2.
John Crawley and Goliah at Fort
Steilacoom
Submitted by Gary Reese
Edward Huggins, "Bill Huggins and the
Medicine Man," A note by Edward
Huggins as published in the Portland Oregonian
"Sclousin," or Bill as I shall called him by his Anglicized name, was a
Squallyamish Indian, and when in April, 1850, a youth of between
seventeen and eighteen years of age, I arrived at the Fort where I was
to pass so much of my active life, Bill was one of the first Indians I
became acquainted with. He was a short, but very stout and strong
Indians, a stolid and phlegmatic man, who scarcely ever smiled and
talked but little.
He was a real Indian not with standing the length of time he had lived
with the whites, and all the missionaries in the Territory could never
made anything else of him.
He was brave, and a good fighter and would not hesitate a moment to
fight and would keep it up if necessary to the bitter end. He was fond
of whiskey as indeed almost all Indians were. He was in charge of the
dairy and with the help of subordinate indians was then milking between
seventy and eight cows, many of which were half wild, Spanish bred
brutes and it required a courageous and strong man to handle them.
I soon made his acquaintance and we got to be good friends. I once
prevented him, when he was under the influence of liquor from cutting
his wife to death. For this act I was compelled to report him, very
much against the grain though, to the Indian agent who foolishly, in my
opinion, tied him up and gave him many stripes upon his bare back.
He gave no sign whatever that he felt the severe pain as the agent was
wielding the savage whip. I thought to myself, that if Bill only had a
chance to catch him alone, before his back recovered from the cutting
lashes how short the agent's time would be upon this earth.
BILL'S WIFE
A BAD WOMAN
Bill's wife was many years his junior, was rather good looking but a
thorough going one who treated the poor fellow shamefully, but of
course, when he used the knife upon her, he could expect nothing but
severe punishment.
She was very fond of whiskey and would often get helplessly drunk,
and Bill, poor fellow, put up with a great deal of her bad
tricks, but sometimes his temper would get the better of him and he
would chastise her, but he very seldom laid his hands upon her.
Bill's wife, Grace, one day in the middle of a very hard winter, in the
sixties went to Steilacoom with her baby girl which was about six
months old. She was on horseback and alone with her child. She met
friends in Steilacoom and as usual, soon got possession of liquor and
before long became quite drunk.
She insisted, against the wishes of her friends upon going home, and
after some trouble her friends managed to put her upon her horse with
her child, and just about dusk she started for home, a ride of six
miles. Snow covered the ground to the depth of about eight to ten
inches.
About ten p.m. the people at the Indian camp along each side of
Sequalitchew Creek heard the noise of someone singing or droning an
Indian song. Presently Mrs. Grace's little pony trotted up to the lodge
of her parents and husband.
The animal stopped short and Mrs. Bill fell off like a log into the
snow. Her baby was not with her, and she was too drunk to give an
explanation about her. The baby's grand mother was nearly frantic, but
was consoled by being told that the child was with her friends in
Steilacoom, who wouldn't let the drunken mother take her when she left
for home. Bill said not a word, but looked and no doubt felt
murderously inclined.
The mother lay in a dead sleep through all the dark hours of the night,
the old grand mother, Mrs. Swansap, started to walk to steilacoom and
when she had covered about three miles from the Fort she saw a little
snow covered mound upon the side of the road and being curious the old
woman stopped and examined it and to her horror found that the bundle
was the missing baby girl . The drunken mother had dropped
it and owing to the depth of the snow upon the ground, it apparently
had received no hurt.
The old woman, of course, expected to find the child dead, frozen as
the night had been severe, but no, the poor little creature was alive,
and began to cry, being no doubt hungry after ling so long without food
of any kind.
The friends in Steilacoom had wrapped up the child very carefully and
in Indian fashion making it into a stiff bundle, enveloped in many
folds of cloth and cotton.
After the child fell the fast falling snow again gave it protection.
When the old woman reached home, the child was found to have received
no injury from the fall and lying out in the middle of the bleak
American plain fur such a length of time and in such freezing weather.
Bill had several other children of whom he was very proud. These poor
creatures all died before reaching the age of five years. The
last one was a girl, much lived by Bill, apparently which as usual with
his children when approaching the fifth year, began to sicken.
Then Bill's old Indian instincts took possession of him and he firmly
believed his child's sickness and subsequent death was the work of a
Snohomish Tamanous, or Medicine Man, he thought was this man the cause
of the death of his other children.
He firmly believed in spite of his long life with white people and the
teachings of the missionaries that all his children's sickness and
subsequent death had been caused by the magic of the medicine man, and
he made up his mind that he would kill him and he did it too, in a
barbarous manner.
He obtained the assistance of a Nisqually Indian, a slave nicknamed
Lame John from the fact of his being lame in one leg. One
day, late in the sixties, I think, the Snohomish Tamanous man came to
Steilacoom and a friend of Bills who was then at Fort Nisqually sent a
messenger informing him of the man's arrival.
Bill immediately went to the city, accompanied by his friend the lame
man. The lame man had a bottle of Steilacoom poisonous liquor with him,
which Indians found very little difficulty in obtaining in that little
burg, and the medicine man could not resist the apparently good
natured invitation of the lam Indian to imbibe with him.
The liquor being more potent than the Tamanous man's magic, soon got
possession of him and he became quite helpless.
In broad daylight about four o'clock p.m. Bill and Lame John whose
Indian name by the way was Shooltun, led the unfortunate Snohomish
magician to the clump of young fir trees then growing around the county
jail in Steilacoom, and there deliberately stabbed him to death, with
the Indian's favorite weapon, the double edged dagger, made from a mill
saw file.
They hardly waited for dark before they carried, or hauled the dead
body through the streets of the town to the water's edge, where they
obtained a canoe, in which they threw the body of their
victim. They then paddled a little distance form the
shore, attached a basket of stones to the body and threw it overboard,
to appear again soon after upon the beach between Steilacoom and the
Narrows.
The dead body was picked up by an old Indian, Chawyons, who conveyed it
to Steilacoom where it was recognized by friends of the deceased.
Bill and Shooltun were suspected as being the murderers and they were
arrested by the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, General McKinney and
taken to Olympia and underwent a sort of trial before the
Superintendent. Shooltun or Lame John turned states evidence and
made a full confession, when, of course, Bill was found guilty and
sentenced to imprisonment for several years with hard labor.
All the labor he did was in General McKinney's garden in Olympia. He
looked after a cow or two and lived in McKinney's kitchen. He did not
remain very long in prison but after perhaps two or three years of such
punishment was released and came back to Nisqually and worked a few
years.
I have been told by credible acquaintances both Indians that the
Snohomish medicine man was very much to blame and that he, in a
braggadocio kind of way and when under the influence of liquor, in the
presence of Bill boasted of his power as a great magician or Tamanous
man, and that his magic had killed Bill's children.
According to old Indian usage Bill did no wrong in killing the supposed
destroyer of his children and after he was discharged by McKinney and
came to Nisqually he more than once told the story of the killing and
showed the knife he used to perpetuate the bloody deed.
Edward Huggins, "Bill Huggins," Portland Oregonian. October 13, 1900.
PRIVATE
JOHN CRAWLEY AND GOLIAH
"At an early hour on last Saturday morning, information was conveyed to
the garrison of an Indian having been murdered by a soldier. On
repairing to the spot indicated, the body of an Indian called Goliah,
well known at the garrison and in the town was found horribly cut up
with a deep knife wound in the right eye, a large gash on the top of
the head, separating the scalp from the skull, a number of smaller cuts
on both cheeks, the head nearly severed from the body and one hand
almost cut off.
"It would seem that the struggle had been a severe one, judging from
the number and nature of the wounds inflicted. Steps were immediately
taken to secure the arrest of the guilty party. Friends of the deceased
who had last seen him alive, saw him in company with a soldier on
Friday night, and soon identified the soldier when presented to them in
the morning.
"On being examined a shirt with many blood stains was found bearing his
initials; thus with other circumstances leaving little doubt in regard
to his guilt. The soldier is closely confined in the guard house
awaiting his trial." (Puget Sound Herald, July 23, 1858.).
The journals of Lieutenant August V. Kautz
written at Fort Steilacoom,
Washington Territory, July, 1858 (excerpts):
"17th. Saturday. As I was going to breakfast this morning I met the
Indian Teneas who informed me that his brother Goliath had been killed
b a soldier. He stated that the soldier came to their camp yesterday
afternoon and took Goliath with him and this morning Goliath had been
found dead in the woods, killed by a knife. They said that the soldier
was in the garrison and had a bloody shirt on.
"I went with Teneas who pointed out Crawly of Company G 4th Infantry
where he was at work near the quarters. I was surprised at their
pointing him out as I had never known him in any trouble before. The
Indians pointed to the stains on his shirt.
"I did not examine them, but ordered him to the guard house. I started
to go to breakfast but changed my mind and went to the guard house and
examined Crawly's shirt. The room was dark and it looked as though they
might be blood or something else. I asked him what they
were, he said grease stains.
"I went to breakfast and afterwards went down with Teneas and looked at
the dead man. He was found within fifty feet of a foot trail to town by
soldiers and Indians. A large pool of blood was to be seen immediately
on the trail and the back of the body where it had been dragged out of
the way led immediately to the body.
"No sign of a great struggle was apparent. The Indian had a number of
severe wounds, one on the scalp, one across the face severing the upper
part of the nose, and a deep cut above the eyes, but the wound of which
he died was in the neck where on the right side some large blood
vessels had been severed and he bled to death.
"The Indians said the blood in the trail had been discovered by an
Indian boy going to town from the garrison about daylight by which
means he had discovered the body. It was slightly covered with brush
and grass and his pockets rifled.
"There was nothing that I could discovered to lead to any clue to the
murderer. The Doctor had been down before me and could discover
nothing. Teneas was positive about the man Crawly. Said he has
been about the post a great deal and knew all the soldiers, that Crawly
had come to his camp in the afternoon partly intoxicated, made a trade
with Goliath for a large clasp knife for which he gave half a bottle of
liquor. He saw Goliath have four dollars and induced him to go
with him.. This was all the information I could get from Teneas after
many questions.
"I returned to the garrison and went to the office to report to the
Colonel as officer of the day. The prisoner was brought in and I saw
immediately that the prisoner had changed his shirt. I asked him why he
had done so, he denied it.
"The colonel asked him some questions but he denied all knowledge of
the affair. I took him to his quarters and stripped him of his
clothing, consisting of his pants, undershirt and grey flannel shirt.
"On the edge of the sleeve of the flannel shirt were traces of blood
and his pants were quite bloody. I took them over to the Doctor. Shaaff
had examined his box but could find no knife that was described by the
Indians. He found two large knives but they were very dull, whilst the
Indian must have been killed with a sharp knife.
"I afterwards examined the prisoners and found on Murphy's back a grey
flannel shirt that I recognized as the one Crawly had on when he was
confined. I charged him with having changed shirts but he denied it and
said the shirt he had on had not been off his back for a week.
"I asked him how the blood came on it, he said that his nose had been
bleeding when he was confined. I required him to take off his
shirt and brought it over to my quarters where having compared the
shirts found Murphy's name on the shirt I took from Crawly and a
rough attempt at "J. Crawly" in the pocket of the bloody shirt
that I found on Murphy.
"I went back and questioned Murphy and asked him whether the shirt was
his and if there was any name on it. He said that it was his and had no
name in it. He said he had sold the shirt to Crawly some three
weeks before. He was a little surprised to learn that Crawly's name was
on the shirt he claimed and confirmed that he must be a liar.
"I could make no further discoveries today. the Doctor will make tests
of the blood spots on the clothing."
July 18th
"... went to town in the morning to find out more about Goliath's
death. I got no proof that Crawly was in town. I questioned the Indians
further about the matter but could elicit nothing new. They wished to
know if the money had been found. They said that Goliath had sold a
blanket to a squaw for five dollars and she had paid him four and one
half dollars. I came back to the garrison and took Crawly to the
hospital and stripped him and examined his body to see if any marks of
violence were upon him but could not find any.
"In his match pocket I found a purse containing nine half dollars. Four
had distinct marks of blood upon them. The Doctor was with me. I gave
the four pieces to the Doctor to be examined. I then inquired of Crawly
where he got that money.
"He said he had got it from the paymaster. I was particular as to
whether he obtained the half dollars from the paymaster. He said he
did. We found no marks upon him except a little scratch on the forehead
where the hair was parted and which might have been done with the
finger nails."
"I then examined the last payroll and found that he had been paid
$46.80 cents. Alvord in making such a payment would not have made any
payment of nine half dollars. More,over there was one rupee and several
fifty cent pieces of 1840. I was present when Major Alvord counted his
money. He had all new coin from the San Francisco mint and
I assisted him in counting it. The money was in the original bag
sealed up and contained about twelve thousand dollars all new money
from the San Francisco Mint.
"I then went to Crawly's box to find something more but could find
nothing except a small wooden block with Crawley's name rough cut upon
it and evidently used for stamping his letters. I compared it with the
attempt at his name in the shirt I found on Murphy. It corresponded in
all the distinct letters. I went down again in the afternoon and
questioned the squaw who bought the blanket of Goliath as to what kind
of money she paid him.
"She said she paid him four dollars in half dollars and that all were
American half dollars except one. I then showed her the five half
dollars I had with me. She picked out the rupee which was dented
somewhat as one of the pieces which she had paid Goliath. I could make
no further discoveries.
"They brought me an empty bottle labeled "Tennolts Star of the West
Ale" which they said they found near where Goliath was found."
20th. July.
"...the Indians are impatient about Goliath and want the matter
settled. They want the Indian paid for or want the murdered hung. I
have urged the Colonel that the Indians should be paid..."
21st. July.
".... I wrote to the Doctor (Tolmie) for advise about the settlement of
Goliath's affairs. He advised me to wait until when Taylor arrive..."
28th. July.
"I made an affidavit before Justice Light yesterday and he came up and
commenced the examination of Private John Crawly, Company G, 4th
Infantry for the murder of the Indian Goliath. I as the only witness.
The doctor was absent all morning and did not return until the
afternoon when He was not in condition to give his testimony and the
court adjourned over until tomorrow."
29th July.
"Justice Erastus Light came up this morning and commenced the
examination of Crawley. He received my testimony. The Doctor was absent
in town and when he returned was not in a condition to give his
testimony.
30th July.
"Justice Light came up today again and finished the examination of
Crawley. It occupied until late in the afternoon. The prisoner had four
or five witnesses who gave evidence showing that Crawley was about the
garrison from twelve to one, from three until he was confined on the
morning of the 17th.
"He accounted for all the time except between one and three which
corresponds with the time that Goliah went up towards the garrison
according to the Indian version. They could not have anticipated what
Crawley would prove. Crawley was committed to appear at the next term
of the District Court."
THE PRICE
OF AN INDIAN.
"The Price of an Indian," Puget Sound Herald, September 24, 1858.
The soldier belonging to the garrison at Fort Steilacoom, who was
brought before the grand jury at Olympia for the murder of the Indian
named Goliah, has been discharged from custody.
The only evidence against him was that on the morning on which the dead
Indian was discovered on the road between Steilacoom and the Fort,
there were found on the pants and undershirt of the soldier spots of
blood, that he had in his pockets several half dollars, also bloody,
and that he had changed a bloody shirt for a clean one with another
soldier as shown by their respective names on the articles.
Of course, Indian testimony could not be taken by the grand jury, but
the Indians say that on the day before the body was found, the soldier
had been seen in company with the Indian starting up to the Fort; that
they had a bottle of whiskey with them, such a bottle was found near
the dead body and that the Indian was known to have the exact number
and kind of half dollars found covered with blood in the pockets of the
soldier.
No one saw the murder committed, and even if such had been the case, it
would perhaps be impossible in this country to obtain a jury that would
find a bill against a white man for killing an Indian.
The friends of the deceased, however, were so dissatisfied with the
result of the jury that on Thursday, the 16th instant, a present of one
hundred dollars was made them at the garrison to pay for their murdered
brother.
("The Price of an Indian," Puget Sound Herald, September 24, 1858.).
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