Editor Evening Bulletin: Considerable excitement was created in town today by the appearance of Lalake, one of the chiefs of the Klamath Lake Indians, having in his possession the heads of three Indians killed by him at or near the Klamath River. As you have already been informed, there were some five persons murdered lately, at the head of Butte Creek, in Oregon, who were on their way to Klamath Lake to settle there. When found, they were horribly mutilated; their horses, arms and everything valuable gone. Suspicion fell upon the Klamath Lake Indians as having committed the murder, none others being known to have been about that country, and some who were in Jacksonville at the time were arrested. Lalake, their chief, being here, and himself and tribe always having been friendly towards the whites, resolved to find the murderers and if possible bring them to punishment. He started out, and found near the scene of the murder three Indians (a father and two sons) who detailed and confessed to him all the circumstances of the murder, and even had the horses, guns etc. of the murdered men in their possession. These Indians were a remnant of the Rogue River tribe, who had all been sent to the reserve, and had either been accidentally left behind or escaped from it. They have been roaming in the mountains for some time. Lalake killed them all, and brought their three heads here to show the whites that they were not of his tribe. A white man who had been with him fully confirms his statement. This, I suppose, will end an Indian war, which likely would have occurred had these murderers not been brought to just and speedy retribution. . . .
San Francisco Bulletin, June 3, 1859, page 3


    THE LATE INDIAN MASSACRE IN JACKSON COUNTY.--We learn from the report of Capt. Hillman, who was chosen captain of a volunteer company of thirty men raised in Jacksonville, to go in pursuit of the Indian murderers of the Klamath Lake party, that the bodies of the missing men were discovered by Indian Agent Abbott on the 11th ult. From their wounds it was evident that the men had been attacked while asleep. Their bodies were buried about four feet deep in a dense thicket of pines, near the camp. The names of those found were Samuel Probst, Jas. Conn, S. F. Conger and J. Brown. Mr. Ledford has not been found. The volunteers returned to Jacksonville without being able to find the Indians.
Oregonian, Portland, June 4, 1859, page 2


    INDIANS BEHEADED NORTH.--Three weeks ago a party of white men were killed by Indians on the trail between Jacksonville and the Klamath country. The murderers were an old man and the four remaining warriors of his tribe, the rest having perished in wars. The old man's son went to the white men's camp and stole a box of matches, in which he was detected, and suffered indignity. Returning to camp the boy related his insult, and after counciling all night the Indians attacked the campers at daylight, shot four of them dead, pursued the other till nearly night, and killed him in the mountains. A squaw related the affair to the Klamath Indians, who sent for the old man and his party, extorted confession of the murder and then shot him twice in the face. Thus wounded, he shot a Klamath Indian mortally, and then fell with six more shots in his breast. His son was also shot, after which the remaining four fled, but the Klamaths pursued and killed another. The heads of the dead were cut off and brought to town on Sunday by La Lakes and some of his men, as evidence that three of the murderers had been killed. The other three, La Lakes says, will suffer the same fate. The chief killed was a most ferocious fellow; he had never been friendly with white men and with his six warriors had waged relentless war. The Klamaths feared that his murders would bring resentment on themselves, and accordingly determined to destroy his party, but the ghastly trophies exhibited here were not obtained without a most savage battle.--Yreka Union, June 2nd.
Sacramento Daily Union, June 7, 1859, page 2

    Mr. George W. Brown, of this place, handed us, on last Saturday, a copy of the Sentinel, published in Jacksonville, Oregon, containing an account of the murder of his brother, A. J. Brown, and four other persons, by the Indians, about the first of May. He also gave us a letter from his brother, F. M. Brown, containing all the particulars.
    It seems the party left their homes, in Jacksonville or vicinity, for the purpose of selecting stock farms in a region of country as yet uninhabited. As they had no intentions of intruding on Indian territory, they, of course, entertained no apprehensions of an attack, but were well armed. After the day had passed on which the party was expected to return, their friends began to fear that they had fallen into the hands of the Indians. A party was immediately organized for the purpose of searching for them. They immediately started on the trail of the missing party. The first expedition failed in discovering any clue to their fate, except that two or three dead horses, shot with bullets, were discovered; they were identified as belonging to the missing men. A new expedition was organized, which finally succeeded in discovering the dead bodies of four of the party just as the search was about to be abandoned as hopeless. F. M. Brown and Indian Agent Abbott made the discovery. A correspondent of the Sentinel says:
    "The men had been assailed while lying in bed, as was very evident from their wounds. One was shot in the head, one had his head split open with an ax, one was shot in the breast and stabbed, and the other was shot through the breast. The throats of all were cut."
    Mr. Brown in his letter says: "I found our brother in the grave. He had his throat cut, and a gash on the side of the head made by an ax. The wound extended from the back of his ear to the middle of his forehead." The following are the names of the murdered men: A. J. Brown, Eli Ledford, Samuel Probst, James Crow and S. F. Conger. The body of Mr. Ledford had not been discovered, but doubtless he shared the fate of his companions. A volunteer company had started in pursuit of the Indians, but with what degree of success we have not learned.
    Mr. Brown had on his person about three hundred dollars in money at the time of his murder. Of course, the Indians appropriated it to their own use before burying his remains. He was born and reared in Butler County, in this state, and was, we understand, about 24 years of age at the time of his death.
Democrat & Sentinel, Ebensburg, Pennsylvania July 6, 1859, page 2

SAM. L. SIMPSON.

    In April, 1859, there occurred one of the most mysterious and thrilling tragedies that ever took place in Oregon; a murder by the Klamath Indians of five white men--since widely known by the name of the Ledford massacre. It happened on the headwaters of Big Butte Creek, an affluent of the Rogue River, its particulars being as follows:
    Eli Ledford (brother to G. T. Ledford, now of Hillsboro, Oregon) and J. Brown, of Jacksonville, and S. F. Conger, W. S. Probst and James Crow, of Butte Creek, set out to cross the mountains near the stock-growing country around the Klamath lakes, which lies to the eastward about forty miles. Their outfit consisted of seven horses, a dog, provisions and arms. They started at a time of the year when no one had yet crossed the mountains, and anticipated a toilsome and difficult journey, but they were fully prepared and foresaw no insuperable obstacles. They passed from the gaze of their friends and were never seen again in life, and except for an accident their story would never have been related nor their fate made known.
    It happened that on or about the 4th of May following, Indian Agent Abbott, with his party, set out from Jacksonville, bound for Klamath Lake, proceeding up Big Butte Creek, with the intention of following the trail of the Ledford party and crossing the range. Arriving at the foot of the mountains, they took the Ledford trail, and followed it to a spot where the party had evidently been compelled to halt and return, finding the passage blocked by deep snow. The Abbott party also returned, still following the track of their predecessors, to Rancheria Prairie, an open spot where three Indian houses once stood, but which had recently been burned by the savage owners themselves. Here it would seem the missing party had camped, but no trail or other indication showed by what route they had left the vicinity. Suspicions were awakened, and Mr. Abbott and his men immediately set out to solve the mystery. The trail of three horses was after a time found, with a number of Indian tracks, going north. An Indian with the party was set to follow this trail, while the others proceeded to explore the woods in the vicinity of the prairie.
    Mr. Birdsey found a dead horse, and soon after three horses were found, which had been tied to trees and afterwards shot. The carcasses conformed to the description of the animals belonging to the Ledford party, and it became evident to the finders that the owners had been robbed and probably murdered by Indians, who had burned their own houses and gone away with the remainder of the white men's effects, including the remaining three horses.
    Mr. Abbott and his men returned at once to Jacksonville, prosecuting no further the search for the missing men, but believing that they had met their death at their camping place on Rancheria Prairie. The townspeople shared in this belief. Great excitement was manifested, a public meeting was held, and a company of men organized to proceed at once to the scene and endeavor to solve the mystery. The news came on Sunday, May 8; the meeting was held on Monday, and the volunteers set out the next day. John Hillman was chosen captain and Henry Klippel lieutenant of the company, which consisted of about thirty men. Indian Agent Abbott returned with the expedition.
    The detachment arrived at Rancheria Prairie at 9 o'clock of the Thursday morning following, and immediately proceeded to search for the bodies of the supposed victims. They were found after four hours' search, by Agent Abbott, and were exhumed by the men and identified as the remains of Probst, Brown, Crow and Conger. Ledford's body was missing. The corpses had been much mutilated, but were still recognizable. They had been buried in a hole about four feet deep, dug in the middle of a dense thicket of young pines, about three hundred yards from camp. It was evident [that they were] massacred while asleep, for one was shot in the head, another's head was cleft with an ax, and two were shot in the breast, one being stabbed. The throats of all were cut. The Indians had endeavored by every means in their power to obliterate the traces of their hideous deed. With characteristic cunning they had burned their houses, buried the corpses of the murdered men, taken four of the seven horses to a retired place and then shot them, and had even gone so far as to shoot Ledford's dog, that with canine affection doubtless hovered around the scene of its owner's death, and threw its body into the creek nearby.
    It was believed by the searchers that the bloody work had been committed by certain wild mountain Indians, whose place of abode was at the rancheria, and who were assisted and probably urged on by some Lalakes (Klamaths), who lived on this side of the Cascades, and who were thought to have an interest in putting a stop to further immigration to Klamath Lake. Four of these latter had camped all the preceding winter at the sawmill on Butte Creek, and a few days before the murder had sent their horses homeward to Klamath Lake by way of Yreka, themselves proceeding to join the Rancheria Prairie Indians.
    Capt. Hillman thus described the search for the Indians, subsequent to the finding of the bodies:
    "After leaving Rancheria Prairie we cut a trail through to the main fork of Butte Creek, which we with considerable trouble managed to cross. We then traveled down Big Butte Creek and camped on a small prairie on Rogue River, about two miles from the mouth of the creek. That night two parties of spies were sent out to look for fires or signs of Indian encampments. In the morning Col. Keeler reported that he had seen smoke rising in the neighborhood of the river, and close to the forks. I took twenty men supplied with two days' provisions, and started at 11 A.M. and marched until sundown, but could not see any Indian signs. We camped in the snow all night, and in the morning watched from the summit of a mountain for fires, but seeing none, we returned to camp and proceeded to Halley's ferry, to cross the river, it being too high to ford.
    "After crossing the river we marched to Elk Creek and sent a party of seven men to its head in the mountains, but they saw no Indian sign. We then came to Jacksonville for the purpose of getting provisions, as we were about out. We also wished to obtain reinforcements, as a great number wanted to leave to attend to their private business. I am convinced there are no Indians on the river this side of the forks, nor has there been for two months. It is our intention to thoroughly explore the headwaters of Butte Creek, and if they are this side of Klamath Lake I think we will find them."
    For a month the search was kept up, but without effect, and the murderers remained hidden until the melting of the snow permitted their escape beyond the Cascades. It is commonly supposed that their place of refuge was above Flounce Rock, on the headwaters of the Rogue River. The body of Ledford was at last discovered near the scene of the butchery, so that the fate of all became ultimately assured. Suspicion, falling generally upon the Klamaths, was concentrated afterwards upon a few individuals of that tribe, and four of the suspected savages met violent deaths through causes growing out of the massacre, though no one suffered in direct expiation of the deed, for it was found impossible to fix the crime with certainty upon anyone. In November 1863, Skookum John, a chief of the tribe, was killed by Capt. Kelly and Sergeant Underwood, at Fort Klamath, in attempting his arrest. It was considered that he had been deeply implicated in the Ledford matter. Not a little interest attaches to the fate of George, another Klamath accused of the murder, who was hanged by Charles Drew at Camp Baker, near Jacksonville.
    The fair land of Southern Oregon seems the chosen home of romance and story. The exploits of Indian fighting, the dying struggles of brave native races, the adventurous deeds of fur trappers (the servants of the great Hudson Bay Company), and the annals of a generation of gold-seekers make up a history which, though brief as to the years of its enactment, is unsurpassed in interest and variety. For about fifty years the valley of the Rogue has been known to white men, and in that space has acquired a history more impressive than many long-settled communities of greater extent and of abounding population. Of all those regions tributary to the Pacific Ocean I know of none whose annals possess so varied and deep an interest. Within our own state there is certainly no section comparable to it in this regard, because in no other section have so many moral forces been in action. No purely agricultural community, such as the Willamette Valley, for example, can compare with a mining locality in the matter of varied and absorbing memorials, and at this stage of the world's progress mankind knows no more entertaining or memorable subject than the stories of pioneer life which embraces accounts of Indian hostilities. As before said, the history of the Rogue River Valley includes both these subjects. It was first peopled by miners, who developed into a race of hardy Indian fighters. Later came agriculturists, who, as compared with the wild, free gold-diggers, were, as they always will be, stolid, grave and with minds not open to the breadth and depth of existence. With the decay of mining and the abandonment of the placers more sordid interests began to rule, and the annals of the community grew tame. It was not, however, until the railway entered the valley that its peculiar character of isolation was destroyed and the beautiful land became a part of the commonplace world.
    Among the wealth of recollections belonging to the valley of Rogue River, the following story of white men's injustice and an Indian mother's devotion is prominent. I tell it as it was told to me:
    Upon the conclusion of the Rogue River Indian War of 1855-56, the natives were removed from the land of their nativity--such as had not fallen in battle or expired from hardship during the campaigns--and taken to the inhospitable shore beyond the mouth of the Umpqua, and there confined upon a reservation. No more were the Shastas destined to raise their war cry in the pleasant vales of the Rogue and the Illinois. Henceforth the white settlers were able to carry on the arts of peace without fear of lurking danger.
    The murder of the Ledford party, told above, formed the last important event connected with the history of the Indians in Southern Oregon. It was the work of certain Klamaths, the numerous and important tribe who ever since the discovery and settlement of this country have inhabited the elevated region about the lakes and the river to which they have given their name. Klamath County, too, has its name from them, and their remaining representatives--a diminished and degraded band--occupy a reservation in that county, lying northeast of the Upper Klamath Lake, and embracing the region drained by Sprague and Williamson rivers. For the years subsequent to the eviction of the Rogue River tribe--the Tututnis--it became a habit of the Klamaths, or at least a portion of them, to cross the Cascade Range and spend a few months in the summer of each year in the valley of Rogue River, for the purpose of trading with the whites, or perhaps for the sake of breaking the monotony of a prolonged residence on their bleak and dreary reservation. This habit they have retained until now, and each year a delegation of visiting "tillicums" and "klootchmans" visit Ashland to trade with the merchants of that town, and after a more or less prolonged stay, return to the lakes, bearing with them such evidences of civilization as the native heart most appreciates.
    When the great rebellion began, the United States government, requiring all its resources to suppress the Confederates, withdrew from this state the few regular troops who at garrisons kept in awe the wild red men, and, to replace these guards, volunteer regiments were raised in Oregon who served at the frontier posts. In the valley of the Rogue River a fortified camp was built, garrisoned for a time by volunteers. This was Camp Baker, named for Col. E. D. Baker, who, while still Senator from Oregon, had accepted a military command under the government and was killed at Ball's Bluff, in Virginia, one of the first actions of the war. Camp Baker is now a solitude; its log barracks, store houses and officers' quarters have fallen into decay; its site is overgrown by bushes and young trees, the fruit of over twenty years' unchecked growth. Here, in 1863, lay a detachment of troops, volunteers from the surrounding country. Their commander was Charles Drew, a politician of some note, and well known throughout Oregon. He bore the rank of lieutenant colonel. His character is that of an adventurer rather than a worthy citizen, and his actions never revealed an overscrupulous regard for morality and justice. In the time of the Indian war of 1855-56 he had served as adjutant of the second regiment, O.M.V., and was also known as the correspondent "Clarendon," who wrote interminable letters for the public prints.
    It happened that in 1863 a number of Klamaths had received permission from their agent, [Amos E.] Rogers, surnamed "Sugar-foot" (a nickname bestowed because while drunk at Jacksonville somebody had poured his shoes full of molasses) permission to locate temporarily on the west side of the Cascades. They chose a place upon Butte Creek in a pleasant locality and sat down to enjoy life. Their nearest neighbors were cattle men, with whom they fell into ill repute. Their good name (had they such) could not help [two illegible lines of type] such neighbors. They were said to commit depredations on stock, to answer with insolence the complaints of the whites, and finally, to threaten death to the latter. Probably, as happens oftenest in such cases, the natives were charged with faults they had never committed; at any rate, public sentiment was easily excited against the poor interlopers, and hostility was resolved upon. Old "Sugar-foot," a semi-imbecile toper, could not protect his wards, and the two "bucks" who seemed most influential in the little community of natives were arrested by the military from Camp Baker. Their names were George and Jack. The former some persons have since attempted to identify with one of the Ledford murderers, but no evidence seems to exist outside of the prejudice and prepossessions of certain Indian haters, whose influence led to the lamentable, because unjust, act which followed.
    On the 19th of November George, a young, inexperienced Indian, necessarily ignorant and helpless, was seized, and without warrant and entirely without even the least pretense of a trial, was hanged by order of  Drew. He had gone to Jacksonville unsuspicious of danger, and thrown himself into the power of an organized mob who happened to be in the humor for destroying life. Accountable to no earthly power, and having no moral feelings to interfere, the outrage was consummated. The poor Indian, thus hurled into eternity, was left hanging upon the limb of a tree, while his mother, an agonized and heartbroken witness of his painful and revolting death, took the body down and buried it near her cabin, not far from Jacksonville.
    This case has come to rank as one of the principal historical incidents of Jackson County. Few of the residents of the county but can tell the story of how Indian Mary, the victim's mother, bore away the corpse of her son and buried it by her own wickiup, and has ever since maintained beside the grave a fire whose smoke and flame never is suffered to cease. The custom, common among sundry widely separated uncivilized people, of keeping alive the embers above the graves of the departed, is the most beautiful of all superstitions, and in the case of old Mary has been made the subject of a poem by [Samuel L.] Simpson, which was published in the Oregonian some years since. Here is a portion of it:
Sunday Oregonian, Portland, November 15, 1885, page 3

    HILLSBORO, Or., Feb. 13.--(Special.)--The funeral of Cyrus Henton, Indian war veteran, was held here yesterday, and burial was made at Laurel, eight miles south of this city. Mr. Henton was born in Missouri in 1843 and came to Oregon in 1852 with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Henton, who settled three miles northeast of Hillsboro. Of his immediately family, all are dead excepting one brother, Smith Henton, of Beaverton.
    He enlisted in William Kelly's company, Oregon First Regiment Mounted Volunteers, March 10, 1862, at Fort Vancouver. While in the service he was camped at Forts Baker and Klamath, and was present when Colonel Drew hanged Cayuse George, who was implicated in the Ledford massacre. Henton carried a message to Captain Kelly, ordering the arrest of Skookum John, who was also a leader in the Indian atrocities, and but for Henton and his comrades the Indian would have killed Kelly.
Oregonian, Portland, February 14, 1911, page 8