Weekly hawk-eye and telegraph. [volume] (Burlington, Iowa) 1855-1857, 1855-07-18
From the Knick booker for July.l
Captain Samuel Brady and Cornplanter.
A LscESp OF THE AlLrGYASY RIVER


Many of the wild legends of border strife and
Indian barbarity that have been enacted along
the shores of the Allegheny and Ohio have new
er been rescued from the dim and lad ng re-
membranes of past age. Bat occasionally
story Of thrilling interest is snatched frcm The
ngrring records of the red man. -
II he story am about to relate. I received
from all old Indian pilot of the Allegheny. 1t
was many years ago; when that stem old chief.
Cornplanter whose remains now repose in ST.
IaEce and loneliness OH the banks o. that beau
teous river he hadloved so wei,) was in his
81 ry His trIqe rvamed over the dense and I'M
broken forests along lis hunks, fearless unmo-
Tested and free. -. ...... .- .t.. p .
His people were hostile 10 tie whites, and
never lost an opportunity TO lie in ambush and
seize tie lonely voyager as he descended the rv-
er, and consig On h" to the stake and the torture
Bnt the watchrul. shrewd and deadly foe of
Cornplan'er ans! the who e "tawny race" was
The indoml,a lie and fearless Captain Samuel
Brady. his veteran pioneer end Indian hun er
was one Of those noble specimens at the hardy
o'estei S "h" plunged fearlessly into the inter
mihable forests that then owe. spread so large a
ton of The westerns state.
Like Daniel B"nne, Lewis WetzeI, Simon
kenton and Others. VIII made ina..n hunting a
pastne, his deadly hate of the lniian, and his
Dnrnl0g passion for hunting them down. amcun-
Ted TO nDnonania Th IS hatred was in
coa' eqn ice of the wrongs they had inf ctei
upon his family hts father. Captain John Ira
dY, and his brother hav ng fall en- victims to the
tom .'awk and seal png knife.
The scene of the p es"nt story is at a place
known to boat,nen and raf:men as s'Brady S
Bend" and where now the noise and hustle of
new manufacturing town called the "Great
Western'' resounds alo! & the shores that then
echoed only to the wnoop Of the savage or pan
theirs scream. ' ''+- @'
1t is bend IN the river nine miles in length:
and is sometimes called the IN ine-n.ile Bend''
and is scarcely half m lie across the neck
Here in this bend, Cornplanter, returned from a
successful nroad upon t e whites, had secured
several prisoners, by tying them as many
trees. while his swarthy and hideously- painted
foil wers were busy in making prepar atons for
the faggot and the torture.
The stake was erected and the fag OTIS p:epa-
red with all the GOODNESS and refinement of In
dian barharity 1t was beautiful evening: the
sun was ju.t sinking behind the lofty hili upon
the opposite shore. Calmness had throws its
oily wand upon the Alleghany's crystal tide
and It slept. The full, round moon. 'st burst :
ing through the tree-tops behind them, sail d
calmly through the distant blue, and cast ITS
mellow beams upon the sleeping river, and da :
ced upon lis placid bosom.
The melancholy note of the wh,p. poor.wiIl
from the adjoining thicket fell sweetly upon
the ear. The victims were unbound and led
forth to the pace of torture. At this moment.
voice, high up among the frowning rocks thai
doomed ont from the thick hemocks that
crowned the mill opposite, hailed Cornplanter
IN the l"dlan tongue. informing him that she
was an Indian warrior, just returned from the
war path with goouly number of prisoners. ,,
He desired that the ceremonies of the torture
might be suspended until he could ford the river
and 10 n them. when they would celeb ate the
occasion with unusual demonstrations of s.,ace
reIoiclngs 10 this Cornplan,er consented. =
The flames that had been kinded were ext,n.
gu shed, and the prisoners again bound to the
trees 49,
In the meantime, Brady, for it was he who
had deceived the willy Indian, with body Of
men moved silently up the river to place
known as "Vruby's Ripple" and there fording
tne river, drew his men up across the neck Of
the bend, and moved noselessIy down unon
tne sav!ges- So cautious was mis- approach that
the Indians were completely cut off from re-.
treat before they became alarmed
hrady's men hemmed them Ia from behind
while the Allegheny rolled in front. The Gr.ii
'nt'matton to The sava.es of his approach was
communicated BY a deadly discharge from his
uh-rrins rifles. The Indians fought with des.
Peta,ion' Oh, were 'overpowered; all were killed
OF taken prisoners save the ch.ef, Cornplan,er
who. finding himself alone, plunged into III.
river and swan for the other shore.
Being good swimmer, he remained several
minutes under water, but as be rose for breath,
he was greeted with shower of bullets. In
THIS way, aite Da'ely swimming under water as
'ong as b. cou'd hold n,s breath. and then ri.
sing 10 the surface he escaped unhurt. and
reached the other shore in safety. secreted
himse behind large standing rock.
me prsoness We're of coul Sc unbound. and
all ]oinei In the Notification and inv AT the