But we have positive testimony that the destruction of that mission, with Mr. Spalding’s, was determined upon, and so stated by McBean before an Indian was known to be sick in the tribe or at the station. Mr. Douglas says:—
“It was immediately after burying the remains of these three persons, that they repaired to the mission one after another, with their arms hid under their blankets. The Doctor was at the school with the children, the others were cutting up an ox which they had just killed. When the Indians were numerous enough to effect their object, they fell upon the poor victims, some with guns and others with hatchets, and their blood was soon streaming on all sides.
“Some of the Indians turned their attention toward the Doctor; he received a pistol-shot in the breast from one, and a blow on the head from another. He had still strength enough to reach a sofa, where he threw himself down and expired. Mrs. Whitman was dragged from the garret and mercilessly butchered at the door. Mr. Rogers was shot after his life had been granted to him.
“The women and children were also going to be murdered, when a voice was raised to ask for mercy in favor of those whom they thought innocent, and their lives were spared.
“It is reported that a kind of deposition made by Mr. Rogers incensed the fury of this savage mob. Mr. Rogers was seized, was made to sit down, and then told that his life would be spared if he made a full discovery of Dr. Whitman’s supposed treachery. That person then told the Indians that the Doctor intended to poison them; that one night, when Mr. Spalding was at Wailatpu, he heard them say that the Indians ought to be poisoned, in order that the Americans might take possession of their lands; that the Doctor wished to poison them all at once, but Mr. Spalding advised him to do it gradually. Mr. Rogers, after this deposition, was spared, but an Indian, who was not present, having seen him, fired at and killed him.
“An American made a similar deposition, adding that Mrs. Whitman was an accomplice, and she deserved death as well as her husband.
“It appears that he concluded by saying that he would take the side of the Indians, and that he detested the Americans. An Indian then put a pistol into his hand, and said to him, ‘If you tell the truth, you must prove it by shooting that young American;’ and this wretched apostate from his country fired upon the young man shown to him, and laid him dead at his feet.
“It was upon the evidence of that American that Mrs. Whitman was murdered, or she might have shared in the mercy extended to the other females and children.
“Such are the details, as far as known, of that disastrous event, and the causes which led to it.
“Mr. Rogers’ reported deposition, if correct, is unworthy of belief, having been drawn from him by the fear of instant death. The other American, who shed the blood of his own friend, must be a villain of the darkest dye, and ought to suffer for his aggravated crime.”
There is no evidence that Sir James Douglas ever exerted the least influence to arrest or punish one of those murderers; on the contrary, there is evidence that the Hudson’s Bay Company assisted them and facilitated their escape from justice, and supplied the Indians with arms and ammunition to carry on the war that followed. Particulars of the whole truth, are given in another chapter. This letter of Sir James Douglas continues:—
“On the 7th instant, Mr. Ogden proceeded toward Wallawalla with a strong party of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s servants, to endeavor to prevent further evil.
“Accompanying, you will receive a copy of a letter which I addressed to Governor Abernethy immediately after the arrival of the melancholy intelligence at this place.
“All that can be collected will be considered important by the friends of Doctor and Mrs. Whitman in the United States, who will be anxious to learn every particular concerning their tragic fate. It will be a satisfaction for them to know that these eminent servants of God were faithful in their lives, though we have to deplore the melancholy circumstances which accompanied their departure from this world of trial.
“I am, sir, your obedient servant,
“James Douglas.”
We now have before us the statements of all the parties concerned in the most inhuman and disgraceful tragedy that has darkened the pages of our history. The crime itself was most inhuman and brutal, but, being mixed with religious prejudice and sectarian hate, guided and brought about by foreign commercial influences under the direction of a British monopoly, it demands a national investigation.
That Sir James Douglas knew more of the inception and ultimate designs of that transaction is evident from the prompt and careful manner in which he answered Mr. Ogden’s remark, that it was brought about from religious causes; he affirmed that “there might be other causes;” and when he had read the dispatches, he said, “We must consider the poor man was in great perplexity, and might not know what to do.” These two expressions of Sir James Douglas to Mr. Ogden and Mr. Hinman are the key that unlocks the whole mystery in this desperate arrangement to hold this whole country for the exclusive benefit of that monopoly.
As to the morality of the transaction, the great sympathy of Sir James and his conclave of bishops and priests, the church assumes all. The baptizing of three Indian children was of more importance to the church than all the suffering widows and orphans at that missionary settlement.
The particular account, as given by Sir James, was of more importance than punishing the murderers, or even casting a suspicion, such as Mr. Ogden, his associate, had done, upon his accomplices in crime.
These two letters show his duplicity, and the unblushing manner in which he gives one statement to Governor Abernethy, for Oregon, and another for the Board of Missions, and how careful he is to state circumstances and false impressions as to the facts he pretends to give with so much sympathy and apparent interest in the fate of the murdered dead.
There are but two other persons who have given us any information of this tragedy, on the part of the priests and the Hudson’s Bay Company. One of those was, at the time, in charge of Fort Nez Percés. His account was sent to Sir James,—mutilated, and not as carefully prepared for the people of Oregon as was this one for the great world beyond. The other is prepared by the very Rev. Mr. Brouillet, vicar-general of Wallawalla, and given to the world to form an “interesting and authentic chapter in the history of Protestant missions,” and contains all the imaginary circumstantial statements of the massacre, as given over the name of James Douglas, and officially in the report of J. Ross Browne, December 4, 1859.