The Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, Ohio) 1853-1861, 1860-04-12
A Heroic Woman.

On the Illinois river, two hundred miles 1oss
its junction with the Mississippi, there lived in
1912 an old pioneer known in those davs a,
old Parker, the squatter.' His family con.
sisted OF vile and threc children, the oldest
boy OF nineteen, girl OF seventeen. and thr
youngest a boy Of fourteen. At tho time ~
which we write, Parker and his oldest how had
gone in company with three l. disps nm = HINT
expectngto be gone some five or six dsvs The
third day after the departure, one of The Indians
returned 10 Pdiket's house, came in and SAT
himself down by the fire, 1T his pipe and COM
menced smoHlns IN silence, Mrs Parker thought
nothing OF this as ii was no uncommon tb9ps
Tor one or more OF party Of Indians 10 return
abruptly from hunt, at some sign thew mivht
consider as omnous of bad luck aud in snoh
Instances are not very communicative But at
last he broke the silence with "ugh. old Pu,ke,
die. This exclama tion immrdatrly drew Mp,
Parkers attention. who directly manfred of the
Indian, What's the matter with ParkerY The
indian responded, Parker, sick, tree fell on him
you So he die The replies OF the Indian some.
what aroused her susplcons. She. howayer
came TO the conclusion to send her son with
the Indian TO see what was the mattar Tho
boy and the Indian started That night nass.J
aud the next day TOO, aud neither the bnv nc,
Indian returned. THIS confirmed Mrs pix.
III her opinion that there was foul plsy on the
part OF the Indians. So she aud her dauoh,er
| wi
dows IN the best way they could Tn. voung
est boys rifle was the only one left hs nn, ha
ing taken 1t with him when he went 10 hunt
after his father. Tho old lady took the rife tho
| daughter the axe, and thus armed tb,v de,sr.
mined TO watch thro the night auddelend them.
selves it necessary. They had not long to wait
after night fall, for shortly after that some one
commenced kicking at the door, crying OUT
mother mother !! but Mrs. Parker iho,nht
M u,I
son-in order to ascertain the fact she asked him
where the Indians were. The reply which was
"um gone, satisfied her on that point. She
then said, rs it speaking to her so "Put your
ear TO The latch-hole of the door, want TO tell
you something before | open the door. Tbe
head was placed at the latch. hole and the old
lady fired through the spot, killing an Indian.
soe stepped back from the doc instantly, and IL
was we'll that she did SO, for quickly two rias
bullets came crashing through it. Soon nfer
this two more rifle bullets came crashing
through the window. A death like Stiffness
ensued Tor about five minutes when two mora
balls IN quick succession were fred through the
) door, then followed tremendous punching with
log the door gave way. and with n fsndish
= yell an Indian was about TO spring in when the
unertihg r'1e fireu by the lady retched his lfe4
= less body across the threshold of the door Tbs
remaining, or more properly the surviving Ind
an,hred at random and ran. doing no injury.
: The mother aud daughter with the rife and aye
then went TO the river, took The canoe, and in
six days arrived among the old French settlers
atSt Lsus, A party of abou, dozen men
L crossed over into lIliuois-and after an unsuc-
sesslu' search returned without finding either
Parker or the boys. they were never found,
There are yet some Of the old settlers in Tho
neighborhood of Peoria who still point out the
spot where "old Parker the squatter" lived.
Sketches Of Frontier Life.