Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-08


mon and boys seized their guns, ran for
the house, and had Just time 10 get in
side and bar the door when Captain
Philip and nearly two hundred Indians
made their appearance.
The Indians staid AZ q safe distance.
and so did Captain Philip, though he
came near enough TO talk.
"COme out, old Johnl come out,
young Johnl ] give you good quarter"
he shouted.
There were only the two men, the
two boys, Mrs. Kilburn and her daugh-
ter and four children, In the house, with
three hundred Indians attacking them,
but John Kilburn was not In the least
| frightened not he. Neither was Mrs.
Kilburn, nor her son or daughter. They
had several extra guns; Mrs. Kilburn
| and her daughter knew how TO load
them. They would rather die than bC
taken prisoners. The Indians had no
cannon, and their bullets would not 90
through the stout timbers. Only BY
| burning the house would they be able
TO get in.
rect you gone, you rascal, or I'll
quarter YOUR was the defiant answer
that John Kilburn shouted through one
Of the loop-holes to Captain Philip, as
the latter went back to the dark crowd
Of savages, who set up the war-whoop.
They yell like 80 many DEVILS"
| said John Kilburn; but he was not in
the least disturbed by the bowling.
Then the bullets began to come
/ through the shingles on the roof, and
strike against the timbers.
The Indians surrounded the house,
/ but there we're loOp-holes on each side.
\ Mr.. Kilburn and Mr.. Pike took two Of
/ the sides, and the two boys the others.
| Bang! bang! went the guns Of Mr.. Kill
/ burn and Mr.. Pike. Bang! bang! went
the boys guns. They could fire at a
| rest, and take deliberate aim. The In
[ dians could not see the muzzles Of the
/ guns, and the moment one Of the red
men peeped from behind tree his skull
was in danger.
One by one they fell, which enraged
them all the more, and they crept near
ear, firing rapidly. riddling the shingles.
I hoping, quite likely, that a bullet might
| glance down from the roof and hit
those inside.
1.-The roof looks like a sieve" said
John Kilburn, as he looked up and saw
the holes.
Mrs. Kilburn and her daughter we're
/ loading the extra guns the while, and
/ handing them to the men and bows,
who kept up such rapid fire that the
/ Indians came to the conclusion that
there were a large number of men in
the house.
eve shall soon be out of bullets"
said Mrs. Kilburn.
A thought came: Why not catch the
bullets that we're coming through the
roof? The balls had nearly spent their
force when they came throu gh, and
they hung up a blanket with thick
folds, which stopped them entirely; and
the girl, gathering them as they fell
harmlessly upon the floor, put them
into ladle, melted them and ran new
bullets, which soon were whizzing
through the air, and doing damage to
the enemy.
All through the afternoon the fight
goes on, the Indians aiming at the loop
holes. Their bullets pepper the logs
around them. One comes in and in
flicts a ghastly wound in Mr.. Pike &
thigh, but the Indians do not know it,
and the brave defense is kept up till
the Indians, foiled in all their efforts,
defeated, with several OF their number
dead and many wounded from the vol
leys fired by Colonel Bellows and his
men, and by those in the house, set Mr..
Kilburn's wheat on fire. kill his cattle,
bury their dead and slink away, not
having taken a scalp or a prisoner.
They have only wounded one man.
When everything goes well with the
Indian he can be very brave, but when
the tide is against him he quickly loses
courage and becomes disheartened, and
so Captain Philip made his way back TO
Canada, very much crestfallen at the
repulse he had received at the hands of
two men, a woman, two boys and a
brave-hearted girL-CharLes c. Coffin,
in HaTper's Young People.