Edward Huggins, "Cush," Portland Oregonian.
September 9, 1900.
"Nauti-tze, naut-tze! Siam! (Look, look, master or chief), is what I
heard on the morning of September 5, 1850 in the trade shop at Fort
Nisqually, about six miles south of Steilacoom, at the time the only
trading post or place upon Puget Sound except a very small store at
Olympia, a town of only six or eight houses. I looked up from the
trade blotter over the heads of a crowd of half naked Indians, and
espied fat faced, good natured Cush, a Snohomish Indian who was our
chef.
Cush, thoroughly understood the art of very plain cooking. His great
forte was frying beef steak in solid mutton or beef tallow and serving
it up cooked a dark brown color and swimming in thick gravy, which soon
hardened to a consistency of pure, red pine chewing gum. Poor Cush, he
was show to death in 1858 in the fort yard by a small band of
Snoqualmie Indians, in revenge for some fancied tamanowous doings of
the Snohomish.
Cush told me that the tenass doctain wanted to see me. Dr. William F.
Tolmie was then in charge of Fort Nisqually and I was his clerk...At
the time Cush called me I was trading furs, fish, flesh and fowl,
besides mats, baskets, and a few gold dollars with a band of about
fifty Snoqualmie Indians, headed by the notorious chief Patkynum, who
arrived at our landing the evening before, very much to the terror and
consternation of the numerous Nisquallies encamped along the beach near
the mouth of Sequalitchew Creek.
The cook at Fort Nisqually, or one of the cooks, for there was
generally more than one, was a Snohomish Indian named Cush. He was a
jolly, good natured Indian, full of fun, when not full of whiskey, and
was liked by every one, whites and Indians.
On the day after a fight between another Indian, Gohome, and some
visiting tribal members and after a hot time in the kitchen, Cush,
feeling tired went to the corner house of a row standing upon the north
side of the fort and in which some working men lived, and threw himself
upon a bed, with the intention of sleeping.
There was no one else in the house which was about twenty-five or
thirty feet from the veranda of the newly erected principal house(the
Tyee house). Mrs. Tolmie, wife of Dr. Tolmie, the gentleman in
charge of the establishment at that time was standing on the veranda
and saw Cush enter.
The place was exceedingly quiet, as almost all of its inhabitants were
lying down, taking it easy. It was the custom of the place to rest for
two or three hours in the middle of the day during the heated term, and
make up for it by working as soon as daylight appeared in the morning.
Mrs. Tolmie noticed an Indian, a stranger to her, sneak through the
small open postern gate, on the north side of the fort and gun in hand
quietly creep along the side of the house in which Cush was lying. Not
for a moment thinking of the purpose of the Indian she remained quiet
until she saw him peer into the window, raise his gun, already cocked,
and point at something in the room.
She then, fearing the intruder meant no good, screamed out just as the
gun was discharged. Poor Cush was shot fatally and died a day or two
later.
The murderer immediately ran out of the fort and after him a young half
breed Iroquois, named Ignance, with a gun. He fired and it is supposed
hit the escaping Indian, but the latter didn't fall and with his three
or four companions who were awaiting him at the beach with a canoe he
succeeded in getting safely away.
They gained their own country down the Sound where our up Sound Indians
dare not follow them.
Cush was regretted by all with whom he was acquainted, for he was
really a remarkable Indian, possessing a fund of humor, and powers of
mimicry, seldom seen among Indians. He had a way of speaking broken
English, which was irresistibly funny, and the poor fellow's tragic
death was a loss hard indeed to replace,and some of us had serious
thoughts of perpetuating his memory by the erection of a little
monument or headstone; but like the generality of such good intentions,
it was never done.
It was afterward learned that the killing of Cush was a mistake. The
Indian took him for Gohome, and I never learned how the feud ended.
Gohome, strange to stay, was not killed but died a natural death,
accelerated, no doubt, by the many wounds he had receiving during his
lifetime.
Edward Huggins, "Cush," The Portland Oregonian. September 9, 1900.
THE KILLING
OF CUSH.
Edward Huggins, "The Killing of Cush," Portland Oregonian. August
19,1900.
In 1856 there were quite a number of Indians employed about the fort,
and one in particular, a Nisqually named Gohome, was a handy man at any
kind of work. He was a very ugly man, had a large hideous mouth, savage
looking features and long coarse black hair. He was strongly built,
although not a large man, but quiet in his demeanor, when sober, but
when under the influence of liquor of which he was inordinately fond,
was a perfect fiend, in looks and actions.
One day in the early 1850s he got into a quarrel with some Indians from
down the Sound, who had come to the fort for the purpose of settling a
grievance of long standing between Gohome's people and
themselves. Gohome, when they arrived was employed in the
company's old slaughter house and a messenger from his lodge informed
him of the arrival of his enemies.
He immediately threw down his tools and started for the encampment, but
had proceeded but a few steps when he met the party coming to interview
him. There were five or six of them, and four or five of Gohome's
people.
A conversation ensued which soon became fierce and bitter. Hard words
were used, and Gohome, feeling himself attack almost in his own house,
aimed a blow at the leader of the Snoqualmies, I think they were of
that tribe, and almost immediately both sides were mixed up in a
fearful bloody fight.
Each man was armed with the Indian's favorite weapon, a knife or
dagger, made from a twelve or fourteen inch mill saw file, ground down
sharp on two edges, and to a fine dagger like point. A knife of this
kind was a fearful weapon, and being rather heavy, when wielded by a
strong man does fearful and bloody execution.
The participants in the fight were soon covered with blood, and it
wasn't long before two or tree of them fell from the effects of their
wounds. The ground upon which they were struggling was covered with
blood, and after a while the bystanders were enabled to seize the
combatants, and disarm them.
Strange to say Gohome, although the most forward in the fight and
wounded in many places did not die, but after suffering a great deal
apparently fully recovered. Two or three others though succumbed from
the effects of the fearful wounds they received.
No more was heard from the attacking party until the Summer of 1858 at
which time I was living at the Muck House, having gone out to take
charge of the company's business during the Indian War and the
occurrence I am about to relate was told me by an eyewitness, a day or
two after it happened.
On the night of Sunday, May 30, 1858, the Indians living outside of the
fort were greatly exercised over the report that a small party of
Snoqualmies had arrived at the beach and it appears that during the
evening four or five of them came up to the fort encampment and were
recognized as being the same party or at least some of them with whom
Gohome had the awful trouble.
It would seem that they pretended to have come on a friendly visit and
from what followed it is supposed that they brought liquor with them,
for about the middle of the night, the people were alarmed by the
report of firearms in the camp and the usual noises attending a drunken
orgy in the aboriginal encampment.
The usual result followed, and a terrible fight ensued. Gohome shot one
of the Snoqualmies dead, and he himself received two fearful stabs from
a knife but was not killed. An Indian woman was also badly cut with a
knife. She was a relation of Gohome's and received the stabs while
endeavoring to protect him.
Some of the other Indians were severely wounded, but the
Snoqualmie was the only person killed during the fight. How many died
of wounds received I cannot say, having forgotten the details of the
affair....
The surviving Snoqualmies made their escape in the timber and it was
supposed gained their canoe, and soon placed some distance between
themselves and the Sequalitchew.
(Edward Huggins, "The killing of Cush," Portland Oregonian. August 19,
1900.).
Mr. Huggins later noted that the cook at
the fort, Cush, was killed by
Indians. He wrote: "...it was afterward learned that the killing of
Cush was a mistake. The Indian took him for Gohome, and I never learned
how the feud ended. Gohome, strange to say, was not killed but died a
natural death, accelerated, no doubt, by the many wounds he had
received during his lifetime."
(Edward Huggins, "The Killing of Cush," Portland Oregonian. August 19,
1900.).