148 



"HE AMERICAN BEE KEEPER. 



May 



MIGRATION. 



Through tho autumn woods the shadows grow 

 AJid wider and deeper the streamlets flow; 

 No sound but the riiinling waters heard, 

 Or the faint h)w twitter of some loni- bird. 

 Belated, I'oi'gotten and wondering why 

 Eis mate had deserted him— he niutt fly, 

 For rude winds are tossing the trees o'erhead 

 And scattering; tiie 1 aves of golden red 

 That clins as they fall to ferns pale grown, 

 ^ream tinted, like old lace some queen had 



worn, 

 t-o away from this scene to a cheerier one 

 The lone bird fii( s With the setting sun 

 And vests midst the bou^'hs of old oak trees, 

 Where Sp:inish moss swings in the soft, warm 



breeze. 

 There in dreama he forgets his snow bound 



nest 

 Till spring comes again — then home is best. 

 And with wings or.tspread he wanders hence 

 Till he finds the i;k pie tree close by the fence, 

 Where year i.fter year his mate and he 

 Have reared their brood in the same old tree. 

 — E. P. M. in Boston Commercial. 



m THE LATA .BEDS. 



In about the year 1843 there was 

 "born in one of the most desolate regions 

 of the Union — the lava, beds that ex- 

 tend from northern California into 

 southern Oregon — an Indian girl. Her 

 father was Se Cot, an intractable Modoc 

 subchief, who lost his life in an attach 

 en a F^rty of whites emigrating to the 

 Pacific coast in 1850. Along about 

 1857, when adventurous white men, 

 seeking gold, begaia to penetrate the 

 Modoc lava bed region by the .sevcrrJ 

 hundreds eveiy year, there came that 

 way a certain young Keutuchiau, whc 

 had been an army sergeant stationed at 

 the Presidio, in San Francisco. He wai- 

 Frank EidcUe. He had refreshments at 

 the niserable heme of the squaw widow, 

 £e Cct, and scon took a fanc3^ to hei 

 daughter, Wi-ne-ma, then 15 years old, 

 ui:d famous iii that region as the besl 

 lockii:g and most agreeable Indian gir] 

 in California. Riddle got money in gold 

 mining in ecuthern Oregon and soon 

 married the haudi^cme Modoc girl. 'The 

 tcuple tcck up their abcde near the 

 f eld diggings, and the young wife be- 

 f;.an to learn her hu.sband's language. 

 While she visited her savage brother;- 

 and sister.s occasionally and bore them 

 gifts ihe 1 err.me weaned to the life and 

 thought cf white people. But she neve: 

 darca. rn pain of assassination or noison- 



ing, to reveal her change of faith or tc 

 show that she really loved a white man. 



In 1860, when gold was discovered in 

 large quantities in the Klamath region 

 and thousands of venturesome Ameri- 

 cans rushed through northern California 

 and across the lava beds, the anger 6i 

 the Modocs was roused to fullest pitch 

 by the lawlessness of the invading 

 whites. In June, 1860, the Modocs lured 

 14 gold miners into a narrow canyon, 

 and there, after unspeakable cruelties, 

 extending over two days, let the white 

 men die. The news of the murders by 

 the Modocs got abroad a month latei 

 and set on fire the whole white popula- 

 tion of northern California and southern 

 Oregon. 



In August a band of 75 whites left 

 Yreka, C» ]., to punish the Modoc sav- 

 ages for the act. The avengers were* lee 

 by Benjamin Wright, an old mountain- 

 eer, who had hunted and fought Indians 

 with Kit Carson, Jim Beckwith, Johi. 

 Scott and Jim Bridger. After a long 

 chase througl>,the rough country, which 

 was not productive of good results, thf 

 chiefs were invited to meet the whites 

 and make a treaty. This they agreed tc 

 do, and the warring parties went intc 

 camp near each other on Lost river, the 

 Indians outnum bering the white men by 

 three to one. Early on the morning oi 

 the conference a young Modoc squaw, 

 breathless, her clothing torn and hei 

 feet bleeding, came into the Wright 

 camp and asked to see the . leader. She 

 had run and walked some nine miles 

 across] the rugged mountain trail. Hei 

 errand was to warn the invaders against 

 treachery. The night before she learned 

 at the council fire that her people in- 

 tended to surround the white men dur- 

 ing the conference and put them tc 

 death. Wright and his men tuet cunning 

 with cunning. They went into ambush 

 near the place of. conference, and when 

 the unsuspecting Modocs fell into the 

 trap but two escaped from the slaughtei 

 that ensued. This affair is known in thf 

 history of northern California as the, 

 Ben Wright massacre. The squaw whc 

 conveyed the timely warning to hei 

 "white friends was Wi-ne-ma, the. wife 

 of Frank Riddle. This fact was never 

 found out by her people, else her life 

 would have been forfeited. 



Eleven and a half years passed. The 

 Modocs had been confined by the gov- 



