The Widow, the Mayor, and the Killing of William Three Mountains

The paper introduced the item with the line that “a good Indian is, as a rule, more honest than the average good white man.” It then reported that the widow of the late William Three Mountains, a petty chief of the Spokanes, who was recently killed by a party named Jackson, called upon Mayor James N. Glover Tuesday and asked whether her husband owed him money. Mr. Glover mentally ransacked the transactions of the past and did remember that William had purchased goods from him some five years ago, when in the mercantile business, but could not decide upon the exact amount. She stated that William had informed her on his dying bed that he owed Mr. Glover $30, and his last request was that his wife should pay Glover when his property was sold after his death. This sum she handed to the mayor. In the kindness of his heart Mr. Glover returned half the sum to the woman, and told her that he would give five dollars toward a purse to reward the man who would capture the slayer of her husband. The paper closed by saying the incident “might point a moral and adorn a tale,” and should be a lesson to many white men, few of whom would be so punctilious in remembering such little matters of honor on their deathbeds.