tons statement , impossible of proof or
disproof , except , ns ifc is certain that Fre
mont did once pass through Nuckolls
county , that he observed "frequent
groves of oak , " and that it is very likely
that he called each of thorn an oak
grove.
Another , also fathered by the State
society , is found in Vohwne V , in an en
tertaining article by Hon. .T. A. Mac-
Murphy. It is here that Fremont is
spoken of as the first white man known
to have crossed the state of Nebraska ;
but that has been mentioned before.
"What I now question is the correctness
of an anecdote further along , which Mr.
MacMiarphy says he received from
Clement Lambert , one of Fremont's
employees , whom he calls "Old Lum
bar. " It is of a feast made for the ex
plorer and his party by the Pawnees of
a village near Columbus , where they are
said to have stopped two or three days
to rest and recruit , thoitgh it was at the
beginning of their journey ; and it tells
how the commander was horrified at be
ing served with a portion of boiled dog ,
and refused to eat it. The story turns
on this , and on consequences that re
sulted long afterwards on the same jour
ney.
ney.This
This must manifestly have happened
when Lambert was a member of the
party , and that was only on the first ex
pedition. On this trip they met no In
dians in Nebraska on the way exit , save
three of the Cheyenne nation , but they
did conie to a Pawnee village in the
neighborhood indicated , as they returned
in September. But they only bought
some vegetables , and kept right on ; and
Lambert was not there for even that ,
having been sent forward some days
previously to Bellevue for carpenters.
So that here again we are constrained
to wonder what reliance may bo placed
on this story ; which is a good story ,
giving an inside view of Fremont's first
party , and intimating that Lambert and
Basil Lajeunese were really the guides ,
and Carson and Maxwell merely hunt
ers.
ers.The
The dog part of it , also , does not agree
very well with Fremont's own account
of his first dog-feast , which occurred on
that journey , but among the Sioxix in
Wyoming. Ho tells what dog-meat
tastes like , and mentions that ho is not
"nice in such matters. "
Another case is more difficult. It is a
statement of Dr. George Bird Griuuell's ,
where , in speaking of a certain title of
honor among the Pawnees , he says that
it was never bestowed upon a white'
man , with but two exceptions ; Major
Frank North and Fremont , the Path
finder. It is hard to believe that Fre
mont was ever in such contact with the
Pawnees as to lead them to confer such
a signal distinction upon him , but Dr.
Grinnell is too eminent an authority for
his statements to be lightly questioned ;
but when can it have happened ? Gen-
oral Fremont's time seems to bo pretty
well accounted for.
Previous to 1842 , he had never been
west of the Missouri ; he had been sur
veying with Nicollct between the Upper
Mississippi and the Missouri , but the
Pawnees were never in that region. In
1842 ho passed through the Pawnee ter
ritory botli going and coining , bxxt in
going out he only saw a last year's camp
and some of their trails , and on his re
turn his relations with them were brief
and of a strictly business nature , as
noted above. Aside from this , all the
Indians that he met this year were at
war with the Pawnees.
In 184JJ again , all that lie saw of the
Pawnees on his way west was their
highways across country ; and again ho
stopped at a village of theirs in return
ing in the succeeding year , this time on
the Smolcy Hill. And they received him
with "unfriendly rudeness and charac
teristic insolence , " and were so far from
bestowing titles of honor upon him that
half of them , as they afterwards told
Major Whartou , were for murdering
him and his men in the night.
His third expedition was undertaken
in the spring of 1845 , and its object was
the exploration of the region west of
Salt Lake. Ho may have lingered to
fraternixo with the plains Indians , but
it was not his cxxstom to tarry when ho
had an object in view , and it seems
hardly probable that ho did so in this
case. When he came east again in 1847 ,
he was escorted by General Kearney ,
who clapped him under arrest as soon as
they reached Fort Leaveuworth ; so that
this does not appear a likely time for
the ceremony , either.
On his fourth excursion , in the winter
of 1848-49 , he went out the Smolcy Hill ,
apparently , which would have taken
him well to the south of the reputed
haunts of the Pawnees. He did spend
several weeks at or near Kansas City in
making preparations ; but none of the
early travelers speak of the Pawnees
over being seen nearer to the States than
Fort Leaveuworth , and there only a few
at a time , for trade ; and I do not tlu'uk
it probable that the degree was con
ferred upon him during this sojourn.
Neither was it bestowed xxpon the march
by any traveling lodge , for though ho
had Indians with him on all his later ex
peditious , they were invariably Dela-
wares , the neutral tribe employed quite
generally as hunters and interpreters.
Ho returned this time by sea.
Of the fifth and last trip wo have a
circumstantial account from the daguer-
reotypist who accompanied it , and it is
quite certain that Senator Fremont was
not adopted into the Pawnee tribe on
this occasion. He was absent from his
party for a month soon after setting out ,
but unless we assume that this was a
subterfuge to cover his initiation , wo
must accept his statement , that ho re
turned to St. Louis for medical treat
ment. This was in the fall of 1853 , and
is soon as he reached the coast he hur
ried back to the Atlantic states again.
3o was now a candidate for a more hon
orable title , all things considered , than
: hat of Pani LcsJiar ; namely , that of
president of the United States ; and
though he did not obtain it , it is not
likely that ho solaced himself at any
rime after this with the lesser dignity.
He was no longer young , and his time
for seeking diversion in Indian tepees
( if he ever had such a time ) was past.
Nor can any one , from reading the jour
nals which he has left , and the records
that others made of him , find in him
such a character as would have lent it
self to intimacy with the Indians. Fre
mont was an austere man , capable of
rousing supreme attachment and devo
tion in his followers , but not one to
form close friendships with them , still
less to enter into an Indian's ideas. The
Indians did not confer honors for dis
tinguished services to science nor to the
United States government , but for serv
ices directly affecting them , or that they
could at least appreciate. There is
nothing , I believe , in General Fre
mont's journals , to indicate that the
native tribes were at all interesting or
congenial to him.
Still , it is rash to question Dr. Grin-
noil's positive statement ; and , further
more , THE CONSERVATIVE is informed
by Major North's surviving brothers
that the Pawnees used to say that , be
sides their brother , one white man had
received the honorable title under dis
cussion ; "one Avho had been through
this country with a command , engaged
in building a road , and that some of the
Pawnees went with him over the moixu-
tains. " This fits Fremont fairly well ,
but possibly it may fit some other man
as well , or better. It is doubtful , as
mentioned above , if any Pawnees ever
accompanied Fremont on any of his
travels.
The question seems to bo still open.
A. T. RIOHAUDSOX.
Charles W. French , of Hyde Park
High School , Chicago , will reply to an
article which appeared in THE CONSER
VATIVE over the signature , "W. S. S. , "
March 10. Prof. French's subject is
' 'The Duty of the Schools to Democracy. ' '
It will bo published in June.
For two years the
SURE PREGxxarautee Hog
VENTIVE. Cholera Cure has
been used at Arbor
Lodge. In that time between three and
four cases of the medicine have been
fed to a herd of swine , running from
fifty to two hundred in number. Not
a single outbreak of cholera has occur
red , although it has been prevalent and
malignant on nearby farms.