Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1888-04-20
A True Tale.

school house, in Bath county, Vir
| ginis. A hundred and twenty. five
years! which means that what is now
| Bath county was a wilderness with
| here and there a clearing. here and
! there q hut. here and there stockade
! fort, for defense against the Indians
These two little boys were Daniel
aud Samuel Brown; their father had
a small fort on Jackson's river to
which the neighbors. men, women
. and children, were won't To gather
I when reports came that dusky forms
had been sighted in the woods, and
the stoutest hearts quailed before the
. enemy that could not be faced. since
| he kept ever behind their backs, alert,
cunning and relentless
Hi! Dan," whispered the younger
boy the blood suddenly leaving the
! sun burnt cheek, whats that anent
| the big maple yonder?'
| Dan lifted his head with quick sus.
| picion and saw a shadow pass into
! the denser woods on their right.
"Mebbe it's buck, Sam" he said,
with manly desire not to scare the
smaller boy.
"a buck !" answered Sam, scorning
to be treated as if ne were coward;
"it's the kind O. buck that wears q
blade. 1 tell We. Let's put out"
"You hie on, Sam, and get behind
the walls, quick as ever you can;
nanny and dad are working in the
three cornered field, and I'm bound
TO go round that way and give them
warnin'."
1t was with difficulty that Dan
could persuade Sam to go to the fort,
| leaving him TO the perilous task of
warning the workers in the corn field.
The forest born lads of those trying
times were trained to face danger,
and were often as cool and as plucky
as the young Indian braves them.
selves. Dan succeeded in persuading
Sam to go to the fort, by reminding
him that those within the stockade
must be put on their guard. The
brothers separated, but before Sam
reached the fort, he saw the flames
going up from its wooden walls, tell.
ing the cruel story of death and de-
struction.
Nor did Dan ever reach the three
cornered field Cleaning eyes, con-
cealed by bush and tree, had watched
the boys as they separated, and while
dozen savages had preceded Sam to
the fort, others made short circuit,
and intercepting Dan. gagged and
bound him,
He was well.grown boy of eleven
years, stout of heart and limb, and
the men of the woods admired the
pluck and self-control with which he
stood his capture and Imprisonment.
They kept him :at first, in order to
torture him for their amusement, and
compelled him to gather the wood
which they signed to him was in
tended for his own death fire. They
showed him the plated buckskin
with which he was TO be bound, and
| driyen round and round tree, until
the rope having coiled its whole
length upon the tree, he would be
forced into the fire at its trunk. Evi.
IDENTIFY they expected him to break
| down.
But Dan was clever as well as
brave and his wits were at work to
save bis life. He bore himself with
the proud Indifference so much ad-
mired by the Indians, and every lit
tie while he would lift his head sud-
denly, as if listening for and expect
ing something.
Now nothing escapes an Indians
notice. and Dams captors did not
doubt that he had some reason to ex-
pect rescuing party; so they hasten
ed to rejoin their comrades near the
fort, and the poor boy was sickeDed,
soul and body, by the sight of drip
ping scalps in the possession of those
who had gotten behind the stockade
| The Indians bad, in fact. managed to
take two scalps from each victim, and
Dan, sure now that his parents were
dead, gave up all thought Of escape,
and moved on passively with the
band, who. having obtained informa-
tion that Captain Paul was on their
trail with twice their numbers, now
hied off to the northwest, taking with
them the scalps of their victims, their
weapons and the boy captive.
Fifty years after this raid there
came to Bath County splendid
looking old chief in Indian dress, ac-
compnnied by grown son and
daughter and few warriors. The
stranger inquired from house to house
for Mrs Brown, and came finally to
tho residence of Colonel Samuel
Brown, who owned fine estate and
had large family around him With
him his old widowed mother lived,
bent and feeble. broken in spirit, but
with clear mind and memory. Col.
Brown, with the prompt hospital
ity of that day, invited the travellers
to become his guests, and his invita-
tion was accepted. When the tine
came for the evening meal, which
was served in the wide, clean kitch-
en-, the master of the house went to
On inner room and brought out on his
arm his aged mother.
The instant she crossed the thres-
hold the Indian chief and his children
went forward and knelt be-
fore her; they were ST.
lent, after the Indian fashion,
but the chief showed strong emotion
in every line of his rugged features.
The old woman trembled violently
as she gazed upon the kneeling fig
ures of father and son; something in
the younger face confirmed the wild
hope that swept through her soul,
and with a cry as of one who sees
the dead come back to life, she fell
upon the old warrior kneeling before
hero Dan, my boy, my boy !"
1t was indeed the boy she had lost
half century before. Fifty years
had change him from ruddy strip
ling into bronzed and white headed
old man; had given new generation
to take the place of the old, had
brought the old mother herself to the
brink of eternity, yet it could no.
make her forget her first born. Under
his change of name and nature and
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