USA > Indiana > Pioneer history of Indiana : including stories, incidents, and customs of the early settlers > Part 39
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These marks were recorded in a book kept by the County Recorder for such records. The law protected them against an infringement on these marks as much as the trade-marks of manufacturers are protected now. There was a sacred re- gard for the marks of each other's stock by the old settlers. Some of the sows that were marked would stray away and raise a litter of pigs and stay away with them. The owner and others would see them once in a while, and the range she staid in was noted by the hunters, and the hogs in that range of woods were called after the man who owned the marked sow. Nearly all the farmers would have some hogs which became wild, and their claim on the hogs that came from the marked sow was respected.
The old hunter who first settled in this country regarded the meat of the bear as very much superior to that of the
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hog. It was more easily kept and required less salt and when made into bacon was regarded by him as superior to the best cornfed pork made into bacon. The oil of the bear was much richer, more penetrating and better flavored than hog lard. The time soon came, however, when there were but few bears in the country, then the hog was brought into general use for bacon. When a tracking snow would fall, the farmer would take his boys and some of his hunting companions and go to the range where his wild hogs ran, taking two or three good dogs with them who understood how to guard against the terrible tusks of the old male hogs. When the hogs were found, a regular battle was on, and all that would do for meat were killed. Sometimes the fights between the old male hogs and the men and dogs were terrible. There never was a more vicious animal on this continent than these old hogs. When once attacked, they fought to a finish. They had tusks which were often four inches long sticking out three inches on each side of their mouths and as sharp as a knife. With one stroke of their tusks they could kill a dog, cut a man's legs half off or ruin a horse. Wild hogs have been known to give battle to a dozen wolves and put them to flight. One evening two hunters who had their homes in southern Davis County, not far from White river, had been out hunting and were returning to their homes loaded down with turkeys just a little while before sundown. They found themselves near a large thicket in which hazel bushes were the principal growth. They heard a pig commence to squeal not far from where they were and soon heard hogs making a terrible noise as if they were attacking some animal or were holding one at bay. The hunters, thinking it was a panther or wildcat which had caught the pig, slipped up, intending to shoot it, and they advanced as far as they felt it was safe to go. Owing to the thickness of the brush, they could not see what it was the hogs were fighting, but they could tell there was a desperate fight of some sort on. Not far to one side a dead tree had fallen and lodged in the fork of another tree. They climbed up the log to where it was ten or twelve feet from the ground and saw a large black bear backed up
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against a log. He was using both arms, boxing right and left, as he was being held at bay by twenty or twenty-five hogs. The hunters said they had never seen such a furious fight and they watched it to a finish. There were several large male hogs with terrible tusks and they would charge in pairs, intending to tusk him in each side, but the bear was on the defensive and would knock them right and left. After a long fight the hogs changed their mode of attack and rushed at the bear four and five at a time. In this way they soon got in their work. They literally tore the bear to pieces and were eating it up when the two hunters were glad to slip away without attracting attention.
SHOOTING MATCHES.
In an early day the rifle was indispensable. It was necessary to carry a gun everywhere. The rifles were very high-priced and it was often very difficult to secure them, and it was many years after this country commenced to settle be- fore any were manufactured in this territory. The guns with which the settlers drove the Indians away were made in Vir- ginia and North Carolina. Some were made in Kentucky. The rifle was naturally regarded as a princely treasure. They became very proficient in repairing their rifles. When they did not shoot correctly, they moved the sights until they were correct.
The men who in this day have high-priced guns and use them only a few weeks in the hunting season can form no idea how the old pioneer hunters regarded their guns, keep- ing them at all times in perfect order and ready for use at any moment. When in the cabins the guns were hung in a crotch over the door or on the side of a joist, with the point of a deer's horn for a rack. They did not have the percussion caps at that time to fire the powder, but had a gun flint which was fitted between two plates in the end of the hammer of the gun-lock and securely fastened there. When the trigger that threw the hammer was touched, the hammer or flint, in com- ing down, struck against an upright piece of hardened steel which was fastened to the lid of the pan which covered the
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powder and threw the pan open. The sparks made by the- flint coming in contact with the hardened steel fell in the- powder which was in the pan, which was connected with the powder in the gun barrel through a touch hole, and fired the gun. In damp weather the powder in the pan would become- a little damp and the gun would make long fire, as it was termed, so the old hunters became adepts at holding their guns very steady, always prepared for the long fire.
The pioneers learned to shoot with great accuracy with these old flint-lock guns. Eight times out of ten they would shoot a panther's eye out sixty and eighty yards away. When powder and lead became more plentiful the hunters. would practice shooting at a mark, both with a rest which was lying down and resting the gun on a log or chunk or standing up and shooting off-hand. They made a target by taking a board and blackening a spot on it with wet powder ;. then two marks were made with a knife that crossed each other in the black spot. Then taking a small piece of paper about two inches square, cutting a square out of the center about one-half inch in size, tacked it on the board so that the cross would be in the center of the small square. It was not considered a very difficult feat for a marksman to shoot the center out five times out of ten, sixty yards off-hand or one hundred with the rest.
The rifle shooting was one of the main sources of amuse- ment that the old hunters had. Shooting matches were very common in all parts of settled Indiana up to the last of the forties.
A shooting match was usually arranged for Saturday. Some one who owned a steer or heifer that was good beef would send out word that on a certain day there would be a ' shooting match at his place. Everyone who cared to, at- tended. and there was usually a large number in attendance. The beef was seen and valued at what was considered a fair price. If it were worth twelve dollars. it would be divided into one hundred and twenty chances at ten cents each. The men wanting to engage in the contest could take as many chances as they wanted, so long as it was not more than one --
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fifth of the whole number. When all had taken and paid for their chances, the next thing to do was to select two men to. act as judges who prepared the boards for targets and cut the name of each man who was to shoot on his board. Some times the chances would not all be taken-then the owner of the beef could take the remaining chances if there were not more than one-fifth of them and shoot out his chances, or he could select some one to shoot them out for him. Often some one who had chances of his own would be selected to shoot out the owner's chance. Some times when the owner had one-fifth of the chances and a good shot selected to shoot for him, the whole beef would be won. The judges had charge of the boards and they were placed against the tree that the lead was to lodge in, and when the chances had all been shot. out, the judges took each board and made a correct record of the shooting in this manner:
First-So many plumb-centers which were determined by holding two strings over each mark. In this way they could. determine if the middle of the ball hit the center. Second- So many centers cut out. Third -- So many centers lead, which meant that the ball jnst grazed the center, but did not. cut it quite out. Then a record of the distance of the balls. which did not hit the center, was made by measurement. When the records had been made up, the awards were made by first, second, third, fourth and fifth choices, which us- ually meant the hide tallow and lead which had been shot. into the tree was the first choice; the second choice, one of the hind quarters; third choice, the other hind quarter; the fourth choice, one of the fore quarters; the fifth choice, the other fore quarter. If it were not too late in the day, the in -- terested parties would butcher the beef, hanging up the meat to cool and the next morning send for it.
This gathering of woodsmen was a day of recreation and pleasure, spent in talking over the old hunting experiences. they had had together. There was always the most scrupu- lous exactness by all in determining distances and shooting not to show a semblance of cheating. These men, though.
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rough and uncouth in manner and dress, were the souls of honor.
EARLY TIMES IN WHAT IS NOW DUBOIS COUNTY, INDIANA.
John and William McDonald were the first permanent settlers in Dubois County, Indiana. They moved from Clark's Grant in 1802 and settled near what was then called the Mud Holes, where Portersville was afterwards located and became the first seat of justice for the county. The two McDonalds builded cabins and cleared each a small farm or field. During the summer of 1804 the Indians became so threatening they took their families back to Clark's Grant, now Jeffersonville, Indiana. The two men returned, and while one of them, with his gun, was secreted in a place where he could have a good view of the surroundings, watch- ing for the Indians, the brother cultivated their small fields. They had no feed for their horses, but turned them out at night to graze on the range, hunting them up in the morning to plow.
In the last of the summer, one of their horses took the tires and died; the remaining one was still turned on the range at night. One morning they failed to hear the bell, when William McDonald started to hunt for the horse. Af- ter hunting for some time, he found the horse's track and found that it had gone in a southeasterly direction. Follow- ing along the track for several miles, the horse having gone in a straight course, McDonald decided some one had stolen the animal. He continued on the trail, coming near the big bend in the Patoka river a few miles west of where Knox- ville, Dubois County, now stands. When he got near the bank of the river he could see a smoke across the end of the bend. Creeping up through the underbrush he came in sight of a camp and saw three Indians moving around, and a little to one side his horse tied to a sapling. Secreting him- self in the thick brush, intending to watch awhile and see what the Indians were doing there, he had not long been in hiding when he heard the voice of a woman crying and pleading with some one not to kill her child. Getting in a
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position to see the camp again, he saw a burly Indian holding a little child two or three years old by the hair with one hand and a club drawn back in the other as if to strike it and mak- ing pretended blows as if intending to kill the child, the poor mother all the time pleading for its life. Another Indian came to them and said something in the Indian tongue, when the little child was restored to its mother. There seemed to be several persons around a bark shed or camp, but McDonald did not dare expose himself so he could get a good view of them. He quietly slipped back the way he had come until he was out of sight of the smoke and then hurried back to his cabin. When he arrived there he found eight men eating their meal around a fire built a little way to one side of the cabin. McDonald hurriedly told his brother of his discovery. When the other men were informed of it they became greatly excited and asked William McDonald to pilot them to the place where he had seen the Indians. They started, taking the trail made by the horse and followed it to about one- fourth of a mile of the place at which McDonald had left them three hours before. It was then about one o'clock in the af- ternoon. They held a consultation, agreeing that McDonald should pilot them to a point as near the Indians as it was safe to go, if they were still there, which he did. They were still in camp and the horse was tied to the sapling. Several per- sons were seen, some of them walking around, others lying on the ground.
The Kentuckians said there were seven Indians and that the leader or chief was very large, nearly twice the size of an ordinary man, and that they had two women and two chil- dren prisoners whom they had captured six days before about thirty miles south of the Ohio river, crossing the river at Yellow Banks, now Rockport, Indiana, and they had followed their trail about twenty-five miles north on the trace which led to the old Delaware town at the forks of White river. Two nights before they had traveled all night on that trace and had lost the trail of the Indians. They had been to White river and up and down it, but failed to find any trace of them. The Kentuckians held a final consultation and it
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was agreed they would circle around the camp, which was: near the bank of Patoka river, leaving the men so there would be a space of about seventy-five yards between them. The leader, Captain John Enloe, when he should get into a position near the river on the opposite side of the camp so he could keep the Indians from passing between him and the river, was to imitate the scream of a panther, which he could do to perfection. This would bring the Indians to their feet. Then they were to shoot at every Indian in sight. They were. about a half an hour getting around the camp and slipping up to. it before the terrible scream was heard. The Indians rushed for their guns and started to find the animal. when the rifles. of the Kentuckians commenced to crack. There were four Indians in sight with guns. Three of them were killed and the fourth ran down the bank of the river, when young John Risley rushed up to the bank of the river to keep the Indian in sight until he could load his gun, but he was shot through the thigh and badly disabled. Captain Enloe ran up and killed the Indian before he could get out of the water. After the battle was over the men cautiously advanced on the bark tepee. One of the white women came running to where the men were and told them that three Indians were in the bark hut; that an Indian doctor was giving them a sweat bath; that the three men were desperately wounded, but the doctor was un- hurt. The men surrounded the hut and tore it down. They found the Indian doctor dressed in the most outlandish ap- parel they had ever seen and the three wounded men, one of whom was the big chief. The woman said that two nights. before they had camped in a rough place where there were many deep gorges and that during the night several panthers. had attacked the party while they were asleep, terribly lacerating three of the men before they could beat them off. They had carried the three wounded Indians some distance to that place, made a camp and sent a runner for an Indian doc- tor, who had arrived that morning riding McDonald's horse. There were two brothers of the women prisoners in the res- cuing party and they were determined to kill the Indian doc- tor and wounded Indians, which they did. The eight dead
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Indians were thrown into a gulch that ran into the Patoka river and covered with rocks, logs and brush. The rescuing party then went back to McDonald's cabin and remained over night. Young Risley rode McDonald's horse and it was sev- eral months before he was able to walk again. During the night the shoe pacs of the women and the moccasins of the men were mended and put in good shape, and next morning they took their departure for their Kentucky homes. The two women were widows, living together, their husbands having been killed the year before in a battle with the In- dians. There was a young lady friend visiting the widows who was not in the house when the Indians came. She hid in a thicket until the Indians were gone, then hurried to the nearest neighborhood and gave the alarm. It was a day be- fore a sufficient number of men could be gotten together to follow so large a number of Indians.
HUNTING WOLVES.
The sneaking, snarling wolves were the most despised of all animals by the old hunters. They were treacherous and cowardly and never could be seen unless they were in such numbers as to have a decided advantage. They seldom at- tacked a larger animal than a deer or a calf, but when hun- gry, they would attack a cow and kill her.
A farmer who lived on the head waters of Pigeon creek, in Warrick County, Indiana, turned his horse out to graze at night. The next morning he found the bones only a little way from his stable:
Often when following a wounded deer the hunter would find a dozen wolves had cut in on the trail ahead of him. They were such a menace that the hunters induced the county commissioners to offer a reward for each scalp, big or little. This soon thinned them out and provided a source of revenue to the hunters. Many of them would have ten or fifteen scalps at a time. Early in the forties Jacob W. Har- grove found a wolf den in the hollow of a large tree in west- ern Pike County near the Patoka river. There were six pup- pies in the den. He had watched several days for a chance
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to kill the old ones, but could never see them. He went to the bed one evening and marked the puppies' ears with his mark. That night the old wolves moved them and the next day the two old ones were killed on Smith's Fork of Pigeon Creek, at least ten miles as the bird flies from their den on the Patoka river. They were killed by Jacob Skelton and his son John. They found the puppies, scalped them and took the eight scalps to Princeton, where they received eight dollars for them. Then they went to the Recorder's office, found the marks of Mr. Hargrove recorded, took out one dollar for their trouble and sent five dollars to him for the scalps of the six puppies which he had marked.
David Bilderback and Peter Ferguson, who lived in Monroe township, Pike county, went to a wolf's den they knew of, intending to kill the puppies and get the reward then paid for them. Bilderback stationed himself beside a tree at the entrance of the den, to shoot any old wolves should they be attracted by the cries of their puppies. Fer- guson entered the den and began the work of killing the pup- pies and cutting off their ears. The old wolves came at him in a terrible fury, having heard the puppies' cries, but no shot was heard, and Ferguson barely escaped with his life. He rushed for his gun, standing against a tree, and saw Bilder- back up a sapling calling to the wolves, "Be gone! Be gone!" They drove the old wolves away without succeeding in kill- ing any of them. Ferguson finished scalping the puppies and received the reward.
Along in the "forties" there was a class of hunters who took to the sporting side of the chase. In every neighbor- hood someone would own a pack of long-eared fox hounds. In hunting with them a large number of men and sometimes women, too, would follow the hounds, imitating the old English fox hunt. On the trail of the red and grey fox the dogs would continuously give vent to the old hound "'balloo!" which could be heard for miles. Many of these hunts would take in a large territory. The dogs would run thirty or forty miles in a zig-zag direction across the country. These dogs were used for coon-hunting in the night and the woods were
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in an uproar almost every night. The dogs would often go out of their own accord and chase deer, foxes and other ani- mals for hours at a time. It was not long after these dogs became common in this country until the deer were all gone or nearly so. The incessant noise in the woods drove the deer back to the wilder sections of the country. . The hounds. thinned out the foxes, to the great advantage of those raising chickens and geese, which was a very difficult proposition at that time. People did not house their chickens at night, as they do now, but let them roost on the fence, in the apple trees and other places, as they chose.
At this time geese were raised. Nearly every family in the country would have from twenty to fifty head, and unless: they were penned up every night, the foxes and wildcats would carry them off. At that date they were very valuable property in several ways. Their feathers were in large de- mand and they yielded a large amount each year. Every six weeks they were ready for plucking, and many a woman car- ried black and blue marks on her arm from one plucking to the next, pinched there by the goose as he was being robbed of his downy coat. The feathers brought a good price at the trading places. In remote sections the peddlers carried their wares around in wagons and exchanged their goods for feathers. Many families purchased the greater portion of their needed supplies with them. Transition from the leaf,. brush, straw and skin-covered couches to the soft feather bed, the most luxurious couch man ever lay on, was a great ad- vancement in the comforts of life. At an earlier date there were a great many of these people who resorted to many ex- pedients to have a better bed than was in general use, and in some cases they succeeded very well.
Mrs. Nancy Davis, who lived to be more than a hundred years old and resided in Pike County, Indiana, tells how she obtained a good bed in the early days. After she moved to the section where she raised her large family, they had nothing but brush and skin beds. There were five boys in the family, who spent most of their time during the fall and winter in hunting, and each day, by agreement with their
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mother, would bring home one or more turkeys. The mother picked the fine feathers off and in a short time had several good beds for her family. In after years, when they could raise geese, she had as many as two hundred at a time, and with the money she received from the sale of the feathers, en- tered three forty-acre tracts of land.
EARLY DAYS AROUND SPRINKLESBURG, NOW NEWBURG, INDIANA.
Major John Sprinkles made the first settlement in south- western Warrick County in 1803. At that time there was a settlement at Redbanks, now Henderson, Kentucky, and a few people scattered along the south bank of the Ohio river in Kentucky. A little above where the Major settled was a Shawnee Indian town which was scattered for several miles up and back from the river. This band of Shawnees was un- der the control of Chief Seeteedown, who, for an Indian, was very well-to-do, having large droves of horses and cattle. These Indians at that time were very peaceable with the few white persons who lived in that section. During the year 1807 two young cousins of the Major's came down the Ohio river in a boat. intending to make a visit and then go on to the Illinois country. The two young men were there for some time with the Major, roaming through the woods. They had come from the old settled section of Pennsylvania and everything seemed new and strange to them.
In the fall, when the deer were at their best and the bear fat upon the mast, the Major and his two kinsmen went a little way back from the river and made a camp, intending to have a week's hunting. They had been hunting two or three days when the two boys had an experience, the marks of which they carried to the end of their lives. They had been following a drove of deer for some time, when they came upon an old bear and two cubs eating acorns under a white oak tree. One of the boys shot one of the small bears, knock- ing it down. The old mother and the other little one ran off. It seemed that the little bear was only stunned and was not fatally injured and was soon up, staggering around. The young men ran up to it, intending to finish it with their
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hunting knives. They laid their guns down, but had not quite reached the place where the young bear was until the old mother came at them savagely.
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