USA > New York > Ulster County > Kingston > History and legend, fact, fancy and romance of the Old Mine Road, Kingston, N.Y., to the mine holes of Pahaquarry > Part 10
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The old woman's death was a tragic one, but one which she appears to have brought on herself. It seems that one day an inoffensive neighbor attempted to ride past her hovel on the old family mare, when the animal refused to pass the door in spite of all blows and known forms of speech, whereupon the rider, in the heat of argument, struck the horse on the head with a stone, killing her instantly. The next day a per- son entering this abode of darkness found the woman dead and blood issuing from her mouth and nose, and it was evident to all that she had for some reason taken possession of the mare and the blow that killed one killed both. So recently as
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1887 one of the jury of inquest, then a very old man, was still living, and I understand these facts came first hand from him and are absolutely correct.
The trolley disposes of a mile or so to the outskirts of Port Jervis, setting us down at the entrance of the Carpenter's Point burial ground, and we walk down to the Tri-States' monument at the point for the sake of the view, so typical is it of the "Hudson River School" of a generation ago: a beau- tiful foreground of river with distant forest and more distant mountains fading off into the blue, and all framed with the branches of nearby trees, a spot to conjure dreams. The In- dian name of the river was Keht-hanne, "the greatest stream"; also Lenapewihittuck, "the river of the Lenape". It was also known as the Minisink's River, which word means "Indians of the highlands", or "of the rocks".
On the outermost rock of all stands a low marker indicat- ing the corner where New York, New Jersey and Pennsyl- vania come in touch with each other. While above it, on the bank, stands a stone which tells the traveler that this is the "Witness Monument, 1882. South 64 degrees, W. 721/2 feet from this is the Tri State Rock, which is the Northwest end of the New York and New Jersey Boundary and the North end of the New Jersey and Pennsylvania Boundary", and again, "The corner between New York and Pennsylvania is in the center of the Delaware River, 475 feet due west of the Tri State Rock".
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"Minisink was that expanse of land lying west of the Shawangunk Mountains, about forty miles long by the same distance in width, including portions of Orange and Sullivan Counties, and of northern New Jersey", and we will now work our way back to the highway and proceed toward the discov- ery of its southernmost bound at Walpack Bend, or Flat- brookville.
After crossing the Neversink our way keeps well out of sight of the Delaware through the rich flat lands that in times past have been brought down from above and deposited here that those who live by the sweat of their brow might sweat to good purpose.
The highway is as dusty as a miller and not always the pleasantest place in the world for a tramp, but one is pretty sure to find a farmer going his way and to catch a ride if he wants it. Some two or three miles along and on the river side of the road stands the Van Auken house, which the present occupant, Mrs. F. E. Westfall, states was built by her great- great-great-grandfather, a Van Auken. The lady herself is of age to have grown children, so that counting twenty-five years to a generation, the building may be 175 years of age, which would carry it back to the days of border warfare between the inhabitants of the two provinces, and yet I cannot find that it is the nucleus of any tale or legend that can claim an age half so great.
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Next on the list come Shippekonk rocks, a smooth rock slide from the top of the ridge to the valley's floor. The name is Indian, and is also applied to an island in the river, but its meaning is hidden.
Some four or five miles below Carpenter's Point one comes on a small family graveyard in the corner of a field, and close on the right. Here lies Christopher Decker and his wife, grand- parents of Mr. Demmon Reynolds, of Napanoch, whose "mother had relations enough killed by the Indians to make a nice little chunk of burying ground".
The Decker home, which stood nearby, was a refuge often sought by Tom Quick, the noted Indian slayer, and Mr. Reynolds's mother who, as a girl, was many times carried across the Delaware at Punkey's Rift in the arms of this hero of the countryside, has filled him o'er and o'er with stories which she heard recounted by the great man himself. Some of the legends current in these days Mr. R. knows are not so, because his mother never heard them from Tom-such as, for instance, the split log trap wherein Tom caught several In- dians by their fingers. But many others are well authenti- cated, because this mighty hunter of the redskins told them on himself, and who should know better. The following story explains the reason for Tom's bitter hatred of the Indians and tells why and how he disposed of one of them.
The father of Tom Quick, a Hollander who immigrated to this country about 1733, was old and gouty, but he liked to see how the farm was coming on, and occasionally his two sons would help him out around the place. On one such occa- sion, when a considerable distance from the house, a party of Indians broke from the woods after them. The Quicks were unarmed, and could but run for it, so the boys took the old
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man, one on each side, and started for the house. Tom's brother was hit by a bullet, but not seriously hurt; but the father was heavy and helpless, and begged his boys to drop him and save themselves, else all would be slaughtered.
It was a hard sort of a proposition, but the arguments of the elder were perfectly sound, and the boys finally left him to his fate.
The Indians killed and scalped the old man, cut off his head and kicked it over the ground. Among the things taken from his body was a pair of silver knee buckles.
Long after, when peace had been declared, Tom Quick and some of his boon companions were drinking and playing cards in a tavern near where the village of Milford now stands, when an Indian, exhausted with cold and hunger, came in and begged for a drink. It was against the law to give an Indian liquor, but because of his condition they gave him a dram to take the chill off, and it was probably a hearty one, for the visitor soon showed signs of overindulgence and began to brag of his past deeds of prowess, displaying the buckles which Tom recognized as those taken from his father and saying over and over in a bragging tone, "Me Tom Quick, now; me Tom Quick, now".
The brutal way in which his father had been killed and the body treated had led Tom to swear never to let an Indian get away from him alive if he could help it, and Tom paid brutality with brutality, though aside from his treatment of the Indians and a fondness for drink he was well regarded by his neighbors.
When Tom saw those buckles and heard the insulting brag it aroused all his old-time hatred and he arose quietly from the table and walked toward the fireplace, over which
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hung a gun, but the landlord, divining his purpose, stopped Tom and reminded him that it was the closed season for In- dians then and to kill the fellow in the house would cause serious trouble for all present.
The Indian had talked of how he was a mighty hunter and had given a promiscuous invitation to the company to go hunt- ing with him, and now Tom accepted his offer. Of course, all knew what that meant-all but the Indian-and the two went off together. The snow was deep and Tom went on ahead to break a path, and while doing so heard the unsuccessful snap of the Indian's gun and, turning, asked what he had tried to shoot, to which the Indian responded "an eagle", and they went on.
Soon Tom claimed to be tired, and told the Indian to take his turn at breaking the path and, good, innocent soul that he was, the gentle savage did as requested, and it was not long before those at the tavern heard Tom's gun, and shortly there- after saw him returning with the silver buckles.
Tom lived in a cabin in the woods in which he was one day trapped by the Indians, who for once had him off his guard. He was a captive beyond price, and they immediately concluded to take him to the headwaters of the Susquehanna and there build a great fire in honor of the event.
The snow was deep and the Indians had tramped long that day, and they concluded to remain in the cabin over night, so Tom's hands were tied and his moccasins taken from him, in the belief that he would not venture barefoot into the heavy drifts outside, and his captors lay down to sleep. Tom paced the floor like a caged lion, but every time he passed the door his elbow pushed up the wooden latch a bit until, as the In-
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dians were about dropping off to sleep he had the door where one slight push would swing it open.
When the time seemed propitious Tom opened the door and started with a bound down hill. Some noise he made awakened the Indians, and they were after him almost in- stantly, and it was only a lucky accident that saved him. The day had been mild enough to cause some melting of the snow and this in turn had created a dense fog. Tom, being unable to see much of anything, tripped before he had gone far and fell, sinking deep into a drift. The pursuers were hot on his track, but overshot the mark, and as Tom lay still they finally gave up the search and he managed to wriggle out of his cool nest and eventually found his way to the Decker house, where it took three weeks to bring his frozen feet back to usefulness.
These stories do not agree very well with those published in the "Original Life and Adventures of Tom Quick"; in fact one of them is not to be found therein at all and the other combines incidents distributed between two separate tales in the book, but in view of the direct way in which they have been handed down from Tom himself and the intimate rela- tions existing between the hero and the ancestors of Mr. Reynolds, it is reasonable to suppose that they are quite as likely to be correct as are the accounts hitherto published.
We are passing through the township of Montague, which is said to contain the most valuable land in the Minisink patent, and shortly come on Millville, where Chambers Brook performs after the manner of brooks that have been dammed from their youth up. There was not much room for a mill pond here, and as time went on the little pond evidently filled up, when the miller, instead of cleaning it out, built another dam higher up in the gap; at least that is the way it looks
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from the road to a stranger who finds no one handy by of whom to ask questions.
Millville is the site of a revolutionary blockhouse, and the knoll here is known as Block House Hill. Mr. Thomas J. Bonnell, of Port Jervis, tells me this was the headquarters of Capt. James Bonnell, who commanded at the Minisink during the Revolution. Mr. T. J. B. has an interesting manuscript book in which his ancestor, first a Justice of the Peace and later a Captain, kept his record of trials, copies of important letters, orders to the troops under him, petitions, etc.
Copies of a few of the more interesting of these are given below :-
Minisink 4th Apl. 1782.
Sir-Inclosed is a Return of Amunition wanting for my Company, I wish it may be forwarded with all Posib. dis- patch, as it is a matter of the greatest Magnitude Occationed by the Enemies being Hourly expected to dis(?) our Frontiers, and my Amunition being nearly Exhausted-if you have any loose Powder I wish you'd send a few Pounds in Room of Cartridges for the Riflemen who scout the woods. I am Sir Your very Humble Servt.
Ja. Bonnell, Capt. Comd.g at Minisink.
Lt. Hamilton.
Minisink, 15th May 1782.
Sir
On monday the 4th Instant I summond you to Apeare before me at the House of Capt. Shimer the ss to answer the Complaint of Abraham Cuddeback, you neither ap- peared nor assignd any reason for your Nonattendence; I hereby Notify you that next Monday at twelve OClock at the House of Capt. Westbrook in Sandiston is the time and
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place Appointed for settling your dispute, and unless you attend you must Abide the Consequences of your neglect. Sir your hum'l Servent
Ja: Bonnell.
Mr. Cox.
Minisink 15th May 1782.
Dear Sir
Yesterday three Indians was discovered on the Penn- sylvania shore opposite to Walpack Capt. Hover imediately Persued them with a number of good Fellows. What suck- sess I have not yet learnt; Pray let me know if you have made any discoveries of the Savages. I am Sir Your humble Servent Ja: Bonnell.
Capt. Westfall Comd.g at Peanpack.
Thursday Morning 4th July 1782.
This being the glorious Anniversary of American In- dependence The men of Capt. Bonnell's Compy will Parade this Afternoon Percisely at 4 O Clock, to Fire a Fudejoy on so Auspicious an Occasion.
The men will appear on Parade in the neatest manner Posible. Each man with his beard Clean shaved, hair neatly cut, clothes put on in the best order Possible, guns Perfectly Clean & a large green Bough in each Hatt-the least disobedience of this Order will meet with the most Serverest Punishment.
Ja: Bonnell Capt. Comd.g at Minisink.
Minisink 10th December 1782.
His Excellency Governor Livingston and the Honour- able Legislative Council, and General Assembly of New Jersey.
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Gentlemen
We the Inhabitants of the Frontiers of the County of Sussex beg leave to Present our Petition to the Honourable Legislature of the State.
The Inhabitants who formerly lived on the Pennsyl- vania Side of the River Opposite to us have Principally left there Farms and Moved into Jersey and other places to Escape Savage Cruelty.
These Inhabitants was formerly a Considerable Guard to us, but now there is nothing to stop the Enemy but the River which is Fordable in a great Number of Places a Considerable part of the year, Particularly in Harvest and Other times when the Enemy Can do us the Greatest Dam- mage.
The Situation of this Country and the manner the sav- ages Carry on the War like a Thief in the Night renders it Impracticable to depend on the Malitia for Security, for before they can be Collected the Mischief is done and the Enemy Secure in the Wilderness.
Numbers of us have Friends and near Relations who have ben Torn from there Families and Connections and are Groaning under Cruel Savage Captivity.
Others Labour under the Sad Remembrance of having experienced the Truly Shocking Spectacle of Seing there Dearest Connections Brutally Murderd and Scalped be- fore there Eyes and we have grate reason to fear we shall share the Same Fate unless some mode be Addopted for our Security.
We therefore most earnestly pray that a Law may be passed by the Honourable Legislature before the Adjourn for raising a Company of about Eighty men Properly Of- ficered and to be Stationed here for our Protection the en- suing Campaign.
signed by the inhabitants & forwarded by Capt. Bonnell
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It is but a brief step now to Montague and Brick House, which latter is the name generally used on guide boards. Brick House was built in 1776 by Roger Clark of bricks of an odd size that were manufactured within three-quarters of a mile of the spot, and from the beginning was a noted stopping place. For a long time the New York to Oswego stage made this one of its regular places of call.
Judge James Stoll tried for many years to get possession of the place, but he and Clark never agreed very well and the latter refused to sell. So the Judge persuaded a Philadelphia liquor dealer to buy the inn for him, and Clark readily fell into the trap. The Judge wished a patch of land alongside for a garden, and this the Philadelphian insisted on. Once the bargain was made, the Judge shortly came into possession, and though he never ran the place himself, he always made a bargain with his tenant-landlord that the latter buy all his liquor from the store run by Stoll across the road.
The road running straight away from the front of the Brick House is the old stage route to Deckertown and Jersey City.
In 1774 there stood on the site of the Brick House an old log cabin occupied by Daniel Decker and his vrouw Grietje. One June day as the latter stood in the meadow in front of her home, engaged in boiling soap, Daniel the Valiant came rushing by with a wild cry of "Indians! Indians!" and ex- horting his good woman to escape as best she could, himself crawled into a hollow log through a knothole of which he could safely gaze on the coming trouble. But the woman was made of sterner stuff and calmly continued her soap boiling, when shortly two redskins appeared on the scene, and with nothing more dangerous in view than a woman they ap-
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proached, scalping knife in hand, each anxious to secure the prize.
Grietje stood her ground apparently unaware of her im- pending doom, until the headmost foe was almost on her when, turning suddenly with a ladle of boiling soap, she dashed it squarely in his face and he put up a howl which gave the best of evidence that he felt hurt, and turned himself to the nearby brook for comfort-that same brook that to-day gurgles pleasantly past the end of the Brick House. His companion, not understanding such mode of warfare nor appreciating the force of the woman's argument, and only noting that a kind Providence had intervened in his behalf and that the scalp was his for the lifting, came promptly forward and received a like application that took all the starch out of him, and he in turn interviewed the brook.
If the savages did not enjoy it, neither did they quite un- derstand this new method of treatment, but they had acquired a healthy respect for Grietje, and stood afar off while they wondered what had happened to them. For some time they debated the situation, but finally concluded that discretion was their best card, and after firing the cabin they disappeared in the woods.
1 When the danger was all over, the lord of creation crawled out of his hole, and approached his better half with a light remark to such effect as, "Didn't we fix 'em, though?" Now, the old lady was in no mood for trifling and, turning savagely on Daniel, she gave him a dipper filled to the brim with that boiling soap-at least she gave him the soap, keeping the dip- per for further argument, if need be-and remarking at the same time: . "There, you old fool; go and lay in your holler log till you get cooled off, you old coward, you. I'll teach
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you!" and Daniel he went, not for the hollow log, but for that blessed stream, which for the third time that day proved to be balm and healing.
A new cabin was soon built, but opposite to the old one, and "Uncle Dan'l" drew a picture of Grietje in the act of dousing the Indians, which for years graced its walls; but in 1793, the old couple being dead, the cabin was pulled down and the picture was lost.
As before mentioned, one of the series of early churches built in Minisink was located here, just around the bend of the road beyond the Brick House. It is told locally of the Rev. Elias Van Benschoten, called in 1785 to be pastor of the three Dutch churches of Machackemech, Minisink and Walpack, that when preaching his farewell sermon to this congregation the peroration concluded with, "Hogs I found you, hogs I leave you, and the Devil may receive you". It would appear as though the old gentleman was not in an al- together amiable frame of mind at the moment.
There is a story current concerning Major Nyce and Polly Hoornbeck, which, if I have it correctly, runs something like this: The Major, when a young man, counted Polly among his friends and was wont to call on her occasionally, but he never seems to have hit it up very swift and one night Polly, who was sitting on the opposite side of the fireplace from him, began to jerk herself and say, "Stop, now; leave me alone". The young man looked on in a maze for a few moments, but finally managed to blurt out: "Why, Polly, what's the matter with you? I ain't a techin' you." "Well", responds the girl, "you devilish fool; if you ain't a-going to you better go home". It is not recorded that the gentleman left imme- diately.
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As our road continues south it is not quite so much of a traveled highway, though one can still kick up a good deal of dust as far as Dingman's Ferry under average conditions.
A mile or so south of Brick House, and in the field north of and adjoining the residence of the brothers Black, lies "Spook Hollow". It is now cultivated ground, but within memory was wooded and a place of mystery and fear to young and old. One graybeard tells how, in his youthful days, he pattered past as fast as a pair of short legs would take him, lest a witch might get him; but he never had any actual encounter, nor did any of his friends, so far as he knows.
This was undoubtedly one of those secret places in the woods where, once on a time, the devils met with the would- be witches at midnight, there together to feast and dance. Through the air at such times would come coursing panthers, wolves and lesser terrors, from over hills, mountains and val- leys. Toads and serpents were on hand to be worshipped, and just before day broke, and after signing their souls over to the Evil One, the witches were endowed with power to rule and ruin their fellow men.
Small wonder that Spook Hollow was passed in haste by honest folk.
"Ye hag is astride This night, for to ride, The Devil and she together.
Through thick and through thin,
Now out and now in,
Though ne'er so foul be the weather.
"A thorn or a burr She takes for a spur With the lash of a bramble she rides now
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Through brakes and through briars O'er ditches and mires She follows the spirit that guides now."
-Robert Herrick.
A sad case of undeluding is said to have happened to a true believer, whose wife went on a visit to Esopus many, many years ago.
From the very start her man had trouble with the cows; they insisted on kicking him and treating him in a most dis- respectful manner, and when he tried to churn, the butter positively refused to come. So he called in his friend, the witch doctor, who builded an altar of stones in the barnyard and cast a spell over it. He then by incantations discovered that the absent wife was a witch, who had put a spell on cattle and churn when she left, and warned the husband not to allow the woman inside the house until she promised on the Bible not to have anything more to do with the Devil.
Now the wife returned in due course and when her hus- band explained the situation to her, she, after one look at the cattle, thus remarked: "You old fool, the cows have the kine- pox; the butter would not come because you put no hot water in it, and I would just like a tomahawk and scalping knife to go for that quack doctor. I am going into my house in spite of your witch spell and the Devil"-and in she went, and first thing she did was to cure her husband, and while the process is said to have been painful to a degree, it is understood to have been thoroughly effective; after which she took the cows in hand.
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SANDYSTON AND WALPACK.
SANDYSTON AND WALPACK.
Some quarter of a mile below Spook Hollow stands a building known as the "Fort", a simple one-story-and-attic dwelling whose loopholes for muskets still gape on those out- side its walls.
Here in the early days settled Johannis Westbrook on one side of the little stream which divided the towns of Montague and Sandyston, while on the other side was reared the home of Daniel Westfall. The one still standing is the house of Captain Westbrook, in Sandyston, mentioned in the second letter of "Ja : Bonnell", quoted above.
This, I presume, is the stone fort known as Nomanoc, and was undoubtedly the rallying point for some little distance up and down the river. It was from here that Capt. Peter West- brook sallied forth with his men to the battle of the Raymonds- kill, or Conashaugh, April 21, 1780, which was fought just over the river in Pennsylvania where the Captain, Lieutenant Ennis and twelve others were killed. Those remaining retreated be- low Cave Bank, and the place is called Death Eddy to this day. Another account places the battle in 1778, says that Captain Westbrook escaped badly wounded to a canoe, and that two or three men of the expedition were lost.
It was also from this fort that seven men went out to death while in the performance of duty. Word had been brought in that Indians were in the neighborhood and a party of scouts was sent out. These found in the light snow moccasined foot-
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prints near the river bank at Death Eddy, and while they were bunched and in the act of examining them the Indians, who were ambushed behind the bank, shot and killed the entire party. This was about a half mile below the fort.
About 1739 the most important settlement in the valley was located here, opposite Minisink and Nomanoc Islands. A public school was established in 1731.
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