The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-03-02

S f3ADES-4s5slgAN DARBRkfTlE5 TOWARDS
s,ltR EARLY. BORDER sETTLERs-MARY
MoORr-THE cAPTayEs or ABB's VALLEY
STARTLING AND CURIOUS Tradition
s3s3 with the rapid flight 81 time the aged
people on The present day, who are the only
remaining links OF conn between t ltle'
early ff0ntiersfnen and the present genera
ton. are RAISING 4 way, aud with them many
& an interesting Incident OF those perilous
q iiaya when every man carried his life I'm bis
8 hand Ii lost beyond recovery. it is the
duty, therefore, .os those who know any
{ unrecorded events in che history OF the
western portion OF the country to5preserse
4 them iii some permanent form. Hence this
q IA the early frontier history OF virginia
few characters stand cut more proEin emily
against SO dark q background rs Simon
/ Girty, 8 the renegade, q and his brothers.
The Girtys were OF irish descent, their
father having emigrated from Ireland TO
PENNSYLVANIA about 1740. Every authority
5 says that the father was q man OF bad chnr-
acter and dissolute habits. s. The old man
was beastly incorporate. "A Jug OF whis-
key was the extent OF his ambition. Grog
was his song, and gTog would he have
Ready for seduction, she yielded to a neigh-
boring rustic. This rustic murdered the
old man, and the widow ediately mar
ried her paramount about 1754--and they
removed to the extreme frontier.
GirtE had four sons-Th9mas,, Simon,
George. and james. These were all taken
prisoners BY Che Indians, and, with thesex-
ception or Thomas, who Subsequ es-
caped, they were all adopted into different
Indian tribes. Thomas, who had been cap
hlred at Fort Granville, was rescued by
Colonel Armstrong in l756, when he took
Y Kittanning Pa. rchiues, II, US. He re-
turned to civilized life and died, it IS sup
posed, i'm Butler county, Pennsy lvania, In
1920. He was one OF Brady US spies In the
Indian wars after the Revolution ! ~ 5 5F1
George was adopted by the Delawares,
and grew up with them a thorough savage.
He remained with them until his death,
which Is said to have occurred, while drunk,
on the Miami OF the Lakes about 1918. BE
fought with the Indians at the battle Of
Point Pleasant. James was adopted by the
Shawanese and, like George, became entirely
identified With then-proficient in all their
bloodthirsty customs, sparing neither age
nor sex in bis warfare upon the white set
Elements, and delighting in torturing and
pracicing new methods OF cruelty upon the
g unfortunate white captives who fell into his
hands.
Simon was adopted by the Senecas, but
did not remain long with them, returning
with his mother to the settlements. He
figures more prominently in pioneer history
than either Of his brothers. He was one Of
the two scouts whom Lord Dunmore sent
to notify General Lewis OF the proposed
junction OF the two armies at the Shawanese
towns. And as George was with the Della
wares at that time, it is believed that Simon
conveyed through him to the Indians the
strength and position OF the army under
Lewis, and so induced them to begin that
eyentful battle which resulted in the defeat
OF the Indians at Point Pleasant in 1774. It
is said that he was intimate with and fire.
,quentIy eDioyed the hospitality Of Colonel
Crawford, who was so fendishly tortured in
1882. 81.
Simon's subsequent history is so deeply
enshrouded in the blood oil his countrymen
that the only bright spot in his history, the
only fact which indicates that one touch OF
human sympathy still remained in his
heart his treatment OF Simon kenton-ls
scarcely remembered.
When the war OF the Revolution began
Simon made an effort to secure commits
sion in the American army, but, failing in
this, he, in company with Elliott and Nc
Kee and dozen kindred spirits, left Pitts
burgh and joined the Indians. Tradition
gives him the reputation OF great courage
and cruelty. Ali that is certainly known
Of him represents him as unusually ylndic-
tive against the Americans, and his con-
duct at the death OF Colonel Crawford,
who had SO often befriended him,
displayed the grossest inhumanities, al
though McCutcheon, in the american
Pioneer, thinks otherwise. tits said, how
ever, that there were times when he mani
tested tenderness Of feeling and COM
passionateness which it is difficult to recon
Gle with his usually barbarous habits. Al
bach says he was scrupulously honest in
the 'naynent of his debts, on one occasion
selling his horse to fulfil o 'tpr0mise to
pay.5 and that it was when under the influ-
ence OF liquor that his heart knew no such
emotion as mercy. For many years the
manner aud the place of the death OF Simon
Giry was unknown. Albach states that it
Was said he was cut to pieces by Johnson's
mounted men at the battle Of the Thames.
During the present year letter appeared
inthe Wheeling Register, from q CORE
spondent in Virginia, which stated on the
authority Of the Rev. Samuel Brown, O
Presbyterian clergyman Of Rockbridge
county, Va, that Simon Girty had been
burned to death at sslog-r0lilng, IN 70
cahontas county, Va, by tue. Infatuated citi-
zens, who had by accident discovered ms
name, he having been identified by a son OF
Mrs. Currence, OF Tyghart's Valley, who
suffered at the hands OF Girty in years gone
by; that the young man, although boy at
the time Of Girty's raid, remembered the
features OF the renegade, who was there
upon arrested and formally arraigned be-
fore an extemporized backwoods court,
and, confessing his name to be Simon Girty,
he was thrust into the tire and consumed.
I at once addressed letter to Mr. Brown
making inquiries into the truth OF this
statement, and received from him the fol-
lowing reply:
MILBoRo' SPRINGS, Bath COUNTY. YA.,
July 4, 1877.
Rev. and Dear Sir; .
viii checrfully give you all the Informs
ton l have iii relation to the death OF Simon
Girty. NY Informant was Mr. James Wood,
OF this county, lately deceased at the age
OF ninety years, and was known to be man
of strict veracity He had lived for a num-
Der Of years in Randolph county. Va, and
was well acquainted with the persons who
6 gaze him the information, and they were
men OF unblemished reputation. Mr.. Wood