Copied from Elias Adams: A Pioneer Profile, published in 2007. Pg 341.

Elias had a lifetime of experience with Indians and learned they responded to bravery with admiration. He earned their respect in Illinois when the Indian chief threatened to shoot his ox by boldly retorting, “Chief nippo ox, I nippo chief.” He escaped death again when a mobber vowed to kill him, but backed down when Elias opened his shirt and taunted, “Shoot!” He used this same challenge in the recent watermelon encounter. His patriarchal blessing’s promise that “not a hair of your head shall ever fall by the hand of an enemy” further validated his bold demeanor.

Roving Indians demanded food. A son said:

“Father often fed the Indians and treated them with kindness, as a consequence, they never did him any harm and if they knew it, never stole from him as they did from some of the settlers, except on one occasion they killed a steer and hid the entrails in the brush on the banks of the pond. When they found it belonged to father they were very sorry and expressed their regrets at having killed it. About this time an Indian boy ten years old died and was buried in the rock slide on the sunny side of Adams Canyon. Father placed a green oak bough in the ground at each corner of the grave which greatly pleased the Indians.”