1909, Spokane, WA: An Aged Indian Finds Life Saver

I hadn’t heard of a Spokan(e) tribal elder called Sam Angdo, so it’s a pleasure to learn of him & his reliance on Chinook Jargon!

Spokane County courthouse about the time of today’s story
(image credit: Wikipedia)

Mr Angdo was a half mile from his intended destination, but the wrong place (above) is mighty nice looking.

Nineteen years into the post-frontier era, not a lot of folks in Spokane could talk Chinuk Wawa very handily. I wonder where Charles Ullman came from…?

Walkers Prairie is in the area of Ford, WA, next to the Spokane Indian Reservation. Mr. Angdo, being “aged” by the standards of the time, perhaps 55 years old, might have learned his Chinook Jargon during the times when newcomer settlement near modern Spokane was beginning, perhaps in the 1870s.

Here’s our tale:

AN AGED INDIAN
FINDS LIFE SAVER

Sam Angdo, an aged Spokane In-
dian, from Walker’s prairie, was in
the city today as a witness before
the federal grand jury in the case
of Simon Lowry, charged with mur-
dering his brother George. Angdo
is quite feeble and wandered to the
courthouse in place of going to the
federal building. He speaks but
little English and was unable to
make anyone understand his mis-
sion until he encountered Bailiff
Charley Ullman of Judge Web-
ster’s court.

Ullman is one of the few white
men in Spokane that can rattle off
Chinook dialect without
trouble, and by chance he met
Angdo. The old man shook Ullman
by both hands on hearing his na-
tive tongue and seemed to be over-
joyed on finding “the first white
man in 20 years that can speak
the Chinook.” Ullman had the In-
dian taken to the federal building.

— from the Spokane (WA) Spokane press of October 06, 1909, page 2, column 3

ikta mayka chaku-kəmtəks?
What have you learned?