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In the year 1860 the first election was held in the original Spokane, afterward Stevens, count)-. County officers were chosen, but for some reason a representative to the Territorial legislature was not selected. Concerning a tragical event connected with this matter Mr.
F. Wolff says:
"Desiring to have a representative some of the settlers got together and named Mr. H. W. Watson, (who was commonly called Judge Watson) for our representative. We made up a purse to pay his expenses, and late in the fall of 1860 Mr. Watson, who was a carpenter in the government's employ, started out on a cayuse for Olympia. The irregularity of his selection as representative restrained him from
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serving in this capacity, but he was given a position as door-keeper in the lower house, which position he retained during the session. In the spring of 1861 Judge Watson started on his return trip to Pinkney City. Weeks passed, but the judge failed to put in an appearance. At that period I was sheriff of the county, and becoming alarmed at the non-appearance of Judge Watson I wrote to parties at Walla Walla in regard to his whereabouts. I received word that he had left Walla Walla several weeks before on his return home.While Colville, or more properly Fort Colville. was recognized as the capital of Spokane county, under the old regime, Pinkney City was the county seat de facto. All proceedings of the county commissioners were dated at Pinkney City. The Territorial act of January 17, 1860, located the county seat "temporarily on
"I then suspected foul play. Accompanied by my deputy. George \Vaet, and my interpreter, Thomas Stranger, I set out on the trail to the south country. As I went along the trail I made inquiries, and from some French settlers I learned that Indians in the neighborhood had a horse which they believed to be Watson's. At a place where Chewelah is now situated I found Watson's horse and saddle in possession of the Indians as the Frenchmen had told me. These natives said that they had won the horse and saddle from a Spokane Indian by gambling, and gave me a description of him. We then proceeded to the camp of the Spokanes, a short distance this side of Spokane Falls, but were unable to find the Indian for whom we were looking. We saw the chief, however, and laid the matter before him. From our description of the suspected man the chief recognized one of his subjects whom he had, before, suspected of crime. He said the man in question was keeping company with a young girl of the tribe, and had made her a present of a piece of chain, and that he had refused to state where he had secured it. I interviewed the girl and saw the piece of chain, which I at once recognized as having been Watson's. I again laid the matter before the chief, and he called the suspected man up before us. At first the Indian denied knowledge of everything, but finally owned up that he had murdered Watson for his watch and chain and pony. He said that he had thrown the rest of the chain and the watch into the brush along the Spokane river, and after a short search we found them.
"This was in May, 1861. Accompanied by one of the chiefs of the tribe and a number of braves, we started on the return trip to Pinkney City with the self-confessed murderer. At a point between what is now Springdale and Walker's Prairie, the culprit pointed out the spot where the murder had been committed. We had no trouble in finding the body of Judge Watson, which was in a bad state of decomposition. We dug a grave, buried our friend and marked the spot with a slab. Then we left the Indians and pushed on with our prisoner. I well remember our arrival home. It was about five o'clock in the afternoon, and we immediately gave the prisoner a preliminary hearing before Judge Hall, who was then justice of the peace. The whole settlement was present at the trial. The Indian admitted the crime, and was bound over to the higher court, which in those days convened only once a year. Assisted by the deputies I was about to take the prisoner to jail, when we were seized by the crowd who had gathered to witness the trial. While a few of them held us the remainder took our prisoner and hanged him at Hofstetter's gate, opposite the court house, in what was then Pinkney City, near old Fort Colville.
"Watson was between fifty and fifty-five years old, and came here from Massachusetts. Although we made inquiry we were unable to learn anything of his past history, nor were there any papers in his possession which gave any information of relatives."
the land claim of Dr. Bates." Subsequent acts of the Territorial assembly made mention of "Colville" as the county seat, and thus it
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became recognized throughout the judicial district. But there was no "Colville" in existence. In view of this fact Mr. John U. Hofstetter and others, in 1880, platted a townsite three miles southwest of Pinkney City, named it Colville, and thus it became the county seat, according to the recognition of certain Territorial acts, abolishing Spokane, and organizing Stevens county. The county records were brought to Colville from Pinkney City, and since that time the former place has remained the capital.
The first term of the district, later called the superior court, was held in Pinkney City in June, 1862. Hon. J. J. McGilvra, now a resident of Seattle, was at that period United States district attorney, and in company with Judge Oliphant, Salucius Garfielde, Shell Fargo and Charles Allen, he left the Walla Walla military post and started for Pinkney City to hold court. The equipage of the party comprised a pair of ponies, a wagon and two riding mules. The only residents, aside from nomadic Indians, along the two hundred and ten miles were one ferryman at the crossing of the Snake river, and another at the Spokane crossing, eighteen miles below the present eastern metropolis of Washington, Spokane.
Two small fly tents which the judicial party carried along with them, and traveling commissary stores, furnished forth hotel accommodations along the entire route. To a limited extent Garfielde understood the mysteries of the cuisine, and he was chosen cook, supplied only with the meagre culinary utensils of a frying pan and coffee pot. Garfielde broiled bacon on sharpened sticks before the fire and baked bread in the frying pan. Buffalo chips were employed for fuel, and the coffee was settled with cold water. It is the published testimony of Mr. McGilvra that the "bread, bacon and coffee on that trip had a relish that has seldom been the good fortune of the writer to enjoy." At that period the regular garrison of Fort Colville, mentioned elsewhere, was en route for the seat of war in the south, its place having been supplied by two companies of volunteers recruited from the California, Oregon and Washington penitentiaries. The party met these troops at Medical Lake. Mr. McGilvra says that the officers had with them some good commissary whiskey, and the judicial party were invited to partake of the same, which they did, "unanimously." The teamster of the outfit, Shell Fargo, managed to imbibe rather more than his just proportion of the whiskey, and soon after parting with the soldiers he upset the wagon, depositing two of his passengers, Judge Oliphant and Salucius Garefielde on the ground. It is stoutly maintained by Fargo that Garfielde, who was smoking at the time, never lost his hold of the pipe, nor missed a puff during the whole catastrophe. The case was otherwise with Judge Oliphant; although not seriously injured he was badly shaken up and his nerves considerably unstrung.
The military post at Fort Colville furnished quarters for the "court." The pro tern clerk of court, appointed by Judge Oliphant. was Park Winnans, and on the spur of the moment the sheriff of Spokane county summoned grand and petite juries. The impromptu "term" commenced. The fact that any court at all was to be held had not been extensively advertised, and in consequence of this oversight there was not a case on the docket, in short, there was no calendar in which to enter a case. So the community good-naturedly began to manufacture cases. It is a well-known fact in legal practice that a community of lawyers will always brew business; that it takes two lawyers to impart an impetus to litigation in any place; that where there an abundance of legal advice there will, invariably, be found clients to pay for the same. Thus it was at Pinkney City. It appeared to be the disposition of the people to make the best showing possible — as litigation was a rarity, in short, a luxury — and so encourage other visitations of the "court." The grand jury immediately "got busy" and proceeded to indict everyone suspected of a
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crime and, it might be said, almost every one capable of committing a crime against the peace and dignity of the Territory of Washington. So anxious were the people to keep the wheels of justice moving that they came freely into court, waived process of service, made up their issues on the spot, and jumped head foremost into trial. The grist of this judicial mill was the settling of a number of civil cases, several convictions under the criminal law, three divorces, and the accumulation by McGilvra and Garfielde of $750 apiece. Shell Fargo carried off his reward in the shape of an appointment as United States marshal.
During this initial term of court the party visited the Hudson's Bay Company's "Fort" Colville, fifteen miles north, then in charge of Angus McDonald. At this period the principal fisheries of the Columbia river were at this point, and here the Indians came to lay in their season's supply of salmon. At the time of the visit of this party several acres of ground were occupied in drying out the fish.
The reader must not jump to the hasty conclusion that this primitive method of conducting law courts was sui genesis in the various states of the union. Far from it. There was good faith shown in every legal procedure in Spokane county, and force of circumstances alone prevented a more elaborate and technical process of executing the law of the land. Over in Montana, at the same period, law had been abandoned, or rather never inaugurated. The vigilance committee reigned supreme, and no less than fifty-five desperadoes, outlaws and "road agents" were lynched under the rude semblance of law instituted by the Vigilantes. So far as jurisprudence was concerned the settlers of Spokane county kept themselves within the Territorial statutes to the fullest extent compatible with the spirit of the times, the long intervals between terms of court and the vast distances between the municipal and county jurisdictions. The majesty of the white man's law, as will be seen from Sheriff Wolff's account of his capture of the murderer of Judge Watson, appears to have been recognized by the Indians, more especially by the Spokanes. Accompanied by one deputy and an interpreter, Wolff went down into the midst of that tribe, and brought the prisoner to punishment, if not to strict legal justice. The Indian murderer had confessed; the next term of court was a long ways off; expense to the county could be saved by summary proceedings, and the Indian was lynched. But consider the thousands of whites and negroes who have suffered from this kind of lawlessness since that time in various portions of the United States, surrounded by all the adjuncts necessary for swift retribution at the hands of legally constituted authorities! We make no plea in behalf of lynch law, but the surrounding circumstances should be given due weight by the candid and impartial reader. The fact that this Indian murderer was so readily given up to Sheriff Wolff by the chief and other members of the tribe of Spokanes, naturally awakens comment. For this credit must be given to the methods of the Hudson's Bay Company. It
had inculcated in the simple minds of these savage Indian tribes a wholesome respect for the white man's law. Dr. McLaughlin says:
"A strict discipline was imposed upon the officers and servants of the Hudson's Bay Company. The officer in charge of a post or party was alone authorized to deal with the natives. Interference with their women (the so frequent cause of trouble between the Indians and the whites) was strictly forbidden and rigorously punished. Spirituous liquor, that curse alike to civilized and savage, was never taken into the Indian country, save the one gallon of brandy and two gallons of wine annually furnished each post for medicinal purposes. By a judicious system of penalties and rewards the Indians were taught to speak the truth and respect their promises. Theft or murder was never suffered to go unpunished. Tribes as
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well as individuals were stimulated to industry and good behavior by suitable presents and distinctions. If a theft or murder was committed the tribe to which the offender belonged was held responsible and required to deliver him up for punishment. If the tribe hesitated or delayed, trade was withdrawn until the thief was surrendered. If the tribe refused to give up a murderer, war at whatever cost was waged until full satisfaction was obtained."The question of roads was one of the most important which came before the board of county commissioners of Spokane county in these early days. Reference to local laws of 1861-2 shows that J- R- Bates, who was a member of the Territorial assembly, was authorized to construct a bridge across the Spokane river, at the crossing of the road from Walla Walla to Colville. The following were also appointed as ferry-keepers: D. W. Litchenthaler and John C. Smith, across Snake, opposite Powder river; to Green White and C. R. Driggs, across Snake, at the mouth of Grand Ronde river; to John Messenger and Walter H. Manley, across Salmon river on the Nez Perce trail to Fort Boise. Rates were generally fifty cents for individual foot passengers, loose cattle fifty cents a head; two-horse wagons $2.50; four-horse wagons $3.50; six-horse wagons $4.50; horse and buggy $2.25; pack animals seventy-five cents. To the writer ex-Sheriff Francis Wolff said:
"In the spring of 1853 a party of one hundred and twenty men under the command of Lieutenant Saxon started out from The Dalles, and of this party I was a member. We were to join forces with Governor Stevens, who was then in Montana with his surveying party. In the fall of that year we met Governor Stevens' party at Benton, Montana. Then in the summer of 1853 the whole party crossed the Rocky Mountains and went into camp at Missoula. The first wagon was brought over in the winter of 1854 by Captain John Mullan.To Mr. Wolff undoubtedly belongs the distinction of having brought the first wagons to the Colville country. In 1856 he came from The Dalles, Oregon, bringing with him three wagons and a number of horses. In those days there were no roads — only a trail — and considerable difficulty was experienced by Mr. Wolff in getting the wagons here safely. At the Snake and Spokane rivers the crossing was made by lashing two Indian canoes together and placing a wagon on them. The horses, of course, swam across the streams. In 1877 Mr. Wolff made a trip to Walla Walla. In passing through the country south of here, he says, he found it in a very unsettled condition, and while on this trip he witnessed a stampede to Walla Walla from what are now the counties of Lincoln and Douglas, on account of an In- dian scare. He says the fears of the stampeders were unfounded, and the excitement due to the
"At Missoula a consultation was held. Governor Stevens was anxious to get to the capital of the new Territory to enter upon his duties as governor, but he did not want to give up his surveying project. Provisions were running low, and to leave a great number of his force behind was out of the question. Stevens called for volunteers to remain behind and proceed with the survey to Puget Sound, while the main body proceeded directly to Olympia. Captain John Mullan, to whom the greatest credit is due for the surveying of the route, was given command of these volunteers. Those who responded and formed the company were Captain John Mullan, James Doty, Tom Adams, Fred Burr, C. Williams, John Farnsworth, William Simpson, Richard Osgood, Henry Pearson, George Simpson, Tom Osgood, F. M. Ruby, Corporal Richard Rose, W. Gates, Albert Sohon, I. Thuhill, E. Williamson, Francis Wolff. For fourteen months this party conducted the surveying operations and suffered untold hardships, finally arriving at Fort Owens in the Bitter Root valley and going into camp at Camp Stevens, one and one-half miles north of Fort Owens."
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fact that most of the settlers were new arrivals from the east and totally unacquainted with conditions. A few cattle had been killed by the Indians in the "coulee country," but so far as he could learn these were the only depredations committed. Many sections of the Big Bend country were depopulated by this mad stampede to Walla Walla.
At the time of the present writing there have been three legal executions in Stevens county. In 1872 an Indian named Standist Law was hanged in Pinkney City for the murder of a miner, across the Columbia river. His apprehension was brought about through information furnished by some of his putative
friends. In 1879 an Indian named Andrew was executed for the murder of George Reemer, a farmer. living at Garrison Flat, only sixty or seventy yards from the military post. In 1881 one Michael, an Indian, murdered a man named Shaffer, who conducted a grocery store in Pinkney City, the same place where Reemer was killed. For this crime he paid the penalty on the gallows.
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