1877: Please publish this warning in Chinook for Indians
The Nez Perce War of 1877 was starting, and some Settlers felt “marked” by the Indigenous folks.
Here’s an advertisement that appeared next to tod ay’s clipping, to show you how alarmed the newcomers were about the “Indian excitement” —
One Settler, however, wanted to get the word out in Chinuk Wawa for Native people to “mark” his neighbor Jack Harding.
Get a load of this colorful piece…
GREAT EXCITEMENT.
ROCK CREEK, Stevens county, July 3, 1877.
EDITOR STATESMAN: — We are in the midst of a terrible Indian excitement, nearly every person that can get away has left the country. I cannot go if I wanted to, on account of a sick wife. I do not apprehend any danger unless it is by some overt act of some coward shooting a squaw, or something similar to what happened on Crab creek the other day. Among the first to leave was one Jack Harding. The coward poisoned all the grub he had and left it for the Indians, or any one that might chance to come that way. I wish you to publish this in chinook so every Indian in the country can mark him. J.H. WELLS.
— from the Walla Walla (Washington Territory) Statesman of July 7, 1877, page 3, column 4
