Smyrna times., 1871-12-20
MIS Sc e//u n e o us.
An Indian Story,


John W. Forney tells the following romantic
story: O'-"1 w
Shortly after | took possession of the Ian
caster pa LnteUigoccr, more than thirty four
years ago-betOrt | had reached manhood
HrS Dickson, the amiable and gentle most
mistress OF that place, handed me a soiled LET
ter directed to 'the editor of a newsnaper y
which she said had been in her possession more
than year, and had not been delivered he
cause It had no definite address. Upon open-
ing 1t found 1t dated Logansport, Indiana.
anu anu signed by George W. Ewing, United
states Indian Agent. lie stated that he had
only recently stopped at an Indian wipwam
i0r the night on the banks of the Mississinewa,
about fifty miles south of Fort Wayne. ami
toundlt occupied by a family who were rich for
Indians, and bOaSted of considerable nronertv
IN houses and lands He went on to say thai in
the course of the evening he noticed that the
hair OF one Of the women was light and her
SKIN under her dress was white, and so he
entered into conversation with her. which was
not dlthcult, as he spoke the language of the
trlDe. She told him she was white. but had
been carried away when very small girl She
could only remember that her name was Slo.
cum that she had lived in little house ON
the banks OF the Susquehanna also the num-
Der OF her fathers family, and the order of
their ages but she could not recall the name of
the town from which she was taken. Fascinated
by this romantic story, yet undecided how to
let the fact be known he wrote letter and
sent 1t to my native town of Lancaster as the
place nearest the Susquehanna that he could
remember OF any importance. After, as |
nave SAID, sleeping IN the pOst-Office for many
months, 1t came out through the columns of nv
little journal, and in that way got to the Slo
Gums OF WilkesbaTre, being the first inteli.
gence OF the child which had been stolen from
them sixty years before. The brother of
FRANCES, who Was only two years and a half old
when his sister was carried off by the Indians,
started for the Indian country in company with
his eldest sister, who had aided him to escape,
and another brother, then living in Ohio, born
after the captivity Of Frances. After long
Journey they found little wigwam among the
Miami Indians. 1--WE shall know Frances, ="
SAID the sister, because she lost the nail of
her first finger. You. brother, hammered il
OH In the blacksmith shop when she was four
years old. They entered and found swar-
thy woman who looked to be seventy-five She
was painted, jeweled, and dressed like an
Indian in all respects Nothing but her hair
and her covered skin indicated her origin.
They got an interpreter, asked her name and
where she was born. "HOw came that nail
gone :? said the eldest sister. She answered,
= My elder brother pounded it off when was
little child in the shop" They had discovered
the long-lOst sister. They asked her Christian
name. She had forgotten it. "Was it |
Frances? As il smitten by revelation, she |
answered, Yes" 1t was the first time she |
had heard it pronounced in sixty years. Here |
they were met, two brothers and two sisters,
having been separated for more than half |
century. The bro ;hers were walking the cabin,
unable to speak, the sister was drowned in
tears, but the poor Indians sat motionless and
passiOnless She could not speak word
of English. She did not know when Sunday
came. She was carried off by the Indians, and
when she grew up she married one of their
number. He either died or ran away, and
then she married Miami chief, since dead.
She had two daughters, both married, who
thirty four years ago, lived in all their glory of
Indian cabins, deer-skin clothes, and COW skin
head dresses. They had horses in abundance,
and when the Indian sister accompanied her
new relatives, she bridled her horse and mount
ed It astrlde: AT night she slept on the floor,
with her blankets around her. They could
not persuade her to return to Wilkesbarre,
even when the invitation was extended to her
children. She had always lived with the In
lians, they had been kind to her, and she
promised her husband on his death bed she
would never leave them. 1t is now nearly q
linety-five years since this white child was torn
rom her parents home in Wyoming Valley s
She herself has been gathered to her fathers, I
nd most of her double family who were living B
n 1888, with the exception, | believe, of Mr.. 8
Oseph Slocum, now one Of the most inhuen-
ial and respectable citizens of Scranton.
Among all the changes that have taken place O
n this long interval, few are more interesting S
han this transformation from civilization to bar
arism. il