Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-04-27

ton for nails, and William. younger boy
was off at the mill. It was on this scene
that the Indians burst. The mother was
struck on the wrist by a tomahawk. and
the skull of Barbara was fractured. Susan
successfully defended herself behind
door with hot iron, and the Irish weav
er was shot IN the shoulder and fed. By
the time this had been done, the father
and his companions came up with axes
and AIDES and drove the Indians off. AS
they went off they captured the boy Will
liam on the road and ne was never heard
from. and they fired at the son who was
returning from Staunton but did not
wound him.
A FAR OFF COUNTY COURT.
In 1913 the county Of Orange included
what is now called Augusta, and all per-
sons havi0g business at court had to 60
on horseback to what is now Orange G.
81. 1t was the same way, up to 1747. with
those who wanted to get married. there
being no minister Of the Established
Church nearer than the court house. In
this county court there were some decis-
ions that seem queer at this day. Rev.
John Beckett was fined 500 pounds of
tobacco ''for exacting more for the mar
riage fee than the law directs.' In this
court, the Rev. John Craig, the first
preacher of the gospel in Augusta
took the oath. Being a dissenter he
took "the oaths appointed by act of par
Ito ont tn 70 fob incfooa of he 0ufb Of
allegiance and supremacy and the oath Of
abjuration.'' In this court Jonathan
Gibson being Uniformed on" by the min
lister of the Esta blishs Church was f1ed
stem shillings" or 100 pounds of tobacco"
for mot frequentiDg bis parish church for
the space of two months last past" The
first minister of the Established Church
for Augusta parish was Rev. John Hind
man who was appointed in 1747. He had
been dissenter and evidently was not lik-
ed by the Presbyterian parson. Mr.. Craig,
who in his records has this: This day
John Hindman attended, having turned
his coat and now appears in the quality of
Church of England parson.''
THE FIRST Law Elk
in Augusta, and who represented it in the
House of Burgesses. was Gabriel Jones.
native of Williamsburg and scholar Of
the "Blue Coat School, Christ's Huspi-
tai, London. He owned and lived on
farm where the present village of Port Re-
public is located. When Rocking lam was
constituted he became its Prosecuting At
torney. When he was candidate for the
State convention In 1888, Archibald Stuart
of Augusta. went to Rockingham to elec-
tioneer for him. and Jones afterwards
presented him with chaise IN which to
bring home his wife. The road from jones'
farm to Harrisonburg is still called Law
yers' road" He was man of ability and
also of lrrascibility, and on one occasion
the court of county justices of Rocking
ham announced as their decision, in hear
ing case, that they would send Lawyer
Holmes to Jail if he did Lot quit making
Lawyer Jones swear So"
THE FOUNDER OF AN OLD SUIT.
There is no attendant on the Augusta
courts in the last hundred years, who has
not heard of the suit of Peck Us. Borden.
Benjamin Borden. ST., resident of Fred
erick county. was a native of New
Jersey, who had a promise from Gov.
Gooch of patent for 100000 acres on
James River, west of the Blue Ridge, as
soon as he should located hundred settlers
on the tract. The first family he got to
settle there located at Timber Ridge in
Rockbrldge. Finally he got the hundred
settlers and the patent, though he had to
offer hundred acres free to any one that
would settle on it. His son, Benjamin
Borden, Jr., came to Rockbridge to settle
and died there in 1853, Of smallpox. His
widow mairled Col. John Bower. A
brother, Joseph Borden, instituted the
chancery suit of Borden Us. Bowyer. out OF
which grew the famous suit of Peck Us.
Borden. Both suits have been pending in
the courts of Augusta for nearly century.
ATRADITIoN DIsPELLED.
Mr.. Waddell contradlcGs the long exist
ing tradition that there was fort at or
near FoIt Defiance in Augusta. The Old
Stone Church near there when built ia
early times was fortified, and from that
might have grown the tradition. The
church however, was never assailed, and
the subterranean passage alleged to exist
from the church to spring nearby, is a
myth.
OLD TIME EXECUTIONS.
In 1898 John BuiiltG. a young man from
Kentucky. said to be of feeble intellect,
of New and Augusta street. in Stanton
but then was described in the order of the
county court as ''at the forks of the roads
leading from Staunton to Millers Iron
Works and to Peter Hangers" That
point. says the court order ''shall be con-
Bidered as the place of execution of all
condemned persons in future, which may
be by law executed by the Sheriff OF
Augusta 1t was then in the woods,
Bullitt was hung for stealing horse
worth $50 from John Nichols, ST., 'an6
other property to the Value of e5." James
Bell, Deputy Sheriff, officiated at the exc
cution. This execution gave the name &C
that part of the town Of ''GallO wstown.'
Another execution took place here in
1872 of negro girl convicted of drowning
her masters infant child, of which she Was
the nurse. The town was divided in sen
timent on the propriety of the execution
and, as usual when such is the case, there
was very feverlsh state of feeling. Or
tie night after the hanging, mischievcus
clerk employed by Ben. Morris in his store
where the Brandeburg building now is
climbed on the roof and through horn
made dismal noise. The people rushed
into the streets, and some of the more SUI
perstitious sort professed to have seen the