USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 33
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The trial of Hudson commenced the next day after the Sabbath dinner at Judge Holliday's. A number of distin- guished lawyers were in attendance from this state and sev- eral from the State of Ohio. Among the most prominent I name General James Noble, Philip Sweetzer, Harvey Gregg, Lot Bloomfield, James Rariden, Charles H. Test, Calvin Fletcher, Daniel B. Wick and William R. Morris, of this state; General Sampson Mason and Moses Vance, of Ohio. Judge Wick being temporarily absent in the morning, Wil- liam R. Morris arose and moved the associate judges: "I ask that these gentlemen be admitted as attorneys and counselors at this bar; they are regular practitioners, but have not brought their licenses with them." Judge Winchell: "Have they come down here to defend the prisoners?" "Most of them have." "Let them be sworn - nobody but a lawyer would defend a murderer."
Mr. Morris: "I move the Court for a writ of habeas cor- pus to bring up the prisoners now illegally confined in jail." Judge Winchell: "For what?" "A writ of habeas corpus." "What do you want to do with it?" "To bring up the pris- oners and have them discharged." "Is there any law for that?" Morris read the statute regulating the writ of habeas corpus. "That act, Mr. Morris, has been repealed long ago." "Your honor is mistaken; it is a constitutional writ as long as Magna Charta itself." "Well, Mr. Morris, to cut this matter short, it would do you no good to bring out the prisoners; I ironed them myself, and you will never get them irons off until they have been tried, habeas corpus or no habeas corpus." Per curia, "Motion over-ruled." Judge Wick entered and took his seat between the two side judges. "Call the grand jury." All answer to their names and are sworn. Court adjourned for dinner. Court met; the grand
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jury brought into court an indictment for murder drawn by Fletcher against Hudson. Counsel on both sides: "Bring the prisoner into court." The Court: "Sheriff, put in the box a jury." Sheriff: "May it please the Court, Dr. Highday just handed me a list of jurors to call on the jury." Judge Wick: "Bring Dr. Highday into court." "Did your honor wish. to see me?" "Dr. Highday, is this your handwriting?" "I presume it is." "Dr. Highday, we have no jail to put you. in; the one we have is full; hear your sentence: It is the judgment of the court that you be banished from these court grounds till the trials are over. Sheriff, see the judgment of the court is carried strictly into execution."
I digress to give here the scene in court, published by General Sampson Mason in a Springfield, Ohio, paper: "As. I entered the court-room, the judge was sitting on a block, paring his toe-nails, when the sheriff entered, out of breath, and informed the court that he had six jurors tied and his. deputies were running down the others." General Mason, with all his candor, uuquestionably drew upon his imagination in that instance.
Hudson, the prisoner, was brought into the court by the deputy sheriff and two of the guard. His appearance had greatly changed since I first saw him in the long pen with his comrades in crime. He was now pale, haggard and downcast, and with a faltering voice answered, upon his ar- raignment, "Not guilty." The petit jury were hardy, honest: pioneers, wearing moccasins and side knives. The evidence occupied but a single day and was positive, closing every door of hope to the prisoner. The prosecuting attorney read. the statute, creating and affixing the punishment to the homicide and plainly stated the substance of the evidence. He was followed for the prisoner in an able, eloquent and powerful speech, appealing to the prejudice of the jury against the Indians; relating in glowing colors the early massacres of white men, women and children by the Indians; reading the principal incidents in the history of Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton; relating their cruelties at the bat- tle of Blue Lick and Bryant's Station, and not forgetting the
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defeat of Braddock, St. Clair and Harmar. General James Noble closed the argument for the state in one of his forcible speeches, holding up to the jury the bloody clothing of the Indians and appealing to the justice, patriotism and love of the law of the jury, not forgetting that the safety of the set- tlers might depend upon the conviction of the prisoners, as the chiefs and warriors expected justice to be done. The speech of the General had a marked effect upon the crowd, as well as the jury. Judge Wick charged the jury at some length, laying down the laws of homicide in its different de- grees and distinctly impressing upon the jury that the law knew no distinction as to nation or color; that the murder of an Indian was equally criminal in law as the murder of a white man. The jury retired and next morning brought into court a verdict of "Guilty of murder in the first degree." The motion for a new trial was over-ruled, the prisoner was brought into court and sentence of death pronounced in the most solemn manner by Judge Wick. The time for the exe- cution was fixed, as is usual, for a distant day In the mean- time Hudson made his escape from the guardhouse one dark night and hid himself in a hollow log in the woods, where he was found and arrested.
Time rolled on and the fatal day for execution arrived. Multitudes of people were there. Among them were several Senecas, relatives of the murdered Indians. The gallows was erected just above the falls on the north side. The peo- ple covered the surrounding hills, and at the appointed hour, Hudson, by the forfeiture of his life, made the last earthly atonement for his crimes. Such was the result of the first case on record in America where a white man was hung for killing an Indian. The other cases were continued until the next term of court.
TRIAL OF SAWYER.
Monday morning came. Court met. Judge Eggleston, in fine health, on the bench in the center; Adam Winchell on his left and Samuel Holliday on his right; Moses Cox at the clerk's desk; Samuel Cory on the sheriff's platform, and Colonel John Berry, captain of the guard, leaning against the
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logs. The grand jury was called, sworn and charged and court adjourned for dinner. In the afternoon the evidence of the main witnesses were heard. I had prepared the indict- ments in my office and had them with me. The foreman signed the bills on his knee and they all returned into court before the adjournment. That night Col. John Johnston, the Indian agent, called at my room and offered me one hun- dred dollars on behalf of the United States. I informed him that I was a state officer and could not accept the money, however tempting it might be under other circumstances.
The court met in the morning. We agreed to try Saw- yer first for shooting one of the squaws. The prisoner was brought into court by the sheriff. He appeared so haggard and changed from his long confinemant that I scarcely knew him. The court-room was crowded. General James Noble, Philip Sweetzer and myself for the state; James Rariden; Lot Bloomfield, William R. Morris and Charles H. Test for the prisoner. Judge Eggleston: "Sheriff, call the petit jury." Judge Winchell: "Sheriff, call Squire Makepiece on the jury; he will be a good juror; he will not let one of these murderers get away." Judge Eggleston, turning to Judge Winchell: "This will never do. What! the court pack a jury to try a capital case?" The jury was soon impaneled. The evidence was conclusive that the prisoner had shot one of the squaws at the camp with his rifle, after the killing of Ludlow and Mingo by Harper and Hudson in the woods. The jury were a hardy, heavy-bearded set of men with side knives in their belts and not a pair of shoes among all of them; they wore moccasins. Mr. Sweetzer opened for the state with a strong, matter-of-fact speech, which was his forte. He was followed in able speeches by Mr. Morris, Mr. Test and Mr. Rariden for the prisoner. General Noble closed for the prosecution in a powerful speech. The General was one of the strongest and most effective speakers before a jury or promiscuous assembly I have ever heard. The case went to the jury under an able charge from Judge Eggleston and court adjourned for dinner.
At the meeting of the court in the afternoon, the jury
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returned the verdict of "Guilty of manslaughter - two years at hard labor in the penitentiary." Mr. Rariden sprang to his feet: "If the court please, we let judgment go on the verdict and are ready for the case of Sawyer for killing the Indian boy at the camp." "Ready for the state." The same jury were accepted by both sides- being in the box. They were immediately sworn. The evidence was heard, again conclusive against the prisoner. General Noble opened for the prosecution, and was followed by Charles H. Test, Wil- liam R. Morris and James Rariden with powerful speeches .. The jury were referred to their verdict in the previous case and their judgments were warmly eulogized. This was, by arrangement,_my case to close. I saw my position, and the only point which I had to meet was to draw the distinction between the two cases, so as to justify the jury for finding a. verdict for manslaughter in one case and of murder in the case before them. In law there was no difference whatever. They were both cold-blooded murders. The calico shirt of the murdered boy, stained with blood, lay upon the table. I was closing a speech of an hour. Stepping forward I took up the bloody shirt and holding it to the jury: "Yes, gentle- men of the jury, the case is very different. You find the prisoner guilty of only manslaughter in using his rifle on a. grown squaw-that was the act of a man; this was the act of a demon. Look at this shirt, gentlemen, with the bloody stains upon it. This was a poor helpless boy, who was taken. by the heels by this fiend in human shape and his brains - knocked out against a log! If the other case was man- slaughter, is not this murder?" The eyes of the jury were filled with tears. Judge Eggleston gave a clear and able charge upon the law. The jury, after an absence of only a few minutes, returned a verdict of "Murder in the first de- gree." The prisoner was remanded and the court adjourned.
TRIAL OF BRIDGE-SCENES AT THE EXECUTION.
The next morning the case of Bridge, Sr., for shooting a little Indian girl at the camp, was called. The prisoner en -- tered with the sheriff. He was more firm in his step and
-
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looked better than Sawyer, though a much older man. A jury was impaneled. The proof was positive. The case was argued by Mr. Morris and Mr. Rariden for the prisoner, and Mr. Sweetzer and myself for the state. The charge was given by Judge Eggleston, and after a few minutes' absence, the jury returned the verdict of "Murder in the first de- gree." The only remaining case -of the stripling, Bridge, Jr., for the murder of the other Indian boy at the camp- came on next. The trial was more brief, but the result was the same-verdict of murder in the first degree -- with a recom- mendation, however. to the Governor for a pardon. in conse- quence of his youth, in which the court and bar joined. Pro forma, motions for new trials were over-ruled, the prisoners remanded to be brought up for sentence next morning, and the court adjourned.
Morning came and with it a crowded court-house. As I walked from the tavern, I saw the guard approaching with Sawyer, Bridge, Senior, and Bridge, Junior, with downcast eyes and tottering steps in their midst. The prisoners en- tered the court-room and were seated. The sheriff com- manded silence. The prisoners arose, the tears streaming down their faces and their groans and sighs filling the court- room. I fixed my eyes on Judge Eggleston. I heard him pronounce sentence of death on Fuller for the murder of War- ren, and upon Fields for the murder of Murphy. But here was a still more solemn scene: An aged father, his favorite son and his wife's brother-all standing before him to receive the sentence of death. The face of the judge was pale, his lips quivered, his tongue faltered, as he addressed the prison- ers. The sentence of death by hanging was pronounced, but the usual conclusion, "and may God have mercy on your souls," was left struggling for utterance.
The time for the execution was fixed at a distant day, but it soon rolled around. The gallows was erected on the north bank of Fall Creek; just above the falls at the foot of the rising grounds one may see from the cars. The hour for the execution had come. Thousands surround- ed the gallows. A Seneca chief, with his warriors,
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was posted near the brow of the hill. Sawyer and Bridge, Senior, ascended the scaffold together, were executed in quick succession and died without a struggle. The vast au- dience was in tears. The exclamation of the Senecas was in- terpreted, "We are satisfied." An hour expired. The bodies were taken down and laid in their coffins, when there was seen ascending the scaffold, Bridge, Junior, the last of the con- victs. His step was feeble, requiring the aid of the sheriff; the rope was adjusted; he threw his eyes around upon the audience and then down upon the coffin where lay exposed the bodies of his father and uncle. From that moment his wild gaze showed too clearly that the scene had been too much for his youthful mind. Reason partially left her throne and he stood looking at the crowd, apparently unconscious of his po- sition. The last minute had come, when James Brown Ray, Governor of the state, announced to the immense crowd that the convict was pardoned. Never before did an audience more heartily respond, while there was a universal regret that the executive authority had been deferred until the last moment. Thus ended the only trials where convictions of murder were followed by the execution of white men for kill- ing Indians, in the United States up to that period.
The following story is also from Mr. Smith's "Early Sketches":
Many years ago while our frontier counties were a wilderness, the settlers lived far apart. It had been whis- pered about in private circles that some boys had seen a panther looking out of a hole in a black walnut tree. The "story was doubted by many, still it was sufficiently alarming to induce settlers to prepare themselves with rifles and large packs of hounds. Among the settlers there was a man, for the sake of a name I call Doderidge Alley, a neighborhood leader. He had often been elected captain of one side at log-rollings and corn-shuckings. Doderidge had one of the severest packs of hounds in the settlement, of which he often boasted, especially of "Old Ring." The county in which Doderidge resided was entitled to a Representative in the State Legislature. A number of candidates brought themselves
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out, Doderidge among them. There were no caucuses nor conventions in that day; every one ran upon his own hook and mounted his own hobby. Doderidge believed strongly in love at first sight and in early marriages. He selected the idea of authorizing constables in their several townships to solemn- ize marriages, so as to tie the hymeneal knot before the first love could have time to cool while they were sending to town for a preacher. Doderidge had, no doubt, seen the first verse of "Love at First Sight," but had not read the last.
The contest was very close, but Doderidge triumphed. The session of the Legislature was approaching-a new suit of clothes would be needed; the yarn was spun, the cloth woven and colored with butternut bark, a kind of yellowish brown. The neighboring tailor had cut and made the suit, coat, vest and pantaloons; they hung in folds upon him, but still he looked pretty well and felt right comfortable, as his blood had free circulation. All things were ready for his de- parture for the capital; business required him to go to one of the upper settlements. He dressed up in his fine butternut suit for the first time, promising to be back for supper. Time passed on and no Doderidge. His lady became uneasy; the story of the panther came fresh in her mind; the clock struck ten, still no Doderidge. " The dogs had not been seen for an hour before dark. Hark! the sound of hounds is heard in the distant forest. A panther, no doubt. Night wore away, morning dawned, no Doderidge. The lady left her cabin and directed her course through the woods by the distant baying. The spot was reached at last. There, perched upon a lean- ing tree, some fifty feet up, sat Doderidge in his butternut suit, the very image of a panther, old Ring tearing the bark from the root of the tree and the rest of the pack baying at the top of their lungs. A word from the voice of their well- known mistress was enough; Doderidge came down, old Ring took the lead for home and away went the whole pack, leav- ing Doderidge and his rescuer to walk home together, deadly enemies to butternut bark while there were panthers in the woods.
Weeks afterward, Doderidge arises in the Legislature:
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"Mr. Speaker, I hold in my hand a bill to authorize con- stables to solemnize marriages; it is laid off into sections of four lines." A member I call Hugh Barnes, with a powerful sing-song voice: "I am opposed, Mr. Speaker, to that bill. Marriage is a solemn thing; it ought never to be entered into without the greatest deliberation and the maturest reflection. Why all this haste to tie the knot? Constables ought to have nothing to do with it except when they get married them- selves." As the speaker progressed, he became more and more animated; his voice rose to the highest tones, not unlike Old Hundred. As he closed, all eyes were upon Doderidge; the speech sounded very much like the funeral services of the bill and Doderidge looked like chief mourner. Doderidge sprang to his feet as quick as thought: "Mr. Speaker, would it be in order now to sing a hymn?" The Speaker hesitated, the house roared, the triumph of Doderidge was complete, the session closed, the bill was left for the next Legislature. Doderidge returned home, the hounds were disposed of, and there was never an ounce of butternut bark used for dyeing purposes in the family of Doderidge afterward.
In 1822 Governor Hendricks, in a message to the Legis- lature, recommended that as fast as the state was able, it should make many improvements that were much needed. He named improvements for the falls of the Ohio, also the Wabash and White rivers, making them navigable for keel and flatboats; also the construction of the national road through the state.
These recommendations were among the first which were afterward carried out, of the great system of internal im- provements engaged in by our state. The most expensive of all of these was the construction of the Wabash and Erie canal. The act of Congress granting land for its construc- tion was passed in 1827. It was more than twenty years after this before it was completed. An account of this work will be given in another chapter.
At an election of 1825 James B. Ray was elected Gov- ernor. At this time the revenue of the state to pay its ex- penses was a little over thirty-six thousand dollars, and this
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was the average amount received for that purpose until about 1830. In 1825 the state government was moved from Cory- don to Indianapolis, a distance of about one hundred and twenty-five miles.
In 1826 there was a treaty held with the Pottawattamie Indians. The commissioners in this case were Governor Ray, General John Tipton and Governor Cass. At that treaty a strip of land ten miles wide on the north line of the state, also a small tract between the Wabash and Eel rivers, was purchased.
From 1826 the prices of land and produce improved and .continued to improve for the next six or seven years. Confi- dence was restored in the business circles and everything gradually kept on improving. There was a large increase in the population during the years 1825 and 1826. At the close of 1826 there were 250,000 people in Indiana; this from 1800, when there were 5,000 persons in the state, was a gain of 245,000.
In the year 1825 Governor Ray in his message to the Legis- lature urged upon them the necessity of adopting a system of internal improvements, such as building canals, railroads and plank roads. The policy that he urged was not attempted to be carried out until ten years later.
CHAPTER XVII.
ANIMALS OF EARLY INDIANA.
GAME ANIMALS - GAME BIRDS - FEROCIOUS ANIMALS -FUR- BEARING ANIMALS - BIRDS OF PREY.
BUFFALO.
The buffaloes varied in height from five to five and one- half feet. They differed from our domestic cattle in being longer of limb and shorter bodied and in having a large hump on the back. The males had a long mane and much longer hair on their heads, backs and shoulders. Their bodies were the largest just back of their fore legs and gradually tapered back and diminished in height. They had a long neck; head and eyes small. Their build denoted speed and their general appearance was fierce and dangerous. They had a very acute sense of smell and could scent danger a long way off. These animals migrated from south to north in the summer season, and from north to south in the winter season, across the great western plains that nature had provided with buffalo grass for them. Many small herds did not migrate and remained in the same sections winter and summer; even as far north as North Dakota this was true. Whether there was a difference or what caused small isolated herds to remain in the same section all the time, is not known.
On the great western plains, from Texas to the Dakotas, until only a few years ago, the buffaloes were in such count- less numbers that they had to spread over an immense terri- tory to find food for their sustenance. The males and fe-
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males herded separately, except in the coupling season, which was in June and July. The males at this time con- tended for the mastery. Hundreds of them would engage in fighting at the same time. The roar from these conflicts was deep, loud and most terrible, and in many cases they gored each other to death with their strong, sharp horns. The cows brought forth in March and April. They were very much attached to their calves, and to protect them from the many animals that were always prowling around for an opportunity to catch a laggard calf, the cows at night would form a circle, the cows lying down with their horns outward, the calves on the inside of the circle. The usual weight of these animals was from ten to fourteen hundred pounds. Some- times, as in our domestic cattle, there would be some which would weigh two thousand pounds. A buffalo cow in the northwest has been known to defeat and kill a grizzly bear with her horns, in defending her young calf. The flesh was better, if possible, than the best stall fed beef. It may be owing to the food they ate, which was fresh young grass of the plains and in Indiana, when in the timbered sections, young cane. The flesh had a wild, venison taste that gave it an excellent flavor. The hump was considered the choice piece. The buffalo of this country were hard to domesticate, not tractible as the buffalo in the old country. When they were domesticated, they became valuable in drawing im- mense loads. There were no such numbers of these animals. in southern and southwestern Indiana when the pioneers first came to it, as was described by Daniel Boone when he first. traversed the wilds of Kentucky, nor were there so many as. there were at a much later date in northern and northwestern Indiana, on the prairies and around the Kankakee country .. The reason for this was probably that the southern section of the state was a dense wilderness and the home of the panther, which was the only animal in Indiana that could contend successfully with the buffalo. The panther, from a. perch in a tree, near a lick, would land on the buffalo's back and could not be shaken off, but would retain his hold, and with his long, sharp claws, cut the jugular vein. In this way
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untold numbers of buffalo were killed.
The settlers who were in the state before 1810 did kill some buffalo. All the country in southwestern Indiana, along the rivers and branch bottoms and the foothills, were covered with a rich growth of cane. On this the buffalo could live in the winter and have the shelter of the timber and brush for protection; but they were so very wild it was very hard to get near enough to shoot at them with any certainty.
THE ELK.
The elk was of the deer species and between the red deer of this country and the moose of the northeastern states in ap- pearance. In the shape of the body they resembled the deer, but were many times larger. The male had a pair of very large, branching antlers. It has been known when standing on the point, that a man six feet tall could walk under them. It would seem impossible that they could make any speed through the woods with such an enormous pair of horns; but they would lay them back on their shoulders and run very fast. Hunters who moved to Indiana from the south claimed that the elk were not nearly so large there as the ones which they found here. Those that were in this section were much inferior in size to those in Minnesota and the Dakotas. There they were said to be the size of a horse. Hunters with the Lewis and Clark expedition to Oregon claimed to have killed an elk on the headwaters of the Missouri river that was twice the size of those that were in Indiana, Illinois and Missouri.
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