Bailey they didn't know those were his Indians, or some of his oak trees would have known what went with him that morning."
The Indian women remained at the "dry diggings" referred to for a week or ten days, when they suddenly disappeared. Nobody cared for them, and probably nobody would have looked for them if it were not for a man named Smith, who had an Indian wife and child in the tribe. He started out in search of these women, and was gone almost a month when he discovered them camped in the snowy mountains, about fifty miles from Coloma. They were almost starving. He asked why they had gone there, and they said because they thought the Columbia River men could not find them there as there was no grass for the horses. They had been living on wild clover and sugar pine nuts. Smith took them all to a cattle ranch kept by a Spaniard, near Coloma, and returned to that place. He and Weimer then went to Mr. Case, saying that they knew he was a chief factor in this Indian affair (information which Mr. Case did not think was public), and asked if he would not use his influence with the rest of the Oregonians so they would allow these Indians, both men and women, to come down from the mountains, and protect them and allow them to work. Case replied that he was but one Oregonian, and, anyway, he certainly would not agree to protect the Indians if they should come down.
Finally, beef and flour were sent to the women by the California traders, who told them to eat, drink, and be merry. Such a diet they had not been accustomed to, however, and as a result of overeating of food they were not used to, took some disease, and the whole tribe—numbering altogether one hundred and fifty-two Indians—died. Smith brought his wife and child down to Coloma and buried them there, placing a cross over the
