Democratic Sentinel, Volume 5, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 November 1881 — INDIAN FRANK. [ARTICLE]

INDIAN FRANK.

In all the annals of Indian warfare that this country possesses, either written or unwritten, I doubt if there can be found a parallel to the bloody tragedy which took place on Trinity river, fifteen miles north of the Indian reservation in Hoopa Valley, California, on the morning of March 28, 1867. The particulars of this terrible affair, resulting in the killing of four white men by one Indian, and the long and fruitless search for the murderer, terminating with his death under peculiar circumstances, are now brought to light for the first time. The Hoopa valley Reservation, at the date of the occurrence, was in charge of Indian Agent Stockton, and-the military camp attached thereto under the command of Maj. Bowman, of the Ninth United States infantry. There were several hundred Indians on the reservation at the time, belonging to the Hoopa, Redwood and Klamath tribes. Among them were some of the most dangerous and bloody characters that were ever fostered by our Government to prey upon its citizens. For what has been and is the result of the Government’s treatment of the Indian ? The reservation, under the so-called humane policy of the Department of the Interior, is nothing more than an asylum where the Indian is fed and housed during the winter, and put in good fighting trim for spring, when he takes his departure, without leave, to prey upon and harass every unfortunate white that comes in his way, knowing full well that after his marauding is suspended there is a home for him to return to, where he will be received with open arms, like the Prodigal Son, and where his crimes will be forgotten in the haste made to issue him his blankets and rations. I know there are some of the Good Samaritan order who will say that this is an outrageous as well as an inhuman view to take of the Government’s treatment of the Indian. But to all such I reply, examine the record of the past thirty years, with its wars and massacre«, its murders and pillages, and its wastes and extravagances, and then say whether I have been unjust in the assertions which I have made. Every man of intelligence who has lived in an Indian country, and had an opportunity of examining the Indian question, knows full well that the only true solution of it consists in compelling the Indian to work for his living as a white man does, to punish him as you would a white man for a similar offense, and to make him understand that he must conform to the laws the same as a white man. The Indian is fully capable of being made to comprehend all this. It is not my intention, however, to tilt at wind-mills, but to narrate an episode without a parallel in the W’hole history of the Government’s protectorate of the Indian. Among the desperadoes who were cared for at this time on the Hoopa Reservation were “Indian Frank,” “Sanaltin John,” “Big Jim” and “Handsome Billy,” a quartette that were known all over Humboldt, Klamath, Del Norte and Trinity counties for all species of deviltry, from horse-stealing to murder. During their periodical sojourn on the reservation, they were the chiefs of two adverse ranches, and spent the greater' portion of their time in stealing from one another, and in picking off an enemy whenever they could do so without detection, which happened not infrequently. Agent .Stockton, who had been in charge of the reservation for three years before the occurrence I am about to relate took place, was a most kind man in disposition, and one who treated the Indians under him in such a manner as to be almost universally liked by them. He had, however, in pursuance of what he deemed to be his duty, fallen into the questionable practice of mixing up in their disputes in endeavoring to settle them. One day, in the early part of March, 1867, an Indian from the “ Big Jim” ranch came to the Agent with a complaint that his horse had been stolen by “ Indian Frank,” and that the latter refused to pay him for it, as the horse was subsequently found drowned. Stockton .sent for Frank and told him if he did not pay for the horse before the following day that he would lock him up. The next morning it was found that Frank had left the reservation, and, although he was diligently searched for in the surrounding country, no traces of him were discovered. On the afternoon of the 27th of March the Indian from whom thdtnorse had been stolen discovered Frank’s whereabouts, and immediately notified Stockton, who determined to go after him and bring him to the reservation. Taking with him four attaches of the agency, James Latham, Asa Pratt, William Griffith and John Sloofer, he started for Frank’s hiding-place, which, according to the Indian, was some fifteen miles from the reservation, on the main Trinity river, at a spot known as Nigger Henry Flat. It was Stockton’s intention to travel during the night and arrest Frank before he awoke in the morning. This he carried out in part successfully, as at 5 o’clock on the following morning he and his party were in front of the Indian’s hut—which they found situated in an open, rectangular space about sixty yards long by forty wide—and through the Open door of which could be seen the sleeping form of him they were after. Stockton went to the entrance of the hut and called to Frank to get up and come out, that he was wanted. The Indian awoke, seemingly dazed, but perceiving Stockton and the four men at the door, and knowing the object of their visit, rose, but instantly after dropped on the ground and gave no further indication that he had heard the Agent’s summons. Stockton seeing this, instead of taking him by the back of the neck and pitching him out, commenced to coax him to accompany them quietly to the reservation, and not to put them to the necessity of using force. What a strange fatality that is which controls men on the eve of their destiny, and directs them to do that which, above all other things, they 'should not do ! What a problem for the student of psychology to solve ! While Stockton was talking to th'e Indian, the latter was noticed scratching the earth with his hands and making a hole in an abstracted manner. In a few minutes the cause of this strange action was made manifest, in his pulling from the hole a six-chambered revolver, which he had evidently cached in the corner of the hut where he was sitting. The conduct of the Indian now seemed to change, and the air of careless abstraction which his face had worn but a moment before gave place to one of indolent defiance. For two whole hours Stockton pleaded with Frank to go with

him quietly, and not put him to the trouble of taking him by force, but as well might he have talked to the waters in the river near by with the expectation of their obeying him, as to make the Indian comply with his wishes. Worn out at last with entreating, and still desirous of arresting him without doing him harm, Stockton called Pratt one side and gave him a note to deliver to Maj. Bowman, requesting the latter to send him immediately ten soldiers, and informing him that he would keep guard over Frank till their arrival. Pratt started immediately on his errand, leaving Stockton and the three others in front of the Indian’s hut. He had had crossed the river, and was about starting down for the reservation, when he hotyrd two shots fired in quick order. Pausing for a few minutes, he heard two more shots, coming from the same direction, and with about the same interval between them as between the two first. Satisfied that the shooting was done by the party he had left, and thinking, perhaps, that Frank, while attempting to escape, had been shot, he determined to go back, deeming that the necessity for his going after soldiers was done away with. Hardly had he started his boat on the river to return, when he heard a voice from the other side calling him to come on, that everything was all right. About midway across Pratt happened to look toward the bank he was approaching. As he did so he beheld the naked form of Frank dart behind a tree, with a rifle in each hand. He knew that something terrible must have occurred. The shots he had heard, the two rifles in the hands of Frank, when he knew of his having nothing save a revolver, and, finally, the Indian’s nude condition—unfailing indication of his being on the war-path—all gave token that those he had left at the flat were sadly in need of the assistance which the note he carried with him asked for. Turning his boat quickly, he made for the shore, and, after lauding, concluded not to go down the river to the reservation, as' Frank, knowing every foot of the country, might, by some short cut, head him off. Turning up the river, therefore, he made for a settlement some miles above. Here he found a messenger who consented to bear the news to tlie reservation. The latter arrived the same evening at Hoopa, without molestation, and delivered his message to Maj. Bowman. Without delay a detachment, consisting of twenty-five soldiers and a sergeant, under the command of Lieut. Broome, of Company K, Ninth infantry, accompanied by the post surgeon, Dr. Moffatt, were sent, to the relief of Stockton. They started about dusk, but owing to the nature of the trails they did not arrive in the vicinity of the flat till daylight next morning. Before reaching the hut the cowardly Lieutenant—he was shortly after cashiered the service—turned over the command to Sergt. Kramer, with the remark that he knew nothing of Indian fighting and that he was feeling quite ill also. He went to the rear, while the brave doctor, disgusted with the exhibition of poltroonery shown by a commissioned officer, left his position and marched side by side with the sergeant, at the head of the detachment. On reaching the flat, the first object that struck their eyes was the lifeless form of Stockton, lying about fifty feet from the hut. A little further on, and about at right angles with it, the dead body of Latham was encountered. This distance, by actual measurement, was fifty-seven yards. On the opposite side, in an almost diagonal line from where Latham was found, Sloofer’s remains w’ere discovered, forty-seven yards from the hut. On entering the hut they found Griffith in the corner to the right of the opening, with a sixteen-shooter Henry rifle across his .lap and his head bent slightly forward, He was still alive, but going fast, his wound being a mortal one. By the aid of stimulants he rallied long enough to give the particulars of what occurred after Pratt’s departure.

On seeing the latter leave (he Indian divined the object of his going, and knew that when he returned it would be in company with soldiers. He remained quiet for some minutes after Pratt had gone. Suddenly ho turned to Stockton and the others and told them to clear out; that he wanted them to leave him alone, at the same time cockiug his revolver. Knowing the desperate character of the man they had to deal with, Stockton’s companions broke for cover, Latham and Sloofer to the trees by which they were afterward found, Griffith to a large stump about fifteen yards from the hut, while Stockton himself commenced backing away, at the same time entreating Frank to be careful what he was go ing to do.- He had not reached over fifteen paces from the hut when the Indian fired and Stockton fell, pierced through the body. Griffith, seeing him fall, and fearful that the Indian would get his “ sixteen-shooter,” rushed over to Stockton and stooped to pick the rifle up. As he did so another shot from the Indian’s deadly revolver went tearing its way through his body, and made its exit on the other side. Although fatally wounded Griffith secured he rifle and ran back to his cover. A minute hardly .elapsed when the revolver’s deadly bark was again heard, and Sloofer fell with a ball between his eyes. He had been endeavoring to get a shot at the Indian from behind the tree where he was stationed, when he was spared all further trouble. Latham now drew a bead on the hut, but the Indian, anticipating a shot from that quarter, fired for the fourth time. Latham never moved. He was struck in a similar place to Sloofer, between the eyes. The Indian now left the hut with the intention of finishing Griffith, as he knew the latter was wounded, but to what extent he could not tell. Griffith, hearing him approach, although weak with loss of blood, determined to go for him. Jumping from behind his cover, he made a dash for the approaching Indian, which so disconcerted the latter that he turned and ran. After doubling several times, the Indian rushed into the hut, with Griffith in hot pursuit. Dashing himself against the back of the structure, he displaced several logs, and, rolling through the opening thus made, escaped to the surrounding timber. Griffith was so weak with loss of blood that he dropped in the corner of the hut, the same place where the relief party afterward found him. The Indian had evidently come back and taken Latham’s Henry rifle and Sloofer’s shot gun, the same seen with him by Pratt. He could have done so very easily without attracting Griffith’s attention, as where they lay was out of the latter’s range of vision. The bodies of Stockton and Griffith were conveyed to the reservation, where they were buried with honors, while the remains of Latham and Sloofer w r ere interred where they lay. For two years following this extraordinary tragedy Frank was hunted, there being no less than fifty soldiers in constant pursuit of him; and, although surrounded at least a half dozen times, he always managed to escape. The Indians belonging to his ranch evidently kept him in provisions, and furnished him with knowledge of the movements of the troops in search of him. The authorities in control of the reservation, knowing full well the surest means to capture Frank would be to arouse the cupidity of his own relatives—as every member of an Indian family has a moneyed value in the eyes of his*kin—by offering a reward large enough to tempt them, finally induced the Government to offer SSOO for his capture, dead or alive. A few days after it became known among the Indians that the reward was offered, “Sanaltin John,” Frank’s brother-in-law, entered into negotiations with the commandant for bringing Frank in. But in addition to the reward he must have she following strange conditions

acceded to—that he be allowed to kill “Big. Jim” and “Handsome Billy,” the chiefs of the ranch with which he was at feud. I will end this bloody recital by stating that a few days after this singular proposition was made to Maj. Bowman the Reservation was startled by hearing six snots fired. An examination by the guard ended in the bringing in of the dead bodies of “Big Jim” and “Handsome Billy.” They were riddled with shot, and their throats cut from ear to ear. The sergeant of the guard reported the fact of finding “Sanaltin John” and a numbe? of bucks belonging to his ranch in the vicinity of the shooting. But nothing came of his report. The sergeant was evidently regarded by his superior as being overofficious. Ten days after the above murders “ Sanaltin John” name to headquarters, and requested the Lieutenant in command—Maj. Bowman having found it convenient to be absent for a couple of weeks—to send out after Frank’s body. The murderer of Stockton and his companions had been led into ambush by his murderous brother-in-law, and killed by four Indiana belonging to his ranch. The reward was paid to “Sanaltin John” on the following day.