The Tiffin weekly tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1859-1868, 1863-02-20
The Pioneers Last shot.

We question whether, In all the his
tory Of the hair.bread,h escapes"
parallel to the following can easily be
found. We give the story as we fnd il
IN one of our exchanges, aud in the
words Of the hero
IT was in tho year Of 1905, that I set
tied in Virginia, near the Falls Of the
CNnasho. The country was ut that time
an unbrokcn wilderness. But few set.
tlomcnts had been made by the whites.
and they were so far apart, as 20 rcuder
vain all hopes of assistance In case Of an
attack from the hostile Indians, mum.
hers of whom still infested the neighbor.
/ hood.
lived here alone with my wife for
several months uumolcStcd and Ivy din,
| OF uutiriug perseverance, being then
young aud hardy had succeeded in max
/ ing quite clearing in the forest. which
| had planted with corn, aud which pro.
misc d uu abundant yield.
| One morning after we had dispatched
our humble meal, aud had Just prepared
to venture forth upon my regular routine
of labor, my attention was arrested bv
the tinkling OF cow-bcll in the corn
icld.
"Thcre !" said my wife, "thc COW is
in the curu.frld."
But the ear Of the backwoodsman be.
comes by education very acute, especial
" 80 from the fact tina. his safety often
depends on the uicc cultivation Of that
sense, W not easily deceived; | lis
ltcncd--thc sound was repeated.
"That," said |, in reply to the remark
of my wife, was not the tinklc of bell
upon the neck of COW. II is q decoy
from some Indian who desires to draw
me into ambush"
Believing this TO be the case, took
down my muskct q had no rifr), and
seeing that il was property loaded, stole
cautiously around the field toward the
point from which the sound ,oemrd e.
proceed. As had expected, there, in q
cluster Of bushes. cruuchcd an lndiun
waiting for mc &C. appear in answer to
his dccuy bell, that he might send the
fatal bullet to my heart, approached
without discovering myself until within
shooting distance, then raised my piece
and fired. The bullet sped true to ils
} mark, and the Indian fell dead.
, Not knowing hut that he might be nc.
ccmpanicd by others, | returned with all
speed to my cabin, aud having firmly
barrcadcd the door. | watch, d all day
from the port.holc, in anticipation Of NJ
attack from the compat ions Of the In
= dim had killed. TO udd 10 the DANCE
1 aud seeming hopclcssnoss of my situa
, tion, ] discovered that | had but one
charge of powder l,n! ! could max,
= but one shot, and then il attacked by
numbers, | should be entirely in theii
i, power. Determined to do the best with
what had, poured in my last charge
powder and put into my muskct fifteen
slugsi aud then waited Tor the approach
: OF night, feeling confident Of an attack.
Night came on at length. A beautiful
moonlight IL was too, aud this favored me
greatly, as | would be able to observe the
movement of the enemy as they up
preached my cabin. II was two hours
after nightfull aud as yet had neither
seen nor heard sign Of the Indians,
when suddenly | was startled by the
barking Of my dog at tho stable. The
stable stood little to the west of the
cabin, and between the two was n rutch
of clcar ground, upon which the light OF
the moon fell unobsructcd. Judging
from the noise at the stable that they
would advance from that direction,
posted myself at the port-hole on that
side Of the cabin.
had previously placed my wife upon
n cross pole in the chimney, so that in
case our enemies effected an entrance to
the cabin, she might climb out through
the low chimney, and effect her escape.
For myself, | determined not be taken
alive, aud resolved to sell my life us
dearly as possible.
With brcathless anxiety ] watched at
the port-hole. AT length | saw them
emerge from the shadow of the stable
and advance across the vacant ground to-
ward the cabin. One, two, three. Great
heavens six stalwart Indians, armed to
the teeth, and urged on by the hope OF
revenge. And alone TO oppose them,
with but ono charge of powder. My
case was desperate indeed With quick
but stealthy step, in close single file
they approa he'd, and were within few
yards oi the house when slight change
OF dlvereencc in the movement OF the
forward Indian changed the position of
the entire six 80 that portion of the
left side of each was uncovered. They
were all in range-one aim would cover
all. Quick Us thought | aimed aud fired.
AS the smoke cleared away, could
hardly credit what my senses showed
me was the result of nv shot. The IF
teen siugs with which had loaded my
musket had done well-fiye Of the six
Indians lay dead upon the ground the
sixth had disappeared.
Though no enemy was now in sight, /
did not venture firth till morning. There
lay the bodies of five Indians, undisturb-
ed, together with the rifle of the other.
Securing the arms aud ammunition Of
the iallen Indians, | followed up tho trail
Of the missing one, until il reached the
river, beyond which point could Disco
yer no traces whatever. From the
amount Of blood which marked the trail,
together with the unmistakesble evidence
that he had picked his way with difficult
~, was led 10 believe that he was NOR.
tally wounded, and TO prevent his body
from falling into the hands of his foe, |
CROPPED his way to the river and threw
himself into the current which had borne
him away.
The Indians had killed my COW, and
that you mny be assured was no small
loss yet in my gratitude for my escape
from the msrciless savages, would have
been entirely willing to make much grea-
ter sacrifices. | was provided (by means
of ammunition taken from the slain In.
dians) in case Of second attack, but
this fortunately proved to be my last adj