Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1857-03-05

their fire aud cooked their meal. when their
mortal foe whose presence they dreaded as
much as that of the smallpox, stood upon d
huge rock looking down upon them.
His party had been left short distance in
the rear, at convenient spot, while he went
forward to reconoitre. There they remained
impatiently for three mortal hours They dis
cussed in low tones the extreme disparity OF
the force-the propriety of going to McIn-
toSh to get assistance. But all agreed that if
Brady ordered them to attack success was GER
tain. However impatient they were he re.
turned at last
He described to them how the women and
| children lay within the centre of a crescent
formed by the savages as they slept. Their
guns were stacked upon the right, and most of
their tomahawks. They were not more than
fifteen feet from them. He had crawled with
in fifty feet of them, when the snortings of the
horses, occasioned by the approach of wild
beasts, had aroused number of the savages
from their light sumbers, and he had been
obliged to lie quiet for more than an hour ul-
til they slept.
He then told them that he would attack
them. 1t was impossible to use firearms
they must depend solely upon the knife end
tOnaahaaok. The knife must be placed in the
left hand and the tomahawk in the right. To
Bggs he assigned the duty of securing their
arms. He was to begin the work of slaughter
upon the right, Gray upon the left, and Bev-
ngton in the centre.
After each fairly understood the duty as
signed him, the slow, difficult, hazardous ap-
proach began. They continued upon their
feet until they had gotten within one hundred
yards of the foe, and then lay down upon their
bellies and began the work of writhing them
selves forward like serpent approaching a
victim. They at last reached the very verge
of the line, each man was at his post, save
Bggs, who had the fartherest to go Just as
he passed Brady's position, twig cracked
roughly under the weight of his body, and a
huge savage, who lay within reach of Grays
tomahawk, slowly sat up as if startled into this
posture by the sound. After rolling his eyes
he again laid down and all was still
Full fifteen minutes passed ere Biggs moved,
then he slowly went on. When he reached
his place, very slow kissing sound indicated
that he was ready, Brady in turn reiterated
the sound as a signal to Gray and Bevington
to begin. This they did in the most deliber-
ate manner. No nervousness was permissible
then. They slowly felt for the heart of each
savage they were to stab, and then plunged the
knife The tomahawk was not to be used un-
less the knife proved inefficient. Not sound
broke the stiffness of the night as they eau
tiously felt and stabbed, unless it might be that
one who was feeling would hear the stroke of
the others knife and the groan OF the victim
whom the other had slain. One of them had
not been killed outright by the stab of Gray
He sprang to his feet, but as he arose to shout
his war cry, the tomahawk finished what the
knife had begun. He staggered and fell hea-
Willy forward over one that had not vet been
reached. He started up, but Brady was too
quick, his knife reached his heart and the tom
ahawk his brain almost at the some instant.
All were slain by the spies, except one
He started to fee but riic-shot by Biggs
rang merrily out upon the night air and closed
his career. The women and children alarmed
by the contest, fed wildly to the woods but
when all had grown still and they were called,
they returned, recognizing amid their fright
the tones of their own people. The whole
party took up their march for Mcintosh at
once. About sunrise next morning the SEN
tries of the fort were surprised to see cayal-
cade of horses, men, women and children, ap-
preaching the fort. When they recognized
Brady, they at once admitted him and the
whole party
In the relation of the circumstances af-
terwards, Bevington claimed to have killed.
three and Gray three. Thus Brady, who
claimed nothing, must have slain at least six,
whilst the other two slew as many The thr-
teenth, Bi@gs shot.
From that hour to this the spring is called
the Bloody Spring" the small run is called
Brady's run" Few, even Of the most curl
Gus of the people living in the neighborhood,
know aught of the circumstances which con-
fcrred these names names which will be pre-
served by tradition forever. Thus ended one
of the very many hand-to-hand fights which
the great spy had with the savages. His lis
tory is fuller of daring incident, sanguinary,
close hard contest, perious explorations Sand
adventurous escapes, than that of either of the
Hetzels, or Boone, or kenton He saw more
service than any of them, and his name was
known as byeword of terror among the III
dian tribes, from the Susqueharna to Lake
Michigan.