USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 7
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Yankees were worsted, and deemed it prudent to retire to Kingston.
Patterson and forty others were now indicted by the grand jury of Northumberland county, and Sheriff Antis was sent to arrest them. But Patterson and his asso- ciates saved themselves from arrest behind their threat- ening ramparts, and the sheriff was compelled to return without them. On the very day the sheriff attempted this arrest, Major Moore, who was returning from North- ampton county, where he had secured a number of recruits for the Pennsylvania cause, was met by Captain John Swift, at the head of thirty men, on Locust Hill. A conflict ensued. Jacob Everett, one of Moore's men, was killed, and several were wounded on both sides. Moore retired to Easton, while Swift marched back to Kingston.
The next movement in this unhappy struggle was the appointment of Colonel John Armstrong, in conjunction with Hon. John Boyd, Commissioners, to restore peace to Wyoming. Boyd was a member, and Armstrong was the secretary, of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsyl- vania. This Colonel Armstrong was the author of the Newburg Letters, had been minister to Spain and France, and was secretary of war in 1812, under the administra- tion of President Madison. The commissioners arrived in the valley on the 8th of August, 1784. Three hun- dred infantry and fifteen horsemen were ordered to be placed at their disposal. They issued their proclamation declaring peace and good-will. They demanded a cessa- tion of strife, and the surrender of arms by both parties. The Yankees were fearful of treachery, and hesitated to accept the proffered mediation of the commissioners. But Armstrong pledged his honor as a man and as a soldier to respect his engagements, and make good his promises.
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The Yankees believed and laid down their arms, when they were immediately arrested. Captain Swift's company of men, who had defeated Moore at Locust Hill, were bound with cords and handcuffed. In this condition they were marched away to Easton jail.# Forty-two others were bound and sent to jail at Sunbury. Patterson's men were not disarmed. Armstrong then returned to Phila- delphia covered with infamy.
The Sunbury prisoners were released on bail. The Easton prisoners procured their liberty through Edward Inman, a man of great physical strength, who knocked down the jailor, seized the keys, and liberated himself and comrades. Fifteen of them escaped to Wyoming, but eleven were taken and confined in jail three months. An attempt was then made to indict them for the murder of Jacob Everett, who, as before stated, was killed at Locust Hill. The attempt, however, proved a failure, for the grand jury ignored the bill. No bills were found in Northumberland county against the prisoners sent thither by Armstrong. On the other hand, Patterson and Moore were both indicted, which shows that the people generally through Pennsylvania sympathized with the Connecticut settlers in their sufferings.
In September, Armstrong returned to the valley with fifty men and arrested Franklin, Pierce, and Johnson, for treason, but they were never convicted. On the 29th of the same month, the Yankees, under Captain Swift, attacked a house which Patterson occupied as head- quarters. They set the building on fire, and two of his associates, Henderson and Read, in attempting to escape to the fort, were shot down. Captain Swift was severely wounded, but his loss did not in the least abate the ardor
* For names of these prisoners, see Appendix, C.
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and efforts of his men, who spiritedly invested the Penna- mite garrison. In this conflict, Franklin was wounded in the wrist, Nathan Stevens was shot in the eye and died instantly, William Smith and one or two others were also killed, and finally, the Yankees were compelled to abandon the siege.
By the constitution of Pennsylvania, established after the colonies had declared themselves free and independent states, in addition to the Supreme Executive Council and the House of Representatives, there existed a Council of Censors who assembled once in seven years. This body was elected by the people, and had power to send for persons and papers, and to examine into all questions respecting the rights of the people and the administration of justice, &c. After an examination, by the censors, of the Wyoming difficulties, and after the refusal of the House of Representatives to furnish certain papers, in the autumn of 1784, they issued a declaration enumerating the wrongs committed against the Connecticut settlers. and severely censuring the Supreme Executive Council and the House of Representatives. These bodies, how- ever, disregarded the reproof of the censors, and prosecu- ted the unholy war. Armstrong was promoted to the position of a general, and at the head of one hundred armed men, on the 17th of October, 1784, again entered the valley. The day following, he attacked the Yankees, who had fortified themselves in four log-houses, placed in the form of a diamond, situated above Forty Fort. The contest lasted one hour, when Armstrong was compelled to retreat, having lost Captain Bolin, and having had three or four severely wounded. On the side of the Yankees, William Jackson was dangerously wounded, and as he Jay bleeding, Captain Franklin seized his friend's bloody rifle and swore he would never lay down his arms until
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death should arrest his hand, or Patterson and Armstrong should be expelled from Wyoming. The next day, Arm- strong sent thirty of his men to gather the buckwheat on the Kingston flats, but the Yankees, stealthily encircling the workmen, carried away the grain, amounting to about one hundred bushels.
At this juncture, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act restoring the dispossessed Yankees to their lands, and recalling Armstrong and Patterson with the forces under their command. This was temporary relief. The settlers at once set about the appointment of committees, to organize the militia, to provide for the punishment of offenders, &c. Franklin was elected colonel of the troops. A petition, signed by ninety-six men and women, setting forth their grievances and sufferings, and praying to be permitted to elect their own officers and to be protected in their rights, was sent to the Assembly at Philadelphia. John Jenkins was appointed to wait on the Assembly, and to secure the passage of a law for the final settlement of matters in dispute, and for the permanent establish- ment of the rights of the Connecticut settlers. These efforts proving of no avail, Franklin waited upon the session of Congress, and upon the Assembly of Comecti- cut, and endeavored to interest them in the wretched fate of the Wyoming people. He also made a bold effort to revive the slumbering energies of the Susquehanna Company, which, like Connecticut, had been stunned by the Trenton decree. In this he succeeded. In July, 1785, the Company met and reaffirmed its rights in these disputed lands; land was voted to recruits, called half- share rights; committees were appointed, and extensive preparations were made. Franklin returned to Wyoming, held meetings, and addressed the people in the several townships, in regard to a new plan which had been settled
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upon. It remained for the people to carry it out. It had been determined to form a new state out of Northern Pennsylvania. The disputed territory was to be dismem- bered, and down-trodden Wyoming was to be set free from the thralldom of Pennsylvania. Wise heads at Philadelphia saw the gathering storm, and on the 24th of December following the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an " Act for quieting disturbances at Wyoming and pardoning certain offenders." This law required the Yan- kees to give bail for their good behavior, but gave them no security in return. It was consequently disregarded. In July, 1786, the Susquehanna Company held another meeting in Connecticut, and Colonel Franklin, Major Jen- kins, and General Ethan Allen, Colonel Butler and others, were appointed a committee to locate townships, to decide upon claims, &c. The ball set in motion by the bold and fearless Franklin was now being rolled onward by such men as Oliver Walcott, Joel Barlow, and General Ethan Allen, the hero of Ticonderoga. Stout hearts and heroes, who had braved the tempest of battle during the revolu- tion, and who sympathized with the widows and orphans of their comrades in their sufferings and wrongs, were gathering at Wyoming, and the result could not be mistaken. The authorities of Pennsylvania saw at once that the infamous policy which they had pursued was fast leading to a dismemberment of the state, and that the time had arrived for other and prompt measures. A division in the ranks of the Yankees was determined upon, and the question arose, Who can accomplish it ?
Timothy Pickering, a native of Massachusetts, and a man of distinguished ability, was at this time engaged in the practice of law in the city of Philadelphia. He was requested to visit Wyoming, and examine into the condi- tion of affairs there. This he did in August and Septem-
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ber, 1786, and returning to Philadelphia, reported " that the Yankees were entirely satisfied with the constitution of Pennsylvania, and were ready to submit to its govern- ment, provided they could be quieted in the possession of their farms." A few days after this report, September 25th, 1786, the Act creating the county of Luzerne passed the Assembly, and Matthias Hollenback, Timothy Picker- ing, and others, were commissioned justices, with power to hold courts, &c. Pickering was also appointed protho- nothary, clerk of the court, and register and recorder. Lord Butler was commissioned high sheriff.
On the 27th of December following this event, the Susquehanna Company held a meeting at the State House, in Hartford, Conn., when measures were adopted preparatory to the organization of the new state. An executive committee of twenty-one persons, among whom appear the names of Oliver Walcott, Joel Barlow, Zebulon Butler, John Franklin, and John Jenkins, was appointed with full powers to organize the government. On the same day, at Philadelphia, the Assembly of Pennsylvania passed a supplement to the Act creating Luzerne county, by which Timothy Pickering, Zebulon Butler, and John Franklin, were appointed to notify the electors of Luzerne county, that an election would be held there on the first day of February, 1787, for the election of one supreme councillor, one member of the House of Representatives, and a high sheriff. Thus, Pennsylvania succeeded in dividing the Yankees, and now they were no longer one people united against a common enemy. As the first day of February approached the breach widened, and on the morning of the election, "for the first time," says Miner, "was presented the spectacle, equally gratifying to foes and painful to friends, of open and decided hostility among the Wyoming people. Colonel Butler, Colonel
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Denison, the Hollenbacks, the Rosses, the families of Gore, Carey, Nesbit, and others, were in favor of the election, while Franklin, the Jenkinses, the Slocums, Satterlies, Dudleys, and others, opposed it." The former were ready and willing to swear allegiance to Pennsyl- vania, and trust to her honor for a confirmation of their titles, and for the security of their homes; but Franklin and his adherents, remembering Pennsylvania's oft re- peated and plighted vows, and the outrages of Armstrong and Patterson, would not trust her without security. Confirm us in our titles, and protect us in our posses- sions, said they, and then we will swear allegiance, but not till then. The election was held, but not without riot and confusion. Colonel Nathan Denison was chosen a member of the Executive Council, John Franklin was elected to the House of Representatives, and Lord Butler to the office of high sheriff of the county. It was under- stood if Franklin could be reconciled, the new state pro- ject would be seriously damaged. It was consequently a prime object to seduce him from his former connections. With this view he had been appointed with Pickering and Butler to give notice of the election, and it was with this view he had been elected a member of the Pennsyl- vania Assembly. It was doubtless intended as an exqui- site stroke of political management. It was a cunningly- spread net, in which most men would have been caught. But Franklin was not so to be taken, for he stubbornly adhered to his first position, refusing to take a seat in the Assembly or the oath of allegiance.
The settlers who had united with Pennsylvania, and who recognised Pickering as their leader, denounced Franklin and his associates as "Wild Yankees," prose- cuting a project which would involve them in endless war. On the other hand, Franklin and his adherents
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proclaimed them as traitors, who had gone over to the enemy, and against whose treachery they, even now, had not the slightest guarantee.
On the 28th of March following the election, the As- sembly of Pennsylvania, seeing that all efforts to recon- cile the " Wild Yankees" had failed, passed the Confirming Law, under which Timothy Pickering, Joseph Montgo- mery, and Peter Muhlenberg were appointed commis- sioners, to sit at Wilkesbarre, to hear and decide claims. Both parties now agreed to hold a general mass meeting of all the settlers at Forty Fort, and to discuss the merits of the late Act of Assembly. A stand was erected, and Samuel Sutton was chosen chairman. Timothy Picker- ing opened the discussion by a lengthy and persuasive argument in favor of the law. He declared that Penn- sylvania was honest and sincere, and pledged his honor as security for her good faith. Stephen Gardner, half doubting, said, " Your lips speak fair, but oh ! that there was a window in that breast that we might see and read your heart."
Major John Jenkins replied to Pickering, " What gua- rantee have we that Pennsylvania will keep her plighted faith ? She has forfeited her honor time and again. If we accept the provisions of this law, when she finds we are tied hand and foot she will repeal it, and leave us without hope."
John Franklin now followed in a powerful and sarcastic speech. He denounced, in the most bitter and irritating language, the conduct of Pennsylvania, as well as of those who had taken part with Pickering. The pent-up emo- tions of the excited assembly could no longer be re- strained-a fight ensued, clubs were cut and used, and for a moment serious consequences were imminent. When
THE NEW YORK QUE LIC LIBRARY
ASTOR _ ENO SLOAN OUNLAT OSS
CAPTURE OF FRANKLIN.
In front of PICKERING'S house, the present residence of Gen. WM. S. Ross. The westerly end of the house was then occupied by Mr. PICKERING, and he himself was afterwards arrested while in bed in the lower front room.
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order was partially restored a vote was taken, when it was decided to accept the law.
The commissioners appointed under this law now opened their court, and decided upon a number of claims; but, being threatened with violence, they adjourned in the month of August.
A constitution for the new state, which the Susque- hanna Company had proposed to form, having been drawn up by Oliver Walcott, and the officers having been decided upon, General Ethan Allen, in September, arrived in the valley. He found the. Connecticut people divided, and he set himself at work to unite them. Among other things he declared he had made one new state, and that with one hundred Green Mountain boys, and two hun- dred riflemen, he could make another in spite of Penn- sylvania. The bold Franklin was indefatigable in his efforts. He addressed the people in Kingston, Hanover, Newport, Pittston, &c., but all in vain. A union was not to be perfected, and Allen returned to New England.
Soon after Allen's departure, Pickering and his adhe- rents resolved to arrest Franklin for high treason. A writ was issued by Chief Justice Mckean, and placed in the hands of four resolute men, non-residents of Luzerne county. About the close of September, Franklin came to Wilkesbarre, and, says Mr. Miner, " As he stood by Mr. Yarrington's, near the Ferry, about two o'clock in the afternoon, a person whom he knew came up and said, ' a friend at the red house wished to speak to him.' Un- conscious of danger he walked down, when suddenly he was seized behind, and an attempt made to pinion his arms. By powerful efforts he shook himself loose; was again seized ; but by the most vigorous exertions kept his opponents from their purpose, till a noose was thrown over his head, and his arms confined -- the power of all
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four being requisite to tie him. To get him on horse- back was the next object. Colonel Franklin now cried out : 'Help, help! William Slocum ! Where is William Slocum ?' and drawing his pistols, for he went armed, discharged one of them without effect, when a heavy blow struck him for a moment almost senseless, and covered his face with blood. The hour had been judiciously selected-in the midst of seeding time. William Slocum, with nearly all the male population, were at work in distant fields sowing grain. But the spirit of the good Quaker mother was roused. Her Yankee blood was up. A lovely and amiable woman she was, but for the moment she thought of nothing but the release of Franklin. Mrs. Slocum seized the gun, and running to the door, 'Wil- liam,' she cried, 'who will call William? Is there no man here ? Will nobody rescue him ?'"
From the river bank Captain Erbe had got his prisoner into the main street, near Colonel Pickering's; but with tremendous power, in despite of his four captors, Franklin threw himself from the horse, as often as placed on him, when Colonel Pickering was obliged to come from behind the curtain, and decisively to interpose. Accompanied by his servant, William A. George, he ran to the door armed with a loaded pistol, which he held to Franklin's breast, while George tied his legs under the horse, and bound him to one of his captors.
Colonel Pickering says, "The four gentlemen seized him-two of their horses were in my stable, which were sent to them ; but soon my servant returned on one of them with a message from the gentlemen that the people were assembling in numbers, and requested me to come with what men were near me, to prevent a rescue. I took loaded vistols in my hands, and went with another ser vant to their aid. Just as I met them, Franklin threw
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himself off his horse, and renewed his struggle with them. His hair was disheveled and face bloody with preceding efforts. I told the gentlemen they would never carry him off unless his feet were tied under his horse's belly. I sent for a cord. The gentlemen remounted him, and my servant tied his feet. Then one taking his bridle, another following behind, and the others riding one on each side, they whipped up his horse, and were soon beyond the reach of his friends. Thus subdued by six, he was hur- ried with painful speed to the jail at Philadelphia."
News of the arrest and abduction of Franklin spread rapidly through the valley, and his friends in retaliation determined to seize Pickering and hold him as a hostage until the release of Franklin. The attempt was made, but through the intervention of Colonel Zebulon Butler he was permitted to escape to Philadelphia. Soon after his arrival there, in October, a meeting of the Pennsyl- vania claimants was convened. In relation to this meet- ing Pickering says, "I was advised of a meeting of the Pennsylvania claimants, and requested to be present. The number did not exceed ten or twelve. The Rev. Dr. Ewing, an elderly Presbyterian gentleman, and provost of the state university, was one of the number, and the most zealous for petitioning the Legislature, then in ses- sion, to repeal the Confirming Law. The gentlemen in general appeared to be opposed to that step, and some of them observed that the faith of the state being pledged, its honor required an adherence to the promises of the Confirming Law. 'What do I care for the honor of the state ? I want my money!' was the shameless reply of the reverend gentleman."
The Rev. Dr. Smith, who had also been connected with the University, and was a distinguished minister in the Protestant Episcopal Church, was a member of this meet- ing, and, like Dr. Ewing, held a small claim in Wyoming.
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Through the influence of these two men the Confirming Law was repealed.
" I believe," says Pickering, " but for these two reve- rend gentlemen teasing and intriguing with members of the Legislature, the Confirming Law might have been car- ried into execution."
Thus we find the idea of forming a new state has been abandoned, the Susquehanna company is paralyzed, and Franklin is wasting away in a gloomy prison. The Con- firming Law has been repealed, and the honor of Pennsyl- vania is forfeited. The prophetic words of John Jenkins have been realized, and the faith of the Commonwealth, as well as the interests of the settlers, has been sacrificed. to the intrigues of land-jobbing priests.
Pickering returned to Wyoming in January, 1788. On the night of the 26th of June following, being in bed in the house* now owned and occupied by General W. S. Ross, Wilkesbarre, he was seized by Franklin's friends, and conveyed up the river into what is now Wyoming county. Here he was kept prisoner, wandering from place to place through the woods, with a chain about his body by which he was secured to a tree during the night. Sheriff Butler, with four companies of militia, made pursuit in order to effect a rescue. A conflict between the opposing parties ensued at Meshoppen. The sheriff's party soon exhibited their superiority, and the Wild Yankees with Pickering fled into deeper and less frequented shades of the wilderness. Captain William Ross, who commanded one of the sheriff's companies, was severely wounded, and Gideon Dudley, who commanded the Yankees, was wounded in the wrist. Another engagement took place between the Yankees and a company of the sheriff's force, under the command of
* It was in front of this house that John Franklin was captured by Pickering and his men.
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Captain Roswell Franklin, near Wysox, and Joseph Dud- ley, one of the Yankees, was mortally wounded.
The object of Pickering's capture was to procure from him a letter to the state authorities asking for Franklin's release. This Pickering steadily refused to do, when he was, at length, released by his captors. He returned to Wilkesbarre after a captivity of twenty days.
Fruitless efforts were made for Franklin's release. Two thousand pounds bail were demanded, and he had offered a number of the Wyoming settlers as bailors, but they were contemptuously refused. He was told no ten of these settlers were worth two hundred pounds, much less two thousand, and that the whole of them were a pack of thieves, &c., &c.
In November, 1788, a court was ordered to be held at Wilkesbarre for the trial of Franklin and the rioters. Chief Justice Mckean presided, assisted by his honor Jacob Rush. Franklin was brought up from Philadel- phia, after thirteen long months of imprisonment. His strong frame was bowed and weakened by disease. He was charged with high treason, and the grand jury found a true bill. The trial was then postponed, and never afterwards called up. Franklin was admitted to bail.
Twenty-five persons engaged in the capture of Picker- ing were indicted, and a number fined or imprisoned, but from policy the sentence of the court was not fully car- ried into effect.
Thus were the "Wild Yankees" subjugated, and the authority of Pennsylvania was established, chiefly through the influence of Colonel Pickering, a man of consummate tact and ability.
The attempt to establish a new state out of Northern Pennsylvania, if not nipped in the bud, would have led to deplorable consequences. All the wild spirits of New
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England would have flocked to Allen's standard, and the people of Pennsylvania, being now justly aroused and indignant, would have put forth all the energies of the Commonwealth to crush the efforts to dismember their territory. A violent and bloody civil war, of indefinite magnitude and of indefinite length, would have followed, and would possibly have involved the Union in its confla- gration. The promptness, skill, and foresight of Picker- ing and others averted this calamity.
The Legislature of Pennsylvania, between the years 1788 and 1800, enacted several laws relative to the Wyoming claims and difficulties. But the most import- ant was undoubtedly the Compromising Law of 1799.
By this act compensation was offered to Pennsylvania claimants, and by it, with the several supplements thereto, the dispute was finally settled. As under former laws, so by this, commissioners were appointed to meet at Wyoming to hold their courts and determine disputes. If it appeared that the Connecticut claimant was an actual settler on the land before the Trenton decree, and that said tract was particularly assigned to said settler before said decree, according to the rules and regulations then in force among the settlers, then a certificate issued to the Connecticut claimant, upon which he received a patent from the land office, by paying into the treasury two dollars per acre for lands of the first class, one dollar and twenty cents for lands of the second class, fifty cents for lands of the third class, and eight and one-third cents for lands of the fourth class.
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