The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1866-10-22
LOST AND POUND.
Thirty Years Captivity Among the
Indians-.Remarkable Career OF
Jackson Boy.

Thirty years ago, when jackson
was little hamlet of two or three
hundred persons, young woman
might have been seen, one sultry day
in August, accompanied by q little
boy five years old, vending her way
towards a grove in the neighboring
town Of Blackman, for the purpose
of engaging in the then common pas
time. of picking berries. The young
woman, after tOiling away for a while,
became annoyed with the ceaseless
opportunities Of the child, and sent
him home. She thought nothing
more of the matter till, upon her re-
turn in the evening, she was surprised
TO find that the boy had not returned.
In reply to the queries Of the anxious
parents the girl related the circum
stances narrated above, and added that
she new nothing Of the whereabouts
of the child Day after day passed,
and still the missing member of that
distracted family did not return, nor
could any tidings Of him be heard by
his agonized parents. Finally, after
every searching party who went
| out to find the missing one had
| returned and reported their mission
fruitless, and after hope of ever see
| ing their darling boy again had van
! ished from the minds of the afflicted
parents, suspicion began to fasten
upon the young woman, who was
servant in the family. She again as
serted her innocence, and stated that
she knew nothing of the missing boy
| from the time she had sent him home
ward. In spite of her protestations,
| however, she was arrested for the
murder of the boy, and incarcerated
| in the rude lookup which had been
erected by the early settlers. Here
she was kept for time, till it became
apparent that no evidence against her
could be obtained, when she was dis
charged from custody, still asserting
her innocence to the parents of the
boy, who longed for some tidings that
would dispel the uncertainty which
hung over them like cloud. Their
hopes were doomed to disappointment,
however, as nothing could be heard
of the missing one, and he was finally
numbered with the dead, the parents
| giving up all hopes of ever hearing
from Lutll lOsb DOJ hEhlH.
/ Years passed, and the little hamlet
became large and fourishing city.
The solitude which formerly reigned
on the banks ofthe Grand River was
broken by the mechanic and the arti-
zan, and the air resOunded with the
busy hum of industry. Nearly all the
old settlers had passed away, and an
other generation succeeded them.
Among the many new corners was a
on-in- law Of the afflicted family, Mr..
j. u. Ballard, our fellow townsman,
who was greatly surprised, few days
|. since, to learn that the boy who had
long been numbered with the dead
had arrived in the southern part OF
this State and was making inquiries
after his family. The boy had grown
to stalwart man of thirty-f His
countenance had become bronzed by
continuous exposure to the elements,
and his sinewy frame hardened by re-
peated adventures in the Western
wilds. He stated that he had but
dim recollection of his former
home, but wildly remembered the
time when two stalwart forms
with red yisages crossed his path,
snatched HIM up In their arms, and
carried him off amidst his piteous
cries for his loving mother. Since
that time he has been constantly with
the Indians-joined them in their
hunting expeditions, and followed
their trail as they journeyed toward
the setting sun. He learned to speak
the language of the Pottawatomies--
for that was the name of the tribe
with whom the greater part of his
9 life had been spent-and in answer to
his repeated inquiries, his captors
told him that they had stolen him from
; Jackson County, and that his name
, was Wiley. The Indians confound-
ed this name with Filley, which il
the real name of his father. Mr.
Ballard went in quest of the missing
one, and upon arriving at the place
where he had been making inquiries
was told that he had gonc away, bu
, would return in few days, when ht
will proceed to the home of his aged
parents, to make glad the hearts o
an afflicted father and mother. Truly
truth is stranger than fiction. -
Jackson, Michigan, Citizen.