The "horrible crime" that was, as ever so often, blamed on a "crazy Indian"
Quintus Hopper of Nevada series: The Southern Paiute tribes were peaceful - but the few white people in Southern Nevada at the time were ruled by fear and blamed everything on "renegade Indians."
Quintus Hopper of Nevada, published in January 2022, is a historical novel that follows the epic and peculiar life of a frontier newspaper typesetter. As part of my research, I made extensive use of newspaper archives and, in this series, I’ll share some of my often-surprising findings. Here are history, commentaries and contemporary newspaper articles as they relate to my latest novel. This time a look at one of the so-called “renegade Indians” in Southern Nevada toward the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. The most famous one, Queho, forms an important part of the novel and others like Ahvote and Willie Boy (California), are also featured. I’ll share more about them in future articles. For now, the questionable case against a man named Mouse.
Southern Nevada was, and is, home of the Southern Paiutes. During the thirty-year period of the so-called Indian Wars, the US military was engaged in many places and fought many tribes and their famous chiefs – never once, though, in Southern Nevada. The Southern Paiute were peaceful. Whenever possible, they circumvented conflict. There were no big leaders like Cochise or Sitting Bull, who met with the big white leaders to talk peace and negotiate treaties (that would invariably end up being broken by white people). And so there was little focus on the Southern Paiutes.
As everywhere else, though, white people had arrived and took what had been the lands of native people. At first glance, there was little to be had in Southern Nevada, a place that seemed barren and forbidding to travelers. But then, as ever so often, gold was found and enterprising men with pickaxes ventured into the wilderness where the Southern Paiute tribes, journeying with the seasons, had lived for a thousand years. They knew every mountain, every valley, every wash, every oasis and, of course, every animal and every plant. What looked forbidding to white people, was home to the Southern Paiute, it was the land that had always provided enough.
Despite the arrival of white miners (and a few farmers), the Southern Paiute most often found ways to steer clear, to stay apart, to continue to live their own lives, even if it became more and more difficult. At that time in Southern Nevada, white men were, by far, outnumbered by indigenous people. Even if the Southern Paiute were peaceful, their sheer numbers caused concern. White people were scared and thus they reacted with as much force as possible whenever they thought there was even a notion of an American Indian’s violence.
In the novel, the stories of Ahvote, and especially Queho, are told in detail. Also touched on is the story of another man caught in the sights of posses and newspapers – the Southern Paiute called Mouse. The following article in the Mohave County Miner gives a good picture of the language papers used to excite their readers.
In my research for the novel, I also noticed that papers occasionally use the exact same ways to describe both the accused and the circumstances - they simply copy/pasted, regardless of facts or lack thereof. In the case of most murders involving those rare few Southern Paiute men, it is also interesting to note that hardly ever was there a witness to a crime. Reading below article, it will become apparent that everything described is hearsay. In the article, the accused is also said to be crazy, another common feature in such articles to disparage indigenous people.
February 13, 1897
Mohave County Miner, Kingman
MURDEROUS INDIAN
Stearns and Davis Shot to Death
MOUSE’S HORRIBLE CRIME
Enticed from Camp and Ruthlessly Slaughtered.
The bodies of the two prospectors, Munn Davis and J. S. Stearns, who were reported as probably murdered by an Indian called Little Mouse, ten miles below Rioville, have been found. Geo W. Beermaker and ex-sheriff J. H. Bowman, of San Bernardino, arrived in Rioville with this information last Wednesday. The men were found in the hills a few miles from the river with bullet holes in their heads. The bodies will be taken to Kingman and shipped to San Diego, if not too badly decomposed. The Indian who committed this foul crime worked in White Hills until the 25th of January. At that time he got drunk, stole a horse from a white man and a gun from an Indian and left with the intention of killing the first white man he met. The Indians were afraid of him and reported the matter to the whites, but nothing was done about it. The Indian crossed the Colorado river at the mouth of the Vegas Wash, but his horse was caught in the quicksand and finding he could not get him out he shot the poor animal dead. Going up the river to a point opposite the camp of Davis and Stearns he hailed Major Greenwalt and was taken to the Arizona side. He remained in camp overnight and in the morning told Davis and Stearns that he could show them a ledge a few miles away, if they would go with him. They told Major Greenwalt to remain in camp and they would be back in four hours. They never returned. The Indian took them up in the hills and shot them both to death, then went to Bonelli Ferry and stole a horse from Joe Perkins. As soon as the horse was missed two men took up the trail and followed it to the Vegas ranch. The Indian had stopped at the ranch several days before and obtained food. The ranch people thought his action strange, as he had inquired for the Indian camps and being told that they were quite near he dashed off into the brush in an opposite direction. The two men returned from the chase of the thief by way of the Vegas Wash and from Major Greenwalt learned of the disappearance of Davis and Stearns. They went to the camp of Frank Barnes, farther up the river and told him of the affair. Barnes went to Bonelli Ferry and wrote friends of the parties in San Bernardino and Mr. Bonelli communicated the same facts to the officers here. Barnes went back with a posse and the search has been unabating until the bodies were found four days ago.
The Indian murderer is described as a short stockily built Piute and his special distinction is a rather heavy black moustache. He is said to be crazy, but for his disease hanging is the only sure remedy.
Munn Davis and James S. Stearns went to the Colorado river about ten or twelve miles below Bonelli Ferry last October to prospect a number of gravel claims in which they and others were interested. Davis has a family in National City, California, and Stearns has a mother, brother and family in San Diego, but resided in Akron, Ohio.
The whole country, where the murder was committed is terribly wrought up over the awful crime and summary punishment will be meted out to the Indian, if caught.
