The news and herald. (Winnsboro, S.C.) 1877-1900, 1883-09-27
Famous Escapes From Indians.

esCdpsh Were tn6 romance OF the colonies
and such adventures date back to the
earliest Indian war iu Virginia, where mar
and his wife, who had been spared In the
wholesale slaughter, found their opportu.
nifty to escape while the Indians were dane.
ing for Joy over the acquisition Of white
mans boat that bad drifted ashore. These
captlves got into canoe, and soon after.
ward surprised their friends IN tho settle.
ments, who had believed them to be dead
| Very like this was the escape Of Anthony
Bracket and hie wife III Maine. They
were loft to follow On after their captors
who were eager to reach q plunderlng
party. In time to share In the spoil. Bracls.
cts wife found broken bark canoe, which
she mended with needle and thread; the
whole family then put to gea in this rickety
craft, and at length reached Black Point,
where they got on board vessel. A little
| lad OF eleven years named Eames, taken
In Philips war, mads his way thirty miles
| or moro to the settlements. Two cons OF
the famous Hannah Bradley, previously
| mentioned, Effected an ingenious escape,
lying all the 1lIst day In hollow log and
using their provisions to make friends with
the dogs that had tracked them. They
!ourneyed In extreme peril and suffering
for nine days, and one Of them fell down
with exhaustion just as they were entering
a white settlement. A young girl III
Massachusetts, after three weeks Of cap
tivlty, made bride Of bark, and catch
ing horse, rode all night through tho
woods to Concord. Mrs. Dean, taken at
Oyster River in 1894, was left, with her
daughter, IN charge Of an old Indian while
the rest finished their work Of destruction.
The old fellow asked his prisoner what
would cure pain III his head. She recon-
mended him to drink some rum taken from
her house. This put him to sleep, and the
woman aud child got away. Another
down east captive, with the fitting name
OF Ioogood, while his captor during an
attack on settlement was disentangling a
piece Of string with which to tie HIM,
jerked the Indians gun from under his
arm aud, levcling it at his head, got safely
sway.
Escaping captlves endured extreme
hardships. One Bard, taken in resnsyl-
vania, lived nine days on few buds and
four snakes. Mira. Inglle, captured In the
valley Of Virginia, escaped in company
with German woman from a place far
down the Ohio river. After narrowly
avoiding discovery and recapture, they
succeeded e ascending the south bank of
the OHIO for some hundreds OF miles.
When within few days travel Of settle
ments, they were 30 reduced by famine
that the German woman, enraged that she
had been persuaded to desert the Indian
flesh. pots, aud crazed with hunger made
an unsuccessful attack on her companion
15h mohs 81 all The escapes of New England
captives was that OF Hannah Duston, Mary
Neff, and boy, Samuel Lconardson.
These three were carried of, with many
Others in 1907, in the attack on Haver-
hill, Mrs. Dus.on'a infant child having
been killed by tho Indians. When the
captors had separated, the party to whom
the two women and the hoy were assigned
encamped on an island in the Merrimac
river. at midnight, tho captlves secured
hatchets and killed ten Indians-two men,
two women, and Six children-one favorlte
boy, whom they meant to spare, and one
| badly wounded woman, escaping. After
they had left the camp, the fugltives
| remembered that nobody IN the settlements
| would believe, without evidence, that they
had performed 30 redoubtable an action;
they therefore returned and scalped the
| Indians, after which they souttied all the
| canoes on the island but one, and In this
| escaped down the Merrlmac, ard finally
| reached Haverhlll. This was such an ex-
I plolt as made the actors Immediately IA
NOUS IN that bloody time. The Massa-
chusetts General Court gave bir5. Duston
twenty-five pounds and granted half tina,
amount to each of her companions. The
story Of their daring deed was carried fal
to the southwark, and Governor Nicholson,
Of Maryland, sent valuable present to the
escaped prisoners"