USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The Cincinnati miscellany, or, Antiquities of the West, and pioneer history and general and local statistics. Volume II > Part 26
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After the savages had plundered the house of every thing that they could conveniently carry off with them, they started, taking Mrs. Daviess and her children-seven in number, as prisoners along with them. Some of the children were too young to travel as fast as the Indians wished, and dis- covering, as she believed, their intention to kill such of them as could not conveniently travel, she made the two oldest boys carry them on their backs. The Indians, in starting from the house, were very careful to leave no signs of the direc- tion which they had taken, not even permitting the children to break a twig or weed, as they passed along. 'They had not gone far, before an Indian drew a knife and cut off a few inches of Mrs. Da- viess' dress, so that she would not be interrupted in travelling.
Mrs. Daviess was a woman of cool deliberate courage, and accustomed to handle the gun so that she could shoot well, as many of the women were in the habit of doing in those days. She had contemplated, as a last resort, that if not rescued in the course of the day, when night came and the Indians had fallen asleep, she would rescue her- self and children by killing as many of the Indi- ans as she could-thinking that in a night attack as many of thein as remained, would most proba- bly run off. Such an attempt would now seem a species of madness; but to those who were ac- quainted with Mrs. Daviess, little doubt was en- tertained, that if the attempt had been made, it would have proved successful.
The boy who had been scalped, was greatly dis-
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figured, as the hair never after grew upon that [ swim, but drowned, and was found at North part of his head. He often wished for an oppor- Bend six weeks afterwards. tunity to avenge himself upon the Indians for the injury he had received. Unfortunately for "Aug. 14th, 1792 .- John Macnamara, Isaac Gibson, Jr., Samuel Carswell, and James. Bar- rett, were bringing up a hand-mill stone in a canoe, and at the riffle below the station, they were fired at by the Indians. Macnamara was killed, Gibson wounded in the knee, and Cars- well in the shoulder; Barrett being the only one escaping without injury. himself, ten years afterwards, the Indians came to the neighbourhood of his father and stole a number of horses. Himself and a party of men went in pursuit of them, and after following them for some days, the Indians finding that they were likely to be overtaken, placed themselves in am- bush, and when their pursuers came up, killed young Daviess and one other man; so that he ul- timately fell into their hands when about twenty- one years old.
The next year after the father died; his death being caused, as it was supposed, by the extraor- dinary efforts he made to release his family from the Indians.
I cannot close this account, without noticing an act of courage displayed by Mrs. Davicss, cal- culated to cxhibit her character in its true point of view.
Kentucky, in its early days, like most new countries, was occasionally troubled with men of abandoned character, who lived by stealing the property of others, and after committing their depredations, retired to their hiding places, there- by eluding the operation of the law. One of these marauders, a man of desperate character, who had committed extensive thefts from Mr. Daviess, as well as from his neighbours, was pur- sued by Daviess and a party whose property he had taken, in order to bring him to justice. While the party were in pursuit, the suspected individual, not knowing any one was pursuing him, came to the house of Daviess, armed with his gun and tomahawk-no person being at home but Mrs. Daviess and her children. After he had stepped in the house, Mrs. Daviess asked him if he would drink something-and having set a bottle of whiskey upon the table, requested him to help himself. The fellow not suspecting any danger, set his gun up by the door, and while drinking, Mrs. Daviess picked up his gun, and placing herself in the door, had the gun cocked and levelled upon him by the time he turned around, and in a peremptory manner, ordered him to take a seat, or she would shoot him. Struck with terror and 'alarm, he asked what he had done. She told him, he had stolen her hus- band's property, and that she intended to take care of him herself. In that condition, she held him a prisoner, until the party of men returned and took him into their possession.
Early Records of Cincinnati .-- No. 2.
I continue my extracts from memoranda kept by J. Dunlop, who made the first surveys in the Miami purchase.
"April 25, 1792 .- As Martin Burkhardt, Mi- chael Hahn and Michael Lutz, were viewing some lots at the blue bank, they were fired on by Indians. Lutz was killed and scalped on the spot, besides being afterwards stabbed in differ- ent parts of the body. They shot Hahn through the body, and followed him in sight of the garri- son, but finding they could not get his scalp, they fired at him a second time and killed him. Burk- hardt was shot through the right shoulder, and in an effort to clear himself, took to the river to 'Freeman, viz:
"A copy of the speech brought in by Isaac Freeman, from the Chiefs and Warriors of the Mawme towns, to Judge Symmes.
"' MAWME, July 7, 1789.
" ' Brothers! Americans !- At the Miami War- riors !- listen to us warriors, what we have to say. """ Now Americans! Brothers,-We have heard from you, and are glad to hear the good speech you sent us. You have got our flesh and blood among you, and we have got yours among us, and we are glad to hear that you wish to ex- change; we really think you want to exchange, and that is the reason we listen to you.
""'As the Great Spirit has put your flesh and blood into our hands, we now deliver them up.
" ' We Warriors, if we can, wish to make peace, and then our chiefs and yours will then listen to one another. As we warriors speak from our hearts, we hope you do so too, and wish you may be of one mind as we are.
"' Brothers, Warriors,-When we heard from you that you wished to exchange prisoners, we listened attentively, and now we send some, as all are not here, nor can be procured at present, and, therefore, we hope you will send all ours home, and when we see them, it will make us strong to send all yours which cannot now all be got together.
"' Brothers, Warriors,-When we say this, it is from our hearts, and we hope you do the same; but if our young men should do any thing wrong before we all meet together, we beg you will overlook it; this is the mind of us warriors, and our chiefs are glad there is hopes of peace- We hope, therefore, that you are of the same mind.
"' Brothers, Warriors,-It is the warriors who have shut the path which your chiefs and ours formerly laid open, but there is hopes that the path will soon be cleared; that our women and children may go where they wish in peace, and that yours may do the same.
""' Now Brothers, Warriors,-You have heard from us; we hope you will be strong like us, and we hope there will be nothing but peace and friendship between you and us.'
" The following prisoners came in with Isaac
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" John White, taken from Nelson county, Ken- tucky; Elizabeth Bryant and her child, and a child named Ashby, who were taken from a boat at the mouth of the Kentucky River-all its friends said to have been killed at the time. Two others who were intended to be sent in, ran off the night before Freeman left their towns, to avoid returning to the whites.
" Of those who would be sent in hereafter, was a Mrs. Bilderback, whose husband was killed at Mingo Bottom, at the time she was made prison- er: also, a soldier in Capt. McCurdy's company, named Brady. He was with a party guarding a surveyor, when made captive. Seven soldiers and several of the inhabitants were killed in the attack."
I find in reference to my notes on Symmes' settlement at North Bend, that he had ten Indian women and children, who having been made prisoners in an expedition from Kentucky to the Indian towns, had been placed in his hands by Col. Robert Patterson, for the purpose of ex- changing them for white prisoners among the savages as soon as opportunity would admit. Symmes, who had always maintained towards the Indians a pacific policy, sent Freeman with a friendly Indian, then on business to North Bend, and one of the prisoners, a boy of fifteen, who speaking English, could enable Freeman and the Indian to communicate with each other; and Freeman with the Shawnesc to whom he was sent.
Freeman lost his life on a later mission to the Indians, being fired on while bearing a flag of trucc.
General Jackson.
The following incident occurred on a visit of mine to Washington city in 1834. Its truth may be relied on.
A widow lady in rather straitened circum- stances had been keeping a boarding house for some years in that city, and during the general prostration of active business, growing out of tlie currency derangements of that date, had got in arrears, and to pay some of her most urgent debts, sent such of her furniture as she could possibly spare, to auction. The purchaser was a clerk in one of the Government offices; one of those public loafers of which there has always been too many at Waslington and elsewhere, who run in debt as far as they can obtain credit, and without ever intending to pay. The lady called on the auctioneer,a respectable man named, Mau- ro, I believe. He called on the official who pro- mised to pay as soon as his month's salary was due. The month rolled round, and June suc- ceeded March, and September June, without pay- ment being made, to the great distress of the wid-
ow and uneasiness of the auctioneer. And after further application, the office liolder refused abso- lutely to od any thing, alleging it out of his pow- er to pay. The sum was too large for the auc- tioneer to spare out of his own pocket or he would have paid it himself, so deeply did he feel for the poor creditor. In this perplexity, he concluded to call upon the President, and state the case, ho- ping he would suggest some relief. He waited therefore on General Jackson with his narrative.
The old man's eye flashed fire. " Have you Mr. P-'s note?" he inquired. " No," was the reply. "Call on him then, and without speak- ing of the purpose for which you want it, get his negotiable note and bring it here."
The auctioneer accordingly asked P-for his note. " What do you want with the note; I don't know any body would take it," remarked the debtor, adding, however, as he sat down to write, " there it is." Mauro promptly returned to the President, handing him the note, who without saying a word sat down and wrote on the back of the paper " Andrew Jackson." "Now, sir," said the General, " show Mr. P- the endorse- ment, and if he don't pay you, let me know it." The first man Mauro met as he entered Gadsby's: Hotel was P-, " Ah !" said he "have you. passed the note." " Not yet," said the other,, " but I expect to, for I have got a first rate endor -. sor to it." "Nonsense," said P-, " who, is it." The endorsement was shown him. He .. turned pale, begged the auctioneer to wait a few- minutes, went out, and in a short space of time. returned with the money, which was paid over to, the widow that day, to the gratification of all par- ties. P- kept quiet on the subject for years, but finally on a remark being made in his pre- sence, that General Jackson did not endorse for any body whatever, remarked he knew better, for the General had endorsed once for him, and produced as evidence the note, to the surprise of all who knew not the circumstances of the case.
Daniel Boone.
I left Cincinnati on Friday last, to attend the funeral pageant which took place at Frankfort, Ky., in the deposit at their final resting place, on the bank of the Kentucky, of the remains of Daniel Boone and his wife, the first man as well as the first woman in order of time, as well as in grade of character as settlers of Kentucky. Those who, know nothing more of Boone than is re- corded in the catch-penny biographics published of the great PIONEER, know almost nothing of that remarkable man; the rallying point alike in council or in battle among his cotemporaries, themselves men of high order of character and enterprise.
The pageant was a splendid and deeply inter-
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esting spectacle. A few survivors of his cotent- poraries, gathered from all parts of the State, and a numerous train of his descendants, direct and collateral, led the van of the procession escorting the hearse, which was decorated with forest ever- greens and white lilies, an appropriate tribute to the simple, as well as glorious character of Boone, and a suitable emblem of his enduring fame.
'The pall-bearers bore the most respectable and distinguished names among the carly set- tlers of the West. Generals Taylor and Mc- Afee, Col. John Johnston, of Ohio; Cols. Ward and Boone, Richard M. Johnson, besides other venerable looking men who were unknown to me. Ellison E. Williams, who accompanied him from North Carolina, had been his friend and often his associate to the day of his death, and fought under his eye, was among the most interesting objects on the ground.
The Kentucky Methodist Conference, which was in session at Frankfort, almost two hundred in force, made a part of the procession; as did in nearly equal numbers a fine looking body of officers and soldiers of the war of 1813. I judge there were not less than five thousand persons present,-and I have seen gatherings at political meetings no larger than this, which were estima- ted at ten to twelve thousand. The military, with the masons and odd fellows, as usual, made a part in the procession. The opening prayer was made by Bishop Soule of the Metho- dist Episcopal Church, and the oration or address commemorative of Boone, was delivered by John J. Crittenden, one of the U. S. Senators from Kentucky.
The day was propitious until one o'clock, when rain began to fall and rendered the re- mainder of the day unfavourable to the object for which the multitude had met. The Frank- fort cemetery is a beautiful and appropriate place, still finer in its scite than ours; and the particular spot allotted to the old pioneer, whose name will never be forgotten while the west re- tains its existence, has been selected with singu- larly good taste, being on the very edge of the hill which crowns the bank of the Kentucky. Governors Owsley, Letcher, Genls. Desha, Combs, and various other distinguished public men of Kentucky, besides those named in the beginning of this article, were there.
Of the oration, I am sorry to add, that there was but one opinion expressed, and indeed felt, that it was a perfect failure; the more mortifying as Kentucky is one great school of orators, and might have furnished an hundred individuals of less established reputation than J. J. Crittenden, who would have done honor to the State in their performance.
City Solons.
A President Judge of the Butler and Alle- gheny District, Penn., who prided himself on his thorough scholarship, on one occasion corrected a lawyer who had asserted that in the present case an action would not lay. " Lie, sir, you should say; actions lie-hens lay." The lawyer swal- lowed the dose as he best might, but soon had his revenge, the judge observing to the court, as he directed the crier to notify its adjournment, that the next day being the Fourth of July, the court would not set. " With submission to the court," observed the subject of the former rebuke, "it should be sit. Courts sit, and hens set."
I find by the Atlas of Tuesday, that the Coun- cilmen of the first ward, announce " they will set as a board," on that day. If any thing is hatched on the occasion worthy of notice, my readers shall be apprised in my next.
Frontier Figures of Speech.
Those who have attended musters and elec- tions in the early days of Ohio and Kentucky, will hardly deem the following picture, taken from a Florida paper, of the " half horse half alligator" nuisance of that day, too highly coloured. These have been driven off in the progress of civiliza- tion, successively to Arkansas, Texas and Florida. I saw and heard a chap of this description in 1825, tell a judge in a county court in the south- ern section of Illinois, who had charged the jury in a case in which he was interested, as he thought very unfairly, " Wait till I catch you off that bench, and I'll make a checquer board of your face."
As we were yesterday passing by the court- house, where an election was going on, a real " screamer from the Nob," about six feet four in height, sprang ont of the crowd, and, rolling up his shirt-sleeves, commenced the following tirade:
" This is me, and no mistake! Billy Earth- quake, Esquire, commonly called Little Billy, all the way from Noth Fork of Muddy Run! I'm a small specimen, as you see,-a ramote circum- stance, a mere yearling; but cuss me, if I ain't of the true ' imported breed.' and can whip any man in this section of country! Whoop! Won't no- body come out and fight me? Come out some of you and die decently, for I am spileing for a fight! I han't had one for more than a week, and if you don't come out, I'm fly blowed before sun-down, to a certingty! so come up to taw!
" May be yon don't know who Little Billy is? I'll tell you: I'm a poor man-its a fact-and smell like a wet dog; but I can't be run over! I'm the identical individual that grinned a whole menagerie out of countenance, and made the rib- bed nose baboon hang down his head and blush! WV-h-o-o-p! I'm the chap too, that towed the ' Broadhorn' up Salt River, where the snags were so thick that a fish could'nt swim withont rub- bing his scales off !- fact, and if any body de- nies it, just let 'em make their will! Cock-a-doo- dle-doo! Maybe you never heard of the time the horse kicked me and pnt both his hips out of jint-if it ain't true, cut me up for cat fishi bait!
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W-h-o-o-p! 'I'm the very infant that refused its milk before its eyes were open, and called out for a bottle of old Rye! W-h-o-o-p! I'm that little Cupid! Talk to me about grinning the bark off a tree !- 'taint nothing; one squint of mine at a Bull's heel would blister it! Cock-a-doodle de- doo! O I'm one of your toughest sort-live for ever, and then turn to a whiteoak post. Look at me, [said he, slapping his hands on his thighs with the report of a pocket pistol,] I'm the ginewine article-a real double acting engine, and I can ont-run, out-jump, out-swim, chaw more tobacco and spit less, and drink more whiskey and keep soberer than any other inan in these localities! Cock-a-doodle-doo! Darn it, [said Bill, walking off in disgust,j if that don't make 'em fight, nothing will. I wish I may be kiln-dried, and spilt up into wooden shoe pegs, if I believe there is a chap among 'em that's got courage enough to collar a hen. Well! I'll go home and have another settlement with Jo Sykes. He's a bad chance for a fight, it's true, seeing as how he's but one eye left to gouge at, and an ' under bit' out of both ears; but poor fellow, he's willing to do his best, and will stay a body's appetite till the next shooting mateli."-Exit Little Billy, grumbling.
A Bit of Real Frish.
A jaunting car driver named Paddy Geraghty, not long since was brought before the Magistrate of the Head Police Office, Dublin, for having used threatening language to a Mr. Ellis, Hammond Lane.
The Magistrate, on hearing the statement of the "complainant, directed Geraghty to give se- curity, himself in £20, and two other persons in £10 cach, that he would keep the peace.
Paddy and his friends having been ushered by the bailiff into the office of the bond-signer, or person who is to see that the bail-bond is execu- ted, the following dialogue took place, when the bond was prepared ---
Clerk .- The condition of this bond, Geraghty, is, that yon will keep the peace for seven years.
Geraghty,-(scratching his head.) For seven years!
Clerk .- Yes, for seven years; and to all her Majesty's subjects.
Geraghty .- To all her Majesty's subjects! Good God! What is that for?
Clerk .- Why, it seems to be a great hardship on you to keep thic peace.
Geraghty .- Is it to every one in Dublin?
Clerk .- Ay, and to cvery one in Ireland, too. Geraghty .- In all Ireland?
Clerk .- Yes; in England and Scotland, also.
Geraghty .- In England and Scotland! Oh! that is on account of the union, I suppose; bad luck to it!
Clerk .- And, likewise, in all her Majesty's do- minions.
Geraghty .- Is it at home and abroad?
Clerk .- Yes, certainly.
Geraghty .- Thin, certainly, by St. Patrick, I'll never sign it.
Pat was here reminded that if he did not con- form to the order of the Magistrates, he would be committed, on which he reluctantly took up his pen to make the mark to the bond, exclaiming at the same time, "Oh! boys, isn't this dreadful for nothing at all?"
When the bond was signed, Geraghty shrugged!
np his shoulders, saving to the Clerk, with an air of sarcastic triumph, " Well, sir, you have done yer best. Thank God, you can do no morc."
Clerk .- Oh! we don't want to do any more. You are now bound to keep the peace to all her Majesty's subjects.
Geraghty .- Looking at the clerk, while at the same time he was untying the whip across his shoulders,-" To keep the pace to all her Majes- ty's subjects! Och! then by the powers the first fellow I meet that is not her Majesty's subject, I'll make his head smoke."
Laving a Culprit.
The following jeu des mot is too good to be lost. The simplicity of the corporal appears to be bona. fide, and there is an air of vraisemblance and fact about the affair which make it like enough:
" Coloncl Wemyss, of the fortieth regiment, was remarkable for the studied pomposity of his diction. One day, observing that a careless man in the ranks had a particularly dirty face, which appeared not to have been washed for a twelve- montlı, he was exceedingly indignant at so gross a violation of military propriety. " Take him,' said he, to the corporal, who was an Irishman, ' take the man, and lave him in the waters of the Guadiana.' After some time the corporal re- turned. 'What have you done with the man İ sent with you?' inquired the colonel. Up flew the corporal's right hand across the peak of his cap: ' Sure and plase y'r honur, and didn't y'r hon- ur tell me to lave him in the river, and sure enough I left him in the river, and there he is now, according to y'r honnur's orders.' The by- standers, and even the colonel himself, could hardly repress a smile at the mistake of the cor- poral, who looked like innocence itself, and wondered what there could be to laugh at."
Narrow Escape.
It is impossible to read the incident narrated be- low, and believe in the doctrine of chance. It occurred in reference to the late Samnel Williams, once a distinguished broker in London, and who died not long since in Boston:
One dark, stormy night, while at sea, Mr. Williams left his berth below with an intention of repairing to the deck of the vessel. He as- çended the companion way, (place of entrance to, and egress from, the ship's cabin,) feeling his way along in utter darkness. The storm was howling, and every rope above him seemed strung to some strange nielody, while the spray was dashing wildly over the bows of the ship. Just as Mr. W. reached the deck, the darkness on one side seemed to thicken, and the noise of the water to come in more irregularly; suddenly ropes pas- sed over the head and along the breast of the as- tonished man. He seized them almost involun-
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tarily, anl held them with a convulsive grasp. An awful crash followed, and he was borne on- ward by the rigging ou which he had siezed, while the deck which had sustained his feet had sunk beneatlı him.
A larger vessel had run down his own, and he and perhaps another were saved as by a miracle to tell the story of destruction, for the larger ship went booming onward in her course, and not a cry was heard from the perishing men, nor was a remnant found of the shattered bark. All were
" In the deep bosom of the ocean buried."
Steamboat Isaac Shelby.
This is a beautiful and fast running boat in the Cincinnati and Frankfort trade, on which I made a trip last Friday to witness the Boone pageant of Saturday last. She is comparatively a new ·craft, with fine accommodations and gentleman- ly captain and clerk, Messrs. Clay and Harlan. As may be conjectured by the names of the offi- cers as well as the boat, it is an entire whole souled Kentucky concern. A pleasanter trip can hardly be made any where from Cincinnati than to Lexington or Harrodsburg via Frankfort, tto which city this boat takes passengers. I know no finer scenery than the Kentucky affords in .its bold and ever changing borders, following and corresponding with the graceful sweeping of its various bends. No man accustomed to for- ·est scenery, but must be struck with the fact that rin this respect, it has not had its equal on the globe as a range for the chase. Nor is there any spot to which I would direct a foreigner, in desi- · ring to impress him with a due sense of the fer- tility. and beauty of the west, than to that superb · country of which Lexington is the great centre.
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