USA > Wyoming > Wyoming; its history, stirring incidents, and romantic adventures > Part 13
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bayonet. They were driven through the swamp, that being the nearest way to Connecticut. This way con- sisted of sixty miles of wilderness, and it had to be traced on foot. Esquire Elisha Harding, one of the sufferers, gives the following graphic and touching ac- count of the exodus: "It was a solemn scene: par- ents, their children crying for hunger; aged men on crutches-all urged forward by an armed force at our heels. The first night we encamped at Capouse, the second at Cobb's, the third at Little Meadow, so called. Cold, hungry, and drenched with rain, the poor wom- en and children suffered much. The fourth night at Lackawack, fifth at Blooming-grove, sixth at Shehola ; on the seventh arrived at the Delaware, where the people dispersed, some going up, and some down the river. I kept on east, and when I got to the top of Shongum Mountain, I looked back with this thought: Shall I abandon Wyoming forever? The reply was, No! oh no! there lie my murdered brothers and friends. Dear to me art thou, though a land of afflic- tion. Every way looks gloomy except toward Wyo- ming. Poor, ragged, and distressed as I was, I had youth, health, and felt that my heart was whole. So I turned back to defend or die."-Miner's History, p. 346.
"And oh ! ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves, Think not of any severing of your loves : I love the brooks which down their channels fret
E'en more than when I tripped lightly as they.
The innocent brightness of a new-born day Is lovely yet ;
The clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober coloring from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality :
Another race hath been, and other palms are won."
WORDSWORTH.
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Public sentiment in Pennsylvania condemned this brutal outrage upon the common laws of humanity, and the land-sharks who were concerned in it were compel- led to modify their course. The Legislative Council of Pennsylvania found it necessary to adopt concilia- tory measures, and finally put the New England peo- ple into peaceable possession of their homes, on terms which the considerate were willing to accept. There was an ultra Yankee party, which sprung up under the leadership of Colonel John Franklin, and they openly opposed the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania. A series of conflicts followed between Franklin and his party on the one hand, and Colonel Pickering, the government functionary, and his party on the other, during which Franklin, upon the charge of treason, was seized and sent in irons to Philadelphia ; and, in retaliation, Pick- ering was abducted and carried off into the woods, and kept on short allowance among the musquitoes for near three weeks. Franklin was tamed by his long imprisonment of more than one year, and the people of Wyoming had rest.
It is a curious fact that, in all these troubles with the State of Pennsylvania, the Yankees had the sym- pathies of a multitude of the people in this state; and there were those who suffered in common with them, not only from Pennsylvania, but from various other states. The Shoemakers and M'Dowells were Pennsyl- vanians, and Esquire Lawrence Myers was from Mary- land. No matter where they were from, to Connecti- cut they must go, and they were pushed off through the swamp. Myers escaped at Capouse, and "the widows," after the brave posse of "militia" had quit them at the Delaware, went down stream to their friends. The guilt of these people, it is presumed, consisted in their
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having formed alliances with the Yankees, or taken a Connecticut title for their lands. Myers had married a Yankee wife, and that was a sufficient reason why he should be marched off through the swamp toward Connecticut.
The Revolutionary war closed, and peace blessed all parts of the country except Wyoming. A five years' war between two parties which had contracted a bitter hatred for each other followed, in which prop- erty and life were sacrificed, and the bitter fruits of civil war made up a fearful harvest. But peace-wel- come peace-finally came, and the wounds inflicted by the sanguinary scenes of those fearful times were grad- ually healed.
In the midst of the terrible conflicts and unexampled sufferings which we have been called to survey as we have passed through the preceding pages, there were tender greetings and matrimonial alliances. The brave girls of those times found means of access to the hearts of the brave lads, both in the army and among the hardy settlers. As, in the popular romances, love and murder hold prominence in the plot, and are closely related, so, in the history of Wyoming, these two an- tagonisms stand out in bold relief, and are traced in parallel lines. While the soldiers were guarding the girls in their excursions over the plains in quest of "five-finger-leaf," or the wild fruits which clustered in abundance in the thickets-while the thunder of the battle roared, and while old and young fled in dis- may before the conquering foe, common danger and mutual sympathy engendered attachments. Glances were exchanged and hearts were won in the midst of civil commotions, while the groans of the slain were wafted upon the breeze.
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" In peace Love tunes the shepherd's reed, In war she mounts the warrior's steed ; In halls in gay attire is seen, In hamlets dances on the green."
SCOTT'S Lay of the last Minstrel.
The tender emotions originating under the fitful cir- cumstances of the times were often dissipated by the sad rumors which were too common to excite surprise. The cup of bliss was often dashed to the ground by the chances of war ere it touched the fevered lip. The affianced bade adieu to his loved one, to play the man for his country or his party, and never returned. His fall upon the battle-field or at the post of public duty sent to one heart a deeper thrill of sorrow than that which agonized the heart of the mother who bore him. The story of his fate for long years with that one would be the leading fact in the history of a most eventful period.
The picture which is but faintly drawn above is not an imaginary one. There were cases of the kind- there may have been many-there certainly was one. Martha Bennet and William Smith were solemnly pledged to each other through life, for weal or woe. Smith was shot in cold blood from the fort, when oc- cupied by the Pennamites, while walking across the street in his shirt-sleeves in the evening, near the term- ination of that unnatural civil war. Miss Bennet was disconsolate, and for a considerable time thought to spend her life in a state of celibacy. William Smith was a son of the wife of Doctor William Hooker Smith by a former husband by the name of Smith. The death of Smith created a deep sensation among the settlers, and inflicted an incurable wound upon the hearts of a large and respectable circle of relations and
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friends. Martha Bennet-subsequently Mrs. Myers- was treated as a sister by the numerous family of Dr. Smith-daughters and sons-until they had all gone far down the vale of years.
In the great conflict for ascendency between John Franklin and Timothy Pickering, many of the leading spirits in the preceding conflicts on the Yankee side were for submission to the laws of Pennsylvania, and consequently arranged themselves on the side of Pick- ering. It was finally agreed to hold what, in modern parlance, would be called a great mass meeting, on the old battle-ground at Forty Fort, in May, 1787, and de- cide the question by popular vote. A stand was erected for the moderator, clerk, and speakers, and the hard-fisted settlers were assembled to listen to the propositions of the parties and the pleadings of the advocates. James Sutton, Esquire, was called to the chair. Colonel Pickering made an eloquent speech in favor of submission to the jurisdiction of Pennsylvania, giving the most ample assurances that the government would protect the settlers in all their rights as citizens, and that there should be no more harassing proceed- ings instituted against them. Colonel Franklin then arose and rehearsed the grievances of the settlers, and denounced "the pretended compromise" and all its supporters in the most unmeasured terms. The blood of the old Yankees was stirred. Some were on one side, and others on the other, but all were excited and determined on victory. The old argument of physical force was not yet quite out of date, and, in the absence of fire-arms, each man ran to the grove hard by and cut a club. Many blows were dealt out on both sides, but were so adroitly parried off that no heads were broken. There was a general melee. Esquire
THE MYERS HOUSE.
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Sutton was driven from the stage and disappeared. Supposing that he was spirited away, and was about to be victimized by the hair-brained partisans of Frank- lin, a party scoured the woods and by-places, and found him, now left to himself. Colonel Hollenback cracked Colonel Franklin about the ears with his riding-whip, loading him with a volley of epithets. A rather in- formal vote to sustain the laws of Pennsylvania and ac- cept the proposed compromise was passed, and the gather- ing dispersed.
A new-comer mingled in this scene. The reader has noticed the name of Lawrence Myers introduced on several occasions in the preceding narrative. The father of Esquire Myers removed, with his family, from Germany in the year 1760, and settled in Frederick, in the State of Maryland. He had four sons, Law- rence, Philip, Henry, and Michael. The two former served the country in the Revolutionary war in the Maryland line, and were in the battle of Germantown. Lawrence had come to Wyoming, and married, and become identified with the New England settlers. He was a man of spirit and enterprise, and was appointed deputy sheriff under the laws of Pennsylvania, and ex- ercised his functions and his influence in quieting mat- ters under the compromise. His brother Philip came on to Wyoming in 1785, and was present at "the club- fight." He had sought the hand of Martha Bennet, and they were joined in marriage July 15, 1787, he being aged 27, and she 25 years.
Mr. Thomas Bennet gave his son-in-law a town lot on the north line of old Forty Fort. On this he erect- ed a comfortable house, constructed of yellow pine logs, hewed, and pointed with lime mortar, and lined on the inside. This old relic still stands, and, if no vio-
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lence is done to it, with reasonable repairs may live to see the opening of the next century.
The storm of war had blown over, old grudges be- tween the two classes of settlers were fast fading away, and society was assuming a condition of stability and prosperity.
" Affliction's cloud, however dark, Grows lighter by the lapse of years, And many a sorrow now we mark, Once deeply felt, whose very tears Have left, as brighter scenes passed by, Only a rainbow in the sky."
ROSCOE.
Mr. Myers purchased a lot of one hundred and fifty acres, extending from Forty Fort to the top of the mountain. He cleared up his farm, and raised a large family of children. Mrs. Myers's great force of char- acter never forsook her. She possessed a strength of will and a firmness of nerve which carried her through dangers, sufferings, and toils enough to have broken down many ordinary women. For many years Mr. Myers kept a public house. His house being situ- ated on an eddy in the Susquehanna, it was a great place of resort for the lumbermen bringing their pine lumber from the upper part of the Susquehanna and its tributaries, and taking it to the Baltimore and Philadelphia markets. The consequence was that Mr. Myers's house was thronged for weeks by the hardy "raftsmen" every spring. The house would often be literally jammed full, and nearly all the night would be occupied by all the help that could be raised in preparing for breakfast. But Mrs. Myers's resources never failed her ; no one left her table without having had set before him an abundant supply of food, pre- pared in the best style of the times. She was an ad.
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mirable housewife down to old age; and when her circumstances would have excused her from anxious care, from, mere habit she governed the kitchen and directed all the cooking processes.
Mrs. Myers was a large-hearted, liberal woman. She had the poor always with her. Upon the town lots at Forty Fort were located a race of poor people-some of them idle, some intemperate, and many of them vicious. Whoever or whatever they were, worthy or unworthy of her charity, they were never turned away empty. Every day, summer and winter, poor, squalid, ragged, barefooted women and children were dismissed from her door with some of the necessaries of life. And she did not always wait for an applica- tion on the part of the needy. Often at dinner she would say, "Boys, I want to ride out this afternoon." No questions would be asked, but at the proper time the horse and carriage were ready, and often she was her own driver. She first ordered her bags and bas- kets of good things deposited in the carriage, and then off she went to make the heart of the needy glad. Mrs. Myers was no mean driver, even when she had become advanced in age. When between sixty and seventy years of age, she was left in the carriage, in the village of Kingston, by some male member of the family. In his absence the animal became restive, and set off at full speed. Instead of giving him a chance for a fair run up the plain, smooth road home- ward, she obliged him to describe half a circle and come up against a heavy "pair of bars." The animal by this time had acquired a tremendous momentum, and in an attempt to scale the bars he went through them with a terrible crash; then, being in a barn-yard, his race ended. When a dozen men, who had started
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on the chase, came up, the old heroine was upon the seat, with the reins fast in her hands, with nothing about the carriage or harness injured at all. During the whole operation she had not uttered a word, ex- cepting a moderate "whoa !" to the horse, and this she ceased to do when she found it of no use. Upon her return home she spoke of the event with perfect com- posure, attributing her safety entirely to the provi- dence of God.
Mrs. Myers was left a widow on April 2, 1835. Mr. Myers had a protracted illness, and during his decline and gradual approach to the hour of his departure his ever-faithful and kind-hearted companion never left him, scarcely for a day, to the care of others. On re- newing the fire one night, a spark of burning anthra- cite coal struck her eye near the pupil. This injury brought on cataract. She had scarcely lost the sight of one eye before the other began to fail, and she final- ly lost that, and the world was thenceforward shut out from her vision.
"Thus with the year
Seasons return, but not to me returns
Day, or the sweet approach of ev'n or morn,
Or sight of vernal bloom, or summer's rose,
Or flocks, or herds, or human face divine ; But clouds instead, and ever-during dark Surrounds me; from the cheerful ways of man Cut off, and for the book of knowledge fair Presented with a universal blank Of Nature's works, to me expunged and rased, And wisdom at one entrance quite shut out." MILTON.
She lived after this nearly sixteen years, an example of pious resignation, and an interesting instance of physical and intellectual vigor.
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MRS. MYERS.
Mrs. Myers was visited by Professor Silliman previ- ous to her blindness. Mr. Miner gives an account of the visit in his history. Colonel Stone and Mr. Los- sing, in turn, with other interesting tourists and authors, called upon her, as the most accurate chronicler of the stirring and romantic events of the early history of Wyoming. All make honorable mention of her. Her accurate memory of the scenes which came under her own observation, and those which were matter of com- mon report and universal belief in the olden time, is remarked with admiration by the authors above re- ferred to. But those alone who had been accustomed to hear these events related for years are prepared fully to appreciate her extreme accuracy of recollec- tion. Her children, who heard her stories hundreds of times, we will venture to say, never caught her in a single contradiction or a material variation in relating the same facts. She never obtruded her reminiscences upon unwilling ears, but, when requested -and this was often done-she was always prepared to recall the strange events of her life.
What was very extraordinary in the case of Mrs. Myers is that she continued, to the last point of life, to remember recent occurrences as well as those which transpired in the days of her youthful vigor. Her active habits made it unpleasant to her to remain long at the same place. She consequently itinerated around among her children, who were settled in the neigh- borhood. While at one of these places she learned, by overhearing conversation, and occasionally asking a question, all that was going on upon the premises; and when she removed to another place, she related all the domestic news, giving most accurate accounts of the whole course of business. Let it not be sup-
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posed, however, that she exposed the imperfections or weaknesses of one family circle to another. She nev- er dwelt upon the faults of the absent; and, in speak- ing of one of her children to another, she always made every thing as fair as possible. No mother was ever more constant and earnest in the pursuit of the best means to establish and maintain a most cordial family feeling among her children.
Mr. Myers died at the old homestead, the house which he first occupied after his marriage, and in which all his children were born and reared. Mrs. Myers died at the house of her son-in-law, Madison F. Myers, on the old Lawrence Myers farm, January 3, 1851. She had been rather indisposed for a few days, and required special attention. Her daughter visited her room at about one o'clock in the morning, and, finding her awake, asked her how she was. She made no complaint, but urged her to retire and take some
rest. Upon receiving a spoonful of liquid to moisten her lips, she said, "How good the Lord is." These were her last words. The daughter retired, and the nurse fell asleep. At early dawn she was found life- less. The lamp of life had quietly expired, no evi- dence being left of the slightest struggle, or the un- natural motion of a muscle-twelve days short of eighty-nine years of age.
" Thrice welcome, Death ! That after many a painful, bleeding step, Conducts us to our home, and lands us safe On the long-wished-for shore. Prodigious change ! Our bane turned to a blessing ! Death disarmed, Loses his fellness quite : all thanks to Him Who scourged the venom out. Sure the last end Of the good man is peace! How calm his exit ! Night-dews fall not more gently to the ground,
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Nor weary, worn-out winds expire so soft. Behold him in the coming tide of life- A life well spent, whose early care it was His riper years should not upbraid his green : By unperceived degrees he wears away, Yet, like the sun, seems larger at his setting." ROBERT BLAIR.
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V
SKETCHES AND INCIDENTS COMMUNICATED BY MRS. DEBORAH BEDFORD.
" Old men beheld, and did her reverence, And bade their daughters look, and take from her Example of their future life ; the young Admired, and new resolve of virtue made."-POLLOK.
MRS. BEDFORD, at the time of this writing, is living and enjoying comfortable health. She lives, as she has done since the death of her husband, with her son, Dr. Andrew Bedford, of Abington, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. From early childhood she has main- tained a character not only without reproach, but above suspicion. She is the oracle of her family circle, and is universally loved. She is one of the few instances which are seen in a century of a contented, happy, hopeful mind, which has borne the friction and sus- tained the hardships of eighty-five years. She joined the first Methodist society which was formed in Wyo- ming in 1788, only ten years after the Indian battle. Her memory of the events of the olden time is still quite perfect, and her relations are given with more emotion than is common to those of her years. There is a remarkably matter-of-fact, business style about the stories of the survivors of the old stirring and bloody times ; but Mrs. Bedford seems to recall the fears, the hopes, the sorrows, and the joys of the scenes in which she mingled eighty years agone. Her sympathies are so deep that time has labored in vain to extinguish them. We are aware of the delicacy of writing of the living; thus much we have thought it proper to say,
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and we hope that the modest self-distrust, and desire to keep out of sight, which are characteristic of our venerated friend, will not so far influence her mind as that this just tribute to her virtues will cause her pain.
Mrs. Bedford was the daughter of James and Sarah Sutton, and was born February 8th, 1773, in North Castle, New York. Her father was engaged in mer- chandising, and, when British goods were interdicted, he sold his property and removed to Wyoming, in company with Dr. William Hooker Smith, his father- in-law. Dr. Samuel Gustin married Susan Smith, his wife's sister, studied medicine with Dr. Smith, and was assistant surgeon with him in the army.
Mr. Sutton settled on Jacob's Plains, on the east side of the Susquehanna, two miles above Wilkesbarre. Before the Indian troubles he removed to Exeter, on the west side of the river, about five miles above the head of the valley of Wyoming. Here he built a grist- mill and a saw-mill upon a stream which gushes from a notch of the mountain. His house was built in the steep hill-side, and the scenery around him was wild and picturesque. Mr. Sutton was possessed of unusual mechanical genius. He was not a carpenter by trade, but, aided by a Dictionary of Arts, he was able to do most of the work of planning and constructing his mills himself.
At this time the Indians were friendly, and often visited Mr. Sutton's house. A company of them, made up of both sexes, once came in and cut up, various pranks which greatly amused the children. They danced before the looking-glass with long ribbons tied to their hair behind, and seemed to feel no restraint even in a house well fitted up and furnished. Mr.
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Sutton and his lady seldom opposed their wishes, as they did not choose to offend them. An old Indian once having brought a grist to the mill, after Mr. Sut- ton had taken out the toll, when he thought himself unobserved, took the measure and put the toll back into the hopper. Mr. Sutton thought this an occasion for a little sternness. He charged the theft upon him, and again took the toll. The savage was sullen, but offered no resistance.
In the year 1777-the year before the battle-there was much talk of war with the Indians. Several per- sons were killed up the river, and others taken prison- ers. Mr. Sutton and John Jenkins, afterward known as Colonel Jenkins, made a journey through the wil- derness to Queen Esther's Flats, in order to procure the liberation of Mr. Ingersoll, who had been carried into captivity. The distance of Queen Esther's town from Wyoming was about ninety miles. The visitors were treated very courteously by the queen, and she was free in her communications with regard to the prospect of war. She said she was opposed to war; she wished the Indians and white people to live in peace with each other. Mr. Sutton belonged to the so- ciety of Friends, was a religious man, and talked with the queen religiously. She seemed to have correct views of religious and moral obligations.
They were invited to spend the night with the queen, and the true spirit of hospitality seemed to characterize all her communications and arrangements. In the course of the evening, however, things took a new turn, and the travelers, for a while, were at a loss what construction to put upon the indications outside. A company of Indians came before the house, and, seating themselves upon a log, began to sing "the war
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song." The old queen went out to them, and was en- gaged in an earnest conversation with them for a long time. When she came in she frankly told her guests that the Indians were determined to waylay and kill them, adding, with great emphasis, "I can do nothing with them. Now," said she, "you lie down until I call you." They did so ; and when all was still in the town, she called them, and then said, "You must go down the river. Go down the bank, and take my ca- noe, and paddle it without noise. Lift the paddles up edgewise, so as to make no splash in the water, and you may get out of reach before the war-party find out which way you have gone." They slipped off and found the canoe, which the queen had particularly de- scribed, scrupulously followed her directions, and found their way home in safety.
The Indians which were prowling about now began to be ill-natured, and to exhibit signs of hatred to the settlers. On one occasion they made a war demon- stration on the opposite side of the river, in full view from Mr. Sutton's house. There was a large company, and they were seen gathering pine knots for the whole day. They collected a vast pile, and when night came they set them on fire. The flame seemed to go up to the clouds, and sent out its glare over all the region round about. The Indians danced and whooped, sung and yelled, around the fire the whole night. The spectacle was most terrific.
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