The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1888-04-12

and his dwelling was untouched by in
cendiary fire. But his son Giles was in
the battle. This, doubtless, excited the
ire of the Indians, and they resolved on
vengence. Late in autumn they were
seen prowling about the house, which
was not far from Wilkes.B Fort. A
neighbcr had been made prisoner, and
his wife and two sons found welcome
home in the Slocum family. One morn
ing the two boys were grinding knife
near the house, when rifle-shot and
shrek brought Mrs. Slocum to the door.
An Indian was scalping the eldest boy,
lad of fourteen. The barbarian rushed
into the house and seized little son OF
Mrs. Slocum. The frightened mother
exclaimed,
"See! he can do thee no good he is
lamew
The Indian released the boy, and
taking her daughter Frances gently in
his arms, seized the younger Of the two
boys outside and hastened to the noun
tains. Mrs. Slocum's little daughter,
nine years old, caught up Joseph (my
informant), who was two and half years
old, and fled in safety to the fort, when
an alarm was given, but the barbarians
were beyond successful pursuit. They
also carried off black girl, seventeen
years Of age.
About six weeks after this event Mr..
Slocum and his father-in.law were shot
and scalped by prowling Indians while
foddering cattle near the house. The
savages escaped with their horrid tro-
phies. Mrs. Slocum, bereft of father,
husband, and child, and stripped of all
possessions except the house that shell
tered her, could not leave the valley, for
nine helpless children were yet in her
household. She trusted in the God of
Elijah, and if she was not fed by the
ravens she was spared from the vultures.
She mourned not for the dead, for they
were at rest but little Frances, her lost
darling, where was she? The lamp of
hope was kept burning, but years rolled
by and no tidings of the little one came.
When peace returned and friendly in
tercourse with Canada was established,
two of the little captive's brother started
in quest of her. They traversed the will.
derness to Fort Niagara, offering re-
wards for her discovery, but in vain.
They returned, convinced that the child
was dead. But the mothers heart was
still the shrine of hope, and she felt as
sured that Frances was not in the grave.
Her embodied spirit seemed to hold
communion with that of her child, and
she often said,
II know Frances is living. Some
thing tells me that she is alive and
WELL"
At length the mothers heart was
cheered. A woman (many years had
now passed, and Frances, if living, must
be full-grown woman) was found
among the Indians who answered the
description of the lost one. She only
remembered being carried away from
the Susquehanna. Mrs. Slocum took
her home and cherished her with a
mothers tenderness. Yet the mysteri-
Gus link OF sympathy that binds the ma
ternal nature to its offspring was unfelt,
and the bereaved mother was bereaved
still.
"It may be Frances, yet it does not
seem so. Yet the conner shall be well
come," said Mrs. Slocum. The found
ling felt no filial yearnings, and both be-
ing convinced that no consanguinity
existed the orphan returned to her In
dian friends. From time to time the
hope Of the mother would be refreshed,
and journeys were made to distant In
dian settlements in search of the lost
sister, but in vain. The mother was
finally laid in the grave, and little
Frances was almost forgotten.
The brothers of the child.captive had
become aged men, and their grand
children were playing upon the very
spot from whence Frances was taken.
In the summer of 1887, ffty-nine years
after her capture, intelligences oi
Frances was received. Colonel Ewing,
an Indian agent and trader, in a letter
written at Logansport, Indiana, to the
editor Of the Lancaster Inteuigencer, gave
such information that all doubts about
her identity were removed. She had
told Mr.. Ewing that her name was
Slocum; that her father was Quaker,
and that she was taken from near the
Susquehanna River wnen she was very
young. The letter came to the knowl.
edge of Joseph Slocum, when he and his
sister who carried him to the fort jour.
neyed to Ohio, where they were Joined
by their younger brother, Isaac. They
proceeded to Logansport, where they
saw Mr.. Ewing and ascertained that the
woman he had written about lived
twelve miles from the village. She was
Immediately sent for, and toward even.
ing the next day she came into the
town, riding q spirited young horse, &C
companied by her two daughters dress
ed in full Indian costume, and the hus
band of one Of them. An interpreter
was procured flor she could not speak 3