Then horror succeeded horror, and many of the heroic pioneers of the Columbia River perished.
"The Jesuits have been accused of causing the murder of Whitman," said one historian of Washington to me.

"They indignantly deny it.

I have studied the whole subject for years with this opinion, that the Indian outbreak and its tragedies had its origin, and largely gathered its force, from the terrible joke of the conjured melons.
"That was the evidence that must have served greatly to turn the Indian mind against one of the bravest men that America has produced, and whose name will stand immortal among the heroes of Washington and Oregon." I give this account as a local story, and not as exact history; but this tradition was believed by the old people in Washington.
When any one in the new settlement spoke of the Potlatch, this scene came up like a shadow.

Would it be repeated?
FOOTNOTES: [Footnote A: See Historical Notes.].