The Weston Democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1875-current, 1875-10-04
BRAVE HANNAH DUSTON.
How She E-rRped the Indians and hRs suf.
fered Greatly from her Modern Friends.

How Shc E-rRped the Indians and hRs Suf.
fered Greatly from her Modern Friends.
The Worcester Spy hGs letter from
Boston which contains the following
You remember the exciting story oil
Hannah Duston and the Indians that
in March. 1897, she, with her baby only
q week old and her nurse, were seized
by party OF Indians who made m at
tuck upon Haverhill, then frontier
town. Mr.. Duston succeeded, by great
courage and coolness, in saving the
seven older children and himself. The
savages killed the baby and forced the
two women to make terrible march in
snow and darkness to the Merrimack,
where the Contoocook empties into it.
Here tho party camped, and when the
Indians were asleep the two women,
helped by boy, also q prisoner, scalped
ten OF them, only ono sQuaw escaping,
and made their way back to Haverhill.
II was wonderful piece OF heroism and
physical endurance, md was told and
sung over and over again in tho quaint
prose and unpoeticAl verse of that day.
The Biographies aud histories in use
when was q child Ind queer wood cuts
Of the murder OF the baby and the es.
cape Of the women. Other records
showed the ten savages dead i'll row-a
very droll picture and anything but I'M
pressivc. Then for long time the
story and memory Of the brave women
were neglected, and seemed in danger
Of being forgotten. But i'll 1856 the
Duston monument association was FORM
cd in the west parish OF Haverhill
(whe-e Mrs. Duston had lived md
died), for the purpose Of buying and
improving the site Of her house mud
erecting monument there in her honor.
The money needed was raised by SUBJ
scription. There was decided difference
Of opinion rs to tho proper place for tie
monument, many contributors desiring
to have it in tho town square or some
other public place, aud not on tho out
of.the-way Duston farm.
But tho original plan was carried out,
and in June, 1861, 4 marble monument
twenty.iour feet high, with lengthy in
scriptions, was erected on the supposed
site OF the house from which Mrs. Dus-
ton was captured one hundred and sixty
four years before. The monument cost
1900. Strangely enough, some time
after, the monument disappeared, was
carried Off bodily one night the basc
which WIS left still stands to mark the
place, but the fate OF tho monument re-
mains mystery. Nobody seems to have
cared enough about it to look it up: and
its disappearance remains one Of the
most curious thefts on record, although
many shrcwd gucsses were made rs to
the thief. In 1872 second attempt was
made to commemorate the deeds OF
Hannah Duston and Mrs. Ncff. Six
thousand dollars wore raised by sub.
scriptiou, that portion Of the island Of
Contoocook, ut the mouth OF the Contoo-
cook river, where the wigwam stood in
which Hannah Duston killed the In
dians, was given for the site, and the
work went on onergetically. In June,
1874, the completed monument was un-
yelled, and there was the usual glorifca.
ton, with m extraordinary address. and
more extraordinary poem from Mr.. Il.
B. Caverley.
The structure is Of granite, crowned
by m awkward, tlesperate-looliing female
figure, who in tho first drift carried n
hatchet, or tomahawk, perhaps, in one
hand, and held up flying scarf with tho
other. This arrangement Of arms was
afterward altered, but not improved.
On one side is this inscription:
lIerolm Costa
Fides JnstitiA
Hannah Dlaton
Mary SeH
Samuel Lconarlson
March 80 1857
Midnight
On the opposite side is:
March
10 1851 ~
The War Whoop TonAhAwk Fasot
and
Infanticiaes
were at HAverhill
Tho Ashes Of tho Camp arcs
at night
anu ton OF th0 Inbo
Aio hero.
On the third side is list OF names of
Donors but ns there was room for only
twenty two, tho list ends with tho words:
and
many, many, others. .uI
Among the favored names printed are
Benjamin 4. Butler md James G. Aver.
On the fourth side are tlesc verses:
StAtuA
1874
Know ye that We with many plant II,
In trust to tho State wo give and grant 1t
That tho tide Of Time may never cant 1t
Nor mar nor sever;
That Pilgrims hero may heed tho mothers
That Truth and Faith and all tho others
With banners high In glorious colors
May stand forever.
The names OF five witnesses follow.
The monument stands in full view from
tho Northern nilroad, few miles above
Concord, N. II.
In Denmark.
= 7 n L H..