THE MURDER OF CAPTAIN SPEAR.
The voyage of the _Octavia_ in the summer of 1867 was one of the most
successful and important in all Captain La Barge’s career on the river.
It was unhappily marred by a most revolting crime, committed on board,
but in other respects passed off without any untoward incident. Its
narrative will be presented in the Captain’s own words.
“Early in the spring of 1867 I started in the Weston and St. Joseph
trade, and about April 1 advertised for a trip to Benton. Business on
the river seemed rather dull at this time, and people ridiculed me
for attempting a trip. But within two weeks my boat was filled; in
fact it was the largest trip I ever had up the river. I remember that
one morning, about two days prior to our departure. Captain Walker S.
Carter, a merchant of St. Louis, who was on the levee, said to me,
‘Have you got a trip?’ I replied, ‘More than I can carry.’ ‘It is
astonishing,’ said he. ‘Anybody else than you could not have got half
a trip.’ ‘That shows the value of a reputation,’ I replied.
“This trip of the _Octavia_ was a very profitable one. The cargo was
composed entirely of private freight, Mr. W. M. McPherson having been
the successful bidder for government contracts. I had freight for
nearly every firm in Helena, besides a good list of passengers, among
whom was Green Clay Smith, newly appointed Governor of Montana, and
also the Surveyor General for the same Territory, Thomas E. Tutt, now
of the Third National of St. Louis, and Robert Donnell, now a New York
banker.
[Sidenote: GENERAL SHERMAN.]
[Sidenote: THE MCPHERSON CONTRACT.]
[Sidenote: THE SHERMAN CONTRACT.]
“An interesting incident took place just before the departure of the
boat in which no less a personage than General Sherman was concerned.
Colonel Thomas, Sherman’s Quartermaster, had contracted with W. M.
McPherson, as I have said, for all the season’s business up the
Missouri River. The _Octavia_ was to leave port on Tuesday, and on the
Saturday previous General Smith came on board and said to me, ‘Did I
not understand you to say that you had no government freight or troops
to transport this year?’ I answered in the affirmative--that McPherson
had the contract, and I would not carry for him. ‘Well,’ returned
General Smith, ‘I am just from General Sherman, where I went to apply
for an escort. I was told by the General that I would not need one,
for he was going to send a hundred men by the _Octavia_ to Camp Cook,
near the mouth of the Judith River, under Lieutenant Horrigan.’ To
confirm his statement he showed me a dispatch that he had just sent to
Omaha to have the men all ready, so as not to detain the boat beyond
a few minutes. This was a good deal of a surprise to me, as I had had
no intimation of such action, and had my boat about full. I told Smith
I would go and see Sherman about it, and did so at once. I found the
General in his office, and before I could tell him my business he said,
‘I know what you want,’ and he took down his dispatch book to show me
that he had taken all precautions not to cause me any delay. ‘But that
is not the question, General,’ I said; ‘I cannot take the troops.’
‘Ah! that alters the case. Haven’t you room?’ I replied that I could
probably make room, but understood that this shipment was under the
McPherson contract. The General said it was. ‘Well then,’ I said, ‘I
will not carry them, for I will not work for McPherson.’ The General
asked my reasons. ‘Because McPherson will not pay enough for the
work,’ I said. ‘He gets a good price from the government, but the poor
steamboat man who does the work gets nothing for it. For example, he
gets fifty dollars per man to haul the troops to Camp Cook. He will pay
me fifteen and pocket thirty-five, and do no work nor take any risk.
I will not work for him on such terms.’ ‘I think you are perfectly
right,’ said the General. ‘In your place I would do the same thing.
But you will carry the troops up for General Sherman?’ I replied that
I would if he would contract with me individually and directly and
pay me the McPherson rates. ‘That’s fair,’ said he, and he called in
Thomas and told him to draw up a contract. ‘Well,’ said Thomas, ‘this
work is for McPherson to do under our contract with him. If you pay La
Barge you will also have to pay McPherson.’ Thomas wanted to argue the
matter, but Sherman shut him off by saying, ‘It’s no use, Thomas; you
just draw up that contract as I tell you to.’ And he did.
[Sidenote: CAPTAIN SPEAR SHOT.]
“The _Octavia_ left St. Louis Tuesday, May 7, 1867, on the most
important trip I ever made up the river. There were no incidents of
note until the boat reached Omaha, where the troops were taken on
board. We also received at this point a passenger in the person of
a Captain W. D. Spear, 79th Royal Rifles, an officer of the British
Army, on furlough from India. He was on his way to Salt Lake _via_
the Missouri River, and was going thence to California. He seemed to
be a man of means. This embarkation of the troops and of this officer
was the prelude to one of the most distressing tragedies that ever
occurred on the Missouri River. The troops were mostly Irish Fenians,
and the Lieutenant in charge was an Irishman, all intensely hostile
to the English. This fact may in part explain what subsequently
transpired. Spear himself felt doubts for his safety, and one day
remarked to me that he would be lucky if he got out of this scrape
without accident. I did not know what he meant, for he was a very
fearless man, going on shore frequently in spite of danger from the
Indians. Just after midnight of the 7th of June, or more precisely
about 12.30 A. M. June 8, as Captain Spear and Joseph C. La Barge,
my son, were going up the steps to the hurricane deck, Captain Spear
being a little ahead, a sentinel, William Barry, stationed near
there, fired at Captain Spear, the bullet passing through his head at
the base of the brain and killing him instantly. The following day
an inquest was held by a committee of the passengers consisting of
Thomas E. Tutt, Green Clay Smith, Sam McLean, Richard Leach, T. H.
Eastman, Geo. W. McLean, and W. J. McCormick, Secretary. Several of the
passengers and crew were sworn and their testimony taken. No motive
could be discovered for the deed. The sentinel’s orders required him
to challenge only parties approaching the boat from the shore, and it
was expressly agreed with me, by Lieutenant Horrigan, as a condition
of permitting sentinels to be posted on the hurricane deck, that they
should not interfere in any way with the passengers. The finding of
the committee was that “the shooting was not in accordance with any
instructions given to said sentinel, and that he deserves the most
rigid punishment known to the law.” There was indeed a strong sentiment
among the passengers in favor of lynching him, but the military could
easily have prevented it, and everyone believed that he would meet with
due punishment in regular order. The sentinel was of course at once
relieved from duty and placed under arrest.
[Sidenote: NEW METHOD OF EMBALMING.]
“Our trip up the river was a dangerous one, owing to the intense
hostility of the Indians, but by taking great precautions no accidents
happened. I put off the remains of Captain Spear at Fort Buford to
await my return. I asked the commanding officer if he could suggest any
way of embalming the body. He advised the construction of a large box
and the filling of it with green cottonwood sawdust. The experiment
seemed to work well, although I had never heard of such a thing before.
The post commander refused to receive the prisoner, who was taken on
to Camp Cook. The commanding officer there refused to try him on the
ground that the crime had been committed in Dakota. He held him for us
to take back to Yankton.
“The troops were left at Camp Cook and the boat went on to Benton.
I found many passengers for the down trip and great quantities of
golddust. I filled the office safe and every other available receptacle
with it. There were no incidents of especial importance on the return
trip. The soldier, Barry, was taken down to Yankton and there turned
over to the United States marshal, who held him until orders came from
Washington for his release, when he was sent back to his company.
[Sidenote: TRIAL OF SPEARS MURDERER.]
“I took Captain Spear’s remains back to St. Louis, where I found
telegrams directing the shipment of them to Europe. A Lieutenant Terry
of Spear’s company came to St. Louis to get full particulars of the
affair. I was then living with my family on the _Octavia_, and invited
him to stay there with me. He did so, and I gave him as full an account
as possible of Captain Spear’s death. When the news reached England
that the assassin had been released without trial, the government
promptly took up the matter and I understood that a demand was made
upon our government through Minister Thornton for a civil trial of the
soldier. This demand was complied with, and the man was tried before
Judge Kidder at Vermillion, Dak. Myself and several others went up
as witnesses. The evidence seemed to me overwhelmingly against the
accused, there being nothing in his favor except his own statement
that he acted in the line of his duty. The jury returned a verdict of
not guilty, upon instructions from the judge that the man had simply
obeyed his orders. They were given a verdict to sign written out by the
judge, and thus the culprit escaped.
[Sidenote: TRAVESTY UPON JUSTICE.]
“To us who knew the facts, this travesty upon justice seemed the
crowning outrage of the whole deplorable affair. Here was as
deliberate, cold-blooded, and unprovoked a murder as the annals of
crime afford, actuated unquestionably by the national hate of the
murderer for the country of the victim. The crime was considered by the
passengers as meriting the severest penalty of the law. The pretense
that the sentinel acted under orders had not the remotest foundation,
or if it had, it only made the officer _particeps criminis_. The final
outcome was the grossest miscarriage of justice which even frontier
annals afford, and it was unquestionably a justifiable ground for
reprisal on the part of the British government. Let those who lament
British obduracy in the case of Mrs. Maybrick ponder upon this far more
lamentable case of the unavenged death of Captain Spear.
[Sidenote: PHENOMENAL SUCCESS.]
“Upon my return to St. Louis I called upon McCune, who advised me to
attend promptly to my obligations for the construction of the boat,
which had now about matured. He offered to help me get them renewed.
I told him it was unnecessary, as I should take them all up and clear
the debt off. He was greatly surprised and delighted at the success
of my trip, which was indeed almost phenomenal. I made a clear profit
of forty-five thousand dollars between May 7, the date of leaving
St. Louis, and the date of my return. Yet it was a hard trip. The
responsibility was very great. I was heavily in debt for my boat. I
had on board three hundred passengers and three hundred tons of cargo.
The difficulties of Missouri River navigation, the dangers from the
Indians, and the many other contingencies of such a trip made it
wearing in the extreme. Many boats that had set out weeks before us
were passed on the way.[72] On the trip I was awake the greater part
of the time night and day. I kept up all right and stood the strain so
long as the excitement was on, but the moment we landed at Benton and I
knew the danger was over, I went to sleep and instructed my wife not to
awaken me even for meals. I slept almost continuously for twenty-four
hours.”