St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-23

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II W NNhXO tradition til
II e 'SING| they were the
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skates are of
Holland make, having tremendous
curves at the toes, on the tip of each
being brass knob. According to the
tradition they were brought into the
Seneca country long before the RevOlu-
tionary war by an Indian lad, and the
circumstances attending his reaching
his tribe with the skates led to a long
and bloody war betw cen the SenecaS
and the Nanticoke Indians.
SAN-WENAH'S LOST SKATES.
Long before the white people settled
IN the Seneca country, which included
all of Northwestern Pennsylvania, the
members of that tribe were expert skat-
erS. their skates being highly polished
strips of hickory wood, fastened on
their feet by hickory withes. One win
ter, century and half ago, a party of
Indian chiefs from tribe living on the
headwaterS of the north branch of the
SuSquehanna, made trip to Philadel-
phia on trading expedition, writes a
Harrisburg correspondent of the Phila-
delphia Times. They were accompanied
by the son of one of the chiefs, a lively
fifteen-year-otd Indian boy named San
we-nah. This boy was the most expert
skater on the rude wooden Indian
skates of any one in the tribe. An old
Indian trader in Philadelphia, a Hol-
lander named Won Dorm, took a fancy
to the bright Indian lad, and as the boy
had manifested decided fOndneSs for
pair of skates the trader owned. the
Dutchman made San-we-nah present
of them. At the same time that the
Seneca Indians were in Philadelphia a
number of Nanticoke Indians were
there, being on their way from Virginia
to quarters on the Susquehanna,
in the present county of
Lycoming. With these Indians
were number of lads of San-we-
nah'S age, and, although none of them
could skate, they coveted the bright gift
Won Dorm had given San-we-nah. The
NanticOkeS took their departure the day
after the Indian boy had been presented
with the skates, leaving the city long
before daylight. When San-we-nah
went to look at his beloved skates, which
he had placed carefully in the folds of
his blanket, they were not there. The
boy felt at once that the skates had been
stolen by the Nanticoke boys, and, with
out saying word to any of his tribe,
the young Seneca started Immediately
in pursuit of the Nantie0kes. He over
took the NanticOke chiefs before noon,
but the boys were not with them.
CHASING T&E NANTICOKES.
There was great difference in the
language of the Senecas and NanticOke
Indians, and San-we-nah could not learn
fvntr In oh nfo @ln
Believing that they had suspected pur-
suit and had pushed on ahead of their
party to reach home before they could
be Overtaken, the Seneca boy hurried
on and soon found their trail. He fol-
lowed it to the banks of the Sus0ue-
hanna, near the present city of Harris
burg, and came up with the NanticOke
boys sitting around fire they had built
near the rivers edge. Both the Senecas
and the NanticOkeS understood and could
speak English slightly and as well as he
could in that language San-we-nah de-
manded of the Nanticoke lads his
skates. They laughed at him. He
warned them that although his tribe and
theirs were at peace the Senecas would
at once take the warpath and avenge
the insult to them given by the theft of
the skates unless the NanticOke boys
but also gave him broken arrow head
as a sign of their submission. This bold
and imperiOuS demand amused the Nan
ticOke youngsters still more, and while
the courageous Seneca lad was pressing
his demands he was suddenly OverpOw-
cred by the others, who bound him
and carried him prisoner to their vii
lage, some miles further up the river.
SANWE-NAH A CAPTIVE.
The Seneca chiefs in Philadelphia
missed San-we-nah, and after a fruitleSS
search for him reported his loss to the
governor and started for their wigwams
on the upper Susquehanna. The captive
Seneca boy was forced to do all sorts of
drudgery for the Nanticokes, who tried
in vain to use his skates on the ice. One
fine condition, number of NanticOke
boys took San-we-nah, and to torment
him placed his skates On his feet,
tied his legs together, and placed him
OH the ice. His ludicrous tumblings
created great sport for the lads, and
number of the grOwn-up braves finally
gathered about on the ice to egg the
boys on. The Seneca at last refused to
get up on his feet, and the Indians be-
gan playing pitch and toss with him
about on the ice. The chief of the
tribe took hand in this sport. He car
ried large knife in his belt. He sta
toned an Indian thirty or forty feet
away on the ice and the two mOnopo-
lied the sport of prOpelling San-We-nah
to and fro between them.
THE ESCAPE.
The boy made no resistance, but he
had noticed the knife in the chiefs belt
and determined to make bold stroke
for liberty. Nerving himself for the
effort, he Snatched the knife from the
Indians belt as he stopped to shove him
across the ice, and timed himself so
well that the Indian had given the shove
without noticing the abstracting of his
knife. As the boy shot over the smooth
surface he cut the thongs that held his
feet together and quick as flash sprang
to his feet and the next instant was
deXtrously lodging in and out among
the assembled and now excited thrOng
of Indians, brandishing the knife aud
maneuvering for an avenue of escape
from the bowling Nanticokes. At last,
with one bold dash he flew on his skates
straight towards the chief, who moved
out to stop his way. The boy drove the
knife to the hilt in the chiefs breast,
and with a quick sweep to the right
sped away up the river, followed by q
shower of arrows and bullets, from
all of which he escaped unin-
jured. He soon disappeared from the
sight Of the enraged NanticOkes.
WAR FOLLOWED.
Two days later he reached the village
of his own tribe, who had long given
him up for lost. The Senecas at once
declared war against the NanticokeS,
and for two years farce and bloody
contest was waged, hundres of both
tribes being slain. The Nanticokes at
last sued for peace, and were ever after
wards subServient to the Senecas. The
skates. which were the cause of all the
blOodshed. fell into the hands of Benja-
min Frailey, and Indian trader, about