The Richmond palladium. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1855-1875, 1860-12-21
For the Pallsdinm.
OLD SETTLERS OF WAYNE co.


ciH, Ueer, tuTRless &C. we're In IeW year
thinned out Of the Whitewater valley b.
the first settlers, and their aboriginal neigh
bors. who for many years were in the habi
OF returning in the spring or fall 10 hunt
/ remember of seeing an encampment o
three or four hundred Della ware and Shaw
{ nees. who, about the year 1916. erected
their wigwams on the west side Of the cas-
fork OF White y. ter, not far from Gosset,'i
mill. about miles above Brownsville
, Among the number was one or two celebra-
. ted doctors who we're sought by invalids
among the whites for many miles around
recollect seeing the Sangrado Of half a
dozen tribes attempt to cure poor emanci-
pated white woman. apparently in the last
stage Of consumption. His treatment OF
his patient was entirely different from what
expected it would be- I supposed he
would draw from his medicine bag bundles
Of dried roots and herbs. and make a strong
decoction 4f them for her to drink OF to be
applied externally; but he done no such
thing. He threw three or four stones weigh
ing from ten to twenty pounds in the FIRE.
and heated them almost red hot. He then
took them from the fire. let them cool for a
short time. and then placed them together
on the ground He then placed the patient
on a chair near the pile OF stones and spread
blankets like pavilion over the head of
the patient and over the heated stones. The
blankets reached the ground all round. COM
pletely investing the '.a:ient who was so
frail as to be scarcely able to sit upon the
chair. All things being ready. the Indian
doctor raised up one fold of the blankets
ard thrust in his right hand with a cup Of
water which he poured upon the hot stones
then drew down the blankets muttering
over an incoherent jargon Of spell words. He
soon lifted corner OF the blankets to look
after his patient. who had began to "swest
beautifully" as he expressed it in broken
E"giish. He poured on water again and
again, until | thought the poor woman
would be suffocsted with steam. The wo.
mans husband perceiving that the doctor
tor,ly ordered him to take up The blankets.
and with his own hands hurriedly lifted his
exhausted wife. chair and all. from her re-
cumben, position over the smoking and al
most calcined lime stones that had we'll nigh
mouths after wards Of consumption. and per
hsps all the doctor pump waters and Indian
10 the land could not have saved
her life.
have frequently wondered if our steam
doctors did not take their cue in The healing
art from some such origin, and the bleeding
snd wsrm water Froscr: r:Psfons which dosstor
SanyaradO pronounced to be universal
pecitic Tor all diseases.
An occasional bear or deer was found in
Interior woodland districts up to 1929 or '23.
md even later. Hunters generally. howev
IT. after the year 1918. went to Flat Rock
md Blue River to get their venison and
bear meat.
10 haa Aica
from our forests, the early settlers had much
sport in killing grey squirrels aud wild pig
cons, which were exceedingly numerous
throup hout the country. Squirrel hunts
were got up by the marksmen Of the differ.
ent neighborhoods. Captains were selected
who cast lots for choice of marksmen, each
choosing alternately until every man and
boy for perhaps FIVE or ten miles around.
was arrayed on one side or the other. A
day was set, and the district to be hunted
over was definitely defined, and each party
assigned their proper position on the ground.
When the day arrived the woods and hills
resounded with the reports of rifles FROM
mora to dewey eve. when the parties met at
some designated spot and counted the squir-
rels or ..scalps;" the winning party claim
ing all the game killed that day, and max
ing the woods echo with their shouts OF ri
umph After sufficiently rigging and jeer
ing their defeated competitors they gener-
ously divided the game. The victorious
party considering it glory enough to be
winner in the bloody sport, which was JUS
tiiable on account Of the mischievous pro-
pensities of the squirrels in pulling up corn
soon after it was planted. Often crows and
and the little striped ground squirrel was in
cluded in the list OF game to be killed in
those hunts, and their scalps were often pro-
miscuously in,ermixed with those Of grey
and black squirrels.
There was large pigeon roost on Han
mas creek, and another between Philomath
and Dodridge's meeting house. The feath-
ery inhabitants Of the large pigeon towns
frequently in,erchsnged visits. and the heav-
ems between these two points were often
blacken.d by large flights Of pigeons that
would be many minutes in passing. Multi
piled thousands and perhaps millions would
pass over in one swarm. Some flights
would pass far above the tree tops while
Others would skim along almost grazing the
tops OF the hills. During the time they
were passing so thickly. the people of the
ueighborhoods. tor many miles around,
would assemble on the hill-tops and With
clubs strike down hagsful and often wagon
loads OF pigeons IN IN ho"f VI '"o' A"e
fying armies of birds scraped over the sun
NIT of the hills 80 near the ground that lit
tie boys and girls could strike them down
with clubs These pigeon roosts. or more
properly pigeon towns. often covered sever
al sections Of beech forests The beech
trees furnishing an inexhsustab!e amount ot
mast. and convenient boughs on which to
build nests. and rear their young ones. l
have seen from Fifty to one hundred persons
With wagons and horses af these pigeon
roosts al one time for the purpose OF catch
ing squads or young pigeons. This was
done BY pounding on the tree that contained
the Young birds nests which would so
frishten the snAedged squads that in At
tempting to tly fr'm its nest. it would fall
to the ground and was captured. 1 have
ssen basket. and even bags filled with these
Young birds 10 few hours. Pigeon-cafeh-
srs had to keep on the look out, Tor often 50