As to the death of her father, who escaped and sought safety at old Fort Walla Walla, on the bank of the Columbia River, but was refused admission, Mrs. Hopkins believes he was killed near the fort. By Mr. Osborne, who with his family, finally reached the fort, the clothes of Hall were seen and recognized. It was said to him, when he exclaimed, "those are Hall's clothes," that Hall had been drowned in attempting to cross the Columbia.
Mrs. Hopkins considers the account of the massacre as given in the June number of the Native Son [1899], which was furnished by Mrs. O. N. Denny, as the most accurate that she has seen. Mrs. Denny, Mrs. Hopkins' older sister, who was about twelve years old at the time of the tragedy, has a comprehensive recollection of the whole affair.
MRS. ANNA TREMEWAN.
Mrs. Tremewan, now residing at Champoeg, has many most interesting recollections of her early life. Although now past middle age she is of magnificent physique, being about five feet eight inches tall, straight as an arrow and well proportioned, but at the same time of that peculiarly supple mold and movement that so distinguishes the French creoles. Her hair is still jet black, and long and wavy and very thick; her eyebrows heavy and black, and her features, though strong and marked, refined and very intelligent.
Her speech is remarkably clear, every word being distinctly pronounced, with rather an English or Scotch accent, and in a full rich voice of rather low key. During conversation her features light up noticeably, and though she speaks deliberately she has no hesitation, never pausing to think of a word or construction. She complains of her poor memory for dates, but possesses a large fund of family information, both of her own people and the Hudson Bay Company.
Her mother was a daughter of Etienne Lucier, of French Prairie; her father was Donald Manson, a trusted captain of the Hudson Bay Company, and her first husband was Isaac Ogden, a son of Peter Skeen Ogden, governor during the latter years of the Hudson Bay Company's occupation of Fort Vancouver. She is living now at Champoeg, in the old house built by her father, though now owned by herself with her husband.
Her brothers are men of education and ability; Donald Manson, Jr., being a resident of Portland; James Manson, living at Victoria; and William Manson, who was educated in Scotland, being principal of a school at New Westminister, B. C. Another brother, Stephen, no longer living, who was named by his mother or his grandfather Lucier, is described by those who knew him as a man of remarkably handsome appearance, and bright intellect. He was, as a boy, attending the school at Waiilatpu at the time of the Whitman massacre, and although uninjured was so shocked by the bloody occurrence that long afterwards he would start from sleep crying out "The Indians, the Indians!" There were two daughters besides Anna (Mrs. Tremewan), Isabella and Lizzie.
The following are some of the recollections taken hurriedly at a morning call of Mrs. Tremewan. In reply to a question about her father she said: "My father was in the employ of the Hudson Bay Company—you may have heard of it. We lived until I was fifteen in British Columbia; no, not at Victoria, but on the head waters of Frazer River, at Stuart's Lake—you might call that a little ocean. That was a long way from Victoria, though that was our point of supplies, and my father made a trip from there every year to carry out the furs—for that was what he dealt in. He went a part way by river, and a part way by horses. At Fort Langley he met the steamer from Victoria, and from that point the goods were brought up the river to our place.
"Yes, he used to leave us all alone at Stuart's Lake every year while he made the trip, and that would be from April to September. On one time I remember perfectly well he came back on the seventh of September. What makes me remember this was because it was then my sister Lizzie was born, and my mother was still in bed, and when the cry was made that the boats were coming, we were all so eager to have papa see the baby.
"Indeed, Stuart Lake was a beautiful place, the loveliest I have ever seen. The mountains were blue across it, they are so far away. When the wind blew the waves rolled up like a sea. The water is perfectly clear. When we used to walk along the shore, or swim in the lake, we could see to the bottom. It was full of fishes of all kinds; salmon and sturgeon and trouts. I have often told my husband that I wished I could see Stuart Lake again.