USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 27
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# Col. Wright's Sketches of Plymouth.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
Constant activity was required to defend the settlers from the attacks of the savages, or pursue the retreating bands who, stealthily entering the valley, had struck a blow in some unexpected quarter and retreated with the fleetness of the wind. In the Sullivan campaign he was captain of the Wyoming volunteers, and in the attack of Gen. Hand on Chemung-or, as the old soldiers frequently called it, " Hog- back Hill"-was severely wounded in the shoulder, which, of course, prevented any further participation in the cam- paign. Until the close of the war he was in command of the militia, who did most of the active military service in the valley.
As a justice, his decisions were usually final. Indeed, most of the cases brought before him for adjudication were comparatively trivial. Mr. Miner has preserved some of the records of Franklin's justice's court, two of which are the following: Aug. 19, 1780, - -, of Westmore- land, found guilty of playing cards ; therefore, ordered that he pay a fine to the treasury of the town of Westmoreland of ten shillings, lawful money, with costs. The other, a party was accused of secreting goods, when the justice put him under oath, and condemned him on his own testimony to pay a fine and restore the goods.
Besides, we find Capt. Franklin one of the justices of the quorum, frequently the moderator of the town-meeting, ap- pointed on the most responsible committees, and at the same time engaged in his farming, enjoying a hunt, in short, occupied in the multifarious business which the situation required.
After the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania over the Susque- hanna company's purebase had been affirmed by the Trenton decree, contrary to all expectation, the government, instead of confirming the settlers in their possessions, declared that nothing could be done to interfere with the claims of those holding Pennsylvania title, and instead of quiet, the New England people were given to understand that they must purchase their land at the land-holders' own prices. In the contests which have been detailed in another chapter, Capt. Franklin took the lead.
When the people began to realize the difficulties of their situation, an association was formed for the purpose of pur- chasing a large tract of land in the State of New York, and Capt. Franklin was sent out on an exploring expedition. He was absent from the 15th of May to the 7th of June, exploring the valley from Oquago up the Chenango, but for some reason the purchase was never consummated. Several parties, as Lieut. Roswell Franklin, the Gores,* and some others who were subsequently settlers in this county, went up there, but came back the same season. Franklin returned, determined to resist every act by which an attempt should be made to wrest from the settler his claim to the lands which were bought with the blood of his kindred. The struggle which ensued need not here be repeated. The
various histories of Wyoming are filled with the details, and the public papers of this period, published in the Penn- sylvania Archives, are minute in their delineations.
In 1784, Hon. John Boyd, John Armstrong, Jr., James Reed, and John Okely were appointed a commission to visit Wyoming and make inquiry into the claims and com- plaints of the Connecticut people. One evening it was alleged that an assault was made upon the house where they were lodged, and forthwith John Armstrong, the sec- retary of the Commonwealth, issued an order to Sheriff Antes to raise a posse and arrest John Swift, John Franklin, Elisha Satterlee, and fifteen others for riot; but they never were brought to trial.
In the various conferences which were held with com- missioners and other officials, in writing letters, in visiting various parts of the Wyoming settlements, in cireulating petitions, pleading the cause of the Connecticut people be- fore the supreme executive council and the legislature of Pennsylvania, Franklin was constantly busy, and ever true to the people whom he represented and for whom he spoke, challenging not only the unqualified confidence of the settlers, but calling forth the bitterest epithets from the partisans of the Pennsylvania land-holders. In a brief sketch like this, . it will be impossible to go into the details of all the move- ments of each party in this long and bitter conflict ; but it may be set down as a fact, that whenever the rights of the Connecticut people were assailed, he ever stood ready for their defense, whether it was against the overbearing and haughty Patterson, or the treacherous Armstrong.
In nothing was Col. Franklin more distinguished than in his wonderful versatility in devising means for the ac- complishment of his purposes. When it became evident that the legislature of Pennsylvania was controlled by the land-holders, the first scheme was to secure a court in which the private right to the soil could be tried. Failing in this, the next movement was to interest the Connectieut govern- ment in behalf of the suffering settlers ; but in this the gov- ernment declined to use anything but the moral influence of its opinions on the executive council of the commonwealth. Next was the new State plan, in which it was intended, through the aid of the Susquehanna company and the sym- pathy felt for the New England people at Wyoming, to bring on a sufficient force to wrest the territory from the grasp of the commonwealth. It must be remembered that at this time we were under the old confederation, which, in time of peace, hardly bound the States to anything, and left each State to take care of its own interests as best it might, and maintain its own territorial integrity by its own force.
While this new State scheme was pending, the Pennsyl- vania legislature, in connection with the Land-holders' Asso- eiation, proposed to erect the Wyoming settlements into a new county, and quiet the old settlers in their possessions ; and Timothy Pickering was sent to carry into effect the measures. Franklin was willing to enter into the arrange- ment, provided if, instead of requiring their submission to Pennsylvania first and confirming their titles afterwards, the titles should be confirmed first, and the half-share men should be provided for. The propositions of Franklin were directly opposed to the schemes of Pickering and his friends.
* " Mr. Gore, of this Place, who had been sent some time ago to the Assembly of the state of New York with a Petition for a Grant of Land thirty miles Miles Square at Aghquague on this Side of the Lake near the Head of the River Susquahannah, returned last Night and brought the News that the Petition of the Wyoming Settlers had been granted, and that he was going up & chuse the Place."-Capt. Shrawder to Pres. Dickinson, March 29, 1783.
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
In order to test the general sentiment of the people, a meet- ing was called to decide whether they would accept of Col. Pickering's propositions or not. Pickering opened the dis- cussion. In a set speech-and he was a good talker-he portrayed the advantages of the proposed plan, the honesty of the intentions of the legislature, the folly of arraying themselves against so powerful a State, and urged them to seize the present opportunity to avail themselves of the generosity of the State and of the land-holders. The old settlers, many of them, caught at the hope thus held out to them, and if they could be secured in their homes were willing to accept the conditions on which they were offered. Here, as everywhere, Col. Franklin represented the half- share men and the company. His speech is spoken of as one of marvelous power. He held in his memory the whole story of the sufferings of the Yankees. How had Pennsylvania ever befriended Wyoming? When they were threatened by savages, she lent them no aid ; when fathers and husbands were slain, she gave them the poor consolation by express- ing the hope they would not again attempt to occupy Wyo- ming; in every proposition for compromise she had been partisan against them, and even then failed to carry into effect the promises which she had made. As he went on to delineate the brutality of the soldiers sent for their sub- jugation, the frauds which had been practiced by Pennsyl- vania officials, every eye was upon him, and every heart beat in sympathy with him. Pickering and his friends, to divert attention, brought on a disturbance in the meeting, and a vote taken was decided to have been in favor of the State scheme. Mr. Miner thinks Col. Franklin was not eloquent. But if eloquence is the art of persuasion, Col. Franklin certainly could not have been wanting. It is said when the hearers of the great Roman orator listened to his carefully-wrought and highly-polished orations, they went away saying, " What a great orator Cicero is!" but when they went from hearing Demosthenes, they said, "Let us fight Philip." Col. Franklin's hearers went saying, " We will have nothing to do with Pennsylvania; we abhor her treachery, we despise her fickleness."
In Timothy Pickering Col. Franklin found a " foeman worthy of his steel." Co-operating with him were some of the leading names in Wyoming,-the Hollenbacks, Butlers, Denisons, and the like; but Franklin bent all his won- derful energy to unite the people against the new county scheme. For two months he was engaged night and day. Riding up and down the valley, visiting from house to house, talking to little knots and gatherings of the people, writing letters to the prominent men of eastern New York and of New England, making frequent trips eastward, he was using all his energy and all his powerful influence in opposition to Pickering and his supporters. Matters were becoming desperate. The plan of Pickering to divide the Wyoming settlers was likely to come to naught, and his efforts to bring a portion of them into acquiescence with his project to be frustrated. Some decisive action must be taken. On his representation of the state of affairs at Wyoming to the supreme executive council, Charles Biddle, acting president, writes to Pickering, under date of Sept. 1, 1787, “ Under- standing that John Franklin is at the head of this opposi- tion, we have thought it necessary to send a warrant to
apprehend him." The warrant was issued by Chief-Justice M'Kean, and on the 26th of September the council com- manded Col. John Craig to take what force was deemed necessary, proceed to Wyoming, and there apprehend John Franklin, John Jenkins, Zera Beach, and John Mckinstry, and bring them to Philadelphia. He was specially cautioned, " If you take Franklin at Wilkes-Barre do not proceed any farther, or run no risk of losing him by endeavoring to ap- prehend the others." The charge brought against Franklin was high treason. Mr. Miner thus details the particulars of executing the warrant :
" Colonel Franklin, at the close of September, had been making a political tour down the west side of the river to Huntington and Salem, and returned by Hanover and Wilkes-Barre, when, as he stood by Mr. Yarrington's, near the ferry, it being about two o'clock in the afternoon, a per- son whom he knew came up and said, 'a friend at the red house wished to speak with him.' Unconscious 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 four men being requisite to tie him. To get him on horseback was the next object. Colonel Franklin now cried out, ' Help, help! William Slocum ! Where is Wil- liam 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 chosen,- in the midst of seeding time. William Slocum, with nearly all the male population, were at work in distant fields sow- ing grain. ... 'From the river-bank Captain Erbe,' who had been deputed by Colonel Craig to make the arrest, and was accompanied by three men, ' had got bis prisoner into the main street, near Colonel Pickering's, but with tremen- dous power, and in spite 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 cur- tain, and decisively to interpose. Accompanied by his ser- vant, he ran to the door, armed with a loaded pistol, which he held to Franklin's breast, while George, the servant, tied his legs under the horse and bound him to one of his captors. . . . Thus subdued by six, he was hurried with painful speed to Philadelphia.'" Here he was confined in jail with great rigor, and every expression of indignation for the act on the part of the Wyoming people was made a pretext for in- flieting new severities. All Wyoming was in eommotion on hearing of the abduction of Franklin and the part Pick- ering had taken in it. Nothing had ever occurred in all the controversy which so stirred the people. Franklin was their beloved leader, their personal friend, their trusted counselor. The blow which struck him down had been aimed at them. Franklin's enemy was an enemy to them; what had been inflicted upon him was ready to be meted out to them if opportunity offered. His cause was theirs, and his sufferings were on their behalf. It was well understood that about this time was formed what was popularly called the " Wild Yankee League," a confedera- tion among the half-share men for their mutual protection,
105
HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
in which, after recounting their claim and possession, they conclude : "Therefore, we humbly, jointly, and severally pledge our honors and all our properties, real and personal, that we will use our utinost exertions for the protection and defense of each other in the possession of the lands afore- said against all invaders, and for the defense of all such as will join with us in this combination, and that we will une- quivocally adhere to everything comprised in the foregoing declaration. We also hereby declare to the public that we will lay no claim to lands under any other title but that of the Susquehanna company, in the before-mentioned pur- chase." This league was signed by upwards of sixty, more than one-half of whom were Bradford County men.
Immediate measures were taken by the wild Yankees and their friends to seize Colonel Pickering, and hold himn as a hostage for the release of Franklin. Informed of their purpose, Pickering escaped from home in the night, and made his way to Philadelphia, only in time to save himself from capture, for " under the lead of Swift and Satterlee, the Tioga boys, or wild Yankees, surrounded the house in the evening and demanded admittance, threatening in case of refusal or resistance to set the buildings on fire." After assuring themselves that Pickering had fled, they sent a party over the mountain to intercept him, but he was too vigilant, and had stolen a march on them. On the report of Pickering, council on the 8th of October passed the fol- lowing order : that,
" Taking into consideration the intelligence received from the connty of Luzerne since the capture of John Franklin, the principal of the handitti lately assembled at Tioga, and the public safety at this time requiring that the said John Franklin should be closely con- fined, therefore
" Resolved, That the sheriff of the city and connty of Philadelphia be directed to confine the said John Franklin in one of the upper rooms of the jail, in irons, to suffer no person or persons whatsoever to speak to him without leave from council, or one of the judges of the supreme court, and to debar him the use of pen, ink, and paper."
Whatever may be thought of the policy of Pickering and the party acting with him, the vindictiveness with which Franklin was pursued, the absolute certainty that he had committed no crime against the law, that at the most the offense charged was only a political one, and made for nothing but political purposes, must forever stigmatize the cruelty of Franklin's treatment as inhuman and disgraceful. It is a dark spot on the otherwise fair name of Colonel Pickering, and casts a shadow over an otherwise unsullied character which, were it not that the truth of history re- quires it, would gladly have been allowed to pass unnoticed. After a fortnight's confinement in a cheerless dungeon, with- out bed or fire, manacled like a felon, shut off from friends, books, and writing materials, with no clothing but the sum- mer suit he had on when captured, through the cold, damp, October days, council so far relented that the sheriff was permitted to furnish him a " mattress and three blankets," and on the 26th of October to take off the irons, on Frank- lin giving his parole that he would not escape. This was not done, however.
Pickering, believing that the excitement had subsided, returned to Wilkes-Barre in January, 1788, where he im- agined he could now live in safety. Although warned of
the danger to which he was exposed, he regarded the warn- ing rather as a threat, which he was determined to defy. On the night of June 26, 1788, while in bed, he was seized by a party in disguise, and quietly taken away, and before the community were alarmed his captors were beyond the reach of pursnit, and conveyed their prisoner to the wilds of Bowman's, and afterwards of the Mehoopany creek, where he was kept under guard. The object of the capture was to procure from Pickering a letter to the authorities at Phila- delphia asking for Franklin's release. This Pickering stead- ily refused to do, when he was at length released by his captors, and returned to Wilkes-Barre after a captivity of twenty days.
Franklin had been kept in confinement for more than a year, deprived of the very necessaries of life, kept without fire, and ironed, held without trial and refused bail, in such palpable violation of the spirit of the Federal constitution, which affirmed the right of every man accused of crime to a speedy trial, that the conduct of the Pennsylvania author- ities was reprobated all over the Union. On Oct. 14, 1788, Governor Huntington, of Connecticut, addressed a second letter* to the governor of Pennsylvania, in which he sug- gests, " whether it be consistent with the free constitution of the commonwealth of Pennsylvania to hold any person a close prisoner from year to year, merely upon accusation, without admitting him to bail, or the liberty of a trial, when government is in profound peace and full exercise." The answer of David Redick, acting president, is weak and equivocal, and amounts simply to this : that the conduct of Franklin had been bad, and people must not believe all they hear.
In the mean time Franklin had sent a memorial to the council, stating that he was sick, and far from home and friends, was suffering from the rigors of his confinement, whereupon, on Feb. 8, they ordered the irons to be taken off from him, and the severity of his confinement mitigated as far as was consistent with safety. Assurances had been given Franklin that if he could obtain bail in the sum of two thousand pounds he should be liberated; but, on naming a number of his friends as his security, he was met with the contemptuous remark from one of the council, that no ten persons in Wyoming were worth two hundred pounds, much less two thousand. Finally, stricken down by a severe sickness, induced by confinement and the want of the cus- tomary necessaries of life, he addressed the supreme execu- tive council a letter, dated, PRISON, Philadelphia, Sept. 17, 1788. This letter is too long for publication entire, t but is in substance his willingness to do anything that may be required of him, his disappointment that he had not been liberated on bail, according to previous assurances, de- claring in case he had been thus liberated his purpose to re- turn to Wyoming and use his influence to quell the disturb- ances there. Mr. Miner remarks, " The lion being tamed, the purpose of a new and independent government being abandoned, and the pledge contained in his letter to the com-
# The answer to this letter is in Pa. Ar., vol. xi. p. 238. It must have been written about Feb. 1, 1788.
+ This letter is published in Miner's History of Wyoming, p. 433, and the original is among the papers of the Bradford County Histori- cal Society.
14
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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.
mittee being received with confidence, Colonel Franklin was visited by the magnates of the city and treated with all the respect and courtesy of a prisoner of state, detained on polit- ical considerations not affecting his moral integrity or per- sonal character. Knowing his great influence, particular pains were taken to conciliate him and bring him into the scheme of compromise devised by Colonel Pickering. With- out committing himself on that point, he satisfied those in- terested that he would offer no further obstruction to the introduction of the laws." A session of the supreme court was held in Wilkes-Barre, Nov. 8, 1788, by Chief-Justice M'Kean, supported by Judge Jacob Rush. Colonel Frank- lin was brought up from the city, and was indicted on a charge of high treason " in endeavoring to subvert the gov- ernment, and to crect a new and independent State in the room and stead thereof," but, on the ground that important witnesses were wanting, the trial was postponed, Franklin admitted to bail, and set at liberty, and the prosecution, after remaining some years unacted upon, was abandoned.
Some time previous to his arrest, Colonel Franklin had married Abigail, daughter of Captain Stephen Fuller, and the widow of Captain James Bidlack. Captain Bidlack at the time of the battle was in command of the lower Wilkes- Barre company, consisting of thirty-eight men, was captured by the enemy on the evening of that fatal 3d of July, was forced upon a burning log-heap, and held there with pitch- forks until burned to death. The precise date of Colonel Franklin's second marriage we have not been able to ascer- tain. Immediately after his release from prison he moved to Athens, and for the remainder of his life was a resident of Bradford County.
In 1792, Col. Franklin was elected high sheriff of Lu- zerne. In the commission issued to him by Governor Mif- flin, he says, "reposing special trust and confidence in your patriotism, integrity, and ability." When it is remembered that this is less than four years from the period of his in- carceration in Philadelphia for high treason, the fact be- comes significant. From the expiration of his term as sheriff he was busy for a number of years as one of the com- missioners, and as the clerk of the Susquehanna company. It will be remembered that this was a period of great ac- tivity with the company, in which they were making pro- digious efforts to retain their purchase. At the August sessions of the court, in 1801, John Franklin, John Jenkins, Elisha Satterlee, and Joseph Biles were indicted for unlaw- fully combining and conspiring for the purpose of convey- ing, possessing, and settling on lands within the limits of the county of Luzerne, under a certain pretended title not derived from the commonwealth, nor from the Proprietaries previous to the Revolution ; also of combining and conspiring to lay out townships by persons not appointed or acknowl- edged by the laws of this commonwealth. This case created great excitement throughout Luzerne county, because of the standing of the parties who were defendants, and because it was regarded as a test case under the intrusion law. Jo- seph B. Mckean, attorney-general, was the prosecutor. The case was called up May 4, 1802, before Judges Yates and Brackenridge,-but three witnesses were sworn on the part of the commonwealth, and none for the defense. It was proved that the defendants had surveyed and granted town-
ships, and lots of land, under the Susquehanna company's title. The defense was the unconstitutionality of the law. Upon this the whole case turned. The jury returned a special verdict, in which they found Satterlee and Biles not guilty, Franklin and Jenkins guilty if the law was consti- tutional, otherwise not guilty. On the question of the con- stitutionality of the law the court was divided in opinion. Judge Yates gave a long list of quotations from English and American authorities in support of an argument for the constitutionality of the law. Judge Brackenridge, how- ever, took the ground that it was against equity and justice, and thus contrary to the spirit of the constitution, both State and national. A bill of exceptions was filed by the defendants, but most of the points were merely technical. From the favorable progress of the compromise measures the prosecution was dropped.
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