Page 246 - Confronting Race Women and Indians on the Frontier, 1815 - 1915

C H APTER S I X

destination hotel as a greeter. Stafford talked of thieves, murderers, and
brash robbers who held up trains. and women who had been stolen away
and murdered. ISO
Other white women had similar troubles. A fe w years later, in
I856, several women were caught in a riot that occurred in Panama
City as a result of rumor, prejudice, and conflict. 151 One of these recol­
lected that during the eighteen-hour siege she saw white f a milies
separated and men "knocked down, beaten, left f o r dead in the streets."
Pondering the native rebellion, she suggested that "the natives seemed
Y
angry at the constant streams of , a nkees' who were using their town
as convenient stepping stone to the treasure land of California."152
How right she was.
The flood of migrants moving thoughtlessly and aggressively
through Panama had created an incendiary situation. When added to the
rigors of the trip, this tension and discord often disrupted the passage. A
year after the Panama City riot, Lucy Sexton discovered that a contin­
gent of U.S. Marines would ensure the safety of her party . I53 Like U.S.
Cavalry stationed in the American W e st, marines guarded immigrants
f r om native resistance. As a result, white women had little inclination to
adjust their interpretations of Panama's natives. Their memories of the
trek were summarized by Mallie Stafford as "a ride over a wild, inhu­
man country on the back of a wild, irresponsible mule driven by a wild,
demoralized, irrepressible son of the tropics."154

Numerous white women harbored similar sentiments about their over­
land passage to the Far W e st. They thought Mormons and Native
Americans barbaric and wily, f e ared being robbed or murdered, and
heard more than they wanted about riots and massacres. Their negative
comments were, however, balanced by other women who f o und much
to enjoy in the trip and in Native Americans. The understanding,
affection, and empathy that the latter women developed toward
American Indians was not extended to all peoples. Rather, the rela­
tionship that developed between these fr ontierswomen and American
Indians was unique, not replicated in women's contacts with any other
group. Friendly and collegial interchanges between white women and