The Lynching of Macdaniels and Gibson, at Steilacoom, in 1870,
for Jumping the Claims of Settlers

The Sunday Oregonian
November 4, 1900
By Edward Huggins

I am asked whether I know anything about the Charlie Macdaniels-Gibson matter. Of course I do. I am very well acquainted with all the facts of the case. A detailed history of the bloody affair would involve & great deal of writing; besides, I do not think it policy to resurrect the unfortunate occurrence, for the reason that several of the men concerned in the matter are alive today, and are among the most respectable of our hard-working industrious farmers. 

However, I will try to give a short account of the occurrence, and occupy as little time and paper as possible. Charlie Macdaniels came to this country some time in the 50's, when he was quite a young man. He was not bad looking, but aped the cowboy, gambling style of man all he could. He was a great gambler and swaggerer. He always carried a revolver and a knife in his belt, and would quarrel with and often insult people upon the least provocation.

A great lover of horse racing, he ran more than one race with the east of the mountains Indians, on the prairie near Fort Nisqually. Forty and fifty years ago the Eastern Indians, from as far as Colville and Spokane, would periodically come across the Cascades in large number, and trade and race horses with the Sound Indians and any white men having a penchant for that kind of sport.

Physically, Macdaniels was a fine figure of man, tall, big chested and broad shouldered. He had fair complexion and light hair, which he wore in ringlets around his head and shoulders. He could not look one straight in the face, and had a shiftless, hang-dog appearance when approaching a respectable man. In 1858 Macdaniels went to the Fraser River gold mines, in company with a Scotchman named Adam, and was associated with him in mining and gambling transactions. 

Adams was another hard case, an ex-Hudson's Bay Company's servant, with whom I had some trading transactions. I recollect that I bought two horses, stolen ones, probably, from him just before he left for Fraser River It was reported that the two made quite a  little pile, but Adams always insisted upon carrying the sack of dust, and refused to divide until they arrived in Victoria. 

This did not suit Macdaniels, so just before they reached New Westminster, Macdaniels murdered Adams and made for the Upper Sound country with the plunder. Macdaniels hung about Steilacoom and Olympia until he heard that the Vancouver Island authorities were after him with extradition papers. He then put his case into the hands of Frank Clarke, and suddenly disappeared.

Clarke was quite a young man, and with the late Colonel William Wallace was the only lawyer in Pierce County at that time. Smith, the Territorial Secretary, was then the acting Governor of Washington. Clarke, by some means unknown to the general public, succeeded in inducing the Governor to deny the request of the Colonial authorities, and Macdaniels was never tried for the Adams murder. 

Pending the settlement of the extradition question. Macdaniels remained in biding. Before the case was finally settled, I was sent to Cowlitz to take temporary charge of the company's establishment on Cowlitz prairie. One day, while I was riding on horseback from the farm to the landing on the Cowlitz River, about five miles, I saw Macdaniels on the edge of the timber. 

He in hiding, and if ever a man looked guilty of murder, he did. Soon after Clarke s magnetic eloquence succeeded, and Macdaniels was soon showing himself at his old haunts, and, if anything, was bigger bully than ever, and the little Adams episode appeared not to trouble him at all.

Early Day Vigilantes

I find that as usual with me when writing on any of these old-time matters, I have wandered from my subject, and become prolix, and, I fear, tiresome. However, to revert to my original theme. About 1870 there were many settlers on Nisqually plains, and on the lands claimed by the Puget Sound Agricultural & Hudson's Bay Companies under the treaty  of 1846, between the United States and Great Britain. 

The lands of the English Puget Sound Company took in all the prairie lands in the county except the prairie bordering the Puyallup and White Rivers, and a clause in the donation act strictly forbade any one from claiming under that act, lands holden or claimed under the treaty of 1846. The United States surveyors always stopped short at the boundary of the lands  claimed by this English company, and the Government, to save itself from injuring the company, paid a rental of $990 per annum for a mile square of ground used for military purposes and upon which Fort Steilacoom was established.

I collected, as agent for the company, $600 a year from the Government for 20 years, rent from August 1849, until 1868. the date of the abandonment of the post for the military, and the settlement between the Government and the Hudson's Bay & Puget Sound Agricultural companies. Under such a state of things all the settlers on Nisqually plains were bona fide squatters, and, believing this to be true, Macdaniels and two or three more of the same kidney made up their minds to jump the best of the farms claimed under the donation act.

Gibson, a newcomer, about whom nothing was known further than somebody had said he was a very bad man, was persuaded by Macdaniels to jump the Wren claim of 640 acres, on the Muck Creek, then occupied by Fred Clark, an old and very well known settler. Gibson made his residence upon the place, intending, it was supposed, to be first upon the place and in possession, after the land had been surveyed by the Government and opened for settlement under the pre-emption and homestead acts, as it was thought by many people that the original claimant's rights, under the donation act, would be of no account, by reason of the prohibitory clause in the act itself. 

The many other similar claimants upon the land in question became alarmed and a meeting of settlers was called. It was decided that a committee of several farmers intending to claim under both acts should pass a resolution ordering Gibson and another jumper Abijah O'Neal, who had jumped claim originally taken by a man named Gravelle to move on. The committee first visited O'Neal and told them the object of their visit and ordered him to vacate the premises.

O'Neal, seeing the uselessness of parleying, packed his goods, got ready his conveyance, and in a abort time was ready to depart. The regulators escorted him across the boundary line of the county about three or four miles away, and there left him with very strict injunctions not to return. They then proceed to interview Mr. Gibson. but didn't find him at home. Some one in the party proposed that a written notice should he left notifying the jumper that he should immediately vacate the premises and forthwith leave the county.

This was done, and the regulators affixed their names to the instrument and nailed it to the door of the house in which Mr. Gibson lived. Soon after this it became known that Macdanlels and Gibson had sworn to rave revenge, and threatened to take the lives of the most prominent men ef the committee. They went one night to the house of one of the committee, a preeminent man, the father of a large family.

This man was on horseback when he saw the two miscreants riding towards his house. He readily surmised their purpose, and putting spurs to his horse, leaped a fence and gained the house ahead of them. He barricaded his door, and being a brave fellow, prepared himself for battle. They knocked at the door, and dared him to come out. They did not attack the door, as they well knew the man inside was a determined fellow; and that he would defend his wife and child to the last. 

They parleyed awhile, using threats, and after shooting at one or two of the man's dogs, left, making the night hideous, with threats of vengeance.

Macdaniels and Gibson Killed.

This kind of treatment was meted out to others of the committee, until life with them, I suppose became unbearable. The threatened men again met and calmly discussed the situation. They were convinced that the two miscreants were aided by another resident of the county, who was on very intimate terms with Macdaniels, and extreme measures were determined upon. 

It became known that upon a certain day Macdaniels and Gibson were to appear in Steilacoom. In obedience to a legal subpoena, January 21, 1870, they rode on horseback to Steilacoom. While they were passing along the country road leading from Muck to Steilacoom, in that part of the road running through the small clump of timber between American and Gravelly Lakes, a heavy volley was fired at them by a party of men in ambush. 

The volley did not do much damage. Macdaniels was not touched, but Gibson was wounded. The men fired at got speedily away from the dangerous neighborhood. Gibson stopped at the insane asylum to have his wound dressed, and Macdaniels went on to Steilacoom. The firing party followed to Steilacoom. Macdaniels, having previously given up his pistol to a man in Steilacoom, met one of the party of citizens and made all manner of promises of future good conduct, and, it is said, begged that his life be spared. 

Seeing that all his overtures were useless, he became very much scared, turned, ran and made for the yard in, the rear of Westbrook's stable. Several shots were fired, and when, he gained the yard he fell, severely wounded, and died shortly afterward. In the meantime Gibson, after having had his wounded dressed at the insane asylum, proceeded to Steilacoom. Near the town he was met by some of the farmers, and seized, dumped into a wagon, and it was decided that he should be taken into the timber and hanged. 

The wagon proceeded towards the timber, two men sitting in the seat, others marching alongside, with Gibson in the bottom of the wagon. As they were driving along, Gibson raised himself up, and drew a revolver from the belt of one of the men on the seat fired and wounded one in the buttock and with another shot wounded the other man some where about
the heel.

This occurred near the Catholic Church. Short work was then made of Gibson. He was dumped out of the wagon, and in a very short time was lifeless.

Summary Justice Was Justifiable.

The reader may well believe that this wretched business caused great excitement. Of course, people differed in opinion as to the adoption of such stringent measures to abate, what they considered a petty matter, and asked; "Why not appeal to the courts?" But they who knew the late bully were unanimous in declaring that the farmers were justified in executing summary justice upon Macdaniels, for if he had lived with his pistol, more than one of the band composing the committee would have been murdered. 

Appeal to the law. Indeed! Didn't the Vancouver Island authorities apply to the Washington authorities to have Macdaniels turned over to them for trial, and with what result? The same, no doubt, would have happened in this case. Lawyer Clark, or some other authority of similar ability, would have undertaken his defense, and either have freed him, prolonged the trial, and given the rascals a good opportunity of wreaking their dangerous vengeance upon the working farmers. No man in those days could go to Steilacoom and return without being insulted, if he was unlucky enough to come across Macdaniels

Macdaniels a Hard Case.

Macdaniels never did me any harm, personally, but I have seen him maltreat others. On one election day, in Steilacoom, within 50 or 75 feet of where he met his end, I saw him hit a poor, harmless man over the head with his big revolver, because, forsooth, the man wouldn't vote according to orders. On another election evening a crowd was hurrahing at some favorable election news received, outside of Westbrook's saloon, when a pistol was discharged from near Clark's little cottage. 

The bullet, luckily, passed harmlessly through the crowd, and lodged in the frame of the saloon door. Certainly it could not be proved that Macdaniels fired the shot, but a little before the thing happened he was seen going in that direction, and people were well satisfied that he did the shooting. Old-timers recollect poor old Greig, one of the most harmless men in the county, a man liked by all his acquaintances. 

He was in the company's service for about 15 years, and the place where he lived formerly belonged to the company, and was one of my sheep stations. His old wife, Betsey, an Indian, is still living there, with his daughter, Mrs. Spence. It is a pretty place, and its Indian name is S. Gukoguas. When the company discontinued business on the plains, Greig was in charge of S. Gukoguas, and he continued to reside there, intending to take the place as his pre-emption claim. 

Mr. Macdaniels, who was living at that time at old Muck, with his friend, Andy Burge, alarmed old Greig by frequently telling him that he could not hold the place, and would not be allowed to take it as a pre-emption claim, because he had been in the service of the English Puget Sound Agricultural Company. He tormented the old man with threats of jumping his place, which was very dear to him, and upon which were buried the remains of four or five of his children.

At last Macdaniels told him that if he would give him some horses, he would cease troubling him, and the poor old chap, for the sake of peace and quietness, gave him out of his little property, five or six horses. That is the sort of a chap Mr. Charles Macdaniels was, and poor old Greig was only an honest, law-abiding ex-United States soldier. Macdaniels came here as one of Captain Hill's company of the Fourth Artillery, landing at Steilacoom Creek in August, 1848, only a few months prior to my arrival here. I could cite several more little anecdotes, or true stories, rather, about the late Charles Macdaniels.

As to Gibson. I did not know anything about him, never saw him. and I fancy none of the committee knew anything about him. It was reported, though, that he was a very bad man, had killed people, etc., and I had an idea that if he had not wounded the two men in the wagon they would not have killed him. There's no telling though. The excitement was ao intense and the fear of these men so great that nothing but extinction would seem safe to the committee.

The Trail a Farce

In October, 1870, the district court convened in Steilacoom. Judge Orange Jacobs, now one of the Superior Court Judges of King County presiding. The men concerned in the Macdaniels-Gibson lynching were indicted, and the trial was ordered to take place forthwith. The court sat in the old Masonic Hall. I forget now whether McGillivary, now living in Seattle, or C. Bradshaw was prosecuting attorney. 

James McNaught, then a young attorney, was employed to assist in the prosecution, and very well he performed his duty. An ex-Territorial District Court Judge named Wyche was the lawyer employed by the committee to conduct the defense, and he did so with great ability, although at the time he was in ill-health and soon after consumption took him off. 

For some reason or other, unexplained to me, although I have my private opinion about it, the parties concerned decided to try the cases separately, and chose that of the killing of Macdaniels to be tried first, which I consider was a very lucky accident for the defendants. Of course there was a great difficulty experienced in getting a jury, until at last, the old stereotyped excuses got to be of no effect, and a jury of men, well acquainted with both sides of the case was obtained, notwithstanding many of them declared that they actually read the local paper, and some of them swore they had already formed opinions. 

The case occupied three or four days. I was present throughout the trial and watched the proceedings with a great deal of interest. Both Wyche and McNaught exhibited great skill in doing their work, and the Judge likewise proved himself to be a man considerably in my opinion, above mediocrity, although I could not help thinking that he favored the prosecution; but, if he did, it is not to be much wondered at, for if lynch law looks horrible to the non-legal mind, what must its effects be to the man of Judicial character and legal attributes. 

After a long hearing and masterful pleadings by counsel, the case was submitted to the jury, and I know I am right when I say that the jury was not alone 10 minutes before it arrived at the verdict of "Not guilty." How could It be otherwise? Among these charged with being concerned in the death of Macdaniels were men who were not in Steilacoom at the time.

In February, 1883. an article appeared in the Overland Monthly entitled "Barbarous Days on Puget Sound," which purported to give a truthful account of the matter. I have just concluded. It was so full of glaring inaccuracies and so outrageously untrue that I determined to write a reply, but, upon second thought, I refrained from so doing, thinking that to open up a newspaper discussion about the matter, now nearly forgotten, would not be pleasing to those of the number of the committee remaining with us at that date, nearly all of whom were my friends. 

Barbarous days on Puget Sound, Indeed! I have lived on Puget Sound almost 50 years, and the only barbarous times I have known among the white population were the days in which Mr. Charles Macdaniels attempted to ride roughshod over the people of Pierce County, and with his bullying ways, and always prominent pistol, make life, to some people, thoroughly miserable.