Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1886-04-07
A Narrow escape.

Hcu WcuI W WdteIrlLOIy III 1910,
made my home with an old acquaint-
ance by the name of Green, who went
from Western Pennsylvania, where he
had led pretty eventful life, his house
having been burned twice over his
head by Indians, during the early set
tlement Of that State. He had lost
two of his children by the same means,
so that he had cause enough to en-
igrate. He settled on Manson's River,
or rather Greek. which flowed just by
his door, and which mile or two be-
low descended fully hundred feet by
a series of rapids which were sure
| death for any man to attempt to shoot
who was not perfect master in guild
ing canoe.
Green could never summon courage
to attempt it in his birch canoe until
| he had seen me do it; but he gained
| courage after awhile, and learned to do
| it with an ease and confidence equal to
my own.
When we engaged in fishing we fire.
came a matter of amusement with
both of us.
Green had a wife, and one child of
about six years, who was as interest
| ing little girl as L ever saw. was
much attached to her, as 1 never had
family of my own, and she appeared
to regard me with an affection second
only to that which she entertained for
her parents.
Shortly after / took up my quarters
with them, In the autumn of 1918, l
was seized with the chills and fever,
and did not entirely recover until
I spring. l was nursed and treated so
well by the entire family, that, when L
became well again, agreed to remain
through the season, and to assist him
IN clearing his land, and getting his
scauty seed under ground. At that
! time there were Indians all around us,
and some of them were of the very
worst kind. They hated white man
like poison, and was sure we should
have trouble with them. 1t was that,
more than anything else, that made
me anxious to remain with them until
I the country became more settled. The
season was pretty well advanced, when
man called at our house one day, and
told us that party of Indians had at.
| tackled the settlers farther up the creek, |
and after massacreing several families, |
were descending the creek in large |
canoe, for the purpose of serving us in !
| the same manner. This was alarming |
news indeed, and we decided to change |
our quarters at once, while there was a |
prospect of escape.
Green proposed that we should start |
through the woods for the settlement: |
but as that was twenty miles distant, |
and l knew they would follow our trail |
with the spsed and certainty of the |
bloodhound, he took my advice, which |
was to embark in the canoe, leaving /
everything behind US. BY this means |
we could effectually cover our trail;
and as the shores were both lined with /
a luxuriant, overhanging underground, !
we could glide under cover, and re-
main concealed until the danger had |
passed. This was a good plan, ard 1
would have succeeded admirably had it |
heen adopted an hour sooner. The |
hunter who had given us the intelli-
gence started at once down the stream,
in the hopes that he might be able to
warn some of the other settlers in
time. The light canoe comfort ably
seated us four, including tie little girl,
and within fifteen minutes after the
alarm reached US, we showed out from
the bank. Green took the paddle and
we started on our perilous descent of
the creek, which, however, was large
enough to deserve the name of river.
We had scarcely showed out from the
shore when a whOOp reached our ears,
and looking back, we saw to our dis
NAV that the Indian canoe was in
sight.
The redskins had discovered us and
naturally enough, determined that We
should not elude them in this easy
manner. / glanced at the miscreants,
as they came dashirg down the stream,
almost with the speed of wind, and
saw that the canoe was occupied by
FIVE of them.
Now, Green" said i, ''use the pad
die, for all depends on that"
never saw him use the oar with
such skill. He had seen enough of In.
dams to understand that it was now a
case of life and death, and with his
wife and only chI'd depending upon his
exertions, it need not be said that
every particle of strength and skill
that he possessed were needed and put
into use. Every moment or two the
Indians uttered one OF their frightful
yells-so frightful indeed that the lit
tie girl began crying through terror.
However, l persuaded her to lie down
in the boat, and her mother soon
soothed her fears, although she still
shivered every time the fearful sound
reached her ears. My great fear was
that the Indians would fire at US, which
would De pretty certain to result fatal.
ly, as we were within easy gun shot dis
tance.
But they evidently considered this un-
necessary, as it looked as though we
must inevitably fall into their hands.
Despite the utmost eXertiOnS of Green,
the savages gained steadily upon us-a
fact which was as apparent to them as
to US, and which their repeated yeIIs
were intended to signallZe. When We
embarked in our canoe ! don't think
either Of Us thought of the rapids
below.
We started in such haste that we had
little time 10 think of anything except
as to how we could get away as speed.
lily as possible. But when the roar
began to rise in our ears, my friend
looked inquiringly at me. l nodded
my head. "The best thing that could
be for u.s."
| offered TO take tie paddle several {
times, but he was not willing. The &
changing of places would involve
moment or two of delay, and there was
no time for that. However, as we {
approached the rapids, 1 could see that {
he was little uneasy, and he made no {
objection to my taking the paddle
in hand. Our hopes now centered upon
the inability Of our enemies to guide
their craft through these rapida-
There was no question but that the
Indians could manage their canoe with I
skill equal, if not superior, to that
with which We controlled ours: but il
going through this dangerola place {
there were :perils which Iltght easily s
shipwrecl, tha most skilful of their
number, as many of them were hidden. j
Before / attempted to shoot these {