for the night-the one to plan to prey, and the other to plan an escape; for while the sales were in progress, the companion of Levy heard them conspiring to steal back the skins while. their purchasers slept, and secure them at any sacrifice. So as soon as the purchases could be securely packed on the sleigh, the traders hitched up their team, and by very careful management were enabled to elude the vigilance and cunning of the savages, and get out of their reach. They traveled all night, and reached home at daylight the next morning, happy in their good fortune, while the Indians, on discovering their escape, as was afterward ascertained, pranced about with fury and disappointment.

When the decision to remove the savages to Crow River Reservation was promulgated, as may be readily inferred, it was not accepted with a spirit of resignation or willingness to accept the situation. The Indian character is notoriously deficient of those characteristics which breed these excellent virtues. On the contrary, they swore they would not go, and employed every means available or to be availed of to give emphasis to this determination. Dandy and his band were particularly severe in their denunciation of the move, and specially determined not to go. In May, the excitement ran high, and fears of trouble were expressed. During that month, a number of the head men among the Indians sought Mr. Levy and asked permission to hold a council in his house, which was granted on condition that the participants remained sober and refrained from manifesting too much war spirit. They accepted those stipulations and returned to their camp, a short distance up the river. The next morning, the river was crowded with canoes, filled with Indians painted to represent them in the most unamiable mood, with feathers in their hair and other evidences of warlike intentions. The spectacle while aboriginal, and in some respects attractive, was not calculated to inspire the settlers with a peace of mind indescribable, but the boats were rowed to the village, where they unloaded, and the march to Levy's house began.

Upon reaching that domicile, they were surprised to find it locked, as Mr. Levy had omitted to mention the matter to his wife, and she, fearful of an attack, had closed up the premises and retired to an inner room for safety. After some delay, admission was obtained and the powwow carried on in the dining room, each Indian with a pipe betwixt his teeth smoking, reflecting and expectorating with a solemnity that would have defied the profundity of a philosopher to imitate or emulate, and secured for each the lasting disgust of Mrs. Levy. Here they remained for two hours perhaps, when, having concluded their business, they vacated the premises and returned whence they came, their canoes plowing the waves of the river, the surface of which appearing in the sunlight bright and sparkling as the burnished shield of Achilles.

There was no trouble resulting from the council, neither was the decision to move them affected thereby. Communications were addressed the authorities at Washington by those kindly disposed toward them to which no attention was paid, and in June, they were sent further West to grow up with the country, accompanied by White, Marks and Horton, settlers in La Crosse. In 1849, those who escaped the first emigration followed in the footsteps of their brethren, and a dissolution of the partnership of Levy & Snow was decided and accomplished upon the following basis: Snow received the farm at the mouth of State Road Cooley, and Levy the Spaulding claim, while the goods in stock were divided between them. Subsequently Levy purchased the claim of Ann White, and came into possession of about one-fourth of the river front.

The year 1849, was rather more eventful than 1848 had been. The country was then a paradise lost about the sources and tributaries of the Mississippi. It has since become a paradise regained, with enchanting, unlimited possibilities. Previous to the departure of the Indians, a gigantic struggle had been in progress between them and the whites, between races, between the picturesque and civilization for the possession of the rich uplands and fertile prairies of the Northwest. To-day drifting down the great water-way on a radiant morning, the voyager will recall nothing in his travels more varied and interesting than the city of La Crosse and its history. The home of the savages less than a half century ago, it is now the home of wealth, enterprise, education, refinement.

New Year's Day, 1849, was celebrated with considerable ceremony, and included among its attendant concomitants those usual to the season and occasion. Drinking, dancing and shooting were indulged until participants were incapacitated by reason of exhaustion or other and more persuasive influences. The winter commenced early, and the roads in every direction became permanently impeded at a comparatively early period. Communication was thenceforward during the remainder of the season by ice. The stores and empty rooms in and about La Crosse were packed with goods and wares, awaiting transportation, and unable, by reason of the absence of facilities, to secure it. In this emergency, a party of French was obtained, and their services employed in conveying freight and passengers to points between Galena and St. Paul, by means of horses and sleighs. The result was that activity was apparent at La Crosse and the travel near the present city quite large. Indeed, during the snow blockade experienced this year, the visitors to the new settlement were unusually numerous, but scarcely any of those who came remained, and none of them were identified with the subsequent growth of the settlement, village or city.

The embargo continued until late in the spring, when its causes departed as unexpectedly and expeditiously as they had come in. When the snow and ice were gone, which was in April, the river was opened and traffic resumed, with the arrival of the "Highland Mary," Capt. Atchinson, a profitable and elegant steamer for the days in which it was operated. Thereafter during the spring, the accidents and incidents of life on the prairie were similar to those previously encountered, save that they may have been rather more numerous, as the number of the inhabitants increased.

On the 5th of April the first death by accident is recorded, being that of William, son of J. M. Levy, who met his death under the following circumstances: Along on the evening of the day in question, he guided his horse to the river to water him, preparatory to concluding the evening's chores. The spot selected was at a point opposite the foot of Pearl street, approached from an incline, and to the water's edge by a steep bank. The lad had reached the latter place, which he was carefully descending, followed by the horse, when he slipped, and falling was thrown directly under the animal's feet. Before he could regain his equilibrium, the horse had stepped on the head of his victim, fracturing the skull, and inflicting wounds from the effects of which he died on the following morning, and was buried the same afternoon.

The settlement at this time counted on its roster of inhabitants a shiftless fellow named Napoleon Frank, the height of whose ambition seemed to be to covet his neighbors' goods, become pugnaciously intoxicated, and after beating his wife into submission and helpless fear, lie down to sleep, undisturbed by any other agencies than those indigenous to bacchanalian revels. During this spring, "Scoots" Miller was robbed of flour which had been landed from a passing boat and left to await a purchaser, and the owner was in a quandary as to whom the guilty party would prove to be. Soon after, Napoleon procured sufficient money to purchase whisky enough to get him in that condition of muscular inebriety, when he hungered to thrash the madame, and thus accoutered he wasted no time in hunting up the object of his malevolence. She was found at home as usual, and having administered a thoroughly subduing course of discipline to the defenseless victim, laid him down to contemplate other conquests in the dim land of alcoholic romance.

While he slept, Mrs. Napoleon, out of all patience at his brutality, and declining longer to act as a co-partner in his crimes, visited "Scoots," and after detailing the abuse to which she was subjected at brief intervals, concluded with the story of his peculative acts, including that by which he acquired title to the flour, the disappearance of which had proved to be a most inexplicable conundrum to its legitimate owner. When these dark ways and not altogether vai tricks of the sly Napoleon were brought to the knowledge of Justice Miller, there was not, as might be supposed, mounting in hot haste. On the On the contrary, "Scoots" and his confreres conferred for some time before deciding upon a course of action. But when a policy was adopted, there were neither lacks nor want of means employed to procure its exercise. In the case under consideration, diplomacy and skill combined to release the wife, and relieve the settlement. To

e a long story short, she was sent to St. Paul, and he given a certain length of time to make his exit in an opposite direction, which, candor compels the admission, he was not slow to avail himself of. But, embarking in a canoe kept conveniently in order for emergencies, he turned its prow in the direction of the Gulf and sailed. This was the first citizen of La Crosse exiled from his adopted home, yet he was permitted to return after a brief absence, but the mysterious disappearance of portable property never afterward became frequent.

The foregoing suggests another case illustrating the presence of strong-minded women in La Crosse, as well as types of effeminacy requiring the arm of something stronger than law to urge their defense. When Levy & Snow dissolved, George Fetterlein was left a debtor to the former, with only an assurance to liquidate when able, to commend him to an unlimited indulgence. This was rather a discouraging outlook, but the creditor accepted the situation and agreed to wait Fetterlein's convenience. One day in the summer, the latter unexpectedly offered a cow in settlement, and, to close up the account, the offer was accepted. When the chattel was delivered, the delivery was accompanied by a proposal to transfer a caif thereto belonging for a consideration. This was accepted, and the purchaser (Mr. Levy) gathering up a rope on the following morning, walked over to the vendor's cabin to take possession of and guide the youthful bovine to his herd. He reached the Fetterlein homestead while yet the sun was in the East, and, announcing the object of his visitation, prepared to bind his property, to the end that its escape would be prevented. He had no sooner completed the preliminaries in that behalf before he was apprised of the presence of an opposing force, in the presence of Mrs. Fetterlein, who first protested, and, without waiting to ascertain the effect her eloquence would have, began an assault with such force and arms that retreat was the only defense which remained for the victim. Acting upon this conclusion, he hesitated not to lend the enchantment of distance to his oppressor, and fled precipitately across the prairie, followed by Mrs. Fetterlein. Both ran furiously through the damp grass, and, for a time, the successful competitor was extremely difficult to name. Levy gained some little advantage at the outset, but was handicapped by the loss of his slipper, and once it looked as though the "swift-winged" madame would overhaul and vanquish her nimble-footed antagonist. But, at the critical moment for him, she abandoned the chase, and he reached home breathless and in his stocking feet. When the coast became clear, Mrs Levy ventured out and secured possession of the slippers, and both acknowledged that a cow without a calf was by no means the worst phase of existence in a new country. They had become resigned to the situation, when, on the following morning, the cause of the disturbance was carted over to Levy's mansion by Fetterlein and delivered to its legitimate owner. "That was many years ago," observes Mr. Levy, when referring to its occurrence, "but I never will forget it, nor Mrs. Cameron's attempt to cause the arrest and prosecution of certain parties for an alleged assault," while Mr. Levy was Justice of the Peace, for which that gentleman could not be charmed into issuing the papers.

Mr.

At this time, Mrs. Cameron occupied a position of prominence, assured, if not select or enviable. Scarcely any event occurred with which she was not identified, from a social gathering to a public meeting, from a picnic to a funeral. The Fourth of July was celebrated with pomp and circumstance this year, in a grove near the present cemetery, and largely attended. Citizens, Black River lumbermen and Mrs Cameron, were present, and the latter contributed materially to the entertainment and its conclusion. The speeches are represented to have been pointed and eloquent, the toasts appropriate, the edibles appetizing and the fluids inspiriting. Late in the afternoon, at a moment when satiety and surfeit were the prevailing features, Mrs. Cameron hurried to a safe distance and revived expiring energies by publicly challenging the males in attendance to catch her and exchange what, it was thought at the time, would be osculatory compliments. The crowd accepted the guage thus proffered, and ran, pell-mell, in pursuit of the prize. There was racing and chasing over the prairie, into the forest, across gullies and cooleys, but, when the capture was effected, Mrs. Cameron rewarded her admirers with kisses manufactured by candy-makers, whereupon the recipients became exercised, and, in the flush of disappointment, refused to be comforted. The crowd dispersed soon after the orators and celebrants

of the male persuasion, as a rule returning to the village, where they became intoxicated while the ladies recovered from the fatigues of the day.

THE CAMERON-ELLIS TRAGEDY.

Scarcely had the excitements attending the celebration above referred to subsided, and the people resumed their daily avocations, when a shooting affray occurred, during which a man named Ellis met his death at the hands of Peter Cameron, the particulars of which, as near as can be ascertained, are substantially as follows:

As is the case on every frontier, human life was protected by the individual, if necessary; and any feud of consequence was occasionally settled by a resort to arms. Might in some instances made right, and consequently personal quarrels were not of unfrequent occurrence. Up to this time, however, no trouble had occurred resulting in death. At this date, and for some time previous, an organized gang of log stealers were accustomed to visit La Crosse and vicinity for the purpose of depredating upon the crops of legitimate loggers, both here and on the Black River. They would run away one's logs out of the river, capture any loose logs they could possess themselves of, and spirit them away to the markets on the lower river, and this, too, notwithstanding the stringent measures employed to lessen the opportunities for crime.

On the morning of July 9, 1849, two men were observed on a raft descending the river opposite the city, which had become "broken" and separated. When the raft was secured, the men attempted to gather the loose logs which were floating on the river, and marked as is claimed, with the name of their owner "Ellis," who was one of the twain attempting to secure them. While thus occupied, Peter Cameron, in a skiff, overhauled them, and was passing the corner of Barron's Island, when he was recalled by his wife, who doubtless referred to the work of the loggers, who it seeins had recovered a portion of their property from among a lot owned by Cameron. Soon after, as Ellis was proceeding in the direction of Mr. Levy's store, Cameron hailed him, and upon halting, a controversy ensued as to the ownership of the reclaimed logs. The controversy widened into an excited altercation, in which Cameron challenged both Ellis and his hired man to fight, which, however, they declined. Thereupon Cameron loosed a fierce bull-dog which he owned, by which Ellis was attacked, and very seriously injured. He succeeded in making his escape from the fangs of the beast, and hurried in search of his partner to ascertain to what extent he had suffered. At this juncture, Mrs. Cameron emerged from her husband's cabin armed with two guns, and directed Peter to shoot the fleeing Ellis. The latter, appreciating the crisis of the moment, hastened his retreating footsteps in the direction of the raft, as rapidly as his wounded condition would permit. He had nearly gained a place of safety when Cameron "turned loose" upon him, and he fell mortally wounded. While prone on the ground in a condition rapidly approaching the final stage of dissolution, and before any one could hurry to prevent it, Cameron supplemented his shooting with blows from a club or the gun-stock, and hastened the result which previously could not have been long delayed.

While the assault was in progress, Mr. Levy, who was Justice of the Peace at the time, reached the scene of the impending murder, and sought to rescue Ellis from instant death. But his attempt was greeted by Cameron and wife with threats against his own life, and he retreated. Fortunately a raft rounded the point above La Crosse at this moment, and landing in response to Mr. Levy's hail, Dr. Snow and John Elder, Sheriff of the County, were found on board. With the assistance of these gentlemen, Cameron was arrested and placed in custody, and committed to jail on a charge of murder. He was taken to Prairie du Chien, in the charge of Elder and Snow, as also was his wounded victim, in the hope that the latter might receive treatment that would prolong his life. But this was not to be; he died while the raft was at some distance from Prairie du Chien, and was buried at Brownsville.

INDIAN IMPUDENCE.

The Indians again made trouble this year, or rather annoyed the settlers, as was their wont in former days. Some of them who had refused to submit to removal the year previous became