Messrs. Fairchild and Whittle were despatched on the following morning, accompanied by Matilda Whittle and “One-eyed Dixie.” Mr. Fairchild was instructed to announce the object of the commission, and, also, who were its members, and to arrange to meet the representative men of the Modocs, on some midway ground, with such precautionary measures as he might consider necessary.
He was also instructed to explain to them the meaning of an armistice,—that no act of war would be committed by us, or permitted by them, while negotiations for peace were going on. The meeting with Captain Jack was had by Fairchild and party; the object
stated, and the personnel of the commission made known. Captain Jack’s reply was that he was ready to make peace; that he did not wish to fight, but he was not willing to come out of the Lava Beds to meet us. “I understand you about not fighting, or killing cattle, or stealing horses. Tell your people they need not be afraid to go over the country while we are making peace. My boys will stay in the rocks while it is being settled; we will not fire the first shot. You can go and hunt your cattle; no one will shoot you. We will not begin again first. I want to see Esquire Steele. I am willing to meet the commissioners at the foot of the bluff, but I don’t want them to come with soldiers to make peace. The soldiers frighten my boys.”
The messengers returned, accompanied by two Modoc warriors, who were to carry back our answer. These Modocs were Boston Charley and Bogus Charley. We refused to go to the foot of the bluff unless accompanied by an escort of soldiers, but proposed to meet them on open ground, “all armed” or “all unarmed.” It was agreed that Esquire Steele should be sent for. Bogus and Boston returned to the Modoc camp with the results of the interview. Steele was invited to head-quarters. Gen. Canby requested by telegraph the appointment of Judge A. M. Roseborough as a commissioner; the request was granted, and, on the morning of the 23d, Steele and Roseborough arrived.
The commission now numbered four. The Modocs had refused to accept all propositions for a meeting that had been made them, so far. Communication was now had, almost daily, between the commissioners
and Captain Jack, Frank Riddle and his wife Tobey acting as messengers and interpreters. The Modocs came to our camp in small numbers,—there they came in constant communication with “squaw men” (white men who associate with Indian women), whose sympathy was with them.
From these they learned of the almost universal thirst for vengeance,—of the indictments by the Jackson county courts against the “Lost-river” murderers; the feelings of the newspaper press; the protest of the Governor of Oregon; all of which was carried into the Modoc camp by such men as Bogus and Boston Charley. I stop here to say that these two men were well fitted for the part they played in the tragic event of which I am writing. Bogus Charley was a full-blooded Modoc, whose father was lost in some Indian battle. This boy was born on a small creek, called by the miners Bogus creek; hence his name. He was not more than twenty-one years old at this time. He had lived with white men at various times,—knew something of civilized life,—was naturally shrewd and cunning; the Indians called him a “double-hearted man;” and my readers will honor them for their intelligence by the time we reach the gibbet, where Captain Jack answered for this man’s crimes.
His counterpart may be found in civil life in finely dressed and smooth-talking white men,—who are the scourges of good society,—persons who are all things to all men, and true to none. Boston Charley was still younger,—not over nineteen at the time justice caught him by the neck and suspended him over a coffin at Fort Klamath, November 3d, 1873. He
was so named on account of his light complexion and his cunning; and as the Indian said, “Because he had two tongues; one Indian and one white.” His father, a Modoc, died a natural death. He had no personal cause for his treachery, and perhaps charity should have been extended to him, and his life spared, because he was “a natural-born traitor,” according to Modoc theology, and not to blame for his acts.
However, such were the two principal messengers from the Modoc camp to ours,—plausible fellows, who could lie without the slightest scruples. They came, and were fed and clothed; they went, with their hearts full of falsehoods that had been told them by whiskey-drinking white villains. They, too, were plausible fellows; talked with the old-fashioned “D——n-nigger-any-how” sort of a way.