THE COLGATE AFFAIR. 



Public interest in this melancholy 

 story is revived by the publica- 

 tion of Heclawa's book, "In the 

 Heart of the Bitter Root Mountains." 

 It will be remembered that in the fall of 

 1893, young William Carlin and Mr. 

 A. L. Himelwright, with a guide and a 

 cook, went into the Bitter Root Moun- 

 tains on a hunting trip ; that they were 

 snowed in ; that they had great diffi- 

 culty in making their way out and that 

 they were compelled to abandon their 

 cook, Colgate, who had meantime been 

 taken ill. 



Many people have severely con- 

 demned these young men ■ for their 

 action regarding Colgate, and the fol- 

 lowing correspondence will prove of 

 deep interest as throwing further light 

 on the subject : 



FROM GENERAL W. P. CARLIN. 



Spokane, Wash. 

 Editor Recreation : 



Your letter just received. In reply I have to 

 say, first, that I never had any conversation 

 with Keely in regard to the abandonment of 

 Colgate, or the reward offered by me for the res- 

 cue of the hunting party. I did talk with my 

 son and Mr. Hemmelwright, and heard their 

 statements. Having perfect confidence in the 

 honor and veracity of both, I did not deem 

 it necessary to question Keely, Spencer or Pierce 

 on the subject. 



On meeting the party at Kendrick, Idaho, on 

 November 30, 1893, my son told me he did 

 not have money enough to pay Spencer and 

 Keely all he owed them, and asked me if I 

 could lend him five hundred and fifty dollars for 

 that purpose ; which I did, on arriving at Spo- 

 kane. It was here that my son settled with 

 Keely and Spencer and others whom he owed 

 on account of the hunt. In settling with Keely 

 the latter made a demand for part of the reward 

 offered by me for finding the party and bringing 

 them to the railroad. My son had no authority 

 to decide who was entitled to the reward, and, 

 in fact, was very much annoyed when he learned 

 that I had offered a reward. Having made a 

 contract with Keely for his services, and prom- 

 ised to pay him two hundred and fifty dollars 

 for those services, he refused to recognize 

 Keely's claim to the reward ; but in his gener- 

 osity, told Keely that if he were not satisfied 

 he would make him a present of one hundred 

 and fifty dollars. Keely replied : " No, if you 

 think you don't owe it, I will not have it." " You 

 know, of course, I don't owe it," replied my 

 son. 



No sooner had my son and I left Spokane 

 than Keely hastened to Post Falls to see Col- 



gate's widow, and to tell her a harrowing tale 

 about what he is reported to have called the cruel 

 and cowardly abandonment or desertion of Col- 

 gate, falsely asserting that it was done against 

 his remonstrance and advice. The truth is that 

 he was among the first, if not the very first, to 

 advocate it. I saw and read a telegram from 

 Lieutenant Elliott, saying that Keely said to 

 him that it was necessary to abandon Colgate. 



But on the strength of Keely's statement at 

 Post Falls, a meeting of citizens in Grand Army 

 Hall, called for the purpose of collecting money 

 for Mrs. Colgate, was converted into an indigna- 

 tion meeting, against William E. Carlin and. A. 

 L. A. Himmelwright. This meeting passed 

 resolutions denouncing these two young men, 

 but made no reflection on the guide who took 

 them into the country, yet was unable to get 

 them out after their long delay. There was 

 no reflection on Ben Keely. who had been there 

 some months, and had gone there to pass the 

 winter with an old man, Jere Johnson, his part- 

 ner in business, whom he deserted in order to 

 earn two hundred and fifty dollars. The truth 

 is, he was as anxious to get out of the country 

 as the hunting party were ; but he didn't have 

 the manliness and honesty to join them as an 

 equal. He saw his opportunity to get out, and 

 also to make a large sum of money ; therefore, 

 he negotiated through Spencer, the guide, with 

 my son, and obtained handsome wages for his 

 services. He deserted his old partner, John- 

 son, and his guilty conscience caused him to 

 fear, or pretend to fear, that the old man would 

 kill him. Under this fear, or pretended fear, he 

 left Johnson's camp, and slept at that of the 

 hunters for several nights before starting down 

 the river. 



To return to Post Falls for a moment. The 

 meeting that passed the resolutions denouncing 

 Mr. Carlin and Mr. Himmelwright was presided 

 over by Major George A. Manning, of Post 

 Falls. The Major informed me of this fact, him- 

 self, in a letter. Some time afterwards, Major 

 Manning wrote me and informed me that he was 

 going out with a party to search for Colgate, and 

 asked if I wanted to contribute anv money to- 

 wards outfitting the partv. He said the people 

 of Post Falls would contribute fifty dollars, those 

 at Rathdrum would do something, and that two 

 hundred dollars would be all that was needed to 

 outfit his party. In my reply I referred to the 

 resolutions said to have been passed by the 

 people of Post Falls, in which my son had been 

 denounced, and said substantially that these 

 resolutions prevented me from taking the inter- 

 est in the matter that I might otherwise take. I 

 refused to ^ive anything towards outfitting his 

 party. I offered, however, to pay him one 

 hundred and fifty dollars if he would bring Col- 

 gate, or his body, to Post Falls. 



For reasons satisfactory, I suppose, to him- 

 self, Major Manning did not go or send a party 

 to search for Colgate. It may be added that all 

 the parties that attempted to find Colgate last 

 winter failed to accomplish their object. It is 



