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One of the last of the Indian fightersBv Lee JuilleratwALTl HAS Calif (NEA)wmLi %*I4AVOF ALL THE events of his 103 years. Ottie Van Norman remembers most vividly the few weeks in 1911 when he rode with a posse in search of massacring Indians. His reputation as an Indian fighter has won him a degree of famerarely received by old cowhands.Ottie O D Van Norman is a Yankee Doodle Dandy born on the Fourth of July in 1876While celebrating his 103rd birthday recently, he opened a card, read it (without glasses) and nearly fell out of his chair The card was signed by Jimmy CarterVan Norman is mighty proud of that card But receiving it was not the highpoint of his life That came back in 1911Van Norman was th**n “buckarooing — that is. tending cattle — in the lonelysagebrush deserts of western Nevada and northeasternCalifornia In January of that vear. theregion was shaken with the news that four men had been killed bv Indians in Little High Rock Canyon, about 35 miles southeast of the scenic California town of Eagleville Some settlers feared it was the beginning of a full-scaleIndian uprising Van Norman was one of the many who left work to join the party that searched for and found the dead men He was also one of the 21 men who took up rifles and galloped off in search of the Indians nearly a month later in the posse that became known as the “Eagleville Boys And Van Norman was there when the posse caught up with the straggling band of Indians led by one “Shoshone Mike and launched a three-hour attack that left all of the Indians dead except for a squaw and two youngstersI drawed a pretty good bead on one and he piled up right there. recalls Van Norman. I was a pretty good shot at that time Now in retirement at a convalescent home. Van Norman almost automatically recites fragments of the episode “I was with the posse andLEE JUILLERAT is regional editor of the Klamath Falls, Ore.. Herald and Newsfollowed them all the way to the east of Rabbit Creek We ran into those old Indians just before noon — old Shoshone Mike and the rest of them “When we run into them, we had an Injun and he told them to throw up their hands and we wouldn’t hurt them.“But that old Shoshone Mike, he said: No. we re going to die right here We ain’t going to stop for nothing.’ ” While the battle raged. Van Norman and George Holmes, another posse member, chased a breakaway group down a gully.“When we got right up there close to them, they took six shots at us. I could feel them bullets whizzing past my head“I asked George Holmes if he d been hit and he said no He asked me if I d been hit and I said no“We fell off our horse in a pile of snow We cleaned ’em up, the whole works of 'em, in a little bit.When it all ended, Van Norman was among the celebrated Just how much that helped is not known, but he was married in Eagleville the next year He returned to his job. where he worked for 33 years before moving on.The events before and after Van Norman’s joining the posse have been lost over the years“Went right on with the job that I had,” he says, struggling to remember fragmentsof life after the massacre “I worked there several years after that started a little business and run horses raised a family, three sons and one daughter“Cowhand'’ Yeah, buck arooed all my life I ve been a buckarooing ever since 1 could get on a horseVan Norman s reputation as an “Indian fighter - he is the only member of the posse still alive — has given him a status that few men who spent a lifetime lending cattle have achieved He was grand marshal of the county parade in 1972 and has been called on through the years to remember his part in squelching the threatened Indian uprisingThe story of Shoshone Mike and the Eagleville Boys has been written about many times in newspapers and books Most recent is Dayton “Hawk Hyde's “Last Free Man, which evokes someunderstanding of the Indians' plight.During the last five years. Van Norman has been in and out of and back in the convalescent home. But he still has the look of the outdoors-man with his barrel chest, shock of white hair and costume of flannel shirt, denim jeans and leather belt withlonghorn-decorated belt buckleOf all Ottie Van Norman’s 103 years, it’s those few turbulent weeks in 1911 that for him remain, if not fresh, at least alive,(NEWSPAPER ENTERPRISE ASSN )
Newspaper Details
Sterling Daily Gazette
Sterling, Illinois, US
Wed, Aug 29, 1979
Page 12
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
CA, USA 04 Sep 2020
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