The Potter journal and news item. [volume] (Coudersport, Pa.) 1872-1874, 1873-10-15
square feet of pasturage. The skull

was almost intact; all the teeth save
two molars were still in their places,
and there was scar on the left pa
rietal bone which looked like me-
mento Of some fierce cavalry charge.
The humerus of the. right arm was
shattered, but save the three defects
Just mentioned the skeleton, when
put together, was without blemish.
"The tree in falling, should have
mentioned, was rent asunder--a task
not difficult of accomplishment when
/ refer to the fact that an examina-
lion found that at some remote date
the very heart Of the oak had been
cleft by lightning. From a spot
twenty feet from the ground upwards
to the first great fork-a distance of
ten feet-a hollow extended, and from
this cavity the skeleton had been
hurled. If we but knew who he was
thought my informant, Mr.. Rogers,
and strange to say few minutes lat
er the twain discovered that the tree
had also disgorged thrilling history.
An old-fashioned leathern pocket or
memorandum book lay in remarka-
bic state Of preservation, which no
doubt had been dropped into the rent
made by the lightning, and thus been
preserved while its master decayed.
4 few brass buttons Of old and unique
pattern were found near the memo
randum, but it is with the latter that
we have to deal. This old leather
purse, entirely moneyless, contained
sundry papers covered with rude pen
cilings quite difficult to trace, as they
were written on the backs of army
passes and military consignments
which dated as far back as 1916.
''Mr. Rogers conveyed the bones
to his house and set about to read
the memorandum of the captive of
the tree. But owing to his failing
eyesight he could decipher but little,
and this little a conglomerate mass
of discOnnections. But still he read
enough to learn that the mans name
was Roger Vanderberg, a native Of
Lancaster, Pa, and a captain in the
Revolutionary army. He was an
aide to Washington during the re-
treat across the Jerseys, and served
a time in Arnold's headquarters at
West Point. In 1871 he marched
with st. Clair against the North
western Indians, and in the famous
outbreak Of that General on the Wa
bash, November of the year Just
written, he was wounded and cap
tured. But while being conveyed to
the Indian town at Upper Piqua he
effected his escape, but found him.
self hard pressed by his savage foes.
He saw the hollow in the oak and
despite the mangled arm and with
the aid Of beech that grew beside
the giant then. he gained the haven
and dropped therein. Then came a
fearful discovery. He had miscalcu-
lated the depth Of the hollow and
there was no escape. O, the story
told by the diary of the oaks despair
ing prisoner! How, rather than sur
render to the torture Of the stake, he
chose death by starvation; how he
wrote his diary in the uncertain light
and SHOWS! Here is one entry in the
diry:
November IO.-Five days without
food When | sleep dream of luscious
fruits and fo'riHq streams. The stars
taHW at my misery. 1t is showing now.
/ freeze while | starye God PITY me-
"Theitalicised words were supplied
hy Mr.. Rogers, as the trembling hand
oft-times refused to iudite plainly.
Never was such a record of suffering
tracad by human hand before. The
entries covered a period of eleven
days, and in disjointed sentences it
told the story of st. Clair's defeat.
MIR. Rogers has written to Lancas-
ter to ascertain if any descendants of
the ill-fated captain live; if 50. they
shall have his bones.
"Should no such descendants sur
yive the narrator Of the discovery
proposes that the patriotic people of
Miami county shall erect q monu-
ment to the luckless captains
memory