USA > Massachusetts > Our western border : its life, combats, adventures, forays, massacres, captivities, scouts, red chiefs, pioneer women, one hundred years ago, containing the cream of all the rare old border chronicles > Part 71
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security. From this place small detachments of men, ten or twelve in a company, were sent out to hunt and trap on the tributary streams of the Missouri and the Yellow Stone. When Winter set in, Mike and his company returned to a place near the mouth of the Yellow Stone ; and preferring to remain out of the fort, they dug a hole or cave in the bluff bank of the river, in which they resided during the Winter, which proved a warm and commodious habitation, protecting them from the winds and the snows. Here Mike and his friend Carpenter had a deadly quarrel, supposed to have been caused by a rivalry in the good graces of a squaw. It was, for a while, smothered by the interposition of friends.
On the return of Spring the party revisited the fort, where Mike and Carpenter, over a cup of whiskey, revived the recollection of their past quarrel, but made a treaty of peace, which was to be solemnized by their usual trial of shooting the cup of whiskey off each other's heads. To determine who should have the first shot, Mike proposed that they should "sky (toss up) a copper," which was done, and resulted in Mike's favor. Carpenter seemed to be aware of Mike's unforgiving, treacherous disposition ; but scorning to save his life by refusing to ful- fill his contract, he prepared for death, and bequeathed his gun, shot pouch, powder horn, belt, pistols and wages to Talbot. Without chang- ing a feature, Carpenter filled the cup with whiskey to the brim. Mike loaded, picked the flint and leveled his rifle at the head of Carpenter, at the distance of sixty yards. After drawing the bead, he took down his rifle from his face, and smilingly said :
" Hold your noddle steady, Carpenter ! Don't spill the whiskey-I shall want some presently."
He again raised, cocked his piece, and in an instant, Carpenter fell and expired without a groan. Mike's ball had penetrated precisely through the centre of his head. He coolly set down his rifle, and ap- plying the muzzle to his mouth, blew the smoke out of the touch hole, without saying a word, keeping his eye steadily on the fallen body of Carpenter. His first words were :
" Carpenter, have you spilt the whiskey?" He was then told he had killed him. "It is all an accident !" rejoined Mike, " for I took as fair a bead on the black spot on the cup, as ever I took on a squirrel's eye. How did it happen ?" He then cursed the gun, the powder, the bullet, and, finally, himself.
This catastrophe, in a country where the strong arm of the law could not reach, passed off for an accident. Talbot determined to revenge the death of his friend. No opportunity offered for some months after, until one day Mike, in a fit of gasconading, declared that he had pur-
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J. W. Beatty
VANINGEN SNYGER ..
" Hold your noddle steady, Carpenter, and don't spill the whiskey !" MIKE FINK, "LAST OF THE KEELBOATMEN."
-See page 658.
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GAME AND DEER DRIVES OF THE OLDEN TIME.
posely killed Carpenter, and was glad of it. Talbot instantly drew from his belt a pistol, bequeathed by Carpenter, and shot Mike through the heart ; he fell and expired without a word. Talbot also went un- punished, as nobody had authority or inclination to call him to account. In truth, he was as ferocious and dangerous as the bear of the prairies, and soon after perished in attempting to swim a river .- M. Neville.
GAME AND "DEER DRIVES" OF THE OLDEN TIME.
"Deer Drives" were frequently gotten up in the western wilds by those who were not professed hunters, but who wished to enjoy the sport of killing game. A large tract of game land was surrounded by lines of men, with such intervals that each person could see or hear those next to him on either flank. The whole acted under command of a clever and experienced Captain and at least four subordinates, who were
. generally mounted. At a signal of horn or trumpet, every man ad- vanced in line towards a common centre, preserving an equal distance from those on either hand, and making as great a din as possible. From the middle of each side of the exterior line a "blazed" line of trees was previously marked to the centre as a "guide," and one of the sub- officers proceeded along each "guide" as the hunt progressed.
About a half or three-quarters of a mile from the central point a ring of "blazed" trees was made, and a similar one at the ground of meeting, with a diameter at least equal to the greatest rifle ranges. On arriving at the first ring the advancing lines halted, till the Captain made a circuit and saw all the men equally distributed and every gap closed.
By this time a herd of deer might occasionally be seen careering in affright from one line to another. At the signal the ranks moved for- ward from the first to the second ring, which was generally drawn around the foot of an eminence, on the margin of an open lake or swamp. Here, if the "drive" had been successful, great numbers of turkeys could now be seen flying among the trees with great tumult; deer, in herds, sweeping around the ring under an incessant rambling fire, panting and exhausted. When thus hard pressed, it was difficult to detain them long within the ring. Becoming desperate and terror- stricken, they would make for the line at full speed. If the men were too numerous or resolute to escape through, they would take flying leaps over their heads, and over all the sticks, guns, pitchforks, &c., raised to beat them back. By a concert of the regular hunters, gaps
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were sometimes purposely left open to allow them a runway, when they would either be shot down in flight or kept for their own guns on a sub- sequent occasion. The wolf might now be seen skulking through the bushes, hoping to escape observation by concealment. An occasional panther would every now and then be beaten up. If bears were driven in, they would dash through the brush in a rage from one part of the field to the other, utterly regardless of the shower of bullets playing upon their thick hides. After all the game which had not escaped the lines had been mostly killed, a few good dogs and marksmen were sent in to scour the ground and rout out all that might be concealed or wounded. This over, they advanced again to the centre with a shout, dragging along the carcasses that had fallen, for the purpose of making a count and distribution. Sometimes at these circular hunts a grand feast or barbecue would close the sport.
At times the bear or panther would become so annoying and destruc- tive in a certain region, that the whole community would turn out and surround a special swamp, canebrake or savage glen, and a regular clearance was made. At the close of one of these bear "drives" in Portage county, Ohio, the carcasses of no less than twenty-six bears were collected. Wolves were taken, with difficulty, in steel traps, but more readily in log pens, prepared like the roof of a house, shelving inwards on all sides, and containing the half-devoured carcass of a sheep or calf. The wolf easily clambered up the exterior side of the cabin and entered at the top, which was left open; but once fairly within it, he could neither escape nor throw it down. The wolves used to make sad havoc with the sheep, and also with the deer, which they chased in packs, but Bruin had a preference for pigs, and many a settler's cabin has been thrown, at nights, into violent excitement, by the sudden cries from the pig-pen. Bruin would spring suddenly upon his victim, grasp him in his strong fore legs, erect himself on his hind legs and walk off with his prey. A large bear would make his way, in this manner, through a thick wood, faster than a man on foot could follow. The dogs, however, would soon bring him to bay or force him to drop his porker. But, if undisturbed, the squeals and struggles of the hog would become weaker and weaker, and finally cease altogether. Sometimes the recovered pig would be so badly hurt as to require killing, and would then be used as bait, so that Bruin, the next night, would be "hoist by his own petard." Border Chronicles contain many exciting adventures with bears and wolves, and frequently their bold pursuers and slayers would be the pioneer boys or women. If a hog were only partly eaten by a bear, he would invariably return the next night for the balance, showing not a little sagacity in avoiding his fate. To catch
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GAME AND DEER DRIVES OF THE OLDEN TIME.
nim, a heavy steel trap, with smooth jaws and a long drag-chain, was used, with iron claws at the extremity. It was not fastened, because the great strength of the animal would enable him to free himself, but as he ran, after being caught, the claws would catch in the brush, leav- ing a distinct trail. He was generally overtaken by the dogs within a mile or so, when, notwithstanding his shackles and wounds, the bear would make desperate fight, killing or lacerating valuable dogs, and perhaps, after all, requiring the rifle.
Turkeys were generally taken in square pens, made of lighter timber than wolf cabins, and covered at the top. They entered at an open door in the side, which was suspended by a string that led to a catch within, surrounded with grain. While engaged picking and scratching among the bait, the catch would be struck and down would come the door. A better way than the door, however, was to make a hole in the ground under one side of the pen, large enough for the turkeys to enter, a trail of bait being laid through this to the outside. The turkeys would then readily enter, but once inside and finding themselves con- fined, they would lift their heads, and, becoming dazed, would never have sense enough to find their way out by the same hole.
In pioneer times the country was much infested with rattlesnakes. There were two kinds, the large yellow and the smaller, but more irascible and venomous, black rattlesnake, which frequented low grounds. The poison of rattlesnakes never affected hogs, and, for- tunately, these latter were very fond of snakes, and would entirely rid a piece of woods of them where they were allowed to range. Some hogs would show as much ardor and dexterity in the chase and killing of a rattlesnake as would a wolf in chase of a wounded or exhausted deer. Trailing them through the woods, either by sight or scent, they would rush at them with incredible swiftness and boldness, regardless of their fangs, and jumping on them repeatedly with their fore feet, would soon dispatch them.
There was little diminution of game in Ohio until 1820. To give a good illustration of a "deer drive," we learn from General L. V. Bierce, of Akron, Ohio, that one occurred in 1818, in the Western Reserve. Five miles square were marked off for the hunt, and a half mile square reserved into which to finally drive the game. The lines were formed by nine A. M. The horns sounded at ten from the different corners. When the half mile square line was reached, a halt was made to reform and close up the lines. The firing then commenced and con- tinued three hours. A great many deer succeeded in breaking through, and turkeys were shot by the score. The grand result was one hundred - and twenty deer, twenty-one bears and eighteen wolves.
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OUR WESTERN BORDER.
CAPTAIN MINTER'S FAMOUS BEAR FIGHT.
Captain John Minter, of Kentucky, was a noted hunter. Soon after settling in Delaware county, Ohio, he had a famous bear fight, by which he came near losing his life. When hunting alone one day, he came across a very large bear and fired at him. The bear fell, and, reload- ing his piece, Minter, supposing him to be dead, advanced and touched his nose with the muzzle of his gun, when the bear instantly rose upon his hind legs to seize him. Minter fired again and cast his hatchet, only inflicting flesh wounds, however, which served but to increase the creature's rage. As the huge beast sprang forward to grasp him, he struck him with the rifle on the head with all his might, producing no other effect than shivering his gun to pieces. Too late now to escape ! So Minter drew his big knife from its sheath and made a plunge at old Bruin's heart, but the cunning varmint, by one stroke of his paw, whirled the knife into the air, and enfolding its weaponless owner with- in his huge arms, both rolled to the ground.
A fearful struggle now ensued between the combatants ; one fighting by instinct and the other guided by the dictates of reason. The for- mer was wholly bent upon hugging his active adversary to death; while the latter aimed at presenting his body in such positions as would de- feat those vise-like squeezes till he could loosen the grasp. Minter was full six feet high, of large frame and toughened muscles, and was noted for his litheness and agility. He needed it all. The woods were open, free from underbrush, and in those desperate throes and struggles the two rolled in all directions. Several times the hapless, gasping hunter thought the boa-constrictor hug of the bear would finish him, but by choking the brute with all his strength, he would compel him to release his hold to knock off his hands, when he would recover his breath and gain a better hold and position.
In this varying way the dreadful conflict was maintained for several hours, when, in a struggle more obstinate and protracted than usual, the contestants rolled towards where Minter's knife lay. This inspired the exhausted hunter with new strength and heart, but he had to make many ineffectual efforts before he could tumble the bear within reach of it. Finally, by a desperate lurch, he was enabled to clutch the wel- come weapon, which, at every chance he had, he plunged to the hilt with all his remaining strength, till at last the horrid beast began, gradually, to relax his hold, and finally rolled over in the agonies of death. He was game to the very last.
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CAPTAIN MINTER'S FAMOUS BEAR FIGHT.
The panting, recumbent hunter watched his last breath, for he could not rise from the ground. He finally was enabled to crawl to a log, where his eyes closed and his heart sickened at the scene. Not a rag was left him, and over his back, arms and legs the flesh was torn to the bones by the teeth and claws of the bear-in some places hanging in shreds. By crawling and walking, alternately, the poor fellow man- aged to reach home some time during the night, with no other cover- ing, however, than a gore of blood from head to foot. Next morning his friends, who went out to survey the field of combat and bring in the trophy, said the surface was torn up for a full half acre. After several weeks Minter recovered, but he carried to his grave broad scars and long welts from a quarter to a half inch thick. He never coveted another bear fight, but gave up hunting and turned his attention to agriculture.
Bears in the old pioneer days were very thick and troublesome throughout Ohio and Kentucky, but very few were of the ferocity of the one Minter fought. In one of the circular drives held in Portage county, Ohio, a great haunt for bears, called " Perkins' Swamp," was embraced, and no less than twenty-six were brought to the centre and others reported. Mrs. John Austin, of Ashtabula county, once heard a bear out among her hogs and determined to spoil his sport. So hurry- ing her children up a ladder in case she should be the worsted party, she seized a rifle and rushing out saw the bear with one of the hogs in its forearms, striding off for the woods. Soon as it saw the woman, it dropped the squealing porker and faced her. Falling upon her knees to take steady aim, and resting her rifle on the fence, within six feet of his bearship, the intrepid woman let fly. Perhaps fortunately for her, the flint missed fire. Again and again she snapped the piece, but with the same result. The bear, after keeping his erect position some time, finally dropped on all fours and scrambled off into the woods.
Not long afterwards, the wives of two absent settlers occupied a cabin together and heard a dreadful noise from the pig-pen, which was near and in full sight of the house. They knew well from what the noise proceeded, and, upon looking out, could see the black intruder making an assault upon the swine. They attempted, by loud screams and by hurling firebrands, to frighten the animal off, but not succeed- ing, they took an unloaded rifle and having heard their husbands say it required just two fingers of powder, they poured liberally into the muz- zle (the fingers, however, measured lengthwise instead of breadthwise,) and putting a ball on top, they boldly sallied out to the attack. One held the light while the other fired the gun.
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Such another report from a tube of equal capacity sure was never heard ! The females both fell prostrate and insensible, and the gun flew into the bushes. The bear may have been frightened to death, but no trace of him could be found. It was his last visit.
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HOW MULDROW FOUND HIS NEXT NEIGHBOR.
Judge James Hall was once riding in Kentucky over a range of sav- age precipices called Muldrow's Hill, and came across a cluster of di- lapidated log houses, and wondered to himself why any pioneer should ever have settled on such a bare and inhospitable tract, when he might have selected any of the rich plains and delightful valleys surrounding, and yet such a choice of location was not uncommon among the earli- est settlers, reference being had to security from Indian hostilities. -. Muldrow, he learned from a resident of that region, settled there when not a single white man but himself was in that whole district, and re- sided there with his wife for an entire year without having seen the face of any other human being. His cabin being secure by its seclusion, he could safely range among all the neighboring hunting grounds.
He was thus wandering one day in search of game when he heard the barking of a dog, and supposing that an Indian was near, concealed himself. Presently a small dog came running along his track, with his nose to the ground as if pursuing his footsteps, and had nearly reached his hiding place, when it stopped, snuffed the air and uttered a low whine, as if to admonish its master that the object of pursuit was near at hand. In a few minutes the owner of the dog came stepping cau- tiously along, glancing his eyes jealously around, and uttering low sig- nals to the dog. But the dog stood at fault, and the owner halted within a few yards of our hunter and fully exposed to view. The new comer was a tall, athletic man, completely armed with rifle, tomahawk and knife ; but whether he was a white man or an Indian, could not be determined either by his complexion or dress. He wore a hunting shirt and leggins of dressed deerskin, and a hat from which the rim was entirely worn away and the crown elongated into the shape of a sugar loaf. The face, feet and hands, which were exposed, were of the tawny hue of the savage, but whether the color was natural, or the ef- fect of exposure, could not be ascertained even by the keen eye of the hunter, and the features were so disguised by dirt and gunpowder, that their expression afforded no clue, by which the question could be de- . cided, whether the individual was a friend or a foe.
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A WILD WHITE MAN AND HIS STORY.
There was but a moment for deliberation, and, after a hasty scrutiny, the pioneer, inclining to the opinion that the stranger was an Indian, cautiously drew up his rifle and took a deliberate aim; but the bare pos- sibility that he might be pointing his weapon at the bosom of a coun- tryman, induced him to pause. Again he raised his gun, and again hesitated; while his opponent, with his rifle half raised towards his face, and his finger on the trigger, looked eagerly around. Both stood motionless and silent; one searching for the object of his pursuit, the other in readiness to fire. At length the hunter, having resolved to delay no longer, cocked his rifle-the click reached the acute ear of his opponent, who instantly sprang behind a tree; the hunter imitated his example and they were now fairly opposed, each covered by a tree, from behind which he endeavored to get a shot at his adversary without exposing his own person. And now a series of stratagems ensued, each seeking to draw the fire of the other-until the stranger, becoming weary of suspense, called out, "Why don't you shoot, you tarnal cowardly varmint?" "Shoot, yourself, you bloody redskin !" retorted the other. "No more a redskin than yourself !". "Are you a white man?" "To be sure I am; are you?" "Yes; no mistake in me."
Whereupon, each being undeceived, they threw down their guns, rushed together, with open arms, and took a hearty hug. The hunter now learned that the stranger had been settled, with his family, about ten miles from him for several months past, and that they had often roamed over the same hunting grounds, each supposing himself the sole inhabitant of that region. On the following day the hunter saddled his horse and taking up his good wife behind him, carried her down to make a call upon her new neighbor, who, doubtless received the visit with far more sincere joy than usually attends such ceremonies.
A WILD WHITE MAN AND HIS STORY.
One morning, in Bourbon county, Kentucky, about the year 1785, a young man, of dark, wild and savage appearance, suddenly arose from a cluster of bushes and hailed the inmates of a cabin in a barbarous jargon that none could understand. He talked fast but uncouthly, making violent gestures, rolling his eyes and shrinking from contact with the neighbors, who were soon attracted. As several present under- stood Indian, they finally gathered that he had been captured while a. child and adopted, but knew not who he was or whence he came.
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A short time previously his Indian father and younger brother started with him for a war expedition into Kentucky. The hoot of an owl had twice alarmed, the father, boding, as he said, death or captivity, and wished to return, but his two sons dissuaded him, and they had " marched until in sight of the cabin he was now in. Suddenly the associations produced by the sight of the cabin, and other articles he had seen when a child, unlocked his memory, and the desire of rejoining his people so strongly seized his mind as to exclude every other idea. He had, therefore, concealed himself, and neglected to reply to all concerted signals, upon which the rest had made off, and he had ap- proached the cabin.
The appearance of the young man was so wild and suspicious that his strange story was doubted, and many urged that he should be arrested as a spy or a decoy. Others, however, were inclined to be- lieve, and asked, as a test of the truth of his narrative, whether he would conduct them to where the canoe was buried. To this the stranger objected most vehemently, declaring that although he had deserted his father and brother, yet they had been very kind to him and he would not betray them. This only increased suspicion, and it was at once demanded that he should lead them to the canoe. With obvious reluctance the young man complied. From twenty to thirty mounted men followed him to the Licking.
The stranger, probably in the hope of allowing his relations time to get off, said he would first conduct them to the spot where they had en- camped when the scream of the owl alarmed his father, and where an iron kettle had been left concealed in a hollow tree. He was probably induced to do this from the hope of delaying the pursuit so long as to afford his friends an opportunity of crossing the river in safety. If such was his intention, no measure could have been more unfortunate. The whites approached the encampment in deep silence and quickly perceived two Indians, an old man and a boy, seated by the fire and busily employed in cooking some venison. The deserter became much agitated at the sight of them, and so earnestly implored his country- men not to kill them, that it was agreed to surround the encampment and endeavor to secure them as prisoners. This was accordingly at- tempted, but so desperate was the resistance of the Indians that the whites were compelled to fire upon them, and the old man fell mortally wounded, while the boy, by an incredible display of address and ac- tivity, was enabled to escape.
The deserter beheld his father fall, and, throwing himself from his horse, ran up to the spot where the old man lay bleeding but still sen- sible, and, falling upon his body, besought his forgiveness for being the
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How MAJOR SMITH RECOVERED HIS SWEETHEART.
unwilling cause of his death, and wept bitterly. His father evidently recognized him, gave him his hand, but almost instantly expired. The white men now called upon him to conduct them at a gallop to the spot where the canoe was buried, expecting to reach it before the Indian boy and intercept him. The deserter in vain implored them to com- passionate his feelings. He urged that he had already sufficiently demonstrated the truth of his former assertions at the expense of his father's life, and earnestly entreated them to permit his younger brother to escape. His companions, however, were inexorable. Nothing but the blood of the young Indian would satisfy them, and the deserter was again compelled to act as a guide.
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