The Murder of Chief Swell
A faithful ally to white settlers is murdered in a cold-blooded territorial dispute, exposing the impotence of the Indian Agency.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The recent murder of Swell, a Cape Flattery (Makah) chief, is worthy of note. Swell, known to citizens and Indian agents for his faithfulness and honesty, was shot near midnight on March 1st while traveling from Port Townsend to Neah Bay. He was carrying goods for H. A. Webster Co. and mail for the lighthouse department. While attempting to assist what he thought was a camp of his own people near Crescent Bay, he was shot in the back by an Elwha Indian named Met-so-naek, known as 'Elwha Charley.' Swell died instantly. The Elwha people followed the canoe, wounding another man, and the heavily laden Makah canoe eventually struck rocks and split, losing its cargo. James G. Swan, writing from Port Townsend, recounts traveling to the Elwha settlement to recover property and confronting the murderer. Charley admitted to the killing, citing a blood feud and a dispute over a woman and blankets. Swan noted the deep fear among the Elwha of a Makah reprisal. Despite the severity of the crime, Indian Agent Col. Simmons claimed his hands were tied by the federal government's failure to provide funds or support for the Indian service, leaving the Makah to wonder if the government's promises of protection are merely lies.
“I could not help feeling while standing up alongside this murderer... that I would gladly give a pull at the rope that should hang him.”
This account highlights the volatility of the frontier and the administrative abandonment of the Pacific Northwest by the federal government on the eve of the Civil War. James G. Swan's frustration with the 'inefficiency' of the Indian service foreshadows the systemic failures that would characterize federal Indian policy for decades to come.
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