left Duck Lake in order to avoid the trouble that was brewing +there. One was Gregory Donaire and the other Peter Blondin, my husband +took pity on them and gave them employment. They worked for us until the +massacre. They were continually going too and fro among the Indians, and +I cannot but believe, that they were cognizant of everything that was +going on, if not responsible in a great degree for the murders which +were afterwards committed. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +WOOD AND PLAIN INDIANS. + + +The Indians are in their habits very unclean and filthy. They will not +in the least impress anyone to such an extent that they would be willing +to forego the restrictions of civilized life, and enter upon the free +life of the red man. + +The Indians living on the reserve in the neighbourhood of Frog Creek are +known as the Wood Crees, they were all peaceable and industrious, and +were becoming proficient in the art of husbandry. They lived in the log +cabins in the winter, but in the summer they took to their tents. They +numbered about 200 persons. They appeared satisfied with their position +which was much better than what falls to the lot of other Indians. They +did not take part in the massacre, nor where they responsible for it in +any way. + +The Plain Crees are composed of the worst characters from all the tribes +of that name. They were dissatisfied, revengeful, and cruel, they could +not be persuaded to select their reserve until lately, and then they +would not settle upon it. Their tastes lay in a direction the opposite +to domestic; they were idle and worthless, and were the Indians who +killed our dear ones on that ever to be remembered 2nd of April. Those +same Indians were constantly fed by Mr. Delaney and my husband. The +following correspondence will show how he treated those ungrateful +characters:--Big Bear's Indians were sent up to Frog Lake, it is said, +by Governor Dewdney who told them, if they would go there, they would +never be hungry, but last winter their rations were stopped, and they +had to work to get provisions, or starve. They would go around to the +settlers houses and ask for something to eat, and Mr. Delaney would +give those Indians rations, paying for them out of his own salary. Gov. +Dewdney wrote a letter stating that he must stop it at once; but he did +not listen to him and kept on giving to them until the outbreak. And the +very men he befriended were the ones who hurled him into sudden death. + +Big Bear was only nominally the chief of this tribe, the ruling power +being in the hands of Wandering Spirit, a bad and vicious man, +who exercised it with all the craft and cunning of an accomplished +freebooter. + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE MASSACRE. + +Now come the dreadful scenes of blood and cruel death. The happy life +is changed to one of suffering and sorrow. The few months of happiness I +enjoyed with the one I loved above all others was abruptly closed--taken +from me--for ever--it was cruel, it was dreadful. When I look back to it +all, I often wonder, is it all a dream, and has it really taken place. +Yes, the dream is too true; it is a terrible reality, and as such will +never leave my heart, or be effaced from off my mind. + +The first news we heard of the Duck Lake affair was on the 30th of +March. Mr. Quinn, the Indian Agent at Frog Lake, wrote a letter to us +and sent it down to our house about twelve o'clock at night with John +Pritchard, telling my husband and I to go up to Mr. Delaney's on Tuesday +morning, and with his wife go on to Fort Pitt, and if they saw any +excitement they would follow. We did not expect anything to occur. When +we got up to Mr. Delaney's we found the police had left for Fort Pitt. +Big Bear's Indians were in the house talking to Mr. Quinn about the +trouble at Duck Lake, and saying that Poundmaker the chief at Battleford +wanted Big Bear to join him but he would not, as he intended remaining +where he was and live peaceably. They considered Big Bear to be a better +man than he was given credit for. + +On the 1st of April they were in, making April fools of the white people +and shaking hands, and they thought I was frightened and told me not +to be afraid, because they would not hurt us. My husband left me at +Mr. Delaney's and went back to his work at the mill, returning in the +evening with Mr. Gilchrist. We all sat talking for some time along with +Mr. Dill, who had a store at Frog Lake and Mr. Cameron, clerk for the +Hudson Bay Company. We all felt perfectly safe where we were, saying +that as we were so far away from the trouble at Duck Lake, the +Government would likely come to some terms with them and the affair +be settled at once. The young Chief and another Indian by the name of +Isador said if anything was wrong among Big Bear's band they would come +and tell us; and that night Big Bear's braves heard about it and watched +them all night to keep them from telling us. We all went to bed not +feeling in any way alarmed. About five o'clock in the morning a rap came +to the door and Mr. Delaney went down stairs and opened it, and John +Pritchard and one of Big Bear's sons by the name of Ibesies were there. + +Pritchard said "There trouble." + +Mr. Delaney said "Where?" + +Pritchard "_Here_! Our horses are all gone, the Indians deceived us, and +said that some half-breeds from Edmonton had come in the night and had +taken them to Duck Lake, but Big Bear's band has taken them and hid +them, I am afraid it is all up." + +My husband and I got up, and Mrs. Delaney came down stairs with a +frightened look. In a few minutes Big Bear's Indians were all in the +house, and had taken all the arms from the men saying they were going +to protect us from the half-breeds, and then we felt we were being +deceived. They took all the men over to Mr. Quinn's, and my husband and +I were sitting on the lounge, and an Indian came in and took him by the +arm saying He wanted him to go too; and he said to Mrs. Delaney and I +"do not to be afraid, while I go with this Indian." We stopped in the +house, and while they were gone some of the Indians came in and went +through the cupboard to find something to eat. They opened the trap door +to go down cellar, but it was very dark, and they were afraid to venture +down. Then the men came back and Mrs. Delaney got breakfast. We all sat +down, but I could not eat, and an Indian asked Mr. Gowanlock to tell me +not to be afraid, they would not hurt us, and I should eat plenty. After +breakfast they took us out of the house and escorted us over to the +church; my husband taking my arm, Mr. and Mrs. Delaney were walking +beside us. When we got to the church the priests were holding mass; it +was Holy Thursday, and as we entered the door, Wandering Spirit sat on +his knees with his gun; he was painted, and had on such a wicked look. +The priests did not finish the service on account of the menacing manner +of the Indians; they were both around and inside the church. We were all +very much frightened by their behaviour. They then told us to go out of +the church, and took us back to Mr. Delaney's, all the Indians going in +too. We stopped there for awhile and an Indian came and told us to come +out again, and my husband came to me and said "you had better put your +shawl around you, for its very cold, perhaps we will not be gone long." +We all went out with the Indians. They were going through all the +stores. Everything was given to them, and they got everything they could +wish for and took us up the hill towards their camp. We had only gone +but a short distance from the house when we heard the reports of guns, +but thought they were firing in the air to frighten us; but they had +shot Quinn, Dill and Gilchrist, whom I did not see fall. Mr. and Mrs. +Delaney were a short distance ahead of my husband, I having my husband's +arm. Mr. Williscraft, an old grey-headed man about seventy-five years +of age came running by us, and an Indian shot at him and knocked his hat +off, and he turned around and said, _"Oh! don't shoot! don't shoot!"_ +But they fired again, and he ran screaming and fell in some bushes. On +seeing this I began crying, and my husband tried to comfort me, saying, +"my _dear_ wife be _brave_ to the end," and immediately an Indian behind +us fired, and my husband fell beside me his arm pulling from mine. I +tried to assist him from falling. He put out his arms for me and fell, +and I fell down beside him and buried my face on his, while his life +was ebbing away so quickly, and was prepared for the next shot myself, +thinking I was going with him too. But death just then was not ordained +for me. I had yet to live. An Indian came and took me away from my dying +husband side, and I refused to leave. Oh! to think of leaving my _dear_ +husband lying there for those cruel Indians to dance around. I begged +of the Indian to let me stay with him, but he took my arm and pulled me +away. Just before this, I saw Mr. Delaney and a priest fall, and Mrs. +Delaney was taken away in the same manner that I was. I still looking +back to where my poor husband was lying dead; the Indian motioned to +where he was going to take me, and on we went. I thought my heart would +break; I would rather have died with my husband and been at rest. + + "A rest that is sure for us all, + But sweeter to some." + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +WITH THE INDIANS. + + +Hardly knowing how I went or what I did, I trudged along in a half +conscious condition. Led a captive into the camp of Big Bear by one of +his vile band. Taken through brush and briar, a large pond came to view, +we did not pass it by, he made me go through the water on that cold 2nd +of April nearly to my waist. I got so very weak that I could not walk +and the Indian pulled me along, in this way he managed to get me to his +tepee. On seeing Mrs. Delaney taken away so far from me, I asked the +Indian to take me to her; and he said _"No, No,"_ and opening the tent +shoved me in. A friendly squaw put down a rabbit robe for me to sit on; +I was shivering with the cold; this squaw took my shoes and stockings +off and partly dried them for me. Their tepees consisted of long poles +covered with smoke-stained canvas with two openings, one at the top for +a smoke hole and the other at the bottom for a door through which I had +to crawl in order to enter. In the centre they have their fire; this +squaw took a long stick and took out a large piece of beef from the +kettle and offered it to me, which I refused, as I could not eat +anything after what I had gone through. + +Just then Big Bear's braves came into the tent; there were nearly thirty +of them, covered with war paint, some having on my husband's clothes, +and all giving vent to those terrible yells, and holding most murderous +looking instruments. They were long wooden clubs. At one end were set +three sharp shining knife blades. They all looked at me as I eyed those +weapons (and they well matched the expression of their cruel mouths and +develish eyes) thinking my troubles would soon be over I calmly awaited +the result. But they sat down around me with a bottle full of something +that looked like water, passing it from one Indian to the other, so I +put on a brave look as if I was not afraid of them. After this they all +went out and the most bloodcurdling yells that ever pierced my ears +was their war-whoop, mingled with dancing and yelling and cutting most +foolish antics. + +I saw a little baby that I thought must be dead, lying in one part of +the tent, they had it done up in a moss bag. I will try and give an idea +of what it was like: they take a piece of cloth having it large at the +top, and cut it around where the feet should be, and on both sides, of +this little bag they have loops of very fine leather, then they have a +small thin cushion laid on this, the length of the child, and three or +four pieces of different colored flannels, then they dress the baby in a +thin print gown and put it in this bag, and its little legs are put down +just as straight as a needle, covered over with moss, which they first +heat very hot; then the arms are put down in the same way and the +flannels are wrapped around very tight and then they lace the bag up, +and all that can be seen is the little brown face peeping out. + +Just then Pritchard's little girl came in where I was; she could talk a +few words of English. I asked her where her pa was, and she said that he +was putting up a tent not far away, and then I had some hope of getting +from the Indians. + +After I had been there for four hours, Louis Goulet and Andre Nault came +in, and Goulet said to me "Mrs. Gowanlock if you will give yourself over +to the half-breeds, they will not hurt you; Peter Blondin has gone down +to where the mill is, and when he comes back he will give his horse for +you." I asked them to interpret it to the Indians in order to let me go +to Pritchard's tent for awhile, and the Indians said that she could +go with this squaw. I went and was overjoyed to see Mrs. Delaney there +also. After getting in there I was unconscious for a long time, and upon +coming to my senses, I found Mrs. Pritchard bathing my face with cold +water. When Blondin came back he gave his horse and thirty dollars for +Mrs. Delaney and me. He put up a tent and asked me to go with him, but +I refused; and he became angry and did everything he could to injure me. +That man treated me most shamefully; if it had not been for Pritchard I +do not know what would have become of me. Pritchard was kinder than any +of the others. + +After I had been a prisoner three days, Blondin came and asked me if I +could ride horse back, and I said "yes," and he said if I would go with +him, he would go and take two of the best horses that Big Bear had and +desert that night. I told him I would _never_ leave Pritchard's tent +until we all left, saying "I would go and drown myself in the river +before I would go with him." + +Late that same night a French Canadian by the name of Pierre came into +the tent, and hid himself behind us, he said the Indians wanted to shoot +him, and some one told him to go and hide himself, ultimately one of the +half-breeds gave a horse to save his life. Mrs. Pritchard told him not +to stay in there. She did not want to see any more men killed, and one +of the half-breeds took him away and he was placed under the protection +of the Wood Crees. This man had been working with Goulet and Nault all +winter getting out logs about thirty miles from Frog Lake. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +PROTECTED BY HALF-BREEDS. + + +On the 3rd of April Big Bear came into our tent and sitting down beside +us told us he was very sorry for what had happened, and cried over it, +saying he knew he had so many bad men but had no control over them. He +came very often to our tent telling us to "eat and sleep plenty, they +would not treat us like the white man. The white man when he make +prisoner of Indian, he starve him and cut his hair off." He told us he +would protect us if the police came. The same day Big Bear's braves +paid our tent another visit, they came in and around us with their guns, +knives and tomahawks, looking at us so wickedly. + +Pritchard said, "For God sake let these poor women live, they can do no +harm to you: let them go home to their friends." + +The leaders held a brief consultation. + +An Indian stood up and pointing to the heavens said, "We promise by God +that we will not hurt these white women; we will let them live." + +They then left the tent. + +Every time I saw one of Big Bear's Indians coming in, I expected it was +to kill us, or take us away from the tent, which would have been _far +worse_ than death to _me_. + +But they did not keep their word. + +On the third night (Saturday, the 4th April,) after our captivity, two +Indians came in while all the men and Mrs. Delaney were asleep, I heard +them, and thought it was Pritchard fixing the harness, he usually sat up +to protect us. + +A match was lighted and I saw two of the most hedious looking Indians +looking over and saying where is the _Monias_ squaw, meaning the white +women. I got so frightened I could not move, but Mrs. Delaney put out +her foot and awakened Mrs. Pritchard, and she wakened her husband, and +he started up and asked what they wanted, and they said they wanted to +take the white women to their tent, and I told Pritchard they could +kill me before I would go, and I prayed to God to help me. Pritchard and +Adolphus Nolin gave their blankets and dishes and Mrs. Pritchard, took +the best blanket off her bed to give to them and they went off, and in +the morning the Wood Crees came in and asked if those Indians took much +from us, and Pritchard told them "No"; the Indians wanted to make them +give them back. After that Pritchard and other half-breeds protected us +from night to night for we were not safe a single minute. + +During the two days which had passed, the bodies of the men that were +murdered had not been buried. They were lying on the road exposed to the +view of everyone. The half-breeds carried them off the road to the side, +but the Indians coming along dragged them out again. It was dreadful +to see the bodies of our _poor dear_ husbands dragged back and forth by +those demoniac savages. + +On Saturday the day before Easter, we induced some half-breeds to take +our husbands' bodies and bury them. They placed them, with those of the +priests, under the church. The Indians would not allow the other bodies +to be moved. And dreadful to relate those inhuman wretches set fire +to the church, and with yelling and dancing witnessed it burn to the +ground. The bodies, I afterwards heard, were charred beyond recognition. + +Upon seeing what was done the tears ran profusely down our cheeks and I +thought my very heart would break. All the comfort we received from +that unfeeling band was, "that's right, cry plenty, we have killed your +husbands and we will soon have you." + +On Easter Sunday night there was a heavy thunder storm and before +morning it turned cold and snowed; the tent pole broke, coming down +within an inch of my head, the snow blowing in and our bedding all +covered with it and nothing to keep us warm. I got up in the morning and +found my shoes all wet and frozen, and the Indians came in and told us +what they saw in the heavens. They saw a church and a man on a large +black horse with his arm out and he looked so angry, and they said God +must be angry with them for doing such a thing; the half-breeds are as +superstitious as the Indians. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +THEY TAKE FORT PITT. + + +The morning of the 6th of April was a memorable one. Something unusual +was going to take place from the excited state of the camp. Everyone was +on the go. I was in a short time made acquainted with the reason. It +was more blood, more butchery, and more treachery. And oh! such a sight +presented itself to my eyes. The Indians were all attired in full war +habiliments. They had removed their clothes. A girdle around their +waists, was all--and their paint--every shade and color. Heads with +feathers, and those, who had killed a white, with quills. A quill for +every man scalped. Eyes painted like stars, in red, yellow and green; +faces, arms, legs and bodies elaborately decorated, and frescoed in +all their savage beauty, with bars, spots, rings and dots. Brandishing +tomahawks, bludgeons and guns; flinging and firing them in every +direction, accompanied with yells and whoops; a most hideous and +terrible sight. They embraced their wives and children, and the command +was given to start for Fort Pitt. In order to swell their numbers they +compelled the half-breeds and some of their squaws to accompany them. +The squaws ride horses like the men. + +On Sunday the 12th of April they returned from the Fort flush with +victory. They had captured that place, killed policeman Cowan, taken the +whites prisoners, and allowed the police to escape down the river, all +without loosing an Indian or half-breed. The prisoners were brought in +while we were at dinner. Mr. and Mrs. Quinney came to our tent. Mrs. +Quinney said she was cold and wet. She sat, down and put her arms around +me and cried. I gave her a cup of hot tea and something to eat. Shortly +after the McLean's and Mann's came in. It was a great relief to see +white people again. + +It was not long before they moved camp about two miles from Frog Lake. +Mrs. Delaney and I, walking with Mrs. Pritchard and family, through mud +and water: my shoes were very thin, and my feet very wet and sore +from walking. The Indians were riding beside us with our horses and +buckboards, laughing and jeering at us with umbrellas over their heads +and buffalo overcoats on. We would laugh and make them believe we were +enjoying it, and my heart ready to break with grief all the time. When +we camped, it was in a circle. A space in the centre being kept for +dancing. + +I asked Blondin if he had any of our stockings or underclothing in his +sacks. He told me _no_ and shortly afterwards took out a pair of my +husband's long stockings and put them on before me, he would change +them three and four times a week. He had nearly all my poor husband's +clothes. Two men came in one time while Blondin was asleep and took one +of my husband's coats out of his sack and went out; Blondin upon missing +it got very angry and swore before me, saying that some person had come +in and taken one of his coats, and all the time I knew whose coat it was +they were quarrelling over. I wished then I could close my eyes and go +home to God. I went outside the tent and saw this other half-breed +named Gregory Donaire with my husband's coat on and pants, and just as +I looked up I thought it must be my own husband, and to see the fellow +laugh in my face, he evidently had an idea about what I was thinking. +Blondin wore my husband's overcoat, and all I had was my little shawl +and nothing to wear on my head, and the rain pouring down in torrents on +me; this fellow would walk beside the waggon and laugh, and when it quit +raining asked me if I wanted _his_ overcoat; I told him _no_, I did not +mind being wet as much as he did. That night Mrs. Delaney and I lay down +in one corner of the tent until morning came and then we had all the +baking to do. We dug a hole in the ground and started a fire, taking +flour, we stirred in water, kneading it hard. We then with our hands +flattened it out and placed it in a frying pan, baking it before the +fire, and by the time it was baked it was as black as the pan itself. We +dined on bannock and bacon for two months, and were very thankful to get +it. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +COOKING FOR A LARGE FAMILY. + + +My experience of camp life was of such a character, that I would rather +be a maid-of-all-work in any position than slush in an Indian tepee, +reeking as it is, with filth and poisonous odors. There is no such a +thing as an health officer among that band of braves. They have a half +spiritualized personage whom they desiginate the Medicine Man; but he is +nothing more or less than a quack of the worst kind. As in every other +part of their life, so in the domestic they were unclean. + +One evening, just as we had everything ready for our meal, in rushed the +Big Bear's, gobbling up everything. After they had gone, I set to work +to wash the dishes. Mrs. Pritchard thereat became quite angry, and would +not allow me, saying that we would be glad to do more than that for the +Indians yet. I went without my supper that night; I would rather starve +than eat after that dirty horde. + +One day, Pritchard brought in a rabbit for dinner. I thought we were +going to have a treat as well as a good meal; we were engaged at other +work that day, and Mrs. Pritchard did the cooking herself, but I had +occasion to go in the direction of the fire, and there was the rabbit +in the pot boiling, it was all there, head, eyes, feet, and everything +together. My good dinner vanished there and then. I told Mrs. Delaney +there was no rabbit for me. I only ate to keep myself alive and well, +for if I showed signs of sickness I would have been put with the +Indians, and they would have put an end to me in a short time. + +We had fifteen in our tent to bake for, besides the Indians, that came +in to gorge, about thirty at a time. We cut wood and carried water and +did Mrs. Pritchard sewing for her nine children; making their clothing +that came from our own house. She took some muslin that Mrs. Delaney +had bought before the trouble, and cut it up into aprons for her little +baby, and gave me to make, and then she went to the trunk that had all +my lace trimming that I had made through the winter, and brought some +for me to sew on the aprons. I made them up as neatly as I possibly +could, and when finished, she thanked me for it. The little children +played with keepsakes that my _mother_ had given to me when a little +girl, and I had to look and see them broken in pieces without a murmur, +also see my friends photographs thrown around and destroyed. I gathered +up a few that were scattered around in the dirt and saved them when no +one was looking. + +If Big Bear's braves would say move camp immediately, and if we should +be eating and our tent not taken down just then, they would shout in +the air and come and tear it down. In travelling, the Indians ride, and +their squaws walk and do all the work, and they pack their dogs and have +"travores" on their horses, upon which they tied their little children, +and then all would move off together; dogs howling, and babies crying, +and Indians beating their wives, and carts tumbling over the banks of +the trail, and children falling, and horses and oxen getting mired down +in the mud, and squaws cutting sacks of flour open to get a piece +of cotton for string, and leaving the flour and throwing away the +provisions, while others would come along and gather it up. We rode on +a lumber waggon, with an ox team, and some of the squaws thought we +did not work enough. Not work enough, after walking or working all day, +after dark we were required to bake bannock and do anything else they +had a mind to give us. They wanted to work us to death. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +INCIDENTS BY THE WAY. + + +The Indians are not only vicious, treacherous and superstitious, +but they are childlike and simple, as the following incident will +show:--After the Indians came back from Fort Pitt, one of them found a +glass eye; that eye was the favorite optic of Stanley Simpson, who was +taken a prisoner there by Big Bear. He brought it with him for one of +his brother Indians who was blind in one eye, imagining with untutored +wisdom that if it gave light to a white man, it should also to a red, +and they worked at it for a time, but they could not get the focus, +finally they threw it away, saying it was no good, he could not see. + +While we were in camp, Mr. Quinn's little two year old girl would come +in and put her little arms around our necks and kiss us. The dear little +thing had no one to care for her, she would stay with us until her +mother would come and take her away. The squaws also carried her around +on their backs with nothing but a thin print dress on and in her bare +feet. How I did feel for her, she was such a bright little girl, her +father when alive took care of her. It was very hard to see her going +around like any of the Indian children. + +One day while travelling we came to a large creek and had to get off the +waggon and pull our shoes and stockings off in-order that they would be +dry to put on after we got across; the water was up to our waists and we +waded through. Miss McLean took her little three year old sister on her +back and carried her over. After crossing we had to walk a long distance +on the burnt prairie to get to the waggon, then we sat down and put our +shoes on. Some of the Indians coming along said, "oh! see the monais +squaw." We would laugh, tell them it was nice; that we enjoyed it. If +they thought we did not, we were in danger of being taken away by them +and made to work for them like their squaws. + +One of Big Bear's son's wives died, and they dug a hole in the ground +and wrapped blankets around her, and laid her in it, and put sacks of +bacon and flour on top so that she could not get out, they covered her +over with earth; and watched the place for some time for fear she would +come to life again. + +Their dances occur every day, they go and pick out the largest tents and +go and take them from the Wood Crees, and leave them all day without +any covering, with the white people who were prisoners, with them. They +thought the white people took it as an honor to them, and every time in +moving, Big Bear's band would tell us just where to put our tents, and +if one camped outside this circle, they would go and cut their tent in +pieces. In some of their dances, Little Poplar was arrayed in some of +Miss McLean's ribbons, ties and shawls, another with my hat on, and +another with Mrs. Delaney's, and the squaws with our dresses, and they +had a large dish of meat in the centre and danced awhile, and sat down +and ate and danced again, keeping this up all day long. And if anyone +lagged in the dance, it was a bad day for him. Little Poplar had a whip, +and he would ply it thick on the back of the sluggish dancer. + +One day just as we were eating dinner, an Indian came and invited us +out to a dog feast; the men went, but we preferred bannock and bacon, to +dog. They sent each of us _three yards_ of print to make us a dress; +a squaw takes no more than that. And then a friendly Indian made me a +present of a pair of green glasses. + +A most dreadful affair occurred one day, they killed one of their +squaws, an old grey beaded woman that was insane. The Indians and +half-breeds were afraid of her, and she told them if they did not kill +her before the sun went down, she would eat the whole camp up. They got +some of the half-breeds to tie her; and they carried her out on a hill, +and one old half-breed struck her on the head, and the Indians shot her +in the head three times, cut it off and set fire to it; they were very +much afraid she would come back and do some harm to them. + +One evening after making our bed for the night, four squaws came into +our tent and sat down for two hours, crying and singing and clapping +their hands, and after going out, some of the Indians took and tied +them until morning; it was a most strange procedure. I could go +on enumerating incident after incident, but I have, I think, given +sufficient to give the reader an insight into their character. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +DANCING PARTIES. + + +While we were on the way too Fort Pitt, a letter was received from the +Rev. John McDougall, of Calgary, stating that troops were coming through +from Edmonton, and that they would make short work of Big Bear's band +for the murders they had committed at Frog Lake. They were terribly +frightened at that news, and took turns and watched on the hills night +and day. Others spent their time in dancing--it was dancing all the +time--all day and all night. + +I will explain their mode of dancing as well as I can:--They all get +in a circle, while two sit down outside and play the tom-tom, a most +unmelodious instrument, something like a tambourine, only not half +so _sweet_; it is made in this way:--they take a hoop or the lid of a +butter firkin, and cover one side with a very thin skin, while the other +has strings fastened across from side to side, and upon this they pound +with sticks with all their might, making a most unearthly racket. The +whole being a fit emblem of what is going on in the other world of +unclean spirits. Those forming the circle, kept going around shouting +and kicking, with all the actions and paraphernalia of a clown in a +pantomine, only not so dumb. + +We passed a short distance from where Mrs. Delaney lived, and all we +could see standing, was the bell of the Catholic Mission, and when we +came to Onion Lake, they had burnt some of the buildings there, and +as we passed they set fire to the rest. They burnt all the flour and +potatoes, some three hundred sacks, and when we reached Fort Pitt our +provisions were getting scarce, and the half-breeds went to the Fort to +get some flour, but the Indians had previously poured coal and machine +oil on what was left, and they only got a few sacks and not very clean +at that. Still we felt very thankful to have it as it was. + +While in this neighbourhood, Blondin and Henry Quinn went down to the +river to make their escape, and Blondin well knew that the Indians +had said if one prisoner ran away they would kill all the rest. The +half-breeds hearing what they had done, went after them and brought them +back, and that night Big Bear's braves came into our tent where Quinn +and Blondin were, and wanted to go to work and cut Quinn in pieces. +Blondin was like one of themselves. Pritchard sat on his knees in front +of Quinn and kept them from doing it. They were in our tent nearly the +whole night with their guns, large sharp knives and war clubs. After +Pritchard had talked some hours to them they went out only partly +pacified. Some of them said, "he has ran away once, let us kill him and +have no more trouble with him; if he runs away he will be going away and +telling the police to come." + +When near the Fort they had their "Thirst Dance." An Indian went to the +bush and broke off a green bough, and carried it to the place arranged +for the dance, and all the other Indians shot at it. Then the Indians +got their squaws with them on horse-back; some thought it would not be +polite if they did not invite the white women to help them also, and +Mrs. Pritchard and another squaw came in and put Mrs. Delaney in one +corner and covered her over, and me in another with a feather bed over +me, so as not to find us. Then some said, "Oh, let the white women stay +where they are," and they took their squaws and went to the woods. +I should say about fifty rode to the woods for one stick at a time, +fastening a chain around it, dragged it along to this place singing and +yelling as they went. After they had enough sticks, they arranged a tent +in the centre of the circle. They stood a long pole up, and on this pole +they tied everything they wished to give to the _sun_, and this is never +taken down, and then they erected smaller poles about five feet high, +all around in a large circle, and from the top of these they fastened +sticks to the long pole in the centre, and covered it all with green +boughs, they then partitioned the tent into small stalls, and tied print +and anything bright all around inside on these poles; after they had +this arranged they began dancing. It continues three days and three +nights, neither eating or drinking during the entertainment. They danced +all that night and the squaws had each a small whistle made of bone +which they blow all the time in addition to the musical "tom-toms." Mrs. +Delaney and I lay awake all night, and I said to her, "I hope the police +will come in while they are having this dance." Mrs. Pritchard asked us +next morning if we would go and see them at it, and remarked "they will +not like it if you white women do not go and see them." We went with +her, and when we got inside they laughed and were delighted at seeing +us come. There they were, some of the squaws with my clothes on, and one +Indian with my husband's on, and my table linen hanging on the poles. +The squaws stood in those little stalls and danced. They had their faces +painted, and fingers and ears filled with brass rings and thimbles. Some +of the Indians were dressed in the police uniforms and had veils over +their faces; and just as we got nicely there, two Indians came riding +around and saying the police were all on this side of the river with +their tents pitched. There must be hundreds of them, some said, and the +others said no, because they have their wives and children with them; +and then came the scattering, they ran in all directions like scared +rabbits and tore their tents down, the Indians riding around on +horse-back singing and yelling, and saying "let us go and meet them" +that was to fight, and others said "_no_, let us move," and we all left +and moved through the woods. + +But it proved to be more than a mere scare. _Our_ friends were drawing +near--too near to be comfortable for the _noble_ "red man," the +murderers of defenceless settlers, the despoilers of happy homes, the +polluters of poor women and children. They did all that, and yet they +are called the noble "red man." It might sound musical in the ears +of the poet to write of the virtues of that race, but I consider it a +perversion of the real facts. During the time I was with them I could +not see anything noble in them, unless it was that they were _noble_ +murderers, _noble_ cowards, _noble_ thieves. The facts, I think, also +go to show that the Indians are not treated properly. There is no +distinction made between the good (there are good Indians) and bad. The +character of the Indian is not studied sufficiently, or only so far as +self-interest and selfish motives are concerned. But the majority of the +present race can be designated anything but the noble "red man." + +They would in many instances, be better without the missionary. If +all denominations would only amalgamate their forces and agree upon +an unsectarian basis for missionary effort, the Indians would become +evangalized more quickly then they are at present. It would be better +for the Indians, and more honorable for the Christian Church. Give +the Indians the Gospel in its simplicity without the ritual of the +denominations. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ANOTHER BATTLE. + + +Was it the distant roar of heaven's artillery that caught my ear. I +listened and heard it again. The Indians heard it and were frightened. + +A half-breed in a stage whisper cried, "a cannon! a cannon!" + +An Indian answered, "a cannon is no good to fight." + +I looked at them and it showed them to be a startled and fear-stricken +company, notwithstanding that they held the cannon with such disdain as +to say "cannon no good to fight." That night was full of excitement for +the Indians; they felt that the enemy was drawing near, too close in +fact to be safe. The prisoners were excited with the thought, that +perhaps there was liberty behind that cannon for them, and taking it all +round, there was little sleep within the tepees. + +The next morning I awoke early with hopefulness rising within my breast +at the thought of again obtaining my liberty. The first sound I heard +was the firing of cannon near at hand; it sounded beautiful; it was +sweet music to my ears. Anticipating the prospect of seeing friends once +more, I listened and breathed in the echo after every bomb. + +The fighting commenced at seven o'clock by Gen. Strange's troops forcing +the Indians to make a stand. It was continued until ten with indifferent +success. The troops surely could not have known the demoralized +condition of the Indians, else they would have compelled them to +surrender. The fighting was very near, for the bullets were whizzing +around all the time. We thought surely that liberty was not far away. +The Indians were continually riding back and fro inspiring their +followers in the rear with hope, and we poor prisoners with despair. At +last they came back and said that they had killed twenty policemen and +not an Indian hurt. But there were two Indians killed, one of whom was +the Worm, he who killed my poor husband, and several wounded. We were +kept running and walking about all that morning with their squaws, +keeping out of the way of their enemies, and our friends. We were taken +through mud and water until my feet got so very sore that I could hardly +walk at all. + +The Indians ordered us to dig pits for our protection. Pritchard and +Blondin dug a large one about five feet deep for us, and they piled +flour sacks around it as a further protection but they dug it too deep +and there was two or three inches of water at the bottom. They then +threw down some brush and we got into it, twenty persons in all, with +one blanket for Mrs. Delaney and me. McLean's family had another pit, +and his daughters cut down trees to place around it. Mr. Mann and family +dug a hole in the side of the hill and crawled into it. If I had my way +I would have kept out of the pit altogether and watched my chance to +escape. + +We fully expected the troops to follow but they did not; and early in +the morning we were up and off again. Some of the Indians went back +to see how about the troops, and came back with the report that the +"police" (they call all soldiers police) had vanished, they were afraid. +When I heard it, I fairly sank, and the slight spark of hope I had, had +almost gone out. Just to think that succor was so near, yet alas! so +far. But for Mrs. Delaney I would have given way and allowed myself to +perish. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +INDIAN BOYS. + + +Just here a word about Indian boys would not be amiss. An Indian boy is +a live, wild, and untamed being. He is full of mischief and cruelty +to those he hates, and passably kind to those he likes. I never saw in +their character anything that could be called love. They have no idea of +such a tender tie. Thus by nature he is cruel without having a sense of +humor, much less gayety, and in all my experience I never saw or heard +one give a hearty laugh, except on the occasion of a mishap or accident +to any one, and then the little fragment of humor is aroused. + +He is skillful in drawing his bow and sling, and has a keenness of sight +and hearing. He takes to the life of a hunter as a duck takes to water, +and his delight is in shooting fowl and animals. He does it all with an +ease and grace that is most astonishing. In everything of that nature he +is very skillful. Pony riding is his great delight, when the ponies were +not otherwise engaged, but during my stay with them, there was too much +excitement and change all around for the boys to exercise that animal. + +While we were driving along after breaking up camp the little fellows +would run along and pick flowers for us, one vieing with the other as to +who would get the most and the prettiest. They were gifted with a most +remarkable memory and a slight was not very soon forgotten, while a +kindness held the same place in their memory. + +The general behaviour of Indian boys was nevertheless most intolerable +to us white people. In the tepee there was no light and very often +no fuel, and owing to the forced marches there was not much time for +cutting wood, also it was hard to light as it was so green and sappy. +The boys would then wrap themselves up in a blanket, but not to sleep, +only to yell and sing as if to keep in the heat. They would keep this +up until they finally dozed off; very often that would be in the early +hours of the morning. + +Like father, like son; the virtues of young Indians were extremely few. +They reach their tether when they fail to benefit self. Their morality +was in a very low state. I do not remember that I saw much of it, if I +did it was hardly noticible. + +Where the charm of a savage life comes in I do not know, I failed to +observe it during my experience in the camp of the Crees. The charm is +a delusion, except perhaps when viewed from the deck of a steamer as +it glided along the large rivers and lakes of the Indian country, or +perhaps within the pages of a blood and thunder novel. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +HOPE ALMOST DEFERRED. + + +Almost a week afterwards, on a Saturday night, the fighting Indians +gathered around a tepee near ours and began that never ending dancing +and singing. It was a most unusual thing for them to dance so close to +our tent. They had never done so before. It betokened no good on their +part and looked extremely suspicious. It seemed to me that they were +there to fulfil the threat they made some time previous, that they would +put an end to us soon. The hour was late and that made it all the more +certain that our doom had come. I became very nervous and frightened at +what was going on. When all at once there was a scattering, and running, +and yelling at the top of their voices, looking for squaws and children, +and tearing down tents, while we two sat in ours in the depths of +despair, waiting for further developments. I clung to Mrs. Delaney like +my own mother, not knowing what to do. The cause of the stampede we +were told was that they had heard the report of a gun. That report was +fortunate for us, as it was the intention of the Indians to wrench us +from our half-breed protectors and kill us. + +The tents were all down and in a very few minutes we were on the move +again. It was Sunday morning at an early hour, raining heavily, and +cold. We were compelled to travel all that day until eleven o'clock +at night. The halt was only given then, because the brutes were tired +themselves. Tents were pitched and comparative quietness reigned. Our +bedding consisted of one blanket which was soaked with water. Andre +Nault took pity on us and gave us his, and tried in every way to make us +comfortable. I had a great aversion to that fellow, I was afraid to look +at him I was so weak and tired that I could not sleep but for only a +few minutes. I had given up and despair had entered my mind. I told Mrs. +Delaney I wished I could never see morning, as I had nothing to look +forward to but certain death. In that frame of mind I passed the night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +OUT OF BIG BEAR'S CAMP. + + +Monday morning, May 31st, was ushered in dark and gloomy, foggy and +raining, but it proved to be the happiest day we had spent since the +31st of March. As the night was passing, I felt its oppressiveness, I +shuddered with the thought of what another day might bring forth; but +deliverance it seems was not far away; it was even now at hand. When the +light of day had swallowed up the blackness of darkness, the first words +that greeted my ears was Pritchard saying "I am going to watch my chance +and get out of the camp of Big Bear." Oh! what we suffered, Oh! what +we endured, during those two long months, as captives among a horde of +semi-barbarians. And to think that we would elude them, just when I was +giving up in despair. It is said that the darkest hour is that which +preceedes dawn; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the +morning. So with me, in my utter prostration, in the act of giving way, +God heard my prayer, and opened a way of deliverance, and we made the +best of the opportunity. + + "No foe, no dangerous path we lead, + Brook no delay, but onward speed." + +Some of the Indians it seems had come across General Strange's scouts +the night before, and in consequence, all kinds of rumors were afloat +among the band. They were all very much frightened, for it looked as if +they were about to be surrounded. So a move, and a quick one, was made +by them, at an early hour, leaving the half-breeds to follow on. This +was now the golden opportunity, and Pritchard grasped it, and with him, +five other half-breed families fled in an opposite direction, thereby +severing our connection with the band nominally led by Big Bear. + +We cut through the woods, making a road, dividing the thick brush, +driving across creeks and over logs. On we sped. At one time hanging on +by a corner of the bedding in order to keep from falling off the waggon. +Another time I fell off the waggon while fording a stream; my back +got so sore that I could not walk much. On we went roaming through the +forest, not knowing where we were going, until the night of June 3rd the +cry was made by Mrs. Pritchard with unfeigned disgust, "that the police +were coming." Mrs. Delaney was making bannock for the next morning's +meal, while I with cotton and crochet needle was making trimming for the +dresses of Mrs. Pritchards nine half-breed babies. + +I threw the trimming work to the other end of the tent, and Mrs. Delaney +called upon Mrs. Pritchard to finish making the bannocks herself, and we +both rushed out just as the scouts galloped in. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +RESCUED. + + +Rescued! at last, and from a life worse than death. I was so overjoyed +that I sat down and cried. The rescuing party were members of General +Strange's scouts, led by two friends of my late husband, William McKay, +and Peter Ballentyne of Battleford. We were so glad to see them. They +had provisions with them, and they asked us if we wanted anything to +eat. We told them we had bannock and bacon, but partook of their canned +beef and hard tack. It was clean and good; and was the first meal we +enjoyed for two months. + +I could not realize that I was safe until I reached Fort Pitt. The +soldiers came out to welcome us back to life. The stories they heard +about us were so terrible, that they could scarcely believe we were the +same. + +The steamer was in waiting to take us to Battleford. Rev. Mr. Gordon +took my arm and led me on board. The same gentleman gave us hats, we had +no covering for our heads for the entire two months we were captives +We were very scant for clothing. Mrs. Delaney had a ragged print dress, +while I managed to save one an Indian boy brought me while in camp. Upon +reaching Battleford we were taken to the residence of Mr. Laurie. + +Coming down on the steamer, on nearing a little island, we saw a number +of squaws fishing and waving white flags. All along wherever we passed +the Indians, they were carrying white flags as a token that they had +washed off their war paint and desired rest. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +WE LEAVE FOR HOME. + + +We leave Battleford for Swift Current, and our journey takes us across +the prairie; that same stretch that I travelled a few months before, +but under different circumstances and associations. Then I went up as +a happy bride, Now I go down _alone_ and bowed with grief. Everything +around is full of life, the prairie is a sea of green interspersed with +beautiful flowers and plants. It is a pretty scene to feast upon, yet +my soul cannot drink it in. I am on the way to friends, a feeling of +desolation takes hold of me; but I must control myself, and by God's +help I will, for his goodness is forever sure. + +Rev. John McDougall, Dr. Hooper, Captain Dillon, Capt. Nash and Messrs. +Fox and Bayley, of Toronto, and Mrs. Laurie accompanied us on the +journey, and did everything they could to make us comfortable. The +trip over the prairie was a pleasant one. When we got to the South +Saskatchewan, a thunder storm came on which roughened the water so, we +could not cross for about an hour. After it quieted down a scow came and +carried us over. Friends there took care of us for the night, and on the +1st of July we boarded a train for Moose Jaw. Capt. Dillon on going to +the post office met several young ladies in a carriage who asked where +we were as they wished to take us to their homes for tea, he informed +them that the train had only a few minutes to stop and that it would +be impossible. Those same young ladies were back to the train before +it started with a bottle of milk and a box full of eatables. At eleven +o'clock p.m., we arrived at Regina, and remained with Mr. and Mrs. +Fowler, going next morning to a hotel. We were there four days. At Moose +Jaw we received the following kind letter from Mrs. C. F. Bennett, of +Winnipeg:-- + + NEW DOUGLASS HOUSE, WINNIPEG, JUNE 8TH, 1885. + +Mrs. Delaney and Mrs. Gowanlock: + +DEAR MADAMS,--Although an entire stranger to both of you, I cannot +resist the impulse to write you a few lines to say how thankful and +delightful I am to hear of your rescue. + +Before I was dressed this morning; my husband came up to tell me +that you were both safe. And I cannot express to you, neither can you +comprehend the joy that intelligence brought to everyone. The terrible +stories of your being tortured and finally murdered, outraged the +feelings of the whole civilized world, and while men swore to avenge +your wrongs, women mourned you, as sisters. + +I am very thankful to see by the papers that you were not so inhumanly +treated as reported, although your experience has been a terrible +one--and one which you can never forget. + +I presume that as soon as you are a little rested, you will go east to +your friends; should you do so, I will be most happy to entertain you +while you are in Winnipeg. + +After your captivity, you must be destitute of everything, and if you +will come down here, we will be delighted to supply you with what you +require. I do not know if you have personal friends here, or not, but +your sufferings have given you a sister's place in every heart, and +_every one_ in Winnipeg would be deeply disappointed if you did not give +them an opportunity of expressing their deep sympathy and regards. + +Mr. Bennett unites with me in best wishes, and in hopes that you will +accept our hospitality on your way east. + +I am in deepest sympathy, + +Sincerely yours, + +MRS. C. F. BENNETT. + + +I shall never forget the words of sympathy that are expressed in this +epistle, or the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. McCaul and the people of +Winnipeg generally. On our way from Winnipeg to Parkdale we received +every attention and assistance, which I can assure the reader went a +long way in making sorrow lighter and more able to bear. I thank God for +the sympathy that was extended to me by his people. Mr. J. K. Macdonald +of Toronto, was most assiduous in his attention to us from Winnipeg +until we left the train at Parkdale on the 12th of July. I must not +forget the kindness of Mr. and Mrs. Armstrong also of Toronto, or +the other ladies and gentlemen who were our fellow passengers on the +journey. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + +AT HOME. + + +Home--torn from mine--back to the parental. I will now look back over +the scene, taking a panoramic view of the whole, as it occurred from the +day I left my father's house full of happiness and joy, until I entered +it full of sorrow and suffering. + +It is well for mankind that they are forbidden the knowledge of what +will be their destiny. It was well-conceived by a loving father that it +was for our interest to be kept in ignorance of what was in store, for +we, his creatures. And thus it was that I entered upon the duties of the +household, with a lightness of heart equal to that of any matron. In the +humble home (I commence from there) in that beautiful north-west land of +quietness and peace, there was not a ruffle heard, or a rumor sounded, +of what was in store for that industrious little community. We were +living in the bonds of fellowship with all mankind, and we had no fear. +But in all that stillness there was an undercurrent at work that would +soon make itself felt. Dissatisfaction on account of grievances, real or +fancied, was blowing. It had broken out in one place, why should it not +in another. This disaffected spirit was prevalent in all parts of that +country. Who was to blame? who was the cause? direct or indirect, it is +not my intention or desire to say; suffice it is to note, that there +was discontent; and therefore there must have, been grievances, and an +attempt should have been made or an understanding arrived at, whereby +this state of discontent should have been replaced by that of content, +without disturbance. Where there is discontent there must be badness and +suffering, with evils and excesses lying in its wake. + +To have removed those grievances was the imperative duty of the +dispensers of law and order and thus avoid those excesses, but it +was not done in time and the inevitable did come swift and sure; the +innocent were made to feel its fury. For that little hamlet by the creek +was entered, and its domestic quietness destroyed and future prospects +blighted. There was a degree of uneasiness felt after we were informed +of the horror of Duck Lake. Two half-breeds, Blondin and Donaire, who +were employed by my husband, were observed in frequent and earnest +conversation with the Indians. Those two had but arrived from the scene +at Duck Lake. For what were they there? Was it to incite the Indians? +Their actions were, to say the least, suspicious. + +I will not dwell on the terrible slaughter which followed, it is too +painful a subject, simply stating that I had not believed that anything +so awful would have been perpetrated by either half-breeds or Indians, +until we were taken out of Mrs. Delaney's the second time, and then I +felt that there would be trouble, but not in such a manner as that. When +I was dragged from the death-bed of my husband, who had the ground for +a couch and the canopy of heaven for a coverlet, I was in a bewildered +condition. Half-unconsciously I allowed the Indian to drag me on to his +tepee, and once in, the circumstances which led to my position, flitted +through my brain in quick succession. I then realized that it was most +critical; in a few hours I would be forced to undergo ill-treatment that +would very soon kill me. With those thoughts within my mind, the +tepee opened and a little girl entered, an angel sent by God to be my +deliverer. Although not aware, she was his instrument in taking me +out of danger and placing me in a purer atmosphere. That child was +Pritchard's little girl and I asked her to send her father. He came and +by his influence I was transferred to his care for a while. And when +I entered his tent and there saw Mrs. Delaney, I was overjoyed for a +minute, and then all was a blank; the excitement proved too much for me +and I swooned away. When I returned to consciousness they were all doing +their best for me. + +In a short time Blondin came in, (at the commencement of the massacre +he left for our house) he brought with him our waggon, and oxen, and all +the furniture and provisions he could take. Immediately thereafter the +Indians appeared and it was then that he offered them $30 and a horse +for our release. The offer was accepted and I was transferred to +Blondin. The wretch was there with evil intent in his heart. I fully +believe that he felt exultant over the doings of the day. Why did he +go down to our house when that dreadful affair was going on? Why did he +help himself to our goods? _Only_ for a bad purpose. Oh! God I saw +it all. He had everything arranged for me to live with him. All my +husband's things; all my things; and a tent. But I refused to accept him +or his conditions. I resented the infamous proposals as strongly as +I was able, and appealed to John Pritchard for protection and he +generously granted my request. I will never forget his kindness to me as +long as I live: "Yes, Mrs. Gowanlock, you can share my tent, with myself +and family, and I will protect you." + +That dated the commencement of the shameful treatment I received at the +hands of Blondin, and whenever Pritchard was absent, it was meted out +to me to the full. Blondin purchased my liberty, that would have been a +good action if prompted by honorable motives, but in the absence of +that it has no weight with me. He was amply repaid, he got our oxen, our +waggon, our provisions, our clothes, we had money there, perhaps he got +that. I have wondered since was it not my money with which he purchased +me. By the help of God I was saved from him; and a life worse than +death. If the worst had come I would have drowned or killed myself; but +it did not. "God moves in a mysterious way." + +During the next two months I was called upon to witness heart-rending +scenes; first the brutal treatment of the dead bodies of our husbands', +as well as cruelty to ourselves; for even under Pritchard's care we were +not safe and did not know what minute would be our last. Not content +with murdering them in cold blood, they must needs perform diabolical +deeds which causes me to shudder when I think of it. They danced around +them with demoniac glee, kicking and pulling them in every direction, +and we were the unwilling witnesses of such behaviour. And when we +had them buried under the church they burned it down, with dancing and +yelling, accompanied with hysterical laughter. The sight was sickening +to me and I was glad they moved in the direction of Fort Pitt, leaving +that place with all its associations of suffering and death. But when I +heard that they intended to take the Fort, and destroy more life, I felt +that I would rather remain where we were than witness any more scenes of +so sad a nature. I have no happy tale to tell for this period was filled +with woe and pain. + +I will not enumerate further the trials I had to undergo day after day, +but will pass rapidly on until the gladsome note was sounded by our +hostess Mrs. Pritchard the "police are here." God delivered us again. + +It is unnecessary to itemize in detail what passed from that time until +I reached Ontario. I have told my tale, simple and truthful, and what +remains for me now is my old home, my old associations, and my old +life--the lines are hard to bear--"Thy will not mine be done." + + Once I thought my cross to heavy, + And my heart was sore afraid, + Summoned forth to stand a witness + For the cause of truth betrayed. + + "Send, O Lord," I prayed, "some Simon, + As of old was sent to Thee." + "Be a Simon," said the Master, + "For this cross belongs to me." + + Still is crucified my Saviour, + I myself must a Simon be; + Take my cross and walk humbly + Up the slopes of Calvary. + + + + +TO ONE OF THE ABSENT. + + You bade me good-bye with a smile, love, + And away to the west wild and drear; + At the sound of war's bugle shrill calling + You went without shadow of fear. + But when I complained of your going, + To face dangers untold in the west; + You chided me gently by singing: + "Encourage me dear 'twill be best." + + "I know you will miss me each hour + And grieve when I'm far, far away: + But its duty's demand and I'm ready: + Could I show the white feather to-day? + Oh! Now, you're my own bright eyed blessing + And show the true spirit within: + Those eyes now so fearlessly flashing + Shall guide me through war's crash and din." + + With your men you went cheerful and willing, + To defend and take peace to the poor + Helpless children and sad prisoned women + Who had homes on Saskatchewan's shore, + And now I'm so proud of you darling + I can worship a hero so brave, + While I pray for your safe home returning; + When the peace flag shall quietly wave. + + O'er the land where poor Scott's heartless murderer, + Has added much more to his sin; + By the cold-blooded uncalled for slaughter, + Of Gowanlock, Delaney and Quinn, + Who like many others now sleeping, + Shroudless near the sky of the west, + May be called the sad victims and martyrs + Of Riel who's name we detest. + + Many hearts are now mourning their lov'd ones + Who died at their post, true and brave, + In defiance of one heartless rebel, + Who's life not e'en "millions" should save. + So keep your arms strong for the fray dear, + I'll not wish you back 'ere the fight + Shall decide for you, country and comrades, + In favor of honour and right. + + Let justice be done now unfailing + Nought but _death_ can atone for his sin; + Let the fate be has meted to others; + By our dauntless be meted to him, + Don't return until quiet contentment; + Fills the homes now deserted out west, + And the true ring of peace finds an echo, + In each sturdy settler's breast. + + And when you are homeward returning, + With heart that has never known fear; + Remember the love light is burning, + Unceasingly, constantly, here + And "Bright Eyes" will give you a welcome + Which even a soldier may prize + While the lips will be smiling with pleasure, + That have prayed in your absence with sighs. + + And the whole world shall ring with the praises + Of Canada's noblest and best; + Who shoulder to shoulder defended, + And saved the unhappy North-West + While in coming years 'round the hearthstone + Will be told how the dark coats and red, + Put to rout Riel, rebels and half-breeds + And aveng'd both the living and dead. + + CLEOMATI. +20 Alexander St., Toronto. + + + + +SHOT DOWN. + + +They died a brutal death on the 2nd of April, disarmed first, and then +shot down. The perpetrators of that outrage were actuated by fiendish +instincts, nevertheless they had an intuition of what was meant by +civilization. How they could have so forgotten the training they had +received religiously and socially to have allowed the lower instincts +of the savage to gain the ascendancy and fell in cold blood--not +extortioners or land-grabbers--but their spiritual advisers; their +superintendent; their farm instructor, and those who had left +comfortable homes in the east in order to carry civilization into +the remote places of the west. The work that they were performing was +calculated to elevate the Indian and make him a better man; taking him +from his miserable mode of living and leading him into a more happy and +prosperous life for this and the next. It is unaccountable, and there +is yet a something that will come to the surface that was the real cause +for this dreadful act. At this point a brief sketch of the lives of some +of those killed would not be out of place. + +They numbered nine, the entire male population of that growing little +village. There were T. Quinn, J. Delanay, J. A. Gowanlock, T. Dill, W. +C. Gilchrist, J. Williscraft, C. Gouin and Father Fafard and a priest +from Onion Lake. Mr. Quinn was the Indian agent for that district well +fitted in every particular for the position he held. Mr. Dill kept a +general store and at one time lived at Bracebridge, was a brother of +the member of Muskoka in the local house. Mr. Williscraft came from Owen +Sound where his friends reside. C. Gouin was a native of the north-west. + + + + +MR. GOWANLOCK. + + +John Alexander Gowanlock, one of the Frog Lake martyrs, was born in the +City of Stratford, Province of Ontario, on the 17th of April, 1861. He +was the youngest son of Mr. Jas. Gowanlock, of East Otto, Cattaraguas +County, New York State. He has three brothers living, and one sister, +A. G. and J. Gowanlock of Parkdale, Ontario, R. K. Gowanlock, of Oscoda, +Michigan, and Mrs. Daisy Huntsman, of Tintern, Co. Lincoln. From a boy +he was a general favorite, quiet and unassuming, yet withal, firm and +decided in his opinions. After leaving Stratford he resided for some +time in Barrie, and then went to the Village of Parkdale, where he +resided until he left for the north-west. + +Being in ill-health (at the age of 19), his physician and aunt, Dr. J. +K. Trout, of Toronto, advised a change of climate, and acting upon +that advice left for that great country. After a short residence every +symptom of disease had vanished, and upon his return some eighteen +months after, he felt and was a new man in every particular. In three +months time he returned to the land of his adoption. By honesty and +energy he succeeded well. He took hold of every kind of work that he +thought would pay. He became farmer, mill-builder, speculator, surveyor, +store-keeper and mill-owner in succession, buying and selling, and +at the same time pushing further west. His greatest success was in +Battleford, the Indians of that district would flock to his store, +because they knew they could get a good article at a reasonable price. +Last year the Government wanted mills for the reserves in the region +of Frog Lake, and after negotiating with them for some time he finally +decided, in conjunction with Mr. Laurie, to accept the offer made, the +Government giving them the sum of $2,800 as an inducement. + +In the month of October of last year, he began operations, which, if +those poor, deluded savages, who did not know when they were well off, +had allowed him to finish, would long ere this been a hive of industry +and a blessing to those Indians. He visited Ontario the same year, +buying all the machinery necessary for the mills and superintending its +shipment. He also took unto himself a wife from among the fair daughters +of Ontario, and never a happier couple went forth to brave the cares of +life. Both young and fell of energy. + +But they were not allowed to enjoy their domestic bliss long. The sad +event which terminated with him being murdered, along with eight others, +being still fresh in the memory of all; it was a sudden call, but he was +prepared for it. An oath was never uttered by him, nor did he know the +taste of liquor, a temperance man in the full meaning of the term. He +also took a hearty interest in church matters having been one of the +managers of the Battleford Presbyterian Church. Wherever he went he +did good, in a gentle and kind way; and he will be remembered by both +Indian, half-breed and settler, as one who never took advantage of them +in any way, and the very soul of honor. + + Not himself, but the truth that in life he had spoken, + Not himself, but the seed that in life he had sown, + Shall past to the ages--all about him forgotten, + Save the truth he had spoken, the things he had done. + + + + +MR. GILCHRIST. + + +One of the victims of the Frog Lake massacre was William Campbell +Gilchrist, a native of the village of Woodville, Ontario, and eldest son +of Mr. J. C. Gilchrist, Postmaster of that place. He was an energetic +young man, of good address, and if spared would have made his mark in +the land of promise. Prior to going there, he held situations in various +parts of this province, and they were all of such a nature, as to make +him proficient in the calling of his adoption, he had splendid business +ability and with a good education, made progress that was quite +remarkable for one of his years, at the time of his murder he was only +in his twenty-fourth year. + +He was clerk for Mr. E. McTavish of Lindsay, for some time; he then +returned to his home to take a situation which had been offered him by +Mr. L. H. Staples, as assistant in his general store; he afterwards went +to the village of Brechin as Clerk and Telegraph Operator, for Messrs. +Gregg & Todd. While there he formed the acquaintance of Mr. A. G. +Cavana, a Surveyor, and it was through his representations that +he directed his steps to the great unknown land. Shortly after his +acquaintance with Mr. Cavana, that gentleman received a government +appointment as surveyor in the territories, taking Mr. Gilchrist with +him in the capacity of book keeper and assistant surveyor; they left +in the spring of 1882. He was well fitted for the position, for besides +being an excellent penman, was an expert at figures; when the winter set +in, he remained there, taking a situation in a store in Winnipeg, and +when the summer opened out he again went with Mr. Cavana on the +survey, (1883) on his way home in the autumn he fell in with Mr. J. A. +Gowanlock, who induced him to remain with him as clerk, with whom he +never left until that sad morning on the 2nd of April, when he was shot +down in his strength and manhood. He was a member of the Presbyterian +church having confessed at the early age of 14 years. It was his +intention to enter the Manitoba College as a theological student. + + + + + +PART II. + + + + +PREFACE. + + +Several friends have asked me to write a sketch of my life and more +especially of my adventures in the North-West. At first I hesitated +before promising to comply with the request. There is a certain class of +orators who, invariable, commence their public address by stating that +they are "unaccustomed to public speaking." It may be true in many +cases, but most certainly no public speaker was ever less accustomed +to address an audience, than I am to write a book. Outside my limited +correspondence, I never undertook to compose a page, much less a book. +But, if any excuse were necessary, I feel that the kindness of the +people I have met, the friendliness of all with whom I have come in +contact, during the last eventful half-year, would render such excuse +uncalled for. I look upon the writing of these pages as a duty imposed +upon me by gratitude. When memory recalls the sad scenes through which +I have passed, the feeling may be painful, but there is a pleasure in +knowing that sympathy has poured a balm upon the deep wounds, and that +kindness and friendship have sweetened many a bitter drop in the cup of +my sorrow and trouble. + +"There is a tide in the affairs of men," sang England's great Bard, but +we never know when it is about to turn, or if that turn will be the ebb +or the flow of happiness. "The veil of the Future is woven by the hand +of Mercy." Could I have but caught a glimpse through its folds, some +three years ago, I might not have the story to tell that you, kind +reader, will find in this short work. I might not be, to-day, mourning +the loss of a dear husband. + +But who can judge of the ways of Divine Providence? For His own +wise ends has the Almighty permitted such things to take place: and +submissive to His will, I feel that instead of repining, I should return +Him thanks for my Own life and preservation; and, under God, I must +thank my friends one and all! + +If this little sketch should prove instructive or even interesting to +anyone I will feel doubly repaid. The scenes I have to describe, the +story I have to tell, would require the pen of a Fenimore Cooper to +do them justice. Feeling myself unable to relate all I experienced +and suffered, in an adequate manner, I will merely offer the public, a +simple, truthful, unvarnished tale and for every fact thereof, I give my +word that it is no fiction, but real truth. + +With this short preface I will now crave the indulgence of my readers, +while they peruse the following pages. + +THERESA DELANEY. + + + + +MRS. DELANEY. + +CHAPTER I. + +MY YOUTH AND EARLY LIFE. + + +AS the principal object of this work, is to give an account of my +experiences in the North-West, and my many adventures during the last +few months, I would deem it out of place to detain my readers with any +lengthy description of my birth-place or any details of my younger days. +I have noticed many false reports that have been circulated through +the press, upon the different situations and conditions in the +North-West--whether as to the whites, the half-breeds, or the Indians. +In the second chapter I will give a truthful version of what I saw, +heard and know. Still I cannot well enter upon this work, with justice +to myself or to my late husband, without informing my readers whence we +came and how our lots happened to be cast together amidst the scenes of +our new home, and upon the theatre of the fearful tragedy in which we +played such important parts. + +My grandfather, Henry Marshall Fulford, while yet a young man, about the +year 1812, came from Woburn Massachusetts, and established his home on +the Aylmer road, near Bytown, the Ottawa of to-day, where he carried on +an extensive lumbering and farming business. My father was born there, +and it was also the place of my own birth. Our home was situated about +two miles and a half from Aylmer, and about five miles from the present +capital of the Dominion. + +In those days Ottawa was called Bytown. No one then dreamed that it +was destined to become the capital and the seat of the future Federal +government of the country. The town, for it was then a town, was small +and far from attractive, and the surrounding country was not very much +inhabited. The lumbering operations constituted the staple commerce, and +the shanties were the winter homes of the greater number of the people. + +Nearly all my life, except the last three years, was spent at home. I +never travelled much, and in fact, never expected to become a traveller, +and above all, an unwilling heroine in the North-West troubles. I had +several sisters and brothers. I was the eldest of the family, and +as such, for many years had to devote my time to household cares. My +school-days seem now the pleasantest period of my early life. Since then +I have known many ups and downs; but never felt the same peace of mind +and gayness of spirit that I have felt in days now gone. I might say +that I have lived three distinct lives. From my birth until the day of +my marriage, which took place on the 27th of July, 1882, I led a uniform +life. Few, if any changes, marked each passing year. The seasons came +and went, and the winter's snow fell and the summer's sun ripened the +golden harvests, and days flowed into weeks, weeks into months, months +into years, and year succeeded year as I felt myself growing into +womanhood. The changes in my life were few and my troubles so small, +that memory had scarcely ever to recall a dark or dreary scene and hope +always beckoned me on to the future. + +The only events that seemed to stand out, landmarks in the past, were +two deaths in the family--the first my eldest brother and the second my +dearly beloved and much lamented father. + +Had it not been for these two events I might drop a veil over all the +past and consider merely that I had lived through such a number of +years:-these years, like the great desert of the east, would stretch +back, an unbroken tract, with no object to break the monotony of the +scene. But, as the kirches tombs or monuments of Arabia, rise up in +solemn grandeur from out the loneliness of the plain, casting their +shadows of the sandy waste, so these two monuments or tombs appear upon +the level scene of my uneventful past. Could I, then, have caught one +glimpse adown the valley of the "Yet to be," what a different picture +would have presented itself to my vision! A confusion of adventures, a +panorama never ending, ever shifting, of an eventful life. + +My second life might be called a period from my wedding day until the +third of April, 1885. And the third, the last and most eventful life, is +that of three months--April, May and June, 1885. To the second important +period in my career I will consecrate the next chapter and to the third +and final part of my life will be devoted the last chapter. + +My husband was born in Napean, in the Province of Ontario, about the +end of 1846. Physically speaking, he was a man of very fine appearance. +Over six feet in height and weighing about two hundred and ten pounds. +His youth was spent in his native place, where he went to school +and where he commenced his life of labor and exertion. I don't know, +exactly, when it was that I first met him; but I must have been quite +young, for I remember him these many years. He was, during the last ten +years that he lived in the Ottawa valley, foreman for different lumber +firms. Naturally gifted to command, he knew the great duty of obedience, +and this knowledge raised him in the estimation of all those whose +business he undertook to direct. And owing to that good opinion, he +received a general recommendation to the government, and in the year +1879, he was appointed Indian instructor for the north-west. Like my own +life, his was uneventful. Outside the circle of his friends--and that +circle was large--he was unknown to the public. Nor was he one of those +who ever sought notoriety. His disposition was the very opposite of a +boastful one. + +Often I heard tell of the north-west. But I never took any particular +interest in the country previous to his appointment and departure for +his new sphere. I knew by the map, that such a region existed--just as +I knew that there was a Brazil in South America, or a vast desert in +the centre of Africa. Our statesmen were then forming plans to build the +great Pacific Road, that band of iron which was soon destined to unite +ocean to ocean. However, I never dreamed that I would one day visit +those vast regions, the former home of the buffalo, the haunt of the +prairie-chicken and the prairie-wolf. It never dawned upon me, that as I +watched the puffing of the engine that rushed along the opposite side +of the Ottawa from my home, that, one day, I would go from end to end of +that line,--pass over those vast plains and behold the sun set, amidst +the low poplars of the rolling prairies,--listen to the snort of the +same engine as it died away, in echo, amongst the gorges of the Rockies. +My husband had been three years, previous to our marriage, in the +north west. His first winter was spent at "Onion Lake," there being no +buildings at "Frog Lake." In fact, when he arrived there, "Frog Lake" +district was a wilderness. During those three years I began to take some +interest in that "land of the setting sun,"--but, as yet, I scarcely +imagined that I would ever see the places he described. In 1882, my +husband returned to Ottawa and his principal object in coming, was to +take me, as his wife, away with him to his new home. + +We were married in Aylmer on the 27th July, 1882. Our intention was to +start for the wilds on the first day of August. In the next chapter I +will take up that second period of my life and strive to describe our +trip and what we saw, learned and experienced during the following three +years. + +My readers will have to excuse what may seem egotism on my part, in +speaking so much about myself and my husband. But as the subject demands +that I should detail, all that can be of any public interest, in my +short life, it would be difficult to write my story and not appear, at +times, somewhat egotistical. + +This first chapter must necessarily be short, when one has nothing to +write about it is hard to fill up pages, and my life, and that of my +husband, so far as I know, were most uneventful up to the day of our +union, when + + "We joined the hands of each other. + To move through the stillness and noise + _Dividing_ the _cares_ of existence, + But _doubling_ its _hopes_ and its _joys_." + +My younger days seem to have passed away like a quiet dream, leaving but +a faint memory behind; but my last period of life resembles more some +frightful night-mare and I often wonder can it be true that I have +passed through such scenes or is the whole affair a fevered vision of +the night! + +Now that I am safely home again with my good dear mother beside me, my +fond brothers and sisters around me, it would appear as if I had never +got married, never left them, never saw the north-west, never suffered +the exposure, loss, sorrow, turmoil, dangers and terrors of the late +rebellion. But fancy cannot destroy the truth--the real exists in spite +of the ideal, and, as I enter upon my description, faint and imperfect +as it may be, I feel my hand shake with nervous excitement, my pulse +throb faster, my heart beat heavier, as scene after scene of the great +drama passes before me, clear and perfect as when first enacted. Had I +only the language at my command, as I have the pictures before me, at +my summons--I feel that I could do justice to the subject. But as I +was never destined to be an authoress and my powers of composition were +dealt out to me with a sparing hand, I can but express my regret that an +abler writer does not hold my pen. A cloud has come over my life-dream. +The angel of death passed by and in the shadow of his wing a heavy and +better stroke was dealt. It may not be of much interest to the public +to know how I feel over my loss, but if each one would, for a moment, +suppose the case their own and then reflect upon what the feeling must +be. Let them attempt to write a cold, matter-of-fact statement of +the events, to detail them simply as they took place, without giving +expression to sentiments of sorrow, I think that, at least, ninety-nine +out of every hundred would fail, and the one who could succeed would +appear, in my mind, a person without heart or feeling, unable to love +and unworthy of affection. + +I will strive to push on to the end of my undertaking without tiring +my readers, with vain expressions of sorrow, regret or pain; but do not +expect that I can relate the story from first to last, without giving +vent to my feelings. + +There is one pleasure, however, in knowing that I have no complaints to +make, no blame to impute, no bitter feelings to arouse, no harsh words +to say. But on the contrary, I will try not to forget the kindness, +sympathy, and protection, that from one source or another were tendered +to me. + +I hope this little book will please all who read it; amuse some; +instruct others; but I pray sincerely that not one of all my readers +may ever be placed in the painful situation through which I have passed. +Methinks some good prayers have gone up to heaven for me, and that the +Almighty lent an attentive ear to the supplications; for like the angel +that walked through the flaming furnace to protect the just men of old, +some spirit of good must have stood by my side to guide me in safety +through the fiery ordeal and to conduct me to that long wished for haven +of rest--my old home on the Aylmer Road. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MY MARRIAGE LIFE. + + +My wedding took place in the usual manner: the same congratulations, +presents, kisses, well-wishes all the world over. I need not dwell upon +the event any further. + +On the 1st August, 1882, my husband took the train at Ottawa, _en route_ +for the North-West. As far as the first portion of our trip is concerned +I have little or nothing to say, I could not see much from the car +window and every place was new to me and, in fact, one place seemed as +important as another in my eyes. + +We passed through Toronto and thence to Sarnia, and on to Chicago. We +crossed to Port Huron and proceeded at once to St. Paul. This was +our first stoppage. We spent a day in St. Paul, and, indeed, the +city deserves a day, at least, from all who travel that way. It is a +beautiful place. However, it seemed to me much on the same plan and in +the same style as all the Western American cities. From St. Paul's we +went on to Winnipeg. I must say that I was not very favourably impressed +by my first visit to this metropolis of the North-West On my homeward +trip I found vast changes for the better in the place. Still it may have +been, only to my eye that the city appeared far from clean and anything +but attractive. I must admit that it was rainy weather--and oh! the mud! +I have heard that there are two classes of people leave Quebec after a +first visit--the one class are those who caught a first glimpse of +the Rock City on a beautiful day. These people are unceasing in their +admiration of Quebec. The other class are those, who came into the city, +for the first time, on a rainy day, when the streets were canals and +mud was ankle deep. It would be impossible to convince these people that +Quebec was anything but a filthy, hilly, crooked, ugly, unhealthy +place. I may be of the latter class, when I refer to Winnipeg. But most +assuredly I am not prejudiced, for since my last passage through that +city I have changed my idea of it completely. + +From Winnipeg we proceeded by rail to Brandon and thence, by +construction train, to Troy. We were then four hundred miles from +Winnipeg and we had four hundred miles to travel. But our cars ceased +here. At Troy we got our tent ready, supplied ourselves with the +necessaries upon such a journey, and getting our buckboard into order, +we started upon the last, the longest and yet pleasantest part of our +voyage. + +How will I attempt to describe it! There is so much to tell and yet I +know not what is best to record and what is best to leave out. + +Half a day's journey from Troy we crossed the Qu'Appelle river. The +scenery upon the banks of that most picturesque of streams would demand +the pencil of a Claude Lorraine, or the pen of a Washington Irving to +do it justice. Such hills I never before beheld. Not altogether for size +but for beauty. Clad in a garb of the deepest green they towered aloft, +like the battlement of two rival fortresses--and while the sun lit up +the hills to our right, the shades of mid-day deepened upon the frowning +buttresses to our left. Every tree seemed to have a peculiar hue, a +certain depth of color completely its own. Indeed, one would imagine +that Dame Nature had been trying a gigantic crazy quilt and had flung it +over the bed of the Qu'Appelle valley, that all who went by might admire +her handiwork. + +I might here remark that the days of the summer are longer, in the +north-west, than in the Ottawa district. In fact, we used to rise +at three o'clock in the morning and drive for three hours before our +breakfast. It would then be grey dawn and the flush of approaching +day-light could be seen over the eastern hills. At nine o'clock in the +evening it would be twilight The days of midwinter are proportionately +shorter. + +The road we had to travel was a lovely one: at times it might be a +little rough, but indeed it could well compare with most of the roads +in our more civilized places. Nearly every night we managed to reach +a clump of bushes or shelter to camp. Except for two days, when on the +"Salt Plains," when like the caravans in the deserts of the east we had +to carry our own fuel and water. + +We crossed the South Saskatchewan at Aroline--or the "Telegraph +Crossing," also known as Clark's Ferry--from the man who kept the ferry, +and who made the new trail running to the Touchwood Hills. We again +crossed the North Saskatchewan near Fort Pitt--which is thirty-five +miles from our destination. + +We went by the river road, and after we crossed the salt plains, and +got into the woods at Eagle Creek, we had a splendid trip through a rich +fertile abundant farming country. The houses are not very attractive, +but the farms are really fine. I will dwell upon this question at a +greater length presently. + +That less confusion may take place, I will sub-divide this chapter +into three sections. In the first I will speak of the farms and +farmers--their homes and how they live; in the second, I will describe +our own home and its surroundings; and in the third, I will speak of the +Indians under my husband's control, and tell how we got along during the +three years I was there. + + +THE FARMERS AND THEIR FARMS. + + +It would be out of place and even impossible for me, at present to give +you any figures relating to the crops and harvests of the North-West. +Suffice, to say that for two summers, at Frog Lake, in my husband's +district, we raised wheat that was pronounced by competent judges to +equal the best that ever grew in Ontario. + +The land is fertile and essentially a grain-bearing soil. It is easy to +clear, and is comparatively very level. There is ample opportunity to +utilize miles upon miles of it, and the farms that exist, at present, +are evidences of what others might be. No one can tell the number of +people that there is room for in the country. Europe's millions might +emigrate and spread, themselves over that immense territory, and still +there would be land and ample place for those of future generations. We +were eight hundred miles from Winnipeg, and even at that great distance +we were, to use the words of Lord Dufferin, "only in the anti-chamber of +the great North-West." + +The country has been well described by hundreds, it has also been +falsely reported upon by thousands. At first it was the "Great Lone +Land,"--the country of bleak winter, eternal snow and fearful blizzards. +Then it became a little better known, and, suddenly it dawned upon +the world that a great country lie sleeping in the arms of nature, and +awaiting the call of civilization to awaken it up and send it forth on +a mission of importance. The "boom" began. All thoughts were directed to +the land of the Rockies. Pictures of plenty and abundance floated before +the vision of many thousands. Homes in the east were abandoned to rush +into the wilds of the West. No gold fever of the South was ever more +exciting, and to add thereto, they found that the government proposed +building a line of railway from end to end of the Dominion. Then the +Frazer, Saskatchewan, Red River and Assiniboine became household words. + +In this story of a fancied land of plenty, there was much truth, but as +in every case in life, there was much falsehood as well. It suited the +purpose of monied speculators to laud to the skies the North-west in +general. But rich and extensive as the land may be, no man can expect to +make a fortune there, unless through hard labor, never ceasing exertion +and great watchfulness. There, as in all other lands, you must "earn +your bread by the sweat of your brow." That sentence passed on man, +when the first sin darkened his soul, shall exist and be carried into +execution unto the end of time. And no man is exempt, and no land is +free from it. Many have failed in finding riches in the North-West; gold +did not glitter along the highway, nor were precious stones to be picked +up in every foot path. The reason is, because they went there expecting +to have no work to do, merely to sit down, to go to bed, to sleep and +wake up some morning millionaires. But those who put their shoulder to +the wheel and their hands to the plough, turned up as rich a soil +as England's flag floats over, and sowed seeds that gave returns as +plentiful as the most abundant harvests on the continent. It would do +one good to drive along the river road by the Saskatchewan, and observe +those elegant, level, fertile, well tilled farms that dot the country. +It is a great distance to procure materials for building, and as yet the +most of the houses are rough and small, but comfortable and warm, and +sufficient for the needs of the farmers. + +Much of the labor is done in the old style, as in my own native place, +before the days of machinery. But soon we will see the mower and reaper +finding their way into the very furthest settlements--and if ever there +was a country laid out for the use of machinery it is certainly the +north-west. + +Before many years, there will be good markets for the produce, as the +towns are growing up pretty rapidly and the railroad is lending a great +encouragement to the farmers near the line. + +Half a century ago the country was unheard of, save through the Hudson +Bay Company's agents and factors: quarter of a century ago it was +considered a _probably_ future portion of our Dominion. Behold it +to-day! Its cities, its roads, its villages, its farms, its inhabitants! +What then may the immense territory not become before fifty years more +shall have rolled into eternity? I do not feel myself competent to +judge-but I have no doubt but it will become the grainery of the +continent and the supplier of half Europe. + +The farmer in the Provinces who has a good farm and who can make a fair +living would be foolish to leave it for the hazard of an attempt in +the new country. But should a person be commencing life and have the +intention of depending upon themselves, their own exertion and energy, +then the sun shines not on a finer land, holding out a broader prospect +than in that great country that lies towards the Pacific. + +I have only spoken hurriedly and from a general standpoint of the +farmers, and when I say farmers, I mean white people. The Indian fanning +is of a different nature altogether. That will demand my attention +before I close this chapter. + + +FROG LAKE AND SURROUNDINGS. + + +Although the name of the place would indicate that the lake abounded in +frogs, still I have no recollection of seeing any extra number of them +around the place. I think the name comes from a tradition--perhaps in +some age, long lost in the twilight of Indian story, the frogs may have +been more plentiful in that special locality than elsewhere. Twenty +miles for our farm and twelve miles from Fort Pitt is "Onion Lake", +farm, where my husband spent his first winter. I cannot tell how +that place got its name no more than how our district was called +_Aieekesegahagan_. When I first arrived at Frog Lake there were no +buildings excepting my husband's house and warehouse--a shed and garden, +added thereto, formed the whole establishment. These were built by my +husband. Since then, in the course of three years that I was there, +several buildings were put up, until, in fine, our little settlement +became quite a village. + +Mr. Quinn's, (the agent) house, and his storehouse, were erected since +I arrived there. Mr. Quinn was the gentleman whose name has appeared so +much in the public prints since the sad events of the second of April +last. When I come to my experience during the last three months of my +North-West life, I will give more fully the story of Mr. Quinn's fate. +There were three reserves near us, the Indians upon which were under my +husband's control--In the next section of this chapter I will refer to +these bands and give what I know about them. + +The scenery around Frog Lake is surpassingly beautiful. We lived on Frog +Creek, which runs from the Lake into the North Saskatchewan. In October +last, Mr. Gowanlock, who shared the same fate as my husband, and whose +kind and gentle wife was my companion through all the troubles and +exposures of our captivity and escape, began to build a mill two miles +from our place, on the waters of Frog Creek. He put up a saw mill and +had all the timber ready to complete a grist mill, when he was cut short +in his early life, and his wife was cast upon the mercy of Providence. +They lived two miles from us. Many of those whom I knew were mill hands. +Gilchrist who was killed, was an employee of Mr. Gowanlock. + +Frog Lake is pretty large. I know that in one direction it is twelve +miles long. In the centre of the lake is a large island, that is clothed +in a garb of evergreen. The pine and spruce upon it are extra large, +sound and plentiful. In fact it would be difficult to find a place where +better timber for building and other purposes, could be cut. The place +is gradually becoming developed, and when I consider all that has been +done, in the way of improvement, since I first went there, I would not +be surprised to learn, that in the near future, the principal parts of +the country shall be under cultivation, that the clang of the mill shall +be heard upon every stream, and that down the Saskatchewan may float the +produce of a fresh, a virgin, a teeming soil, to supply the markets of +the Old World, and to supplant the over-worked fields of the eastern +countries. + +Also since my arrival at the Frog Lake Reserve, the priest's house, the +school house and church were built. Even there in the far west, away so +to speak, from the atmosphere of civilization, beyond the confines of +society, we have what Sir Alexander Selkirk mourned for so much, when +alone on Juan Fernandez--_Religion_. Even there, the ministers of the +Gospel, faithful to their duties, and mindful of the great command to +"go forth and teach all nations,"--leaving their homes and friends in +the land of the east, seek out the children of those Indian tribes, and +bring to them the lights of faith and instruction. Untiring in their +exertions, indefatigable in their labors, they set a glorious example, +and perform prodigies of good. The church was small, but neat, although +its ornaments are few, still I am sure that as fervent and as acceptable +prayers went up, like incense, towards heaven, and blessings as choice, +like dew, fell upon the humble worshippers, as ever the peal of the +cathedral organ announced, or as ever descended upon the faithful +beneath the gorgeous domes of the most splendid Basilicas. Memory +still often summons up before me the scenes of silent, dusky, faithful +children of the forest, kneeling in prayer, and with mingled feelings of +awe, wonder, admiration and confidence, listening to the divine truths +as explained in their own language, by the missionaries. But the picture +becomes dark, when I reflect upon the fate of the two good men whose +sad story I have yet to tell. Most assuredly theirs was a _confession of +blood_--and dying at their posts, faithful to their mission, relieving +the soul of an expiring Christian when the hand of death fell upon them. +Theirs must have been a triumphal entry into heaven, to the kingdom +of God! The great cross that the 90th Battalion placed over the united +graves of the victims of the Frog Lake massacre, is a fitting emblem and +a worthy monument; its base rests upon the soil that covers their union +in the grave, but its summits points to where their souls are united +above. + +I will now take up the question of the Indians under my husband's +control, and I will tell how they got along, improved, and were +contented and happy. That will bring me to my last and all important +chapter--the one which will contain the story so tragically mournful. + + +THE INDIANS AS THEY ARE + + +It would not become me, perhaps, to comment upon the manner in which the +country is governed, and the Indians instructed, for I am no politician. +In fact I don't know one party from another except by name. But I cannot +permit this occasion, the last I may ever have, to go past without +saying plainly what I think and what I know about the north-west and its +troubles. + +The half-breeds, or whites or others may have real or imaginary +grievances that they desire to see redressed. If they have, I know +nothing about them; I never had anything to do with them and maybe I +could not understand the nature of their claims, even if explained to +me. But be that as it may--even if I did know aught I would not feel +myself justified in writing down that which I could only have learned by +hear say. But there is one thing I do know and most emphatically desire +to express and have thoroughly understood and that is the fact, _the +Indians have no grievances and no complaints to make_. Their treatment +is of the best and most generous kind. The government spares no pains to +attempt to make them adopt an agricultural life, to teach them to rely +upon their own strength, to become independent people and good citizens. +Of the Indians I can speak openly for I know them thoroughly. There may +be, here and there, a bad man amongst them; but as a people they are +submissive, kind, and, if only from curiosity, they are anxious to +learn. My husband remarked that according as they advanced in their +agricultural knowledge that they commenced to have a liking for it. And +I noticed the same in the young squaws whom I undertook to instruct in +household duties. + +Many an English, Scotch or Irish farmer, when he comes poor to Canada +and strives to take up a little farm for himself, if he had only one +half the advantages that the government affords to the Indians, he would +consider his fortune forever made. They need never want for food. Their +rations are most regularly dealt out to them and they are paid to +clear and cultivate their own land. They work for themselves and are, +moreover, paid to do so--and should a crop fail they are certain of +their food, anyway. I ask if a man could reasonably expect more? Is it +not then unjust to lead these poor people into a trouble which--can but +injure them deeply! If half-breeds have grievances let them get them +redressed if they chose, but let them not mix up the Indians in their +troubles. The Indians, have nothing to complain of and as a race they +are happy their quite home of the wilderness and I consider it a great +shame for evil-minded people, whether whites or half-breeds, to instill +into their excitable heads the false idea that they are presecuted by +the government. In speaking thus I refer to _our_ Indians that is to say +those under my late husband's control. But if all government agencies +and reserves are like that at Frog Lake, I hesitate not to say, that the +government is over good to the restless bands of the west. + +I have no intention in my sketch to use any names--for if I mention +one of my friends I should mention them all and that would be almost +impossible. No more will I mention the names of any persons who might +be implicated in the strange and dishonest acts that have taken place +previous to, during and since the outbreak. Yet I feel it a duty to +present a true picture of the situation of the Indian bands and of the +two great powers that govern in the country and whose interests are the +very opposite of each other. + +These two governing parties are the Hudson Bay Company and the Dominion +Government. There is not the slightest doubt, but their interests are +directly opposed. The company has made its millions out of the fur trade +and its present support is the same trade. The more the Indians hunt the +more the Company can make. Now the Government desires to civilize them +and to teach them to cultivate the soil. The more the Indian works on +his farm the less the Company gets in the way of fur. Again, the more +the Government supplies the Indians with rations the less the Company +can sell to them. + +Two buffalos are not given for a glass of whiskey--one-third highwines +and two-thirds water--as when the Company had full sway. The fire-water +is not permitted to be brought to them now. No longer have the Indians +to pay the exorbitant prices for pork, flour, tea, &c., that the Company +charged them. The Government has rendered it unnecessary for them +to thus sacrifice their time and means. Did the Company ever try to +civilize or christianize the Indians! Most certainly not. The more +they became enlightened the less hold the Company would have upon them. +Again, if it were not for the Government, the lights of the gospel would +scarcely ever reach them. The more the Government civilizes them and +developes the country, the less plentiful the game becomes, and the less +profit the Company can make. Therefore it is that I say, the interests +of the Company and those of the Government are contradictory. The former +wants no civilization, plenty of game, and Indians that will hunt all +the year around. The latter require agriculture, the soil to be taken +from the wild state, the rays of faith and instruction to penetrate the +furthest recess of the land, and to have a race that can become worthy +of the dignity of citizens in a civilized country. So much the worse +for the Government if the Indians rebel and so much the worse for the +Indians themselves; but so much the better for the Company's interests. + +I have my own private opinions upon the causes of the rebellion but do +not deem it well or proper to express them. There are others besides the +half-breeds and Big Bear and his men connected with the affair. There +are many objects to be gamed by such means and there is a "wheel within +a wheel" in the North-West troubles. + +As far as I can judge of the Indian character, they are not, at all, an +agricultural people--nor for a few generations are they likely to become +such. Their habits are formed, their lives are directed in a certain +line--like a sapling you can bend at will and when grown into a tree you +can no longer change its shape-so with them. From time immemorial they +have ranged the woods and it is not in the present nor even the next +generation that you can uproot that inclination. Take the negro from +the south and place him amongst the ice-bergs of the arctic circle and +strive to make him accustomed to the hunting of the seal or harpooning +of the walrus;--or else bring down an Esquimaux and put him into a +sugar-cane plantation of the topics. In fact, take a thorough going +farmer from the old-country and attempt to accustom him to hunt moose +and trap beaver. He may get expert at it; but give him a chance and he +will soon fling away the traps and pick up the spade, lay down the rifle +and take hold of the plough. So it is with the Indians--they may get a +taste for farming, but they prefer to hunt. Even the best amongst them +had to have a month every spring and another month every fall to hunt. +And they would count the weeks and look as anxiously forward to those +few days of freedom, of unbridled liberty, as a school-boy looks forward +to his mid-summer holidays. + +Yet, in spite of this hankering after the woods and the freedom of the +chase, they are a people easily instructed, quick to learn, (when they +like to do so), and very submissive and grateful. But they are very, +very improvident. So long as they have enough for to-day, let to-morrow +look out for itself. Even upon great festivals such as Christmas, when +my husband would give them a double allowance of rations, they would +come before our house, fire off their guns as a token of joy and thanks, +and then proceed with their feast and never stop until they had the +double allowance all eaten up and not a scrap left for the next day. + +In my own sphere I was often quite amused with the young squaws. They +used to do my house-work for me. I would do each special thing for +them--from cleaning, scrubbing, washing, cooking to sewing, fancy work, +&c. and they would rival each other in learning to follow me. They would +feel as proud when they could perform some simple little work, as a +child feels when he has learned his A. B. Cs. With time and care, good +house-keepers could be made of many of them, and it is too bad to see +so many clever, naturally gifted, bright creatures left in ignorance and +misery. I think it was in Gray's Elegy that I read the line: "How many +a flower is born to blush unseen, and waste its fragrance on the desert +air." + +When I look back over these three years, I feel a pang of more than +sorrow. Ours was a happy home; I grew to like my surroundings, I became +fond of my Indian protegees, and to crown all, in December last, Mrs. +Gowanlock came to live near us. I felt that even though a letter from +home should be delayed, that I would not feel as lonesome as before. +My husband was generous to a fault. He was liked by all the bands;--our +white neighbours were few, but they were splendid people, fast and true +friends, and I might say since Mrs. Gowanlock arrived, I felt at home; I +looked upon the place as my own, and the Indian children as my children; +the same as my husband looked upon the men as his care, and they +regarded him as a father. It was no longer to be a lonely life. It was +to become a life of usefulness, joy, labor, peace and contentment. Such +was the vision I had of the future, about the middle of last winter! But +who knows what is in store for us! "There is a Providence that shapes +our ends, rough-hew them as we will!" + +I will here quote a few lines from deposition given at Regina: "When he, +(my husband) first came up here, he had five bands to look after until a +year ago, when the Chippewans were taken from his supervision and given +to Mr. John Fitzpatrick. A little later, Mr. Fitzpatrick was transferred +to another jurisdiction, and the Chippewans came again under my +husband's care. He then had to look after the Chippewans, Oneepewhayaws, +Mistoo-Kooceawsis and Puskeakeewins, and last year he had Big Bear's +tribe. He was so engaged when the outbreak took place. All the Indians +were very peacably inclined and most friendly to us all. My husband +was much respected, and really beloved by all under his care, and +they seemed to be most attached to him. We were, therefore, greatly +astonished at their action towards us, but after all it was only +Big Bear's followers that showed their enmity towards us. These too, +pretended to be most friendly, and have often told us, 'that but for my +husband they would have starved.'" + +With this, I close my second chapter, and will now, in the third offer +my readers a picture of the scenes from the first of April last until +the close of the struggle. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +THE NORTH-WEST TROUBLE. + + +There are scenes that are hard to properly describe. There are parts +of our lives that can never be reproduced or transmitted to others +upon paper. As Father Abram J. Ryan, the Poet Priest of the South so +beautifully tells us: + + "But far on the deep there are billows, + That never shall break on the beach; + And I have heard Songs in the Silence, + That never shall float into speech; + And I have had dreams in the Valley, + _Too lofty for language to reach."_ + +So with me and my story. However I may have succeeded so far in +expressing what I desired to convey to the public, I feel confident that +I am far from able to do justice to this last chapter. The events crowd +upon my mind in a sort of kaliedescope confusion and scarcely have the +intention of giving expression to an idea, than a hundred others crop +up to usurp its place in my mind. Although I will tell the story of the +tragic events as clearly and as truthfully as is possible, still I +know that years after this little sketch is printed, I will remember +incidents that now escape my memory. One has not time, or inclination, +when situated as I was, to take a cool survey of all that passes and +commit to memory every word that might be said or remark that might +be made. Notwithstanding the fear I have of leaving out any points of +interest or importance, I still imagine that my simple narrative will +prove sufficient to give an idea, imperfect though it may be, of all +the dangers we passed through, the sufferings we underwent, and the +hair-breadth escapes we had. + +Up to the 30th of March, 1885, we had not the faintest idea that a +rebellion existed, nor that half-breeds and Indians were in open revolt. +On that day we received two letters, one from Captain Dickens, of Fort +Pitt, and one from Mr. Rae, of Battleford. Mr. Dickens' letter was +asking all the whites to go down to Fort Pitt for safety as we could not +trust the Indians; and Mr. Rae's letter informed us of the "Duck Lake" +battle and asking us to keep the' Indians up there and not let them down +to join Poundmaker. When we were informed of the great trouble that was +taking place, Mr. and Mrs. Gowanlock were apprised of the fact and they +came up to our place for safety. My husband had no fear for himself, but +he had slight misgivings as to poor Mr. Quinn's situation. Mr. Quinn was +the agent in that district and was a Sioux half-breed. Johnny Pritchard, +his interpreter, was a Cree half-breed. My husband decided at once not +to go to Fort Pitt. It would be a shame for us, he thought, to run away +and leave all the Government provisions, horses, &c., at the mercy of +those who would certainly take and squander them, moreover he feared +nothing from the Indians. His own band were perfectly friendly and +good--and not ten days previous, Big Bear had given him a peace-pipe or +_calumet_, and told him that he was beloved by all the band. + +However, knowing the Indian character so well, and being aware that the +more you seemed to confide in them the more you were liked by them, he +and Mr. Quinn concluded to hold a council with the chiefs and inform +them of the news from Duck Lake, impressing upon them the necessity of +being good and of doing their work, and not minding those troublesome +characters that were only bringing misery upon themselves. + +Consequently, on the first of April, the council was held, but to their +great astonishment and dismay, the Indians knew more than they did about +the affair, and, in fact, the Indians knew all about the troubles, +long before news ever reached us, at Frog Lake, of the outbreak. At the +council were "Aimasis" (The King-bird), one of Big Bear's sons and "The +Wandering Spirit." They said that Big Bear had a bad name, but now that +he had a chance he would show himself to be the whiteman's friend. All +day, the 1st of April, they talked and held council, and finally the +Indians went home, after shaking hands with my husband. They then told +him that the half-breeds intended to come our way to join Riel! that +they also intended to steal our horses, but that we need not fear as +they (the Indians) would protect us and make sure no horses would be +taken and no harm would be done. They also told us to sleep quiet and +contented as they would be up all night and would watch. Big Bear, +himself, was away upon a hunt and only got to the camp that night, +we did not see him until next morning. During that day, the Indians, +without an exception, asked for potatoes and of course they got them. +They said we did not need so much potatoes and they would be a treat for +them as they meant to make a big feast that night and have a dance. + +Now as to their statement about the half-breeds coming to take horses or +anything else we did not know whether to believe them or not. Of course +it would never do to pretend to disbelieve them. However, the shadow +of a doubt hung over each of us. We knew that the Indians had a better +knowledge of all that was taking place than we had, and since they knew +so much about the troubles, it looked probable enough that they should +know what movements the half-breeds were to make. And moreover, they +seemed so friendly, so good-spirited and in fact so free from any +appearance of being in bad humor, that it would require a very +incredulous character not to put faith in their word. + +But on the other hand it seemed strange, that, if they knew so much +about our danger, they never even hinted it to us until our men first +spoke of it to them. However, be these things as they may, we felt +secure and still something told us that all was not well: often to +others as well as to Campbell's wizard, + + "The sun set of life, gives them mystical lore-- + And coming events cast their shadows before." + +Thus we parted on the night of the first of April, and all retired to +bed, to rest, to dream. Little did some amongst us that it was to be +their last sleep, their last rest upon imagine earth, and that before +another sun would set, they would be "sleeping the sleep that knows +no waking"--resting the great eternal rest from which they will not +be disturbed until the trumpet summons the countless millions from +the tomb. Secure as we felt ourselves, we did not dream of the deep +treachery and wicked guile that prompted those men to deceive their +victims. The soldier may lie down calmly to sleep before the day of +battle, but I doubt if we could have reposed in such tranquility if +the vision of the morrow's tragedy had flashed across our dreams. It is +indeed better that we know not the hour, nor the place! And again, is it +not well that we should ever be prepared, so that no matter how or when +the angel of death may strike, we are ready to meet the inevitable and +learn "the great Secret of Life and Death!" + +At about half past-four on the morning of the second of April, before +we were out of bed, Johnny Pritchard and Aimasis came to our house and +informed my husband that the horses had been stolen by the half-breeds. +This was the first moment that a real suspicion came upon our mind. +Aimasis protested that he was so sorry. He said that no one, except +himself and men, were to blame. He said dial they danced nearly all +night and when it got on towards morning that all fell asleep, and that +the half-breeds must have been upon the watch, for it was then that they +came and stole the horses. The two then left us and we got up. About +an hour after, Aimises came back and told us not to mind the horses, as +they would go and hunt for them and bring them back. + +I since found out, that as the horses were only two miles away in the +woods, they feared that my husband might go and find them himself and +that their trick would be discovered. It is hard to say how far they +intended, at that time, to go on with the bad work they had commenced. + +In about half an hour some twenty Indians came to the house, Big Bear +was not with them, nor had they on war-paint, and they asked for our +guns, that is my husband's and Mr. Quinn's. They said they were short of +firearms and that they wished to defend us against the half-breeds. No +matter what our inclinations or misgivings might then be, we could not +however refuse the arms. They seemed quite pleased and went away. An +hour had scarcely elapsed when over thirty Indians painted in the most +fantastic and hedious manner came in. Big Bear also came, but he wore +no war-paint. He placed himself behind my husband's chair. We were all +seated at the table taking our breakfast. The Indians told us to eat +plenty as we would not be hurt. They also ate plenty themselves--some +sitting, others standing, scattered here and there through the room, +devouring as if they had fasted for a month. + +Big Bear then remarked to my husband that there would likely be some +shooting done, but for him not to fear, as the Indians considered him +as one of themselves. Before we had our meal finished Big Bear went +out. The others then asked us all to go up to the church with them. We +consequently went, Mr. and Mrs. Gowanlock, Mr. Dill, Mr. Williscraft, my +husband and myself. + +When we arrived at the church the mass was nearly over. The Indians, on +entering, made quite a noise, and clatter. They would' not remove their +hats or head-dresses, they Would not shut the door, nor remain silent, +in fact, they did anything they considered provoking and ugly. The +good priest, the ill-fated Father Fafard, turned upon the altar, and +addressed them. He warned them of the danger of excitement and he also +forbade them to do any harm. He told them to go quietly away to their +camps and not disturb the happiness and peace of the community. They +seemed to pay but little attention to what they heard, but continued the +same tumult. Then Father Fafard took off his vestments and cut short +the mass, the last that he was destined ever to say upon earth; the next +sacrifice he would offer was to be his own life. He as little dreamed as +did some of the others that before many hours their souls would be with +God, and that their bodies would find a few days sepulchre beneath that +same church, whose burnt ruins would soon fall upon their union in the +clay. + +The Indians told us that we must all go back to our place. We obeyed and +the priests came also. When we reached the house the Indians asked for +beef-cattle. My husband gave them two oxen. Some of the tribe went out +to kill the cattle. After about an hour's delay and talk, the Indians +told us to come to their camp so that we would all be together and that +they could aid us the better against the half-breeds. We consequently +started with them. + +Up to this point, I might say, the Indians showed us no ill-will, but +continually harped upon the same chord, that they desired to defend and +to save us from the half-breeds. So far they got everything they asked +for, and even to the last of the cattle, my husband refused nothing. +We felt no dread of death at their hands, yet we knew that they were +excited and we could hot say what they might do if provoked. We now +believed that the story of the half-breeds was to deceive us and throw +us off our guard--and yet we did not suspect that they meditated the +foul deeds that darkened the morning of the second of April, and that +have left it a day unfortunately, but too memorable, in the annals of +Frog Lake history. + +When I now look back over the events, I feel that we all took a proper +course, yet the most unfortunate one for those that are gone. We could +have no idea of the murderous intentions on the part of the Indians. +Some people living in our civilized country may remark, that it was +strange we did not notice the peculiar conduct of the Indians. But those +people know nothing either of the Indian character or habits. So far +from their manner seeming strange, or extraordinary, I might say, that +I have seen them dozens of times act more foolishly, ask more silly +questions and want more rediculous things--even appear more excited. +Only for the war-paint and what Big Bear had told us, we would have had +our fears completely lulled by the seemingly open and friendly manner. +I have heard it remarked that it is a wonder we did not leave before the +second of April and go to Fort Pitt; I repeat, nothing at all appeared +to us a sign of alarm, and even if we dreaded the tragic scenes, my +husband would not have gone. His post was at home; he had no fear that +the Indians would hurt him; he had always treated them well and they +often acknowledged it; he was an employee of the Government and had +a trust in hand; he would never have run away and left the Government +horses, cattle, stores, provisions, goods, &c., to be divided and +scattered amongst the bands, he even said so before the council day. +Had he ran away and saved his life, by the act, I am certain he would +be then blamed as a coward and one not trustworthy nor faithful to his +position. I could not well pass over this part of our sad story without +answering some of those comments made by people, who, neither through +experience nor any other means could form an idea of the situation. It +is easy for me to now sit down and write out, if I choose, what ought to +have been done; it is just as easy for people safe in their own homes, +far from the scene, to talk, comment and tell how they would have acted +and what they would have done. But these people know no more about the +situation or the Indians, than I know about the Hindoos, their mode of +life, or their habits. + +Before proceeding any further with my narrative--and I am now about to +approach the grand and awful scene of the tragedy--I will attempt, +as best I can, to describe the Indian war-paint--the costume, the +head-dress and attitudes. I imagined once that all the stories +that American novelists told us about the +war-dance,--war-whoops,--war-paint,--war-hatchet or tomahawk, were but +fiction drawn from some too lively imaginations. But I have seen them in +reality, more fearful than they have ever been described by the pen of +novelist or pencil of painter. + +Firstly, the Indians adorn their heads with feathers, about six inches +in length and of every imaginable color. These they buy from the Hudson +Bay Company. Also it is from the Company they procure their paints. +An Indian, of certain bands, would prefer to go without food than be +deprived of the paint. Our Indians never painted, and in fact Big Bear's +band used to laugh at the Chippewans for their quiet manners and strict +observance of their religious duties. In fact these latter were very +good people and often their conduct would put to the blush white people. +They never would eat or even drink a cup of tea without first saying +a grace, and then, if only by a word,--thanking God for what they +received. But those that used the paint managed to arrange their persons +in the most abomonable and ghastly manner. With the feathers, they mix +porcupine quills and knit the whole into their hair--then daub, their +head with a species of white clay that is to be found in their country. +They wear no clothing except what they call loin-cloth or breach-cloth, +and when they, go on the war-path, just as when they went to attack +Fort Pitt, they are completely naked. Their bodies are painted a bright +yellow, over the forehead a deep green, then streaks of yellow and +black, blue and purple upon the eyelids and nose. The streaks are a deep +crimson, dotted with black, blue, or green. In a word, they have every +imaginable color. It is hard to form an idea of how hedious they appear +when the red, blue, green and white feathers deck the head, the body a +deep orange or bright yellow and the features tatooed in all fantastic +forms. No circus clown could ever equal their ghostly decorations. When +one sees, for the first time, these horrid creatures, wild, savage, mad, +whether in that war-dance or to go on the war-path, it is sufficient to +make the blood run cold, to chill the senses, to unnerve the stoutest +arm and strike terror into the bravest heart. + +Such was their appearance, each with a "greenary-yellowy" hue, that one +assumes when under the electric light, when we all started with them +for their camp. We were followed and surrounded by the Indians. The two +priests, Mr. and Mrs. Gowanlock, Mr. Gilchrist, Mr. Williscraft, Mr. +Dill, Mr. Gouin, Mr. Quinn, my husband and myself formed the party of +whites. My husband and I walked ahead. When we had got about one acre +from the house we heard shots, which we thought were fired in the air. +We paid little or no attention to them. I had my husband by the arm. We +were thus linked when old Mr. Williscraft rushed past, bear-headed. I +turned my head to see what was the cause of his excitement, when I saw +Mr. Gowanlock fall. I was about to speak when I felt my husband's arm +drop from mine--and he said, "I am shot too." Just then the priests +rushed up and Father Fafard was saying something in French, which I +could not catch. My husband staggered over about twenty feet from me and +then back again and fell down beside me. I bent down and raised his head +upon my lap. I think over forty shots must have been fired, but I could +not tell what side the shot came from that hit my husband. I called +Father Fafard and he came over. He knelt down and asked my husband if he +could say the "confiteor." My husband said "yes" and then repeated the +prayer from end to end. As he finished the prayer, the priest said: "my +poor brother, I think you are safe with God," and as the words died +upon his lips he received his death-wound and fell prostrate across my +husband. I did not see who fired the shot. I only saw one shot fired; I +thought it was for myself but it was for my husband and it finished him. +In a couple of minutes an Indian, from the opposite side, ran up, caught +me by the wrist and told me to go with him. I refused, but I saw another +Indian shake his head at me and tell me to go on. He dragged me by force +away. I got one glance-the last-at my poor husband's body and I was +taken off. After we had gone a piece I, tried to look back-but the +Indian gave me a few shakes pretty roughly and then dragged me through +the creek up to my waist in water--then over a path full of thorns and +briars and finally flung me down in his tent. + +I will not now stay to describe my feelings or attempt to give in +language, an idea of the million phantoms of dread and terror; memory +seemed but too keen, and only too vividly could I behold the repetition +of the scenes that had just passed before me. I stayed all day in the +tent. I had the hope that some one would buy me off. Yet the hope was +mingled with dispair. I thought if I could see Alec, one of our own +Indians, that he would buy me, but I could not find out were he was. +Towards evening I went to Johnny Pritchard's tent and asked him to buy +me. He said he had been trying all day but could not succeed, however he +expected to strike a bargain before night. He had only one horse and +the Indians wanted two horses for me. As good luck would have it, he got +Nolin--another half-breed--to give the second horse. It was all they had +and yet they willingly parted with that _all,_ to save me from inhuman +treatment, and even worse than a hundred deaths. There was a slight +relief in knowing that I was out of the power of the painted devil that +held me, since my husband's death. But we were far from safe. Pritchard +took me to his own tent, and placed me with his wife and family. There +I felt that if there existed any chance of an escape at all I would be +able to take advantage of it. I fully trusted to Pritchard's manliness +and good character, and I was not deceived. He not only proved himself +a sincere friend and a brave fellow, but he acted the part of a perfect +gentleman, throughout, and stands, ever since, in my estimation the type +of God's noblest creatures--A TRULY GOOD MAN. + +For three weeks I was watched, as a cat would watch a mouse. All night +long the Indians kept prowling about the tent, coming in, going out, +returning; they resembled, at times, a pack of wolves skulking around +their prey, and, at times, they appeared to resemble a herd of demons as +we see them represented in the most extravagant of frightful pictures. +However, Pritchard spoke to them and their attentions became less +annoying. They may have watched as closely as ever and I think they did, +but they seldom came into my tent and when they did come in, it was only +for a moment. I slept in a sitting position and whenever I would wake +up, in a startled state from some fevered dream, I invariably saw, at +the tent door, a human eye riveted upon me. + +Imagine yourself seated in a quiet room at night, and every time you +look at the door, which is slightly ajar, you catch the eye of a man +fixed upon you, and try then to form an idea of my feelings. I heard +that the human eye had power to subdue the most savage beast that roams +the woods; if so, there must be a great power in the organ of vision; +but I know of no object so awe-inspiring to look upon, as the naked eye +concentrated upon your features. Had we but the same conception of that +"all seeing eye," which we are told, continually watches us, we would +doubtlessly be wise and good; for if it inspired us with a proportionate +fear, we would possess what Solomon tells us in the first step to +wisdom--"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." + +But I never could describe all the miseries I suffered during those few +weeks. I was two months in captivity; and eight days afterwards we heard +of Major-General Strange's arrival, I managed to escape. The morning of +our escape seemed to have been especially marked out by providence for +us. It was the first and only time the Indians were not upon the close +watch. Up to that day, we used to march from sunrise to sunset, and all +night long the Indians would dance. I cannot conceive how human beings +could march all day, as they did, and then dance the wild, frantic +dances that they kept up all night. Coming on grey dawn they would tire +out and take some repose. Every morning they would tear down our tent +to see if we were in it. But whether attracted by the arrival of the +soldiers--by the news of General Strange's engagement--or whether they +considered we did not meditate flight, I cannot say--but most certainly +they neglected their guard that day. + +Some of them came in as usual, but we were making tea, and they went +off. As soon as the coast was clear we left our tea, and all, and we +departed. Maybe they did not know which way we went, or perhaps they +were too much engaged with their own immediate danger to make chase, but +be that as it may, we escaped. It was our last night under the lynx-eyed +watchers. We went about two miles in the woods, and there hid. So far +I had no covering for my head, and but scant raiment for my body. The +season was very cold in April and May, and many a time I felt numb, +chill, and sick, but there was no remedy for it; only "grin and go +through." In the last part of my captivity, I suffered from exposure to +the sun. The squaws took all my hats, and I could not get anything to +cover my head, except a blanket, and I would not dare to put one on, as +I knew not the moment we might fall in with the scouts; and they might +take me for a squaw. My shawl had become ribbons from tearing through +the bush, and towards the end I was not able to get two rags of it +to remain together. There is no possibility of giving an idea of our +sufferings. The physical pains, exposures, dangers, colds, heats, +sleepless nights, long marches, scant food, poor raiment, &c., would +be bad enough,--but we must not loose sight of the mental anguish, that +memory, only two faithful, would inflict upon us, and the terror that +alternate hope and despair would compel us to undergo. I cannot say +which was the worst. But when united, our sad lives seemed to have +passed beneath the darkest cloud that could possibly hang over them. + +When the Indians held their tea-dances or pow-wows in times of peace, +the squaws and children joined in, and it was a very amusing sight to +watch them. We often went three miles to look at a tea-dance, and I +found it as attractive and interesting as a big circus would be to the +children of a civilized place. But I had then no idea of the war-dance. +They differ in every respect. No fire-arms are used at the tea-dance, +and the guns and tomahawks and knives play the principal part in the +war dance. A huge fire throws its yellow, fitful light upon the grim +spectre-like objects that bound, leap, yell and howl, bend and pass, aim +their weapons, and using their tomahawks in a mimic warfare, a hideous +pantomine, around and across the blaze. Their gesticulations summon up +visions of murder, horror, scalps, bleeding and dangling at their belts, +human hearts and heads fixed upon their spears; their yells resemble at +times the long and distant howl of a pack of famished wolves, when on +the track of some hapless deer; and again their cries, their forms, +their actions, their very surroundings could be compared to nothing +else than some infernal scene, wherein the demons are frantic with +hell, inflamed passions. Each one might bear Milton's description in his +"Paradise Lost," of Death: + + "The other shape-- + If shape it might be called, that shape had none, + Distinguishable, in member, joint or limb: + * * * * * + black it stood as night. + Fierce as ten Furies, terrible as hell, + And shook a dreadful dart.--" + +And the union of all such beings might also be described in the words of +the same author. + + "The chief were those who from the pit of hell, + Roaming to seek their prey on earth, durst fix + Their seats; long after, next the seat of God, + Their altars, by his altar; gods adored + Among the nations round; and durst abide + Jehovah thundering out of Sion, throned + Between the cherubim; yea of 'en placed + Within his sanctuary itself their shrines, + Abominations: and with cursed things + His holy rites and solemn feasts profaned." + +The scenes at the little church the morning of the second of April,-the +massacre of God's anointed priests, the desecration of the temple, +the robbery of the sacred vessels and ornaments, the burning of the +edifice-are not those the deeds of beings not human, but infernal? Is +the likeness too vivid or too true? But in the wild banquet of their +triumph, while still holding the sacred vessels, they were checked as of +old was Belshazzer. Those scenes shall never pass, from my memory, with +Freneau I can say + + "And long shall timorous fancy see, + The painted chief, the pointed spear; + And reason's self shall bow the knee, + To shadows and delusions here" + +Now that I have passed once more over the trying scenes of the sad and +eventful month of April, I will describe some of the dangers of our +position, how we moved, camped, slept, and cooked. I will come to the +transition from wild adventure to calm security, from the dangers of the +wilderness to the safety of civilization. Once free from the toils +of the Indians and back in the bosom of society, I will have but to +describe our trip home, tell of the kindness received, and close this +short sketch, bid "good-bye" to my kind and patient readers and return +to that quiet life, which God in His mercy has reserved for me. + +After our escape, we travelled all day long in the same bush, so that +should the Indians discover us, we would seem to be still with them. +We had nothing to eat but bread and water. We dare not make fire as we +might be detected by the savages and then be subjected to a stricter +_surveillance_, and maybe punished for our wanderings. Thus speaking of +fire makes me think of the signals that the bands had, the beacons that +flared from the heights at stated times and for certain purposes. Even +before the outbreak, I remember of Indians coming to my husband and +telling him that they were going on a hunt, and if such and such a thing +took place, they would at a certain time and in a certain direction, +make a fire. We often watched for the fires and at the stated time we +would perceive the thin column of smoke ascend into the sky. For twenty +and thirty miles around these fires can be seen. They are made in a very +peculiar manner. The Indian digs a hole about a foot square and in that +start the flame. He piles branches or fagots up in a cone fashion, like +a bee-hive, and leaving a small hole in the top for the smoke to issue +forth, he makes a draught space below on the four sides. If the wind is +not strong, that tiny column of blue smoke will ascend to a height often +of fifty or sixty feet. During the war times they make use of these +fires as signals from band to band, and each fire has a conventional +meaning. Like the _phares_ that flashed the alarm from hill-top to +hill-top or the tocsin that sang from belfry to belfry in the Basse +Bretagne, in the days of the rising of the Vendee, so those beacons +would communicate as swiftly the tidings that one band or tribe had to +convey to another. Again, speaking of the danger of fire-making, I will +give an example of what those Indians did with men of their own tribe. + +A few of their men desired to go to Fort Pitt with their families, while +the others objected. The couple of families escaped and reached the +opposite side of a large lake. The Indians did not know which direction +the fugitives had taken until noon the following day, when they saw +their fire for dinner, across the lake. They started, half by one side +and half by the other side of the lake, and came up so as to surround +the fugitives. They took their horses, blankets, provisions, and camps, +and set fire to the prairie on all sides so as to prevent the unhappy +families from going or returning. When they thus treated their own +people, what could white people expect at their hands? + +The second day after our escape we travelled through a thicker bush and +the men were kept busy cutting roads for us. We camped four times to +make up for the day before, its fast and tramp. We made a cup of tea +and a bannock each time. The third day we got into the open prairie, and +about ten in the morning we lost our way. We were for ever three hours +in perplexity We feared to advance too much as we might be getting +farther from our proper track. About one o clock the sun appeared and +by means of it we regained our right course. At four we camped for the +night. We found a pretty clump of poplars and there pitched our tents +for a good repose. I had just commenced to make a bannock for our tea, +when Pritchard ran in and told me that the police were outside and for +me to go to them at once. I sincerely believe that it was at that moment +we ran the greatest of all our risks. The police had taken us for a band +of Indians, and were on the point of shooting at us when I came out and +arrested the act When they found who we were, they came in, placed their +guns aside, and gave us some corned beef and "hard tack," a species of +biscuit. These were luxuries to us, while out tea and bannock were a +treat to them. We all had tea together, and then we went with them to +the open prairie, where we travelled for about two hours Next morning we +moved into Fort Pitt. It was a glad sight to see the three steamboats, +and both sailors, soldiers, and civilians gave me a grand reception. + +It was upon Friday morning that we got into Fort Pitt, and we remained +their until Sunday. On Friday night the military band came down +two miles to play for us. It was quite an agreeable change from the +"tom-tom" of the Indians. Next day we went to see the soldiers drill. +If I am not mistaken there were over 500 men there Sunday, we left per +boat, for Battleford, and got in that night. We had a pleasant trip on +the steamer "The Marquis." While at Fort Pitt we had cabins on board the +very elegant vessel "North West." We remained three weeks at Battleford, +expecting to be daily called upon as witnesses in some cases. We +travelled overland from Battleford to Swift Current, and thence by rail +to Regina. At Moose Jaw, half way between Swift Current and Regina, we +were greatly frightened. Such a number of people were collected to see +and greet us, that we imagined it was Riel and his followers who had +come to take us prisoners. Our fears were however, soon quelled. We +remained four days at Regina; thence we came to Winnipeg. There we +remained from Monday evening until Tuesday evening. Mostly all the +people in the city came to see us, and I cannot commence to enumerate +the valuable presents we received from the open-hearted citizens. We +stopped with a Mrs. Bennett; her treatment to us, was like the care of a +fond mother for her lost children. + +We left on Thursday evening for Port Arthur, and thence we came by boat, +to Owen Sound. A person not in trouble could not help but enjoy the +glorious trip on the bosom of that immense inland sea. But, although we +were overjoyed to be once more in safety, and drawing nearer our homes, +yet memory was not sleeping, and we had too much to think off to +permit our enjoying the trip as it could be enjoyed. From Owen Sound we +proceeded to Parkdale by train. Parkdale is a lovely spot just outside +of Toronto. I spent the afternoon there, and at nine o'clock that night +left for home. I said good-bye to Mrs. Gowanlock; after all our sorrows, +troubles, dangers, miseries, which we partook in union, we found +it necessary to separate. And although we scarcely were half a year +acquainted, it seemed as if we had been play-mates in childhood, and +companions throughout our whole lives. But, as we could not, for +the present, continue our hand-in-hand journey, we separated merely +physically speaking--for "time has not ages, nor space has not +distance," to sever the recollections of our mutual trials. + +I arrived home at 6 o'clock on Monday morning. What were my feelings as +I stepped down from the hack, at that door, where three years before I +stepped up into a carriage, accompanied by my husband! How different +the scene of the bride leaving three years ago, and the widow returning +to-day! Still, on the first occasion there were tears of regret at +parting, and smiles of anticipated pleasure and happiness--on the second +occasion there are tears of memory, and yet smiles of relief on my +escape, and happiness in my safe return. + +My story draws to a close "Like a tale that is told," it possesses, +perhaps, no longer any interest for my readers. Yet, before dropping the +veil upon the past, and returning to that life, out of which I had been +forced by adverse circumstances. Before saying good-bye to the public +forever, I feel that I have a few concluding remarks which I should +make, and which I will now offer to my readers as an _adieu_! + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +St. Thos A. Kempis, in his beautiful "Imitation of Christ," asks: "who +is it that has all which he wishes for? Not I, not you, nor any man +upon earth." Although, we often are disappointed in our expectations +of happiness, and fail to attain all we desire, yet we have much to be +thankful for. I have passed through more than I ever expected I would be +able to bear; and still I feel most grateful, and I would not close this +short sketch, without addressing a few words to those who are objects of +my gratitude. + +Firstly, to my readers, I will say that all I have told you, in these +few passages, is the simple truth; nothing added thereto, nothing +taken therefrom. You have toiled through them despite the poverty of +composition and the want of literary style upon them; and now that the +story is told, I thank you for your patience with me, and I trust that +you may have enjoyed a few moments of pleasure at least, while engaged +in reading. + +Secondly, let me say a word to my friends of the North-West, and to +those of Canada, I cannot name anyone in particular, as those whose +kindness was great, yet whose names were accidently omitted, would feel +perhaps, that I slighted their favors. Believe me, one and all, that (in +the words of a great orator of the last century), "my memory shall have +mouldered when it ceases to recall your goodness and kindness, my tongue +shall forever be silent, when it ceases to repeat your expressions +of sympathy, and my heart shall have ceased to beat when it throbs no +longer for your happiness." + +The troubles of the North-West have proven that there is no land, +however, happy, prosperous or tranquil it may be, that is totally free +from the dangers of internal revolts,--it has likewise proven that our +country possesses the means, the strength, the energy and stamina, to +crush the hydra of disunion or rebellion, no matter where it may appear. +For like the upas tree, if it is permitted to take root and grow, its +proportions would soon become alarming, while its poisonous influence +would pollute the atmosphere with misery, ruin, rapine and death. + +The rebellion is now a thing of the past. It is now a page in Canadian +history. When a few generations shall come and go; our sad story of the +"Frog Lake Massacre," may be totally forgotten, and the actors therein +consigned to oblivion; but, these few papers, should they by any chance, +survive the hand of time, will tell to the children of the future +Canada, what those of your day experienced and suffered; and when those +who are yet to be learn the extent of the troubles undergone, and the +sacrifices made by those of the present, to set them examples worthy +of imitation, and models fit for their practice, to build up for them +a great and solid nation, they may perhaps reflect with pride upon the +history of their country, its struggles, dangers, tempests and calms. In +those days, I trust and pray that Canada may be the realization of that +glowing picture of a grand nation, drawn by a Canadian poet-- + + "The Northern arch, whose grand proportions, + Spans the sky from sea to sea, + From Atlantic to Pacific-- + Home of unborn millions free!" + +The heartfelt sympathy of the country has been expressed in many forms, +and ever with deep effect, and has twined a garland to drop upon the +graves of those who sleep to-night away in the wilds of the North-West. +Permit me to add one flower to that chaplet. You who are mothers, and +know the value of your dutiful sons, while living, and have felt the +greatness of their loss, when dead; you, who are sisters, and have known +a brother's affection, the recollection of which draws you at times +to his last resting place, to decorate that home of the dead with +a forget-me-not; you, above all, who have experienced the love and +devotion of a husband, and have mourned over that flower which has +forever faded in death--you will not hesitate in joining with me, as I +express, though feebly, my regret, and bring my sincerest of tributes to +place upon the lonely grave by the Saskatchewan. Its united waters will +sing their _requiem_ while I say with Whittier: + + "Green be the turf above thee, + Friend of my better days; + None knew thee but to love thee, + None named thee but to praise!" + +END. + + + + +REV. ADELARD FAFARD. + + +Leon Adelard Fafard, as the name denotes, was a French Canadian, born at +St. Cuthbert, in the County of Berthier, Province of Quebec, on the +8th of June 1850. He was a son of Mr. Charles Fafard, cultivator, St. +Cuthbert, and brother of Dr. Chas. Fafard, Jr., Amherst, Montreal. He +entered the College of the Assumption on September 1st, 1864. From early +years, he was devoted to his religion, and an enthusiastic student. He +entered a monastic life on the 28th of June, 1872, and took his first +vows on the 29th of June, 1873, one year later, and his perpetual vows +on June the 29th, 1874. + +In the Catholic Mission No. 839, July 3rd, 1885, Monseignor Grandire, +says, Poor Father Fafard belonged to the Diocese of Montreal; he entered +our congregation in 1872, and received his commission for my missions +in 1875. I ordained him priest on December 8th, 1875, and sent him +successively on missions to the savages under the direction of an +experienced father. He was always distinguished for his zeal and +good tact. For nearly two years he was Superior of a district, and by +superhuman efforts succeeded in making a fine establishment by working +himself, as a hired laborer, in order to diminish the expenses of his +district. + +Rev. P. Lebert speaks of him as a pious, humble, subdued, very obedient, +full of good will and courage. He adds that he had talent and showed a +good disposition for preaching; his voice was full and strong, and his +health robust. He was beginning to see the fruits of his labors, when +on the 2nd of April, 1885, he was so fouly murdered while administering +consolation to dying men. + + + + +MR. DILL. + + +Geo. Dill, who was massacred at Frog Lake, was born in the Village of +Preston, in the County of Waterloo, Ont., and was at the time of his +death about 38 years of age. At the age of about 17 years, he joined his +brother, who was then trading for furs at Lake Nipissing, in 1864. In +1867 his brother left Nipissing, leaving him the business, which he +continued for a few years, when he left that place and located on a +farm on Bauchere Lake in the Upper Ottawa River. In 1872 he went to +Bracebridge, Muskoka, where his brother, Mr. J. W. Dill, the present +member for the Local Legislature, had taken up his residence and was +doing business. After a short time, he set up business as a general +store at Huntsville, where he remained until 1880; he then took a +situation in a hardware store in the Village of Bracebridge. While +living in Huntsville, he was married to Miss Cassleman, of that place. +They had a family of two children, who are now living somewhere in +Eastern Canada. In 1882, at the time of the Manitoba boom, he went to +see that country, and engaged with a Dominion Land Surveyor, retiring to +Bracebridge again in the winter following, remaining till spring 1883, +he again went to the North-West, and again engaged with a Surveyor; his +object was to secure a good location and settle down to farming, but his +inclination led him to trading again, and after speculating until the +fall of 1884, he left Battleford for Frog Lake. + +He was the only trader in the Frog Lake district, and was well respected +by the community generally. + + + + +THE SASKATCHEWAN STREAM. + + +Mr. Delaney while in Ontario on a visit from the North-West, in the year +1882, for the purpose of taking back a bride, gave vent to the following +beautiful words: + + I long to return to the far distant West, + Where the sun on the prairies sinks cloudless to rest, + Where the fair moon is brightest and stars twinkling peep; + And the flowers of the wood soft folded in sleep. + + Oh, the West with its glories, I ne'er can forget, + The fair lands I found there, the friends I there met, + And memory brings back like a fond cherished dream; + The days I have spent by Saskatchewan stream. + + By dark Battle river, in fancy I stray, + And gaze o'er the blue Eagle Hills far away, + And hark to the bugle notes borne o'er the plain, + The echoing hills giving back the refrain. + + Ah, once more I'll go to my beautiful West, + Where nature is loveliest, fairest and best: + And lonely and long do the days to me seem, + Since I wandered away from Saskatchewan stream. + + Ontario, home of my boyhood farewell, + I leave thy dear land in a fairer to dwell, + Though fondly I love thee, I only can rest, + 'Mid the flower strewn prairie I found in the West. + + And as by the wide rolling river I stray, + Till death comes at night like the close of the day, + The moon from the bright starry heavens shall gleam + On my home by the banks of Saskatchewan stream. + + + + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Two Months in the Camp of Big Bear, by +Theresa Gowanlock and Theresa Delaney + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK TWO MONTHS IN THE CAMP OF BIG BEAR *** + +***** This file should be named 6604.txt or 6604.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/6/6/0/6604/ + +Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the +Online Distributed Proofreading Team. 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