The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1876-02-10
THE PIONEER GIRLS CAPTURE.
a Centennial Reminisoence.

!
the Kentucky River. Daniel Boone
and his friend and associate, Richar
Galloway, had been absent since earl
in the morning; and the good wives
sharers in the toll of the early pionee
days, were enjoying the rest that tn
Sabbath brought even to the unbrokel
wilderness.
In the grateful shade of tree in on
corner of the inelosure, sat three yOun:
girls, giving an unwonted charm to tn
I rough evidences of civilization abou
them. The eldest of the maidens wa
Elizabeth Galloway. She was, however
called Betsy Callaway-not name sag
gestive of romance, yet she was, withal
a gentle and loving girl, and haC
maiden fancies that gave the deep colo
of romance to one of the incidents o
her life in the wilderness. She was jus
! turned of sixteen. The other girls
! younger by two years, were Fanny Cal
laway, fairer than her sister Betsy, anC
Jemima Boone. Though but fourteen
years counted the lives of the two girls
each had lover who was a hardy pio
Aeer. -9F
As evening drew near, one of the
/ girls proposed that they should 90 a
short distance below the fort, to where
canoe was lying, and drift out, upon
the river to catch the rising GOODNESS Oi
the evening. Hardly were they seated
and prepared to push from the shore,
when they detected a slight rustic in
! the brush, and in a moment more five
stalwart and hideously painted Indians
leaped to the side of the canoe. What
girl of sixteen could be equal to such an
emergency @
L Betsy Galloway, without a moment S
hesitation, determined to defend the
honor and the lives of herself and her
young companions, and wrote hername
in the annals of Kentucky. Standing
erect in the canoe, she seized the pad
die, and at a single blow, inflicted a
serious wound Upon the head of the
foremost savage. The other Indians
pressed on, but, still undaunted, the
brave girl fought them. Finallya ex-
hausted, she sank to the bottom of the
canoe, and with her trembling sister
and friend, was dragged ashore,r and
hurried off to meet whatever fate might
be in store for them.
The CONSERVATION at the fort can well
be imagined. The fathers of the girls
soon returned, and before the night
closed in, Daniel Boone, at the head of
party on foot, and Richard Galloway,
at the head of party on horseback,
were off in pursuit. In Boone's party
were Samuel Henderson, John Holder,
and Flanders Galloway AS Henderson
strobe along, he was thinking of 1.-THE
olive-cheeked heroine, Betsy Galloway /;
and Holder clenched his hands and
ground his teeth when he thought of
poor little frightened Fanny; and Flan-
ders Galloway almost forgot his kith
and kin for thinking of his captured
Jemima Boone We can easily smile
over it now, but let any man put him
self in the rplaceof these young men,
and ask himself how he would feel in
such a pursuit. -
When the Indians started with the
girls, they made the younger ones take
off their shoes and put on moccasins,
but Betsy refused to take off her shoes,
and as she walked along, she ground
HCl hCCl IilGO OuC bull " lCdNC 81 u al.
Noticing this, the Indians made the
whole party walk apart and deviate
from the course, SO as to wade through
the water and destroy the trail. Then
the undaunted Betsy broke off twigs and
dropped them along the road and
when the sayages threatened her with
uplifted tomahawk if she persisted in
this, she secretly tore off portions of her
dress and dropped them on the road.
Boone's party soon found the trail
and followed it rapidly, fearing that the
girls might grow weary and be put to
death. All Sunday night and all Mon
day the pursuit was kept up. On Tues
day morning slender column of smoke
was seen in the distance, and the ex-
perienced eye of the hunter detected
the camp of the Indians.
A serious difficulty now presented it.
self. How were the captives to be rescued
without giving the captors time to kill
them?, There was but little time for re-
Election, as the Indians must quickly dis
cover their presence. The white men
were sure shots, and SC they picked
their men, fired upon them, and then
rushed into the camp to the rescue. At
the moment of attack the girls were sit
tinS at the foot of a tree; Betsy with a
red bandanna handkerchief thrown over
her head, while the heads of Fanny and
Jemima were reclining in her lap.
Betsy's olive complexion came near
serving her a-bad turn at this juncture,
for one of the rescuing party coming
suddenly upon her, mistook her for an
Indian, and was abOutt to strike her with
the butt of his rifle when friendly
hand interviewed, and saved the girl from
meeting her death just at the moment
when she saw liserty within her reach.
The fathers and gallants carried their
loved ones home in triumph, and this
romance of real lifein Kentucky cen
tury ago would not be complete with
out the information that the dreams of
love and happiness that were so cruel
ly disturbed, were all subsequently real
lied
1t is a long time ago, nigh on to a hun
dred years; and all the actors in the
romance have long since departed, but
their memory is green with many of us
yet, and we can well afford to give a
few thoughts to the event that marked
their characters and the times in which
they lived and loved.-LOuiSUille COuri-
eT-JourNdI.