USA > Pennsylvania > Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII > Part 85
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abundance of water.power to grist-mills, saw-mills, oil-mills, woollen factories, &c. Springs of pure water are abundant.
Several graded roads called turnpike, though not covered with broken stones, and hence called "clay pikes," cross the county in different directions.
Education receives considerable attention. There is an academy at the seat of justice, established in 1811, and endowed by the legislature with $2,000 and a tract of land. There are 20 school districts in the county, 19 of which reported that in these were 152 schools in opera- tion, in which 3,901 males, and 2,842 females were taught five months in the year 1845. A school tax of $5,593,86 were assessed, and the State appropriation was $3,257,21. The whole cost of instruction, $6,484,55.
The various religious persuasions are Presbyterians, Seceders, Ger- man Reformed, Lutherans, Universalists, Unionists, Covenanters ; but the Catholics are the most numerous.
BUTLER BOROUGH,* the seat of justice, on the Conequenessing creek,
* Mr. H. M. Breckenridge, in his " Recollections of the West," gives the following sketch of Butler, at an early day :- " On my arrival at Butler, there were a few log houses just raised, but not sufficiently completed to be occupied. It was not long before there were two taverns, a store, and a blacksmith's shop; it was then a town. The country around was a perfect wilderness, with the exception of a few scattered settlements. The business of the office requiring but little of iny time, and having an unbounded liberty. with a most exquisite relish for its enjoyment, no small portion of it was passed in wild and uncertain rambles through the romantic bills and valleys of But- ler. The mornings and evenings were devoted to study, but generally the day was sacred to liberty.
The first court held in Butler, drew the whole population to the town, some on account of business, some to make business, but the greater part from idle curiosity. They were at that time chiefly Irish, who had all the characteris- tics of the nation. A log cabin, just raised and covered, but without window sash, or doors, or daubing, was prepared for the hall of justice. A carpen- ter's bench, with three chairs upon it, was the judgment seat. The bar of Pittsburg attended ; and the presiding judge, a stiff, formal, and pedantic old bachelor, took his seat, supported by two associate judges, who were common farmers, one of whom was blind of an eye. The hall was barely sufficient to contain the bench, bar, jurors and constables. But few of the spectators could be accommodated on the lower floor, the only one yet laid ; many, there- fore, clambered up the walls, and placing their hands and feet in the open in- terstices between the logs, hung there, suspended like enormous Madagascar bats. Some had taken possession of the joists, and big John M'Junkin, (who until now had ruled at all public gathering;) had placed a foot ou one joist, and a foot on another, directly over the head's of their honors, standing like the Colossus of Rhodes. The judge's sense of propriety was shocked at this exhibition. The sheriff. John M'Candless, was called, and ordered to clear the walls and joists. He went to work with his assistants, and soon pulled down by the legs those who were in no very great haste to obey .- M'Junkin was the last, and began to growl as he prepared to descend. "What do you say, sir?" said the judge. "I say, I pay my taxes, and his as good a reete here as iny mon." "Sheriff, sheriff," said the judge, " bring him before the court." M'Junkin's ire was now up-as he reached the floor, he began to strike his breast, exclaiming, "My name is John M'Junkin, d'ye see-here's the brist that niver flunched, if so be it was in a goode caase. I'll stan iny mon a hitch in Butler county, if so be he'll clear me o' the la'." " Bring him before the court," said the judge. He was accordingly pinioned, and if not gaged, at least forced te be silent, while his case was under consideration .- Some of the lawyers volunteered as amici curia, some ventured a word of
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is situated in the bend thereof, on an eminence that commands an exten- sive and picturesque view of the surrounding country, "embracing roll- ing land, variegated with copse of woodland, country seats, verdant meadows, and the silvery waters of the creek meandering among them." The town contains the usual county buildings : a brick court house, a prison, an academy, and several well built churches-Presbyterian, Lutheran, Methodist, Episcopal, &c. The borough was incorporated February 26, 1817. Population in 1830, 580; in 1840, 861. On the creek there are several mills, and a salt works.
Harmony is on the south bank of Conequenessing creek, fourteen miles south-west of Butler ; and Zelienople, on the same creek, is about one mile south-west of Harmony, and was laid out about forty years ago, by Dr. Miller. It contains between forty-five and fifty-five houses, three hundred and twenty-five inhabitants, principally German, and mostly intelligent and enterprising. The soil around the village is fer- tile. Besides these, there are many other villages-Centreville, Harris- ville, Woodville, Murrinsville, Portersville, Prospect, Evansville, Sum- mersville, North Washington.
The residence of Massy Harbison, whose interesting adventures are inserted at large, was formerly at Salt Lick, a mile and a half north of Butler. The narrative is from the pen of Mr. John Winter.
apology for M'Junkin. The judge pronounced sentence of imprisonment for two hours in the jait of the county, and ordered the sheriff to take him into custody. The sheriff with much simplicity observed, "May it please the coorte, there is no jail at all at all to put him in." Here the judge took a learned distinction, upon which he expatiated at some length, for the benefit of the bar. He said there were two kinds of custody: first, safe custody ; secondly, close custody. The first is, where the body must be forthcoming 10 answer a demand, or an accusation, and in this case the body may be deliv- ered for the time being ont of the hands of the law, on bail or recognizance ; but where the imprisonment forms a part of the satisfaction or punishment, there can be no bail or mainprize. This is the reason of the common law, in relation to escapes under capias and satisfaciendum, and also why a ca. sa. cannot issue after the defendant has been once arrested and then discharged by the plaintiff. In like manner a man cannot be twice imprisoned for the same offence, even if he be released before the expiration of the term of im- prisonment. This is clearly a case of close custody-arcta custodia, and the prisoner must be confined, body and limb, without bail or mainprize, in some place of close incarceration." Here he was interrupted by the sheriff, who seemed to have hit upon a lucky thought. "May it please the coorte, I'm just thinken that may be I can take him till Bowen's pig pen-the pigs are kilt for the coorte, an it's empty." "You have heard the opinion of the court," said the judge, "proceed, sir; do your duty."
The sheriff accordingly retired with his prisoner, and drew after him three- fourths of the spectators and suitors, while the judge, thus relieved, proceeded to organize the court. But this was not the termination of the affair. Peace and order had hardly been restored, when the sheriff came rushing to the house, with a crowd at his heels, crying out, " Mr. Jidge, Mr. Jidge; may it please the coorte." "What is the matter, sheriff?" "Mr. Jidge. Mr. Jidge -John M'Junkin's got aff, d'ye mind." "What! escaped, sheriff? Summon the posse comitatus !" "The pusse, the pusse-why now I'll just tell ye how it happen'd. He was goin on quee-etly enough, till he got to the hazzle patch, an' all at once he pitched aff intit the bushes, an' I after him, but a lumb of a three kitched my fut, and I pitched three rad off, but I fell forit, and that's good luck, ye minte." The judge could not retain bis gravity ; the bar raised a laugh, and there the matter ended, after which the business proceeded qui- etly enough."
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APPENDIX-NO. XXXV.
Captivity of Mussy Harbison-Murder of her children-Her escape
Vicissitude is the characteristic feature of the present life. All are the subjects, in a greater or less degree, of the trials and the changes of life ; but although it is certain that there is a general allotment of trials in the present world, so that " every heart knoweth its own bitterness ;" yet it is but too evident that there are some of the human family who are called to pass through those which are infinitely more severe than others. Some seem to pass over the season of life, without encounter- ing those awfully agitating billows which threaten their immediate de- struction ; while to others, the passage to the tomb is fraught with awful tempests and overwhelming billows. Happy will it be for those who, after having sailed over the boisterous ocean of time, shall eventually be wafted, by a divine breeze, into the haven of eternal repose. 'That those trials, which were of a particular nature, and of an almost over- whelming magnitude, were endured by me, will appear by a recital of those sober facts,* (facts which are too notorious to be denied, and too peculiar to be counterfeited,) to which the attention of the reader is now invited.
On the return of my husband from Gen. St. Clair's defeat, mentioned in a preceding chapter, and on his recovery from the wound he received in the battle, he was made a spy, and ordered to the woods on duty, about the 22d of March, 1792. The appointment of spies to watch the movements of the savages, was so consonant with the desires and in- terests of the inhabitants, that the frontiers now resumed the appearance of quiet and confidence. 'Those who had for nearly a year been hud- - dled together in the block-house were scattered to their own habitations, and began the cultivation of their farms. The spies saw nothing to alarm them, or to induce them to apprehend danger, till the fatal morn- ing of my captivity. They repeatedly came to our house, to receive refreshments, and to lodge. On the 15th of May, my husband, with Capt. Guthrie and other spies, came home about dark, and wanted sup- per ; to procure which, I requested one of the spies to accompany me to the spring and spring-house, and William Maxwell complied with my request. While he was at the spring and spring house, we both dis- tinctly heard a sound, like the bleating of a lamb or fawn. This greatly alarmed us, and induced us to make a hasty retreat into the house .- Whether this was an Indian decoy, or a warning of what I was to pass through, I am unable to determine. But from this time and circum- stance, I became considerably alarmed, and entreated my husband to remove me to some more secure place from Indian cruelties. But Prov- idence had designed that I should become a victim to their rage, and that mercy should be made manifest in my deliverance.
On the night of the 21st of May, two of the spies, Mr. James Davis and Mr. Sutton, came to lodge at our house, and on the morning of the 22d, at day break, when the horn blew at the block house, which was
* To the principal facts related in this chapter, I was called on, by the pub- lic, to make oath, immediately after their occurrence, for the good of the country, an account of which may be found in most newspapers of the day, and in Loudon's selection of the most interesting Narratives of outrages committed by the Indians, &c .- Carlisle, 1808.
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within sight of our house, and distant about two hundred yards, the two men got up and went out : I was also awake, and saw the door open, and thought, when I was taken prisoner, that the scouts had left it open. I intended to rise immediately ; but having a child at the breast, and it being awakened, I lay with it at the breast to get it to sleep again, and accidentally fell asleep myself.
The spies have since informed me, that they returned to the house again, and found that I was sleeping ; that they softly fastened the door, and went immediately to the block house ; and those who examined the house after the scene was over, say that both doors had the appearance of being broken open.
The first thing I knew from falling asleep, was the Indians pulling me out of the bed by my feet. I then looked up, and saw the house full of Indians, every one having his gun in his left hand, and tomahawk in his right. Beholding the dangerous situation in which I was, I im- mediately jumped to the floor on my feet, with the young child in my arms. I then took a petticoat to put on, having only the one in which I slept ; but the Indians took it from me, and as many as I attempted to put on, they succeeded in taking from me, so that I had to go just as I had been in bed. While I was struggling with some of the savages for clothing, others of them went and took the children out of another bed, and immediately took the two feather beds to the door and emptied them. The savages immediately began their work of plunder and devastation. What they were unable to carry with them, they destroyed. While they were at their work, I made to the door, and succeeded in getting out, with one child in my arms, and another by my side; but the other little boy was so much displeased by being so early disturbed in the morning, that he would not come to the door.
When I got out, I saw Mr. Wolf, one of the soldiers, going to the spring for water, and beheld two or three of the savages attempting to get between him and the block house; but Mr. Wolf was unconscious of his danger, for the savages had not yet been discovered. I then gave a terrific scream, by which means Mr. Wolf discovered his danger, and started to run for the block house : seven or eight of the Indians fired at him, but the only injury he received was a bullet in his arm, which broke it. He succeeded in making his escape to the block house. When I raised the alarm, one of the Indians came up to me with his tomahawk, as though about to take my life ; a second came and placed his hand before my mouth, and told me to hush, when a third came with a lifted tomahawk, and attempted to give me a blow ; but the first that came raised his tomahawk and averted the blow, and claimed me as his squaw.
The Commissary, with his waiter, slept in the store-house, near the block-house. And upon hearing the report of the guns, came to the door to see what was the matter, and beholding the danger he was in, made his escape to the block-house, but not without being discoved by the Indians, several of whom fired at him, and one of the bullets went through his handkerchief, which was tied about his head, and took off some of his hair. The handkerchief, with several bullet holes in it, he afterwards gave to me.
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The waiter, on coming to the door, was met by the Indians, who fired upon him, and he received two bullets through the body, and fell dead by the door. The savages then set up one of their tremendous and terrifying yells, and pushed forward and attempted to scalp the man they had killed ; but they were prevented from executing their biaboli- cal purpose, by the heavy fire which was kept up through the port holes from the block-house.
In this scene of horror and alarm, I began to meditate an escape, and for that purpose I attempted to direct the attention of the Indians from me, and to fix it on the block-house, and thought if I could succeed in this, I would retreat to a subterranean rock with which I was acquainted, which was in the run near where we were. For this purpose, I began to converse with some of those who were near me respecting the strength of the block-house, the number of men in it, &c., and being informed that there were forty men there, and that they were excellent marksmen, they immediately came to the determination to retreat, and for this pur- pose they ran to those who were besieging the block-house, and brought them away. They then began to flog me with their wiping sticks, and to order me along. Thus what I intended as the means of my escape, was the means of accelerating my departure in the hands of the savages. But it was no doubt ordered by a kind Providence, for the preservation of the fort and the inhabitants in it; for when the savages gave up the attack and retreated, some of the men in the house had the last load of ammunition in their guns, and there was no possibility of procuring more, for it was all fastened up in the store- house, which was in- accessible.
The Indians, when they had flogged me away along with them, took my oldest boy, a lad about five years of age, along with them, for he was still at the door by my side. My middle little boy. who was about three years of age, had by this time obtained a situation by the fire in the house, and was crying bitterly to me not to go, and making bitter complaints of the depredations of the savages.
But these monsters were not willing to let the child remain behind them ; they took him by the hand to drag him along with them, but he was so very unwilling to go, and made such a noise by crying, that they took him up by his feet, and dashed his brains out against the threshhold of the door. 'They then scalped and stabbed him, and left him for dead, When I witnessed this inhuman butchery of my own child, I gave a most indescribable and terrific scream, and felt a dimness come over my eyes, next to blindness, and my senses were nearly gone. The savages then gave me a blow across my head and face, and brought me to my sight and recollection again. During the whole of this agonizing scene I kept my infant in my arms.
As soon as their murder was effected, they marched me along to the top of the bank, about forty or sixty rods, and there they stopped and divided the plunder which they had taken from our house, and here I counted their number, and found them to be thirty-two, two of whom where white men, painted as Indians.
Several of the Indians could speak English well. I knew seve- ral of them well, having seen them go up and down the Allegheny [374 ]
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river. I knew two of them to be from the Seneca tribe of Indians, and two of them Munsees ; for they had called at the shop to get their guns repaired, and I saw them there.
We went from this place about forty rods, and they then caught my uncle John Currie's horses, and two of them into whose custody I was put, started with me on the horses towards the mouth of the Kiskimine- tas, and the rest of them went off towards Puckety. When they came to the bank that descended towards the Allegheny, the bank was so very steep, and there appeared so much danger in descending it on horse-back, that I threw myself off the horse in opposition to the will and command of the savages.
My horse descended without falling, but the one on which the Indian rode who had my little boy, in descending, fell, and rolled over repeat- edly ; and my little boy fell back over the horse, but was not materially injured ; he was taken up by one of the Indians, and we got to the bank of the river, where they had secreted some bark canoes under the rocks, opposite to the island that lies between the Kiskiminetas and Buffalo .- They attempted in vain to make the horses take the river. After trying for some time to effect this, they left the horses behind them, and took us in one of the canoes to the point of the island, and there they left the canoe.
Here I beheld another hard scene, for as soon as we landed, my little boy who was still mourning and lamenting about his little brother, and who complained that he was injured by the fall, in desceuding the bank, was murdered.
One of the Indians ordered me along, probably that I should not see the horrid deed about to be perpetrated. The other, then took his toma- hawk from his side, and with this instrument of death, killed and scalped him. When I beheld this second scene of inhuman butchery, I fell to the ground senseless, with my infant in my arms, it being under, and its little hands in the hair of my head. How long I remained in this state of insensibility, I know not.
The first thing I remember was my raising my head from the ground, and my feeling myself exceedingly overcome with sleep. I cast my eyes around and saw the scalp of my dear little boy, fresh bleeding from his head, in the hand of one of the savages, and sunk down to the earth again, upon my infant child. The first thing I remember after witness- ing this spectacle of wo, was the severe blows I was receiving from the hands of the savages, though at that time I was unconscious of the in- jury I was sustaining. After a severe castigation they assisted me in getting up, and supported me when up.
Here I cannot help contemplating the peculiar interposition of Divine Providence in my behalf. How easily might they have murdered me ! What a wonder their cruelty did not lead them to effect it! But instead of this, the scalp of my boy was hid from my view, and in order to bring me to my senses again, they took me back to the river, and led me in knee deep ; this had its intended effect. But " the tender mer- cies of the wicked are cruel."
We now proceeded on our journey, by crossing the island, and com- ing to a shallow place where we could wade out, and so arrive to the In-
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dian side of the country. Here they pushed me in the river before them, and had to conduct me through it. The water was up to my breast, but I suspended my child above the water, and through the as- sistance of the savages, got safely out.
From thence we rapidly proceeded forward, and came to big Buffalo ; here the stream was very rapid, and the Indians had again to assist me. When we had crossed this creek, we made a straight course to the Con- nequenessing creek, the very place where Butler now stands; and from thence we travelled five or six miles to Little Buffalo, and crossed it at the very place where Mr. B. Sarver's mill now stands, and ascended the hill.
I now felt weary of my life, and had a full determination to make the savages kill me, thinking that death would be exceedingly welcome, when compared to the fatigue, cruelties and miseries I had the prospect of enduring. To have my purpose effected, I stood still, one of the savages being before mne, and the other walking on behind me, and I took from off my shoulder a large powder-horn they made me carry, in addition to my child, who was one year and four days old. I threw the horn on the ground, closed my eyes, and expected every moment to feel the deadly tomahawk. But to my surprise, the Indians took it up, cursed me bitterly, and put it on my shoulder again. I took it off the second time, and threw it on the ground ; and again closed my eyes, with the assurance that I should meet death ; but instead of this, the savages again took up the horn, and with an indignant frightful counte- nance, came and placed it on again. I took it off the third time, and was determined to effect it, and therefore threw it, as far as I was able from me, over the rocks. The savage immediately went after it, while the one who had claimed me as his squaw, and who had stood and witnessed the transaction, came up to me, and said " well done, I did right and was a good squaw, and that the other was a lazy son of a b-h ; he might carry it himself." I cannot now sufficiently admire the indulgent care of a gracious God, that, at this moment preserved me amidst so many temptations, from the tomahawk and scalping knife.
The savages now changed their position, and the one who claimed me as his squaw, went behind. This movement, I believe, was to pre - vent the other from doing me any injury ; and we went on till we struck the Conequenessing, at the Salt-Lick, about two miles above Butler, where was an Indian camp, where we arrived a little before dark, having no refreshment during the day.
The camp was made of stakes driven in the ground sloping, and covered with chestnut bark ; and appeared sufficiently long for fifty men. The camp appeared to have been occupied for some time ; it was very much beaten, and large beaten paths went out from it in different directions.
That night they took me about three hundred yards from the camp, up a run, into a large dark bottom, where they cut the brush in a thicket, and placed a blanket on the ground, and permitted me to sit down with my child. They then pinioned my arms back, only, with a little liberty, so that it was with difficulty that I managed my child. Here, in this dreary situation, without fire or refreshment, having an infant to
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take care of, and my arms bound behind me, and having a savage on each side of me, who had killed two of my dear children that day, I had to pass the first night of my captivity.
Ye mothers, who have never lost a child by an inhuman savage, or endured the almost indiscribable misery here related, may nevertheless think a little, (though it be but little) what I endured ; and hence now you are enjoying sweet repose, and the comforts of a peaceful and well replenished habitation, sympathize with me a little, as one, who was a pioneer in the work of cultivation and civilization.
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