Lyman's History of old Walla Walla County, Vol. 1 / Embracing Walla Walla, Columbia, Garfield and Asotin counties

by William Denison Lyman

MULKEY APARTMENTS, WALLA WALLA

In February, 1862, food products and merchandise commanded the following prices at Florence: flour, $1 per pound; bacon, $1.25; butter, $3; cheese, $1.50; lard, $1.25; sugar, $1.25; coffee, $2.00; tea, $2.50; gum boots per pair, $30; shovels, from twelve to sixteen dollars.

That year of 1861 was a great year in the annals of Walla Walla County. Cattle drives, gold discovery, hard winter, Civil war! The last named stupendous event was shared by the pioneer communities on the Walla Walla and its tributary streams, but it affected them in a unique manner. This was nothing less than the period of the Vigilantes. While this organization was due to a variety of conditions, the state of affairs which led to its existence grew out of the conflict of opinions about the war. Yet it must be said that the character of population that flowed into Walla Walla after the gold discoveries and the establishment of the town as the leading outfitting place for the mines was a suitable seed-bed for the growth of conditions which at sundry times and places in the West have produced vigilance committees. This peaceful and law-abiding "Garden City" of 1917, a center of homes and educational institutions, conspicuous for morality, intelligence, and comfort, was in the '60s about as "tough" a collection of human beings as could be found. It was indeed a motley throng that poured in as the mining excitement grew and spread. The best and the worst jostled each other on the dusty and unsightly streets with their shacks and tents and saloons and dance halls. Philanthropists and missionaries and educators were represented by Revs. Eells, Spalding, Chamberlain, Berry and Flinn, Father Wilbur, Bishop Scott, Father Yunger, and Bishop Brouillet. Some of the noblest and most liberal-minded and honest of business men, some of whom continue to this day, gave character and standing to the commnunity and laid foundations upon which the goodly superstructure of the present has been reared. We have but to call up the names of Baker, Rees, Moore, Paine, O'Donnell, Whitman, Guichard, Reynolds, Stone, Jacobs, Johnson, Isaacs, Sharpstein, Abbott, Reese, Boyer, McMorris, Stine, Thomas, Drumheller, Painter, Ritz, Kyger, Cole, and others too numerous to mention, among the business men of that time, to know that the best was then in existence. Old timers delight to tell how John F. Boyer was intrusted by miners with sacks of gold-dust while they were gathering supplies and packing for new ventures, with never a receipt or stroke of pen to bind him, yet never a dream that he would fail to restore every ounce just as he received it. But the men of this type, some with wives of the same high type (though most of them were young men without families), were daily and nightly jostled by the miscellaneous throng of gamblers, pickpockets, highway robbers, hold-ups, and prostitutes who ordinarily fatten on the gold-dust bags and belts of the miners assembled at their yearly supply stations. Strange stories are told about the number and variety and unique names and characters of the various "joints" in the Walla Walla of the decade of the '60s. In some newspaper a few years ago appeared an alleged reminiscence of a visitor to Walla Walla, in which he tells of going to a saloon, in which the floor was covered with sawdust. That was usual enough, but the odd thing was that each patron received with his drink a whiskbroom. Puzzled as to the purpose of the latter, the visitor waited for developments. He soon discovered that the whiskey was so strenuous as to be pretty sure to induce a fit, and the use of the broom was to sweep off a place on the dirty floor to have a fit on, after which the refreshed and enlightened (?) patron of the place would return the broom and proceed on his way.

Such were the mongrel conditions of life during the first years of the Civil war. It is not surprising therefore, that such a juxtaposition of forces should have caused a perfect carnival of crime, and that out of it as a defence by the decent elements of the community should have arisen the organization of the Vigilance Committee.

Two incidents prior to the formation of the Vigilantes indicate the uneasy condition induced by the presence of the soldiers at the fort and the considerable number of southern sympathizers in the community. In the Washington Statesman of April 19, 1862, we find an account of a riot at the theater out of which a correspondence arose between Mayor E. D. Whitman of Walla Walla and Col. Henry Lee, commander of the post. This is also made the subject of editorial comment and from this comment we glean the following paragraphs as showing the state of mind at that time.

"We publish today an interesting correspondence between Mayor Whitman and Lieut. Colonel Lee, growing out of the recent unfortunate affray at the theater and the conduct of some of the soldiery since that event. * * * On the part of the citizens who were engaged in the affray, notwithstanding the fact that officers of the law had been suffered to be stricken down and their authority contemned and boldly set at defiance, we are satisfied they cherished no disposition to aggravate the difficulty either by word or deed. Remaining within the limits of the city, they have peaceably and quietly pursued their accustomed business. Not so the soldiers. Cherishing unjustifiably an excited and hostile disposition, they imitated the unwarrantable conduct of their fellows on the night in question, by parading our streets with an armed force, thus exhibiting a total and wanton disregard for law and civil authorities. The mildest terms that can be applied to this procedure must characterize it as a high-handed outrage upon the rights of the people of this city, and a gross insult to the dignity and authority of their laws."

The editorial proceeds to score Colonel Lee severely for his answer to the protestations of Mayor Whitman. It appears in brief that a group of soldiers had gone to the theater and made so much disturbance as to nearly break up the program and in an attempt to put them out one of the soldiers was killed. The next morning a band of from seventy-five to one hundred soldiers came armed into the town and seized the sheriff and took possession of the street. Colonel Lee, in his statement of the case, disclaimed all responsibility and declared that the man who killed the soldier was a notorious criminal named "Cherokee Bob." The colonel sarcastically expresses surprise that the citizens of Walla Walla did not take interest enough in the matter to have Cherokee Bob arrested, and he states that he himself would heartily co-operate in any attempt to enforce law and order. He says that he will answer for the good conduct of the men under his command if the mayor will do the same for the citizens of the town. He declares that his men will not disturb the citizens if they are let alone. Mayor Whitman, in responding to this, declares that the soldiers initiated all the trouble by their incivility at the theater and that when an attempt was made by the proper peace officers to enforce order the fracas ensued in which three citizens, including two peace officers, were wounded, one mortally, and one soldier was killed and one wounded. This seems to have been the most serious affray in that part of the history of the old town. It, like other events of the kind, seems to have been mixed up somewhat with the war conditions of the country, a good many of the people of the town being southern sympathizers and regarding the soldiers as representatives of the National Government.

About a month later, another affray took place which is described as follows in the columns of the Statesman:

"On last Saturday afternoon, while the convention for the nomination for county officers was in session in this city, an affray occurred between a soldier belonging to the garrison and a citizen named Anderson residing some miles from this place in Oregon. Offensive words were passed between them, when Anderson seized a stone and threw it violently at the soldier, striking him on the head and felling him prostrate to the ground. Citizens who witnessed the act denounce it as unjustifiable and cowardly. The city marshal was present but for reasons best known to himself did not arrest the offender. Anderson was intoxicated and quarrelsome and should have been arrested. Another officer of the law immediately issued a warrant, but in the meantime Anderson had escaped. There was quite a gathering of soldiers present who were aware of the above facts, some of whom even saw and read the warrant. On the same evening an armed company of soldiers marched through our streets, took possession of our city, and surrounded the jail building in which the marshal was at the time attending to his duties. They demanded his arrest and threatened to effect it before they left the city. Shouts of "hang him," "He's a damn secessionist" and other mob-like expressions were used. It was to all intents and purposes a mob and the crowd were becoming excited and boisterous, when Captain Curry approached the spot and succeeded, after a short controversy, in getting them into line and marched them back to their quarters. We understand Anderson has left for Salmon River. On Monday morning the marshal tendered his resignation to the council, a meeting of which body was immediately held and another officer appointed."