Bradford reporter. [volume] (Towanda, Pa.) 1844-1884, 1858-01-07

every direction, while the rifles no longer used
in firing, were clubbed in the hands of the as
sailants and telling in fearful sweeps on every
side The defiant yells, and the groans and
shrieks of the wounded and dying mingled in
an uuearthIy Babel. r.-.
The contest was one of fearful odds; hem
med in upon every side, and contending with
overwhelming numbers, the forlorn and devot-
ed remnant of the Illinois, still stood their
ground like lions at bay. The towering form
of their chief soon became the centre around
which raved all the energies of the mad con-
Hict his stentorian voice was heard high
above the din OF battle and acted like a tails
man uoon the dropping spirits Of his braves
while his tirelesS right arm, bare to the shoul-
der, and red with blood, welded the CORY
hatchet whose fatal blows had sent scores to
join the majority. In front of him, and upon
each side arose breastwork of the slain, the
victims of that red right arm
But it was all in vain, and at last with the
purple tide flowing from eight wounds, convul-
sively he hurled his hatchet at the last
enemy, aud sank between the combatants.-
Then over him ragged the conflict in ten fold
fury unguarded heads and unprotected limbs
were prodgally thrust forward to shelter the
form of their fallen chief fearful blows were
dealt, and heroic deeds achieved, such only as
despairng fidelity could prompt. At last the
dying form was rescued and sheltering it with
their exposed persons, his few remaining fol-
lowers carried it ia their retreat beyond the
river.
They were hardly safe in the fastness Of the
adjacent forest when the glare of ther. burning
encampment penetrated into their retreat and
the shrieks of their women and children, be-
meath the hatchet and the sea ping knife of
their merciless enemy was plainly heard. But
they dared not linger but dragged their jaded
and weary forms still farther from the vicinity
of their foes A few months passed by and
they had been hunted from prairie to prairie,
and from retreat TO retreat, until at last they
had become encircled in the meshes of net
work, woven by their foes. They were upon
the Illinois river, and near the spot where the
opening of this story begins Their retreat
was cut off, their advance guarded while upon
each and every side, were gathering and clos
ing upon them, their relentless foes. At last,
as an ohly resort they one by one ascended the
narrow pathway and stood upon the top of the
rock aud as their eyes longingly took in all
the broad expanse of a prairie SO recently
| theirs, and then noted the long snake like lines
of their enemy, coiled like a huge serpent
around the base of the rock, precudng all
hopes of escape, they saw the doom of their
tribe was sealed
Their position was indeed invulnerable to
all their enemies but one and that, gallt fam
inc, had already ascended the rock, end was
staring them in the face But why recount
all the horrors Of those few succeeding days,
as struggling nature inch by inch disputed
possession with death. Day succeeded day,
until for the tenth! time, the sun had climbed
the eastern sky, since their Imprisonment upon
the rock, and then looked down upon nought
but nanimate forms. The hatred of their enc
mics had stopped at nothing short of exter-
mnation, and the tribe of the Illinois no longer
existed
MoNRoEroN, December, 1857.